Of April twenty first, twenty twenty six.

As a reminder, if you are joining this meeting via Zoom, you can still make public comment.

If joining by phone, use star nine to raise your hand and star six to mute and unmute.

Vice Mayor Penrose.

Here.

Mayor Radek.

We have a quorum.

All rise for Pledge of Allegiance.

Okay.

So the next item is to uh approve the tonight's agenda.

Um could I have a motion to approve the agenda?

Could I have a motion to approve the agenda, please?

So moved.

Can I have a second?

I'll second.

Uh all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries unanimously.

We're moving on to proclamations and presentations.

And um it seems tonight we have a um presentation by um Mid Coast Community Council, an update.

Thank you for coming.

You're welcome.

So uh thanks for inviting me.

I'm Sword Woolinger from the Mid Coast Community Council.

That's way up north in the unincorporated region of Half Moon Bay slash San Mateo County.

And uh I feel like I owe you guys an update on what's happening at Sype our Cypress Point Housing Project.

So on December 3rd, the people in the community received a flyer saying that construction is gonna begin soon.

So by the third week in December, construction on that housing project was underway.

Um and as as you drive by or look at it, you can see they're in full swing working on on that housing project.

Now I I wanted to bring a couple things to your attention um regarding that and a final statement about some about that also.

Um it's recently they discovered asbestos on the site, so they had to do an asbestos abatement, and that's in the progress of being cleaned up right now.

The second thing that was located on the site was a tank full of something, and the contents of the tank are being investigated to what they are and what its mitigation would look like in the future.

So um with that saying that uh Cypress Point was approved was exempt from CEGO.

And I think probably there is a lesson to be taken in there somewhere.

So that's that's all with uh Cypress Point.

Um I'd also like to say that the Mid Coast is grateful that the sewer force main project is underway and that this and that the ISMD I had to read that is up for approval on October sev on on the 17th.

Not October 17th, but this 17th.

They also one other thing I'd like to mention about up there in Monterra is there's a Caltran bypass property that's pretty overgrown with trees.

And we're working on getting fire mitigation and some fuel load reduction to improve the fire safety of that part of weight in the back of Monterra.

Uh finally, I'd like to let you know what's happening at our next meeting.

So at our next meeting, uh the sheriff and the department of emergency management will be giving a talk to us about um emergency evacuation plans.

And uh what's also interesting about this is they're gonna use the Laddris software, they use the Laddress software in the process of planning this.

So I know people are very interested in ladder software, and it will be an opportunity to learn what that is.

Um that's my update for today, and I'm willing to field any questions that are easy.

So I have one.

So is it the the meeting tomorrow night where they're going to be discussing the emergency management?

Yes, that's correct.

Okay, great.

Um Council Vice Mayor Penrose, will you be uh attending that meeting as our liaison?

I attend them all, yeah.

Okay.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you for reporting out.

Um is there anyone in the audience or on Zoom that would like to comment on this item on the report from Mid Coast Community Council.

I don't see anyone in the room.

Is there anyone online?

No hands raised online.

So I think we can say that this item is complete.

Thank you.

Thanks again.

Okay.

Um so mayor's announcements of community activities and community service.

So I have a couple tonight.

Um this Thursday on April 23rd at Halfman Bay Library from 4 to 5 30.

There will be a volunteer information session for um folks who would like to be trained to do um tutoring for adult literacy.

And that's been an ongoing program for several years, pretty successful program, but they're looking for new volunteers.

So that's 4 to 5 30 this Thursday at the Half Moon Bay Library.

And my second item is just an announcement that the um Half Boom Bay Wine and Jazz Festival is coming up on May 9th, Saturday, May 9th from 12 to 5 p.m.

on uh on Main Street.

And there will be food court and beer and cider garden.

And uh general admission tickets are 68 dollars.

You can find out more by going to HMB Wine and Jazz Fest, all one word dot com.

And those are my report outs for tonight.

And then the next item is report out from recent closed session meetings, and I believe we don't have anything to report out this evening.

That's correct, Madam Mayor.

No reportable action this evening.

Thank you.

All right, so the next item is commission and committee updates.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

Can I add a couple of events to shout out?

Um this coming weekend is actually a very busy weekend.

Um on Sunday, there are three events that I'm aware of.

There's probably more.

Um the largest of them would be Dream Machines at the Hafen Bay Airport on Sunday, um, which is a great event, and just be aware it's gonna bring some traffic, but it's also a fundraiser for our senior community and a really really great event for the coastside.

Um concurrently, there's an event at Carter Park.

Um, it's uh Dia de los Niños, and it's I think the first time it's being held at this scale at Carter Park.

We're really excited to see that happening.

ALAS is the sponsor of that, and that's a free community event, but there will be some food and other things as well.

And um we'd have to grab the times.

I apologize, I'm just kind of picking these things out of my head.

But yes, this is all on Sunday, and it's uh coastside wildflower day.

So there's a lot going on this weekend, this Sunday specifically.

So weather looks good, and uh there'll be lots for our community to do and for our visitors to do as well.

So thank you for those important additions.

Yeah, all right.

Okay, um our community development director, unfortunately was not able to come tonight, and so I'll provide the report out on the planning commission.

There was a planning commission meeting last Tuesday night.

Um there were two items on the agenda.

The first was regarding uh a Verizon cell phone tower permit uh above the high school where the new water tanks have been built for CCWD.

They had to go taller because the tanks are bigger.

And um the planning commission considered it.

They conditionally approved the project with some uh additional requirements, including kind of camouflaging the towers, you know, have them look nicer in that area.

Uh the other item was really interesting.

Um, Sarah Polgar, who is a former planning commissioner and um is the CEO of Coastide Land Trust, uh gave a presentation that included an update on their coastal access project on um Redondo Beach Road, as well as an update on um some habitat restoration work they're doing to support raptors, and it talks about Cypress trees and kind of their value, but also sometimes when they're they're actually a detriment.

It was really really interesting.

So, two things.

I encourage people to go to our planning commission page and watch the video.

Um it's it's the end of the meeting and it's a really interesting presentation.

And I'm also gonna recommend that we actually have her come and do a presentation, a condensed version of this for the council.

Um I think it was really interesting information that is very pertinent to the coast side and to the city as a whole, and I think it'd be valuable information to bring forward.

So if if you're okay with that, we'll look at a time that works to provide a condensed version of that at a council meeting.

Yeah, I suggested that she actually do that for the perfect.

Um especially the um the issue with the trees and the crows, um predation going on of raptors by crows, apparently.

Yeah, so I think that would be interesting um to hear at council level and also for the public and exactly okay, great.

We will work on scheduling that probably sometime this summer.

So the only other piece with planning commission is normally their next meeting would be next Tuesday night, the 28th.

That meeting's been canceled because the projects that were slated for it will not be prepared ready for it.

And of course, we have a special meeting instead that night on 555 Kelly.

So uh the next meeting won't be until May for the planning commission.

Thank you.

No.

Okay.

Thank you for that.

I will ask if there's any members of the public who would like to to comment on the city manager's report, either in the room or online.

I don't see any in the room, but if you're anyone online would like to address these items.

No?

No hands raised.

So we're gonna bring it back.

Oh I just wanted to comment on the raptors because my husband works has been on ranches all his life, and he is really noticing.

We all are noticing even in town, everywhere, a big change in the number of crows or ravens.

Um I was working in a yard in El Granada and observed three ravens chasing a hawk.

It was really interesting because then another hawk swooped in to distract at least one.

So then it was two on one and one on one, trying to help the other hawk.

It was quite interesting.

But the ranchers around here are noticing it, as are people in town.

I mean, I had a dove nest up under a deck, and I thought it was really safe because it was so hidden I could barely figure out that it was there.

But by golly, they got that too.

So there it's really something that needs to be addressed.

I know it's not the city's responsibility, but the awareness should be um is it very important.

Thank you.

And apparently there may be instances of you know, trash or overflowing um dumpsters that attract the the crow population, especially.

Um, and it is significant for Half Moon Bay because we are a major rafter overwintering area, usually from August through the month of May.

And um so anything that changes that dynamic is um is is significant, especially um when you have predatory birds who you know plunder other birds' nests and reduce populations of other more beneficial populations of of birds and things.

So we'll learn more about that.

But thank you, Nancy.

Um so I guess we can move on to public forum.

Oh, item seven, city man.

So I was giving the planning commission update.

Oh, I'm sorry, yes, yeah.

City manager updates to council.

Great.

And we did have one item listed on the agenda of the South Corridor study.

We're actually gonna punt that um to a future meeting.

There's some things happening with that, and we think it would be good to work that out before we bring that forward.

But um, we do have uh Republic Services here who has some things they want to share.

And um, we'll start with Matt Nichols from our public works department who will introduce this piece of it.

Good evening, council, members of the public.

Uh can you hear me okay?

Okay.

I'm Matt Nichols.

I am your uh senior management analyst for our public works department.

Uh with me tonight is Sonia from Republic Services.

Uh before I give it to you, do you want to make a couple announcements?

Some more uh exciting dates that we have coming up.

Uh sorry.

This coming Wednesday, so tomorrow, uh the 22nd is Earth Day, and I was just speaking with Sea Hugger, and they're gonna be hosting a beach cleanup at Poblar Beach from one to three tomorrow.

Um so if you have time, stop by, say hi, pick up some garbage, and hopefully, hopefully the weather's not like today.

Um, in addition to that, we will be having our biannual, so twice a year, um community recycling day this Saturday.

That will be at Smith Field from 9 a.m.

to 12.

I know people love to get there before nine, but no matter how early you come, we won't let you drop off your stuff until nine.

Um and then I will also be at Coastal Wildflower Day on Sunday.

So come stop by the city's tent and say hello.

Um, let me introduce Sonia from Republic Services.

Sorry.

Um please excuse my voice.

You heard bring the mic down.

Is this better?

Okay.

Good evening, honorable uh Madam Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council members.

Thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight.

For those who may not know me, my name is Sonia, and I'm with Republic Services, the city's solid waste and recycling provider.

Tonight I wanted to make a few or take a few moments to highlight how Republic Services have been supporting the city through community events over the past year, share a look ahead at upcoming opportunities, and briefly remind everyone of the role we play in the in keeping the city clean, compliant, and moving forward.

Um at our core, Republic Services is here to serve the residents, the businesses, and institutions to the city every single day.

This includes reliable trash recycling and organics collection, but it also extends beyond the curve.

We see ourselves as a long-term community partner, not just a service provider.

Over the past year, Republic Services has been proud to support and participate in a number of city and community events.

These events allowed us to engage directly with residents, answer questions, provide education around proper sorting, recycling, and organics, and reinforce the city's sustainability goals.

Some examples.

So from last year.

During the holiday season, we sponsored Night of Lights.

We provided roll-off boxes and event boxes and participated in the parades.

Our truck is very cute.

Oh, sorry.

Next.

Um, one at the city hall and one at uh Ted Adcock Center here.

Our presence at these events helps reinforce consistent messaging and gives residents a familiar point of contact when it comes to waste and recycling services.

Direct community engagement helps reduce contamination, improve participation, and supports the city's broader environmental and compliance goals.

When residents understand the why behind the program, it makes the entire system work better.

Um this year in Q1, we passed out our newsletters uh to help further our education efforts for our residents, which included infographs uh infographics on what goes into the trash, uh recycling and organics, all three streams, and how to properly place carts in your curb on the curbs, um, information about the battery buckets and information about your bulky alt and call, where each resident in Half Moon Bay gets two pickups a year.

Um, as we look ahead, there are several upcoming events.

Speaking of events, we also have the Earth Day um recycling event that Matt talked about the Saturday.

Uh we also have our compost giveaway, which will be from Friday to Sunday this weekend as well.

Uh we a few other events that we'll be present at is the so senior coastsiders home repair day um and farms, fish and flowers and uh collaboration with Coastide Chamber, um, which we're highly active in.

We value our relationship with the city and appreciate the trust placed in us to serve the community every day.

Thank you again for the time this evening and for the opportunity to share the updates.

We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with the city staff and community in the year ahead.

Thank you very much.

Um does anyone have uh questions from the council for republic services or for Matt?

Oh the compost was amazing.

It wasn't last year's, but the year before.

And it was really good, and my plants did really well, so I want to say thank you for that.

I appreciate it.

Last year's I heard they had a little problem.

I don't have to bring that up, but it was good stuff.

And it was at Smithfield, is it gonna be at Smith Field again?

Yes.

Yeah, perfect.

Thank you.

And just as a reminder, it's all of our compost that we put in our trash that comes back to the city.

So it's thank you for putting good trash in your compost.

Thank you.

And thank you for your comment, Councilmember Johnson.

Uh is there anyone in the audience who would like to comment on the presentation?

Is there anyone online who would like to comment?

Okay.

I think we can move on.

Thank you very much.

Um, does the city manager have any additional reports?

No, that that ends our report tonight.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Thank you very much.

Okay.

So I think we can move on now to public forum.

I don't have any uh sheets.

All right.

I have two speakers in the room.

First speaker is Joaquin Jimenez, followed by Taylor Tong.

Uh good evening, honorable mayor, uh council members, uh city staff, uh members of the public.

Uh my name is uh Joaquin Jimenez.

Uh Joaquin Morieta and social media.

I am uh running for some attacking supervisor.

Uh District 3.

One out of six uh residents of Mateo County.

It's in the SNAP program.

One out of six.

That's a lot.

The federal government is making cuts on this program.

Part of my uh platform, one of the uh reasons I'm running is because of food, security, food production.

Something that we can do here in our community to feed or community.

Supporting our local farmers or local ranchers is very important for me.

Working with our community to help new farmers in new ranchers is our business is also important for us and for me.

We are the uh the largest uh farming community, you know, in Samatil County.

Uh I mean in the in the Bay Area.

If you look around, we are the largest.

We have our open spaces, we have the land to farm to produce the food that our residents need.

And you can do uh your research.

You know, you can do your uh fact check on uh on what's going on in our in our county.

You know, you can see the work that uh the counties or other, you know, the electoral officials about about the coast and food production, and there's no interest.

You can do that.

Uh recently been receiving phone calls from uh the South Coast, Pescadero farmers.

They haven't seen electoral officials in some in uh pescador for a while.

One of them said to me, you know, or county supervisor hasn't been here since 2024.

That's not how we represent our community.

A lot of promises are being made, and there's no follow-up.

And I keep hearing that all across the county.

And like I said, do your own research.

You can call you know South Coast and check in with the residents of the South Coast, but you know, food production and supporting our local farmers or local ranchers and new farmers and new ranchers.

It's a must that we have to do.

One out of six.

One out of six residents of Samatok County is in the Snap program.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Taylor Tong.

Good evening, honorable mayor, city council, and city staff.

My name is Taylor Tong, and I'm an intern at Pacific Coast Television.

I'm here today to tell you that Pacific Coast Television is hosting Co-Side Live, which is a community event designed to bring together local artists, performers, and community members for an evening of expression, connection, and creativity.

Whether you're stepping up to the mic or simply soaking in the talent, this event aims to highlight the voices that make our coast side unique.

It'll be broadcast live on Channel 27 or worldwide at Pacific Coast.tv.

And of course, it's free to attend.

It's happening in this room next Thursday at 7 p.m.

And we would love for you all to attend and support our local community community together.

Thank you.

Thank you, Taylor.

Anyone online who would like to comment during public forum?

You can raise your hand.

No one.

Okay.

So we're moving on to the next item.

Which will be the consent calendar.

Um I think I'll start by asking members of the public.

Is there anyone in the room or online who would like to address comments?

Excuse me, address items that are on the consent agenda.

And uh I will read those items.

They include item 9A, wave reading of ordinances and resolutions.

Item 9b, approved minutes of April 7th, 2026 special meeting.

Item 9C, approved minutes of April 7th, 2026 regular meeting.

Item 9D, accept the warrants for the month of March 2026.

9E, final acceptance of the fiscal year 2025-26 pavement management project, CIB project number 1038.

Item 9F, receipt of letters of support and legislative position letter.

And those are all the items.

So if you'd like to, you can come to the um the podium and comment on any of those items and online.

If you'd like to comment, you can raise your hand.

Do we have anyone online?

Okay.

Um are there any items that uh council members would like to pull for further discussion?

No, that I would ask for a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda.

I move that we approve of the consent uh calendar items that Mayor Ruddick has just uh listed.

Second.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries unanimously.

We're moving on to uh ordinances and public hearings.

Uh the first item is item 10A, resolution assessing the levy for the Half Moon Bay Hotel Business Improvement District for fiscal year 2026-27.

And this is a public hearing.

We'll start with a presentation from staff.

Uh good evening, Madam Mayor, Councilmembers, members of the public, Garma Acosta City Manager's Office.

Um I am here this evening to follow up on council's prior actions and related to the Halfum Bay Hotel Business Improvement District.

Um at the April 7th meeting, council reviewed and approved the Halfum Bay Hotel Business Improvement District annual report that was prepared by the Chamber of Commerce, which serves as a managing agency for the district.

Um at that same meeting, council adopted a resolution of intention to continue to levy the assessment for fiscal year 2026-27, um, as well as setting tonight's meeting as the required public hearing.

Um, and that step is required under California Streets and Highways Code, which requires a public hearing each year before continuing the BID assessments.

Um and just a little reminder for context: the BID is funded through a small assessment on hotel stays, and that rate is set at $2 per room per night.

Um, and there are no proposed changes to that rate or to the district this year.

Um, those funds go directly towards marketing and promotion efforts that um support tourism and bring visitors to Half Moon Bay, and as we've discussed in prior meetings, those overnight stays are significant and they're important for our local economy because they helped fund some city services.

Um tonight's public hearing is the final procedural step in the annual process.

Um at this time, the council will open the public hearing, um, receive and consider any oral or written um protest and submitted uh in accordance with state law and then close the public hearing.

Um and then if there are no majority protests, consider the adoption of the resolution to continue to levy the assessment for fiscal year 2026-27.

Um with that, I will invite Mayor Ruddick to open the public hearing and take any public comment.

Thank you for a nice presentation, Irma.

Yeah, yeah.

So maybe I'll just start.

Are there any clarifying questions from council members?

Okay.

Then I will open the public hearing.

Uh at this time I don't have any speaker slips, but if there's anybody in the audience who would like to address this item, you can come to the podium.

Or you can raise your hand online if you're participating by Zoom.

No speaker slips here, no, no raised hands.

Okay.

Well, I will close the public hearing and bring it back to the council for any additional comment.

We have no protest to consider.

So we could entertain a motion and a second on this item.

I move that we adopt a resolution assessing the levy.

Oops, lost it here.

Um read this.

Okay, I'm sorry.

That we adopt a resolution assessing the levy for the Half Moon Bay Hotel Business Improvement District for fiscal year 2026 through 27.

Second.

Aless for a roll call, please.

Councilmember Brownstone?

Yes.

Councilmember Johnson.

Yes.

Councilmember Nagingast?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Penrose?

Yes.

Mayor Reddick.

Yes.

Motion carries.

Thank you.

On to um item 10B.

Introduction of an ordinance repealing municipal code, Chapter 6.04, residential rental registration and Chapter 6.06, residential rent stabilization and amending section 6.02.020 definitions to remove terms relating to residential rental registration and stabilization programs.

We will staff report.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Denise Fazano, interim city attorney this evening.

I'll be presenting this item.

So before you this evening is an ordinance to repeal the municipal code chapter 6.04, which is the city's residential rental registration, and chapter 6.06, which is residential rent stabilization.

And we have also included in the ordinance amendments to section 6.02.020, which are definitions.

So just um a basic timeline for you and the public.

And that ordinance was adopted on May 7, 2024.

Since then, the council has received updates in two updates in 2025, and then a few updates earlier this year, one on January 20th, one on February 17th, and then it was brought back again on March 17th, 2026.

At the March 17th meeting, the council uh discussed both ordinances and and the programs that they establish, and ultimately a majority of the council gave direction to for staff to bring back an ordinance to repeal the residential rental registry and residential rent stabilization ordinances.

So the proposed ordinance before you tonight is very simple.

It repeals Chapter 6.04 in their entirety and 6.06 in their entirety, and it makes amendments to Section 6.02.020, the definitions to remove those specific terms that relate to Chapters 6.04 and 6.06, so that we don't have definitions kept in the chapter that don't apply to any of the provisions.

The ordinance also makes other findings relating to CEQA, specifies that the ordinance becomes effective 30 days after, and it has other provisions about publication and effective date.

The recommendation this evening is to uh by motion introduce by title and waive further reading of the ordinance before you repealing uh chapter 6.04 and chapter 6.06 and amending section 6.02.020 to remove those terms relating to those residential rental registration and rent stabilization programs.

So with that, I'm available for questions.

It was a very brief presentation, but the ordinance is very minor and succinct.

So it's not a lot to uh present about.

Thank you for a succinct presentation.

Succinct yet thorough, yes.

Um are there any council members who would like to ask questions of the city attorney or to comment?

Uh do we have any speakers in the room or online who would like to comment on this item?

Okay.

So at this time, if no one has any additional comments.

Yes.

No.

Yes.

Um I'm saddened by tonight's action.

Uh it seems inevitable since the new council members have joined us.

I'm sad that either council members here do not understand, despite being told over and over again how difficult things are for many people in our city.

And that they're willing to let go of the only protections that really mean anything to that community.

It's it's a sad, sad day for me and for others and for many people in the community.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Now's the time to make a motion and a second on this item.

I'll make the motion.

Do I have to read the exact title in front of me?

Yes, because it is an introduction that the full title needs to be added.

Full title in front of me.

It's up on the can you see the slide?

No.

Is it uh so essentially it's the recommendation on the agenda report?

Exactly.

Oh, okay.

I thought it was that's the title of the ordinance.

Okay.

Yeah, I uh introduced by title and we have further reading up and ordinance repealing city of Half Moon Bay Municipal Code Chapter 6.04, residential rental registration and chapter 6.06.

Residential rent stabilization and amending section 6.02.020, which is definitions to remove terms relating to residential rental registration and stabilization programs.

I will second that motion.

Could I have a roll call, please?

Councilmember Brownstone.

No.

Councilmember Johnson?

Yes.

Councilmember Nagengast?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Penrose.

No.

Mayor Radick.

Yes.

Motion carries.

Um we're moving on to the next item, which is um item 11A, uh consideration of tenant support, including rental assistance, inspection programs, and legal service partnerships.

Hello again, Madam Mayor, Councilmembers, members of the community, Hermar Costa City Manager's Office.

Excuse me, Irma, could you just get a little louder?

Oh, yeah.

Is this better?

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

Okay.

That's really hard for me.

Um tonight I will be walking you through uh potential tenant support strategies, including uh rental assistance, rental inspection programs, and legal service partnerships.

Um just present those options but also provide some context around how these programs function in place, uh what they're intended to solve, and what implementation could realistically look like in Half Moon Bay.

Um so tonight's item is for discussion and direction from council.

Um specifically, staff is seeking guidance on whether to continue exploring three strategies.

Um, an emergency rental assistance program, a rental inspection program, and a potential partnership, bless you, um, with community legal services in East Palo Alto or CLESPA.

Um, each of these approaches addresses tenant support from different angles, so financial, physical housing conditions, and legal protections.

Uh and they can work independently or in a combination depending on council's priorities and direction.

Um I don't want to be redundant, but just for context, um the city adopted the rent stabilization and rent registry programs back in the summer of 2024.

Um staff focused on implementation, outreach, and compliance support.

Um, and we provided several updates to council through 2025 and early 2026.

Um and throughout those discussions, broader policy questions began to emerge, um, particularly around uh the long-term sustainability, the administrative complexity, and the overall effectiveness of the programs.

And ultimately, at the March 17 meeting, uh Council expressed interest in eliminating both programs and shift towards a more service-based approach that directly supports tenants.

Uh so tonight's uh meeting is really that pivot point from regulatory programs to a more targeted support strategies.

The first option is an emergency rental assistance program.

At a high level, these programs are designed to help households that are experiencing temporary financial hardships.

So things like a medical emergency, a job loss, or an unexpected expense by providing short-term financial assistance to help them stay housed.

Halfhoom Bay actually implemented a version of this in 2020 where the city allocated funding from the Affordable Housing Fund and partnered with local nonprofit organizations like Coastide Hope and St.

Vincent DePaul.

And those organizations handled the eligibility, the distribution of funds, and the reporting, which allowed the city to support Hafoom Bay residents without the need to build a new administrative structure or program.

Throughout the program, St.

Vincent DePaul served approximately 47 households, and Coastide Hope served around 76 households, demonstrating both the demand and the ability for these local organizations to administer those resources within the community.

So building on that, the city could consider partnering again with local nonprofit organizations such as Coastide Hope, which actually already operates a rental assistance program and has an established presence on the coastide.

So we can really leverage on that existing provider, like this can help really streamline the implementation process and make sure that the program is accessible to residents who are probably already going there to receive or seek out other services that are offered there.

So such as utilities or security deposits in cases of relocation.

They're really meant to stabilize someone that is experiencing experimenting a moment of crisis.

And because of that, demand is often very high.

So the staff met with the city of San Mateo, who actually operates a similar program.

They actually partner with Samaritan House.

And they've shared that their demand for their the need has exceeded their initial projections.

So it's definitely something to consider if the city wishes to continue to explore this option.

The goal of these programs is to make sure that rental units meet basic health and safety standards.

So things like functioning plumbing, electrical systems, heating, fire alarms, carbon renox and alarms, and overall the structural integrity of rental units.

There are different ways that cities approach these programs.

A traditional model involves proactive inspections of all rental units on a regular cycle.

And while this is a more comprehensive approach, it is the more resource intensive and typically requires a dedicated staff or team to be able to conduct these inspections.

In this approach, property owners self-certify that their units meet basic standards, and then the city conducts periodic random or compliant-based inspections to verify that compliance.

And then the last one, so in conversations with our community development department, which is typically where these programs tend to be housed out of, we were kind of discussing the idea of an incentive-based model where property owners, and it's more of a flexible approach.

So participation would be voluntary, meaning property owners can choose to opt into the program rather than being required to participate.

And in exchange, the city could offer some sort of recognition or certification, such as being listed as complying or certified rental property, which can be beneficial from a marketing and credibility standpoint.

So a landlord can be more attractive to prospective tenants if they if the property is known to meet basic health and hate and safety standards.

So this option, the rental inspection programs, are less about direct financial support, but more about ensuring the safety and quality of the rental housing stock in Half Moon Bay.

And the first is staffing capacity.

So again, after speaking with our community development department, we were kind of discussing and agreed that the city doesn't really have the current resources to implement a fully proactive inspector program.

So this would likely require contracting with a third party provider, such as Forleaf, which is who we've worked with in the past, to conduct these inspections or even hire a staff that is dedicated to just these inspections.

And one of the more nuanced concerns is the potential for unintended consequences.

So for example, if significant issues are identified and a tenant may need to relocate either temporary or permanently.

So while the intent is to improve housing conditions, it's important to think through how those outcomes are managed in order to prevent displacement.

And the third and last option is expanding legal services through a partnership with CLESPA.

This approach is a bit different in that it focuses on providing tenants with direct access to legal support.

So CLESPA is actually already working with Co-Side Hope and has established a monthly legal clinic on the coastside.

So through this model, tenants can receive assistance with understanding the rights, reviewing lease agreements, and also navigating eviction-related situations.

And what's notable here is that from meeting with these organizations, they have shared that demand is already very strong for these services, and they've actually shared that every appointment that they've offered during these monthly clinics has been filled up.

So the need is there.

And in some cases, there have already been legal intervention that has prevented evictions.

And from an implementation standpoint, this is all also the more straightforward option because it builds on an existing partnership and infrastructure.

So again, Co-Side Hope and CLESPA are already working together and they already have a program set in place.

So just when looking at all of these together, each one serves a different purpose.

So rental assistance provides immediate short-term relief during a financial crisis, but it requires ongoing funding, and it doesn't necessarily address the under issues on its own.

Inspection programs focus on improving housing conditions, but they are more complex to implement and require significant resources from the city.

Often at a lower cost and fewer administrative demands from the city.

Um so the decision here isn't necessarily um about choosing uh one or the other, or if any, um it's really about identifying council's direction and priorities.

Um so at this point, uh staff is seeking direction from council on which of these strategies, if any, uh you would like us to explore further.

Um, and that includes identifying priorities, level of interest, and any other considerations that you'd like us to incorporate.

Um and then additionally, specifically, staff is seeking uh direction uh whether we should continue um move forward, I'm sorry, with the partnership with CLUSPA.

Um and then based on council's direction, staff would return at a future meeting with the more detailed program designed cost estimates and potential funding options for council's consideration.

Um and that concludes my presentation.

Um I'm happy to answer any questions or provide more details on any of the options that were presented.

Thank you, Irma.

Thank you.

Um Councilmember, questions for Irma or comments at this point before I take public?

Sure.

Irma, in uh 2020, the 200,000 that we had for emergency rental assistance.

Was that in reaction to COVID?

Um I think we were already working on a model like this, and it was accelerated by COVID for sure.

So how do we get to that amount back then?

Was that for one year or a couple years?

Um I mean it was intended to be for one year.

Um it it actually went beyond that that initial year, but um you know that was uh basically we have a hundred thousand dollars each to two different service providers at the time.

And um I think it was just kind of an initial investment to help support households, and we evaluated over time to see if we needed to replenish it.

And it kind of carried us through um the initial stages of the pandemic pandemic.

Right.

And our current housing fund has around 1.3 or 1.4 million?

Um, I verified with our um finance director, and there's actually 2.1 million um on allocated funds.

How much?

Uh 2.1 million.

2.1 million in the for in the housing.

Yes.

Great.

Thank you, are any of those earmarked for for anything?

Do we know?

Uh it sounds like those are the unallocated funds.

Um good with the numbers.

So direction tonight might have you look at what amount might be workable, talking with the service providers that would be helpful.

Yeah.

Councilman guest.

Thank you.

The um rental assistance.

That's just strictly the rent, right?

You t let's say utilities sometimes commingled with rental, but utilities are actually treated separately.

Yes, no.

Um, I think it's up to the organization's um discretion.

Like I meant when I met with staff from the city of San Mateo, so their program actually allows those funds to be able to be used for either utilities or relocation, um, like in terms of like security deposits.

Um, but we can definitely um have different requirements for those funds.

So that could be something we can determine how to spend those monies, whether we want to include it separately, because it would we'll set that up if we decide to move forward.

Yeah, so I would come back um at a future meeting with a more detailed program uh design and I we can outline some of those requirements in terms of how the funds are being used.

Okay.

And then the other thing you mentioned San Mateo is a peer.

What do you mean by peer?

I uh because when I hear peer, because they're a hundred something thousand populations, so I look at them a little differently, but maybe is it a peer because they offer the same.

I just went here because they're also a city and they have a similar program.

So when I was doing my research around what other cities are doing, that makes sense.

Um I I've met some of their staff and housing manager meetings, so it was yeah, that's what I'm saying.

Okay, I was trying to I know they're very our demographics are very different, but it's it was these programs in place, I think is what okay.

All right, thank you.

Anyone else at this time?

Okay, well I'll I'll take a public comment.

Um the first speaker I have here is Judy Taylor.

Good evening.

Um, I'm gonna speak here tonight about process.

Judy, can you move the microphone?

Um sorry, could you move the mic a little closer?

Okay.

You really need to speak right into it.

Is this better?

Yeah.

Okay.

Several years ago, Rich Gordon uh submitted an urgency ordinance at the county, giving us design review, floor error ratios, and a bunch of things that we hadn't seen before.

Um, urgency ordinances, they get presented, adopted 45 days later, then you got two years to go through the process to get it cleaned up.

45 days after that, there was standing room only in the vestibule of the Board of Supervisors' Chambers.

There were so many people upset about what they were seeing, and the the what was gonna the impact it was going to have on them, that they were just up in arms.

So Rich put together a task force.

Six of the folks that wanted to see more design review stuff, and six folks like me, um designers, architects, contractors, and we met off the record for close to two years, twice a month, two hours, rich and a staff person, and we drilled deep into the issues, and before that time we were getting a lot of two-story boxes, um, just two stories all the way around, big boxes.

And the folks that wanted more design review, said we want to see articulation on all four sides on the upper floors.

Warren Donald, some of you will remember, said that's gonna cost me more money to build.

Why is that gonna cost you more money?

It's less square footage.

He says, Well, when I can put the upper walls on the bottom walls, my engineering's done.

When I move a wall in, I have to engineer to support that weight.

That costs me more money.

Oh, the result was first meeting on Rich said, I do not expect consensus throughout the two years.

I do not expect consensus.

By the time we got to the end, 12 of us, two a one.

In a perfect world, I would like something different, but I can live with this.

Those days were ugly.

Um I helped people build houses in those days, and a lot of people got upset about it.

And I was in a meeting, Bernada Sanitary District, and the person in front of me said, whoever's doing this should be shot.

And people kind of tittered and claughed.

And maybe me, I said, I'm sitting right here behind you.

And she turned around.

You should be shot.

The tittering and the clapping elevated.

It took the guy running the meeting far too long to gabble the meeting down.

I'm telling you, those days were ugly, but we got people that cared about this community that were smart into a room, and we drilled deep on this stuff.

We got into what it means when you have to step a house down a hill.

Whether floor areas should be different on non-conforming lots, smaller lots.

And at the end, we all could live with it.

And those rules are for the most part, they're getting tweaked today, but they have held for more 30 years.

So what I'm asking you, this is a this is complex.

Please put smart coastsiders in the room to deal with this from a coastider's perspective.

Property owners want stable tenancy.

Tenants want stable housing.

We are not enemies.

Put the people together who know the logistics of these issues.

Let them get really deep into it, spend a lot of time on it, and then come back to you with something that you can say yeah and A too.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Nancy Fontana.

Hi, thank you this evening.

Um I have been trying to get myself up to date on a lot of things, like I went to the Measure D uh Nancy.

Can you speak right into the microphone, please?

Okay.

I went to the Measure D, I went to the Measure D informational session, and um have gone to other things, priority setting and and the comment periods.

I went to this, the one held for the Spanish people because I wanted to hear as much as I could from their perspective.

I thought that was important.

Um and and I recently watched the Zoom meeting on the housing.

That was last week, I think.

And one of the things that Derek Braun, who was the presenter on that, I understood all of the stuff he was talking about, but he made a point which is really important, and one was that you should not do anything that's so strict that it discourages.

And I think that applies in many situations for the city and when you're making decisions.

You do have the tenant protections code still there.

That wasn't part of what what is being repealed.

I understand the disappointment.

I think everything I think there is very good intentions.

But I haven't seen a lot of creativity.

I don't mean worth it, but we had a little property in Idaho.

And Idaho is a very conservative state.

And this is probably gosh, 30 years ago.

Had old house.

We bought it for the land, it was old house.

We thought we were gonna move there, but that anyhow, that's the whole never story.

But he was very poor.

He qualified through the state of Idaho.

We were contacted if we didn't, and our rent was low because we weren't living there and we didn't want it to be hard for him to maybe go do a little something if something needed to be done.

We were contacted by the state.

They had a program where they, if we agreed we wouldn't increase the rent for, and I can't remember if it was two years or five years, that the state would come in and make improvements.

And that would benefit us because we wouldn't be, it would improve the property, but also it would make it more comfortable for the tenant.

It did it replaced a couple of windows, they replaced some siding, added added insulation, did things because he was it was made his life more comfortable.

There's so much that could be done, and I think at the state level, I I these this legislation is I think a lot of it is backfiring, and that's why there's so much and a lot of it's not um people want it changed.

And I'm thank you anyhow.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um I have no more.

Oh, I have one more speaker slip.

It's Rocío Abila Garcia.

Will you like uh translation services?

Victor will come up.

So Rocillo is gonna provide her comment and then I'll provide you with a site translation afterwards.

In nuestra commodity community, it's in much cases de los que muchos de ustedes no se imaginan orcans, situations como desalojos injustificados, difficultades economicas y la falta de acceso a accesorial legal.

Esto affecta numero a numerosa familias que in muchos casos no saben atonde acudir ni cómo defender sus derechos.

It's precisamente la población mas vulnerable in lack the major barreras.

No podemos permitir que get in disembar desamparados ni sin protection friends that amenazan su estabilidad, su vivienda y su bienestar.

Ampliando su alcance y asegurando que la information llegue a las kinmas lo necesitan.

Muchas gracias.

Good evening, uh members of the council, um, and everybody present here.

My name is Rocío Ávila.

I'm talking to you so that I can express my support to the rental assistance program here in the community with all of the legal help that comes with it.

These types of initiatives are fundamental in order to guarantee that all of the residents, especially the most vulnerable, have access to resources and protections that they need.

So it's precisely this population that's the most vulnerable that has to uh jump over these hurdles.

So we can't allow or permit that we remain this way without any protections and different situations that threaten the stabilization, the living conditions, and their well-being.

The access to rental assistance and legal support isn't a luxury.

It's a necessity, a basic one, so that we can assure that there's justice and equity in our community.

So I'm asking you to continue uh fortifying and supporting these programs and maybe even doing more uh within your scope and making sure that all of the information um is well received to for those who need it.

Thank you very much for your attention and your commitment to our community.

Gracias Rosio.

Um I have no more speaker slips here.

Is there anyone online who would like to?

Okay.

Yes, hello.

Thank you.

Good evening, everyone.

Um I would just like to echo the previous speaker and encourage the council to support and potentially expand existing rental assistance programs and legal support services.

Um I've heard over the past couple of years the staff present multiple times how these programs have so much demand, um, more demand than can be met.

So if there is a way that we can help provide additional funding, additional educational outreach to landlords and tenants, and you know, connect people to these services, it seems that that would be a win-win for everyone.

So I would just you know really encourage that we continue down that path instead of spinning up new programs that ultimately could detract from helping our community.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Cindy.

The next speaker is Evelyn D'Souza.

Okay, sorry about that.

I see no other hands raised.

Okay.

So we can bring it back to council for discussion.

Who would like to start?

I guess I'll start the ball.

Um and do you want to just go through the each one of us just go to three things?

Yeah, I think that's an organized way to do it.

Start with the rental assistance and move through.

Right.

So rental assistance, you know, I I support that.

What that number should be, you know, I think that's something you should look at.

You know, staff could bring back to us.

Um, pure cities much larger budget, probably, and that's why they're gonna use larger numbers, you know, as far as but uh the idea to use it.

I did talk to Judith a little bit at Coastide Hope, and that is something they could uh use more funds.

You know, I'll make it clear.

You know, I would make it clear, I think I saw I think it was San Mateo might have used Half Moon Bay as an example that we um provide $50,000 that is for rental assistance to Coast Ide Hope.

It's not that whole amount that's used for rental assistance at Coastide Hope.

It's it is a smaller number.

You know, we have I don't think we've designated an exact number.

So uh we that's something we could do if we wanted a number to be dedicated specific specifically for that if we wanted to or not.

You know, I'm just thinking you know, however it comes back to us.

But I I just say I saw that number being used as if we're already doing 50,000 dedicated specifically, and that's not true.

Sam Mateo was using it as an example.

Yeah, I I've seen that in the past that they cite that the city of Happen Bay provides $50,000 of rental assistance.

And that's what they're citing as our CSFA contribution.

I think so, yeah.

Which is for a variety of items, and they've used it a little bit towards rental assistance, but they've been really wary of doing that because it's supposed to be a broader use of funds.

So that could be something we, as a council could identify a designated amount if we want to, or we could leave it still up to Coastide Hope or whoever.

Because I I'm thinking I would keep it with Coastide Hope.

I know we've talked about is it who's the one that does it on over the hill that San Mateo uses.

Right.

But I would rather tr use it with our own.

Yeah, I think that makes sense.

On the side, you're right.

Um the other rental inspection.

Um I I'd like to volunteer as much as we can.

I do not want to uh burden staff.

If we today, though, if we have a complaint, don't we go out?

So we we're we're currently doing that now when there is a complaint.

So complaint driven still would be our practice.

But I think if we could maybe incentive base some type of volunteer to get uh some pride of ownership, I think that would be um to me be preferable before we require mandatory to do uh to allow inspections.

It's just I'm uncomfortable just running in unless you're required to by law or have you have to do something.

So if I I think we would get more uh participation if people would volunteer on their own and want to be part of the program.

But that's how I would approach this.

I wouldn't want to have it uh mandatory right away.

And then in fact, I make the point that since we go out on complaints now as a practice, as we would any health and safety, we absolutely would go out and inspect.

And legal support too is important.

You know, what that again, I think there's a number in there, even though we say we could use housing funds, that's still city funds.

I want to be uh I just don't want to, you know, start unlimited number.

I don't know what, you know, I I see 40,000 as a is that a target number or something that's realistic based on conversation conversations you have had?

Yeah.

So based on conversations that I've had with CLESPA and Coast ID Hope, that's the figure that they gave me that would um continue to cover those services.

So they collaborate together?

Is that how that works?

And hope they the the lead on this and they refer it to the Coast I hope pays for these services.

Um and uh CLUSPA again uh has monthly meetings every I think it's second Thursday of the month.

Um so they actually come to Coastide Hope and host those clinics.

Um and then they provide they provide that legal advice um and help with like uh know your rights, they could they have workshops.

Um and then they also help with eviction-related situations.

So um that figure would kind of help cover those services and also expand either those services that are being offered.

Um, whether it's more outreach um workshops, uh we could it could create more uh appointments that are available to Halfambay residents.

Um but again that that'll be something that we would have to discuss with these organizations.

Right.

So would the money go to Coast Ide Hope then?

So that we would but we would designate whatever that amount is.

So it would be the 40,000.

Right.

Yeah, or whatever the number is.

I mean, if we want to give them more.

But but we would specifically designate it for that.

So the city would uh allocate this money to Coast of Hope, and then Coastide Hope would um pay CLESPA.

Right, but we would make sure it went uh the it was for the legal service.

Yeah, that is.

Yeah, that covers other safety net services, but this 40,000 would be specific for legal um support services.

And Councilmember Nagan, yes, we could specify in some sort of agreement with Coastide Hope that that those funds are to be used for legal services.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you.

And then get a copy of the agreement that Coast Hope enters into with CLESPA.

So that we have an idea.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Who would like to go next?

Mayor?

Yeah.

Um I think the idea of a voluntary inspection is absurd.

The problems come with the landlords who aren't doing the right thing.

They're not going to volunteer to be inspected.

So having voluntary inspections is only going to help those landlords that are good landlords.

It's not an incentive to somebody who is out to make money off of the poor to volunteer to be inspected.

That makes no sense at all to me.

Um I like the idea of a partnership with community legal services in East Palo Alto.

I think that makes a lot of sense.

I know that with emergency rental assistance, the um demand has been huge and much greater than than the supply.

So I would like to know more about what that demand is.

I certainly would not like to be stopping at something like 40,000 a year when that's not adequate.

Um, Vice Mayor.

Uh Councilmember Johnson.

I think uh I think Coastide Hope um I I like how they're working here on the coast, and I think it's it's the program is working.

I think we keep it in-house.

I like that idea.

I would definitely like to see 40,000 or more if we can for legal and any kind of uh ways that we can figure out um what the consensus is that's needed and fine-tune it.

Uh I did like the volunteer program, but I do hear the concerns, which I didn't think about.

Um but if we could have some kind of code enforcement on just on that action, if there's any way that if there is a complaint, we could use our in-house code enforcement.

Uh legal services, I'm definitely in for the collaboration with CLESPA and Coastide Hope.

I think that was a great idea.

Um then I definitely would like to see that we utilize our new person that we have for Facebook and Instagram and all that for getting the message out in all languages needed.

And utilize our web page that we have and utilize in City Hall, where it's right in the windows.

If you need help, this is what we have in all languages and the services that we're trying to do, and to know your rights.

And if we need to actually have more workshops, because I'm hearing that they're pretty packed, maybe try to incentivize in our own way if we could, if we have staff or somebody or we can hire somebody to actually do that so that if it is overwhelmed that we can actually get more workshops in there and more involved so that we can have brochures and things like that.

Whatever it takes to get the word out that we're here to help and try to do the best that we can.

But I also need to know more details of what it is that we need.

You know, it's it's for the rent, it's for utilities, it's it's whatever it is, so we can come up with a very detailed structured plan.

Councilmember Brownstone.

Yeah, I don't uh in terms of the inspection program.

I feel like the city, you know, already does follow up, right?

You mentioned.

And so if a tenant has an issue, whether they go through one of the local advocacy groups or not, we follow up on that.

So I need to know more.

I just haven't heard enough to say that we need that, actually, because we I think we already take care of that.

Unless I hear more information that we're not meeting that situation in a way that's effective, I'd say we'd not go that direction at this point.

Regarding uh rental assistance, I have a lot of um, you know, I've spent some time with Coastide Hope and really looked at their operation, and um I think they're very effective.

I think they're very trustworthy.

Um as Councilman member Johnson said it's not just rent, right?

You know, it's utilities, other things that we're looking at.

So I also had no idea that we had twice as much money in our uh housing fund than I thought, because I've just keep hearing one point something.

So 2.1 was a delight to hear.

We don't always have those moments where well we have twice as much.

So I really trust Coastide Hope.

I'd like to give them a hundred thousand, and I trust that if they they feel that's too much for one year, and they say, no, actually that'll last two years, depending on the demand.

I trust that they'll make very effective use, and we can afford it, you know, which is great.

Um in terms of the legal services, I think Klesima does a terrific job.

And um it seems like right now staff is saying 40,000 would cover the existing amount of issues that have come up, and then we can always, you know, they'll now be a recipient, so they'll come and give us progress reports and say what they're doing with them, and then we can make determinations incrementally uh if needed.

So yeah, I would like to see that.

And I think um, you know, hearing what Rocio Villa Garcia had, you know, a lot of folks um don't have the resources, you know, to bring legal cases.

And um and just one quick comment to make.

Um sometimes in our conversations or here or the hearings that we have to some, I've heard comments that it seemed that we were only focusing on the rent struggles of farm workers.

But my comment is I hear from seniors, they're not farm workers necessarily, who um they're on fixed income.

Their total income is Social Security.

And seniors, you know, I keep reading articles that seniors are the largest growing group of homeless folks.

So I did want to just you know correct the impression that you know we only are focusing on one community, but we're also focusing a lot on seniors.

And I sat around looking at the folks coming into the Coast Side Hope Pantry, and it was quite a mix.

And um, but maybe you don't always hear from everybody, because it's pretty it can feel very embarrassing to come in front of council and say, hey, I just can't afford to live.

So um so I just want to make that comment that you know it's not just uh farm workers, and so that's my opinion.

You might be getting coders needing help.

Coders, laid-off coders, terminated coders because of AI.

Right.

Uh I'd like to Yeah, um I'd like to ask how many tenants who are living in the deplorable conditions that we've heard exist here in our city, have come to this city to complain and ask for an inspection.

There's been a few, and that's what what we've referenced.

A few, how many is that?

Two?

I'm aware of two major issues that we've respected over the last couple of years.

Yeah.

So when you say that we already have a program, the program is not designed to help the folks that are afraid to come and speak.

It's not a good good inspection program if it's not taking care of those of the most vulnerable who are afraid to speak up.

That could be a good point.

I appreciate what you're saying.

Thank you.

But through the mayor, real quick.

But we are inspecting, we do have a complaint, right?

And that's how we operate today.

Right.

And do we know how many properties are deplorable that aren't being inspected?

No, and and the two that I'm aware of, those are the ones that rose to like such deplorable conditions that we had to take a lot of action.

There may have been more complaints that have been followed up by code enforcement, and we can get that information as part of a follow-up to this.

But I do think to the vice mayor's point.

This isn't a big thing we're dealing with.

And so that's I think kind of the question that's being asked.

Is it that there's not as many deplorable conditions as we think, or are people afraid to come forward somewhere in between?

So I think one of the recommendations I'm gonna make, and obviously we need to hear from the mayor, is that on this inspection issue.

I think there's probably more work we can do, and I think to Judy Taylor's comments, this is probably an area where we do need to sit down with landlords and tenants and do some focus groups and and and do some more exploration to figure out how you know how big is the issue and how do we address this and what what is the issue we're trying to address?

Is it um subletting?

Is it deplorable conditions, is it something else?

So I I don't want to steal your thunder, Madam Mayor, but uh as I'm listening, I'm thinking this is an issue that we probably need to spend more time on, gathering more information, having some focus groups, hearing from renters and from landlords and having some of those deeper discussions to figure out the issues and how we best address them.

Okay, so let me counter that.

So as far as home inspection, um I'm not ready to increase our level of uh of activity in this area right now.

Uh we do have um compliance inspections based on complaints, and we will continue to do that.

Um maybe we rather than having staff spend a lot of time investigating that issue, maybe there's a way to work with Coastide Hope on an educational program.

I think more education is always good for the rental community, and maybe it's like you know what you can do if you're a refrigerator, you're not getting any traction with your landlord with a broken refrigerator or the heating system or plumbing leaks.

I think education will go a long way in terms of helping address you know those issues.

And you know, maybe you have a you know an anonymous tip line where somebody can call and say, you know, we have this issue, we haven't had a working refrigerator in two months or whatever it is, there's rats.

Um if people are afraid, you know, make it anonymous.

Um I would rather, given the need for rental assistance and legal services, that's where I'd like us to focus our attention.

And uh as for the amount for rental assistance, I hear you you know say 100,000 dollars.

You know, I'm open to considering you know any amount where Coastide Hope feels you know it would be helpful.

So I I want to dig down more on that, how that would work for sure.

And legal services, if it's 40,000 or if more would be helpful, I'd like to know about that.

But that's where I want us to focus our time.

Rental assistance and legal services and general, you know, education.

Um not just legal education, know your rights, but um you know, other things about being a renter, you know, how to have an effective relationship with your with your landlord, who are all the service providers that might help you.

Um so I think you know, maybe there's money for education.

And I want this to be an add-on to the um the CFA grant program, because as we know, the the issue for people isn't just like rent.

You know, it's child care, it's food, it's you know, utilities, it's all kinds of things.

I think the money that we give to Coastide Hope through CSFA should be on those sorts of things.

And that you know, rental assistance, legal services are are an add-on because that gets it more of the holistic picture of what people are are dealing with.

So what I heard was it looks like everybody so far is on board with rental assistance, legal services, some have kind of nibbled around the edges of the home inspection program.

I personally don't want to go there right now.

Through the mayor?

Yes.

Yeah, I think education is a lovely idea.

And I think if if all you're worried about is a broken refrigerator, um, and and you learn that you can actually make a complaint about that and have the landlord take care of it.

That's just great.

But if you're living in a sublet where a whole family is living in one room, that family does not need education.

That family needs help.

So the idea of education to me is absurd.

Thank you.

Well, I see education as supplemental.

You know, when you're talking about like legal services with rental assistance and education, that sort of gets it the bigger problem.

So I'm not saying rely on it.

I'm saying there's a place for that in conjunction with these other services.

I'm all for education.

It has nothing to do with the problem though.

It doesn't solve the problem.

It doesn't help the people that are living in substandard conditions that are very vulnerable.

They need help with inspections, not waiting for them to speak up and have the city go and and and look at the broken refrigerator.

That's not the issue.

Never has been the issue.

So we're talking about some minority of people who really could use a little bit of education, not the majority of people that are suffering.

Well, you know, I'm not saying that people are not suffering.

I'm saying there are multiple things we can do, multiple pathways to help people, and I'm going to rely on the expertise of the service providers to help us figure out that piece.

Um but I think education, more education is always helpful.

How can you protect yourself?

How can you empower yourself to help make change?

So Robert's got a comment.

Councilmember Brownstone.

Yeah, I was gonna say, you know, when you're dealing with substandard conditions, the situation that we want to avoid is that if you complain you're considered some sort of whistleblower, and then there's retaliation, right?

For that.

I think the more we get um uh legal services involves, but where much less much less chance of retaliation when you know there's a law, you know, legal services involved.

And if that is linked to communication, hey, if these are the issues, we now have a protection.

When I say communication, that is a form of education, but then word of mouth starts going getting around.

Oh wow, these folks they'll back you up.

You can come forward.

And if you want to do it, you mentioned like anonymously, legal services will do it on your behalf, and they'll contact the city and say we need to do an inspection here, okay?

And keep, you know, um, and then they will track whether there's any retaliation.

So I think it's really how um you know the context that we put this in and how we you know talk about it.

I'm open to being educated myself by the people who do this work and understand it, so we know, yeah, there were shocking conditions going on.

You know, during the time of the shootings, there were shocking substandard conditions.

What I will say is a fact.

Many people knew about those conditions.

That is a fact.

And I won't mention any organizations right now, but people you know who should have been inspecting.

Um they were concerned, well, if we raise an issue here, these folks will just be evicted, or even they'll just close down the farm and no one will have jobs.

Those are real concerns.

So I'm just saying that is an unfortunate reality that exists out there.

So, you know, it could be pretty terrible, and um everybody was pretty shocked.

But was also a shocking to me later on was yeah, we did know about this, but we were afraid if we raised a stink, you know, there you know there would be even worse consequences.

I won't get into what I think about those excuses tonight.

Um anyway, do you feel like you have adequate direction here?

Uh excuse me.

Councilmember Johnson?

I'd like to add uh educating landlords on the requirements of the fridge working, fire alarms requirement, hot waters, clean water, um carbon monoxide, um heating systems that work functioning, filters that need to be changed, as we all do, things that you know sometimes people renters don't always do that, but they don't educate their people that you know this has to be done, or they have to go in and do it themselves.

So the landlord has to do it.

So there has to be a process.

Either the tenant does it, here's your filters, here's this, this is the process, and you get a little break in your rent.

I don't know what goes on, but sometimes these things are negotiated.

Uh locks are working, kitchen vents are working for the stoves, and then rodent-free, and communication brings possible resolution if proper resources are provided.

So we're educating the landlords that we do have a tool in place.

We need you to make sure that your units are up to what our standards are what we would like to see.

I don't know, without coming down hard, but we have rules in place that says this.

And these are normal rules.

Most houses have to abide by these rules.

But most homes, when you go get a billing permit, you have to have the fire alarms in there.

You're going to stop me from speaking if I want to speak twice.

How do you educate a landlord if you don't know who the landlord is?

We've gotten rid of the rental registry, so we don't know who our landlords are.

The bad landlords are not going to be educated by you.

They don't want to hear it.

It's only the good landlords.

And most of them don't need educating.

So the idea that education has any place in correcting the severity of this problem is absurd.

Education is helpful when you've got somebody who wants to learn.

It is not helpful when you've got somebody who has no interest in it.

This brings up another question.

So I'm guessing in our contract with Ptolemy on the rental registration, do we not own the data that was collected?

We do.

Okay.

And we're actually in talks with them.

So our IT department and their IT department are going to communicate about how we can gather that data after our contract.

Download that data and hold on to it, and then we use publicly available information data sets to update it as needed.

But we don't want to give up that data.

No, it's ours.

Okay.

Then why get rid of the registry?

Well, the last meeting I offered to keep it, and nobody wanted to, so it's over.

Okay.

I had changed my mind by the last meeting, and then nobody wanted to back me up.

So I'll ask staff.

Do you have adequate direction about where to go from here?

So I think on the emergency rental assistance and the legal services.

We're ready to go back and work with Coast Ide Hope and Class Bund others.

Try to get data to support at what level we should be supporting and how to create the framework, and we'll bring back something that is pretty well baked with some backup, hopefully for your approval for implementation in the next fiscal year budget.

I'm still a little unclear on the inspection side if it's something that we should continue to pursue or table for now.

Um so I think I I would like a little more direction on that uh as far as the consensus of the council.

I personally would like us not to really spend you know any more staff time on that right now.

There might come a time where we feel it's necessary.

I'd rather we make meaningful contributions via rental assistance and legal support.

But I'm happy to hear from other council members on the issue of the home inspection.

I'm going to poll you.

Councilmember Nagengast.

I I like that approach.

I mean, I we still are complaint driven.

We go out.

Health and safety issue.

I and if we do go forward, I like the idea of a working group together because there's tenant and landlord.

We keep saying tenant all the time, but there's also you know, protections for landlords too.

Um leasing gets thrown in here, and I I I I think subleasing can be a uh component that makes it sometimes difficult to find out something's going on.

So I think uh before we commit to anything.

But I think eventually you might we might be looking at a uh working group.

Like you may get feedback from legal and coast side hope that there's a need there, but you you might just restrict your investment of time on discussions with those people as to need for now.

Uh Councilmember Brownstone, home inspection.

Um, I need to know more to figure out how that works.

Because the issue around uh that um Vice Member Penrose wrote about, like how do you know who the landlords and you said, well, we want to bring up the idea of registration, but the real issue that came up was a voluntary registration, and then we heard back from staff that that wouldn't really work because landlords wouldn't volunteer.

So then it became kind of a what's the point?

Right.

So when you say you support a registration, but then we heard back, well, if it's voluntary, it's not going to work.

So we didn't really resolve that issue.

I I consider it unresolved.

If you want some sort of registry to make it effective, it's either mandatory or not, because you wouldn't get enough volunteers.

So that's the issue that this council ended up deciding.

No, we weren't going to make it mandatory.

So I just want to be clear that that's how it landed.

So what happened.

Um, I need to just learn more about the inspection process and how that even looks in other jurisdictions, you know, so you feel like you're getting I don't care if it's a random number of inspections, you know, something that happens in that way.

You don't know when there's going to be an inspection um on rental properties.

But I need to hear more.

I don't know enough about it one way or the other.

So Councilmember Johnson.

Well, it's it's pretty new and we don't know a lot, but I think we need at some point if we need it.

And in Coastide Hope as indicated, people are saying that people wouldn't come to the council to talk about this, but maybe in the Coast Site Hope or one of these workshops they're going to bring forward if there's that need.

And we can pool in that area too, and also know get it kind of a registry our own through Coastide Hope of where the people are ready.

So that would be the vehicle that people probably feel the safest.

It would be somewhere like that.

So that's what I would do.

The angle would be to go where people feel comfortable.

Uh the breakfast is at the Lutheran church, all the places that are offering lunches and things like that, we can kind of pool or get information and go from there.

That's where the comfort level is.

So that's where I would like to go.

If we need to go there, um and we need to do inspections, not something I would say that I'm excited to do because you would think that everybody would have their homes up to snuff, but we found out in the past they're not.

Um and we don't even know honestly, do we have when the registry went through?

I know people personally in this town, and I'm not going to bring them up that didn't register, and we know that.

There's a bunch of them that aren't registered.

The ones that were noncompliant probably didn't register.

So we have to, those are the ones you would find out at Coastide Hope, Lutheran Church, things like that, people complaining and talking.

And once you get to know somebody in those environments, and I know Paul, you do you donate your time on Saturdays or Sundays, you get to know the people that are doing it.

And I know a couple of people in my neighborhood, uh, Dave that goes and serves lunch and stuff at the Lutheran Church.

Those are the people that you kind of get information, and we have a situation and we need to address it.

And that's I think the best place would be the places that people go.

Not here because they don't want, like you said, it's not something but do they come into the city count or do they come in the city hall?

Do people come in to the counter?

Typically no.

It's it usually comes through one of these partner agencies.

Yeah.

That's where I would focus and and then see if we've got a pulse that says we need to address it, then we have to address it.

But I think we should have a plan in place.

And if we're learning from other cities, like Armode has done all this homework, I think we need to absorb all that and get these ideas.

They're very creative ideas.

Um, but will it work?

We don't know.

This is new.

It's it's a new idea and and the concept's new.

So I think as we go along, we'll see what process will work, and then we can tweak the process until it does work properly, but first find out what we have for a problem.

Vice Mayor.

I think that it's a good idea to involve Coast Side Hope in this.

I don't know that everybody goes to Coast Side Hope.

I don't know how many people Coast Side Hope sees and how many of them have complaints.

I'd like that information.

I think going to places like the Lutheran church breakfast is not the city doesn't have the resources to go around to all those places, and what do they do?

They go around and befriend people to find out what's going on.

No, that's that's anecdotal information that is not helpful.

So I think it's it's extremely important that we find a way to make it easy for the vulnerable people in our community to come forward with their complaints.

And I'd I'd like to table this discussion too, because I don't think any of us know the extent of the problem.

And I kind of doubt that Coastide Hope does too.

I think they know something about the problem.

Um but I'd like numbers.

If we're talking about really investigating, I'd like numbers.

So let me just try to summarize what I've heard.

Um that maybe it would be useful, but probably would be useful to talk to Coast Side Hope and Calespa about the issue of um habitability, what's the extent of the problem, what what did they hear?

If it seems like they think it's it's worth looking more deeply at it, then that I would say would trigger this bigger conversation that you were talking about with landlords, um tenants, but I would also engage property managers, because a lot of properties, the person who sees these things, I know from the property across the street from me, where there had been issues, um, you know, the property manager is the point of contact.

So Coastide Hope, CLESPA conversation there, and then maybe moving forward to a you know a larger conversation about how do we address this.

Can we include Alias in that?

I think that makes total sense since they're very much in touch with the the uh ground ground ground of the people.

Yes, so any trusted agency who touches the.

I think we open it, and we have the cohort of CSFA providers who interact with these households on a lot of different levels.

So I think I think the way you summarize is great, and I think that clarification is important that it's just not Coastside Hope or CLESPA, but we we start by having our trusted partners who are interacting with these households in different ways, and some interact with different organizations more than others, help us start to quantify this issue before we take a bigger step forward.

Yes, don't make it a big deal or a big investment of time until we have a handle on you know the scope of the problem.

You know, and and we have that conversation when we're having the conversations about rental assistance and legal.

So what I'm just saying is maybe not you know go off and make this a big project yet.

Councilmember Brunson?

And you know, this quantifying and determining the scope of the problem.

It's a very fluid situation.

Because as we know, starting at the federal government, then impacting the state government, so many programs are getting cut, you know, whether it's food programs, uh everything.

I think once we get a certain idea what some of the scope is, the thing I really want to get from these service agencies is what are their recommendations knowing these populations to make it safe.

What does it take to make it safe?

And they're the experts because they know those populations, because it could be pretty intimidating coming into City Hall or you know, filing a formal complaint.

But what are their recommendations to make it a safe process?

And that's what we don't really know for sure because it's very um scary.

One of the things you have to be careful of, service providers want service.

They want more services and they want more services funded.

So that's why it's important to get more community perspectives on the issue because if we have just one perspective or two perspectives, people serving the same community, you're gonna get you know the solution that serves them and their constituents.

So it needs to be a larger conversation at a certain point.

No, I agree.

We want to know from property owners, you know, what's fair to them, you know, to um have these issues.

Uh beware of bias and escalation.

And you know, looking for, you know, um confirmate confirmate what do they call it?

Confirmation bias?

Yeah.

Let's be careful with that.

Money.

I I think I'm pretty clear.

I think I'm Irma's doing the work, so I want to make sure she's clear.

I think I'm good.

Thank you.

To the mayor.

Um, Coastide Hope and uh Kletspar are on, so they're hearing this, so this is good.

So they're getting one-on-one because I'm seeing them on TV, so that's good.

Um but yeah, I'd like to see more information from both of these agencies.

Yeah.

Thank you.

I'm gonna wrap up this item, so I think you're good.

All right.

So right now I'm gonna call for a 10-minute breakfast.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I'll give a short presentation.

I'm sure you've seen the staff report.

Um, but as you know, Carter Park um was remodeled and reopened last summer as a really um really high-end uh outdoor amphitheater and performance facility.

And I think its primary functions are around performing arts and music and our Summers and Music Festival and Shakespeare in the park and those types of activities.

But in deciding to move forward with this proje project and and how it was designed, you know, I think we envisioned some other outcomes as well, including other opportunities for community gathering, economic development, and to generate some revenues for the Parks and Rec department.

And as we went through this design and the permitting, one of the things we identified is um the ability to at the time it was very focused on show movies, right?

Um we don't have a movie theater here in town.

There are limited opportunities for you know, seniors and families and youth and and adults to to watch movies, and this was seen as an opportunity to do so.

And so once the building uh the facility was opened, um we we were looking at trying to find some support to get a really nice projector and screen so we could start moving forward with some of those activities.

Um and then, of course, uh the World Cup came up and it changed our thinking about this a little bit.

And um as we explored this, we realized that we want to make sure whatever solution we have isn't just optimal for nighttime use, but for daytime use, especially here on the coast where nights are always cooler, even on warm days, and so the ability to use the park during the day for these types of viewings would also be really, really beneficial.

And that's what landed us on an LED screen versus a projector, because uh projection systems, even the highest end are not gonna provide a high quality experience during daytime hours.

Uh we do have the advantage of the way the park is oriented that the sun is at the back at all times, and so you don't have direct sunlight, but it would still impact the ability to watch something during daytime and even dusk hours and uh limit our ability to use this park for these purposes, which is why we landed on LED screens.

It's a technology that's really exploded over the last several years and becoming a standard for audiovisual presentations.

So as we thought about this, um obviously one of the potential uses is this summer for these World Cup watch parties.

Um, you know, the first game of the World Cup is on a Thursday at noon, and it's Mexico versus South Africa.

There's probably going to be a lot of interest from our community, and it's a noon.

So we would not be able to do this with a projection projector and a screen of any type.

Um again, other potential uses for this screen is movie screenings.

Uh, we have been included now in the library permit.

Libraries have access to movie rights.

One of the biggest barriers to showing movies is the cost of giving getting rights to do public showings.

It can be very, very expensive.

Libraries have this special ability to do public screenings.

There is a caveat, you can't charge money for admission.

So they have to be free public screenings.

Now you can collect donations, you can sell concessions, there's other ways to generate revenues.

But we are now included through a partnership with the library in that licensing, which means we'd have access to show all types of movies.

And the thought is, you know, especially with a daytime use, um, you know, seniors, we could coordinate and collaborate with senior co-siders, and you know, Thursday or Tuesdays at 11, we could show older movies that the seniors would be interested in coming to watch.

And you know, Friday evenings, maybe at 6 o'clock, we show Disney or other really family-friendly movies where families could come with their smaller children and have a picnic and watch a movie.

Um while it's still a little bit light out, and then you know, maybe it at nine o'clock the PG 13 movies start for you know, the horror movies or whatever for our teenagers.

There's a lot of great opportunities, I think, for community gatherings, some fundraising, and the ability to activate this park more often.

Um the other thing that a screen would do was open us up for more opportunities for corporate events.

You know, we could rent it out for corporate retreats or trainings.

Um, you know, weddings were already kind of in our plans, and who knows if a wedding would want a giant LED screen, but you know, slideshows, you know, videos are very popular.

So there might be an add-on to the rental and use of this park where people could pay extra to have access to this technology and be really creative.

And I think that's just the beginning.

There's a lot of opportunities that we haven't thought of.

And then depending on how we move forward with this, if we move forward with it, in talking with some of our partners, including local businesses and our nonprofits, if it was a portable solution, we would actually be able to rent this out for use at other locations as well.

Um, whether it's a business that has a garden in the back that wants to do a movie screening themselves or some sort of event that requires this kind of technology.

And we've already gotten feedback that that would be something of great interest to some of our businesses.

Um, again, if it's portable, you know, we could show the sand lot out at uh Smith Field and do a fundraiser that way.

You know, there's just some cool opportunities if whatever we um move forward with here is a portable option.

So in exploring these potential uses with really the World Cup is our our driving force on timeline because it starts in June of this year.

Um we've done a lot of research, a lot of work.

We've met with several vendors that specialize in these different technologies, um, including one that does most of the work at the Moscone Center, which has tons of corporate events and utilizes this technology all the time, and and landed on one that a portable LED screen is the right move here.

And I'll share with you in a moment what we're recommending because it really lends to our constraints as a small community with a small rec department and the lack of technical expertise that would be required for some of these solutions.

Um, you know, one of the things we explored when we were looking at the costs was okay, well, what if we can't afford to buy something this year, but maybe we could rent it.

And so we've gotten some quotes for rentals, and what we found is the cost of a rental is pretty much as expensive as uh buying a unit because of you don't get to set up, you don't go pick up a rental and go set it up yourself.

They send a crew, they have to set everything up, their staff time.

And so it would be actually cost prohibitive to do a rental for anything more than one or two events, and even then the cost of one or two events might be close to the cost of just purchasing a unit outright.

Um we of course have been exploring uh sponsorships and donations.

The city has a an adopted sponsorship policy for Carter Park that creates some opportunities for people to sponsor certain amenities at the park.

Um we've gotten some interest, but we're not there yet.

So the hope is if we were to move forward with an acquisition that we could continue to pursue sponsorships and maybe by having it, it it gives more interest that hey, every time this thing fires up, your logo or your organization shows up on that screen, and it's it's advertising every time this thing gets used, whether it's a Carter Park or an off-site location.

Um we we then step back and said, look, the timing is coming.

We've got to make a decision here if we're gonna meet the World Cup.

We have some uh unforeseen revenues because of the movie that filmed here and some of the revenues we were able to acquire through that.

We've had a lot of savings in our rec department, and within our parks and recreation budget, we have the funding to move forward with something like this now with the hope of recouping those costs through a sponsorship, a donation, and as we've mentioned over time, through renting out this equipment at Carter Park and elsewhere.

So what we've recommended through our work with these different experts and our constraints and needs.

Um these are called LED poster boards.

Um they are frameless units.

So the the edge of the screen is just right there and it's indistinguishable.

Um they come on wheels, they're uh about two feet wide by a little over six feet tall.

Uh they roll and they store in rolling cases to be really well protected.

And what makes these ideal is uh this image is trying to show um their IP65 rated, which means for dust and rain, you can literally have them out in a rainstorm and they'll be fine.

Um they're built for that.

The only thing they're not built for is submersion.

So sorry, no underwater movie watching.

But any kind of storm, the fog that we deal with here, the mist, um, these would continue to operate through it and and not have any issues.

What we would recommend is buying um up to eight of these units, which seamlessly hook together and then can be programmed to act as one large screen up to 16 feet wide and six and a half feet tall, um, which in our research, when you look at other cities that do like mute movies in the park, a 16-foot wide screen is pretty standard.

So it wouldn't uh and you'll see in the next slide here, it wouldn't feel like you're in a movie theater where the screen is this big thing in front of you, but it would provide for a really high quality outdoor movie experience, and again, part of it is that social gathering, that opportunity to be together and fundraise and enjoy this together.

So this is a depiction of at scale of what it would look like on the stage at Carter Park.

So, what our recommendation is um we've gotten several quotes, and it looks like this will cost about $25,000.

And our recommendation is to fund this from the Parks and Rec budget in this fiscal year, make this acquisition, continue to pursue cost recovery through donations or sponsorships, which would have to come back for your approval.

Um, and also through uh rental.

We are working on the fees for Carter Park right now.

Uh actually tomorrow night at our Parks and Rec commission, the recommendations will go to them, and we'll be coming back to a council meeting soon for the fees, and this is something that we would explore adding to the fees once we know we're gonna acquire it.

So with that, I'm happy to take any questions or um provide any additional information.

Councilmember Negencast.

Apparently I'm the one that starts these things.

So I'll throw some things out.

And I you know I I did ask city manager some questions.

I'm gonna bring them up again because I think they're important.

Um I will uh acknowledge I was um uh the projector and screen is where my head was, but you know, of seeing the technology, and it looks like it's changing, it seems more practical.

But I have some follow-up questions, you know, if we're gonna use these uh because you mentioned they can't be submerged, and that will bring up one of my questions later.

But I'll just start on the questions that you know you um I I don't like I I shouldn't say I don't like a concern when we use terms like unforeseen revenues uh in the middle.

You know, we're we're doing uh an organizational study, we're uh we're still in a structural deficit.

Uh frankly, I think you know a lot of our budget concerns have been addressed because we fully fund full staffing.

But obviously we don't have those positions filled, so that we're gonna have funds available, especially we we see that at the end of the year, and and I know everything trues up the mid budget years that goes back and shows you know the prior year.

I'm a little concerned about you know, making this kind of purchase in lieu of some of the other purchases we we we just had to do, the van and then some things that were done with the van, but I just, you know, 20 nickels makes a dollar, my mother used to say.

So I'm a little worried, you know, adding a little bit here, a little there.

So my next question was going to be how come we're not renting this to try it out?

So it the way I just understood what you said, the rental costs uh because they have to set up their responsible for it, includes the full setup at whatever that entails.

So you said it was close to 30, 20,000 just uh set it up or so, for instance, one of the things we looked at is could we have one of these companies bring in, it wouldn't be these units.

Um nobody rents these units.

Um these are you know, people own them for one-off type things, but you can't rent these.

What you would rent is they build a scaffolding and they bring in these two by two panels and install it and program it.

And so uh just the mobilization cost for like a one-day or two-day event could be upwards of ten thousand dollars for a unit like that.

And so when we got a quote for um doing it through the duration of the World Cup, not even the full duration, like a few weeks of the World Cup.

We got a $50,000 estimate.

And um and and I I believe if we continue to request quotes, it would be similar.

Um this is a very reputable company that again does this work all the time, and they're kind of the standard in the industry for the area.

So when you think of piloting it through a rental, um, sure, you would we would bring in experts, they would set it up, they would manage it, that would be great, but the costs would exceed a purchase pretty quickly.

Okay, but again, I I I don't want to have us put the cart before the horse because there's other things involved here.

Um like my next question is, you know, we haven't completed the park.

It's still the notice of completion hasn't been finalized, and um I'm concerned what interest would the contract, you know.

We've been using that park pretty much now, and now we're scheduling events, so how does this work with uh not having the notice of completion filed?

I mean Todd can speak to that.

Um we are there's one last remaining issue that's being resolved right now, and that notice for completion should be filed soon, but I believe we have a substantial completion in place, right?

Yes, absolutely.

Thank you, Matthew, and good evening, uh mayor, vice mayor, and council.

So there is one outstanding item at Carter Park that we are working to fix, and that is the lights on the stairs.

So we've had problems since uh inception, probably since design with those, they just never went in right.

Um next week we're gonna start doing the work uh with a third-party contractor.

Uh we're gonna should be done by the end of next week.

We're gonna give it another week just to test it.

And we plan on taking the NOC uh to council on the May 19th meeting.

So this should all be resolved before all the all the World Cup events.

We're we're very hopeful that based on some initial mock-ups that we've done for the fix for the lights at Carter Park that will have an active solution done next week and should be able to move forward with a notice of completion soon after that.

Okay.

Well, but it's not completed.

It is not completed, not at this time, that is correct.

And then um the next question that goes with that parking.

If we're advertising, come to our park, where is everybody park?

Because that leads into my uh kind of also into if it's a is this a World Cup sanction viewing location?

Yes, so we we fall, we've been very involved and engaged with what's called the host committee, which is a local nonprofit that partners with the World Cup to bring the regulations down to the local area.

And there's two different types of um watch parties that can be hosted.

There are large community events with thousands of people, and then there's smaller events with less than a thousand.

We fall under the less than a thousand and the requirements shrink down quite a bit.

So we're what we're looking at would be fully in compliance with um the World Cup regulations, and we continue to monitor any changes.

The host committee is really great, and they work with San Francisco Peninsula, the Visitors Bureau to make sure that gets distributed out to the cities and the businesses that are looking to do these types of events.

But so we're looking to be sanctioned by FIFA.

We just have to meet certain criteria, which we're fully prepared to do that.

But so then we're are we making this as if it's a world where I'm going with this.

I always thought it would just be a local place where our town could go watch the games.

Oh, and that that is the intent.

I mean, we would also work with the hotels and others that say a person comes in to watch you know the Swiss team who has a game here, and then the Swiss team heads north to play up in Seattle.

You know, the hotels could say, look, come and stay here, go to the game, make a vacation out of it.

By the way, while you're here, we got this really cool park in town where you can come watch a game.

But really, the idea for this is more local-based watching.

Um I I'm trying to understand the question if the concern is that like the World Cup would somehow market our events or if yeah, if there's some more marketing in this, other than this is just our low because I uh again, I just thought this would be our local viewing spot because you know, we're heading, we're in a hurry.

We have to get, I get it.

The World Cup starting, and they're not going to wait for us.

So we're hurrying on this, but then okay, who we advertising this to?

You know, to me, if it was local, uh it folks would walk.

I mean, those that know there, but those that have no idea where our park is, and I will say people don't know where Carter Park.

I had to take uh Sam Licardo's aid, he was looking for Carter Park, and then at the ribbon cutting, I took him down to show him where it is, and he had no idea, you know, a cool park, but not knowing where it is.

So, you know, first how folks know it's there, and then the parking is what I am concerned with.

Yeah, the the parking, you know, that's always been a concern, and uh that's been addressed as a bigger part of the project.

You know, we did a parking study and identified how many parking spaces were really within a walking distance of the park.

We partner with um not the shopping center.

They really are restrictive of how that gets used because it takes away from their ability to have you know their clients come and use their you know businesses there.

But the Stone Pine Business Park adjacent and Mariners Church have been great partners, and they allow us to, you know, on a one-off basis do parking there.

And that's where we get like our accessible parking for ADA purposes.

Um accessible parking is over there.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

And it's very close, actually.

If you park at the front of the office buildings at Stone Pine, um the office buildings, you just walk right in.

Uh maybe I could take you there.

Um but we we've addressed all of that.

And when we market it and when we host events there, we let people know you should walk or bike.

And um and we typically have people staff the entryway to the shopping center to tell people you gotta park you know next door and and direct traffic.

And you know, even my son got some service hours at the summer's end by being one of those people that that directed people to the other parkings.

So uh parking is always going to be a concern for Stone uh for Carter Park.

That's really irrelated, not related to the World Cup events, it's related to any events we hold down there.

And that comes through our marketing, our advertising, making sure we've made coordination for those that do need to drive.

Um but that's not unique to the World Cup.

That's for everything.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um, that kind of ties in with signage, you know, for saying it's at Carter Park, where's Carter Park?

So I didn't know if we had something for that.

In our next item, one of the items on our list for priorities next year is to take the sign package that was developed as part as part of the project, but not included in the phase of construction and move that forward so that we can get the signage we need uh from Main Street and get people directed down there from Main Street.

So the um So where are we going to store this at?

There?

So uh we we still need to explore that, but as I said, when you buy these units, they come with these rolling flight cases that fit to, they nest side by side and securely fit inside.

And once we understand what those flight cases look like, um I I think ideally we store this at Carter Park while we're actively using it.

But I think uh uh to your question about submersibility and the concerns that Carter Park could flood, um, we probably wouldn't store it there during the winter time.

We would we would store it off-site um and and we we would need to explore that, but we're not talking about a lot of storage.

Once they're in these cases, it's pretty compact, actually.

Yeah.

Well, to me, it's the location too, because it's out of sight, out of mind, somebody else is going to get wise to that too.

Somebody else is going to get wise to that too.

And I I worry about security.

Well, now they are.

You know, you know what I'm saying if it's there, but um, again, which is why I don't think we would keep them at Carter Park all the time.

But the one of the advantages of having that rolling door there is easy to get it in and out of off the stage.

Because the idea would be it'd roll it up the uh the roll it up the ramp and put it in the rack van.

We could probably get three or four of them at a time in the rec van and lay them down flat, and then we could move them to whatever off-site location we needed to move them to.

And then um the side story.

And then again.

And and just um when you you did mention partnering with um is that something they would co-own this, or is this something be totally separate?

No, we we would own this as part of our recreation department.

But you know, I'll give some examples of what we're thinking for the World Cup.

Um, you know, for different matches, we could partner with we happen to have the high school varsity girls soccer coach here.

Um, you know, the high school soccer programs, there's a soccer club here in town, the boys and girls club.

And and you know, because one of the issues we're always gonna have with our limited staffing is how do we staff these events, especially if they're frequent, and by partnering with nonprofits that might share in some of the fundraising and provide that staff, you get increased marketing, you get increased bandwidth and support, and an opportunity for them to fundraise, for us to fundraise for our programs and for Carter Park.

Um for movie nights, you know, an organization like Friday Night Live, while I presented a couple of weeks ago on their programs, and this fits right into you know, they're looking for safe sober activities for for teenagers on the coast.

They could sponsor, you know, a monthly movie night and they would help coordinate it, and then they could collect donations and either us or them could sell concessions.

So that's the kind of partnerships we're we're thinking about here.

Okay.

All right.

That concludes right now.

Thank you.

Councilmember Brownstone.

So we would get this thing insured too, right?

For damage or we'd have to explore the the cost of insurance versus you know the the risk.

But yeah, that that would be an opportunity.

Yeah.

Um do you think it's big enough for movies?

Like for another five grand, can we get it bigger?

So you can't get a unit like this any bigger.

To go bigger, you'd have to go to that unit I described that we would rent and the logistics of setting it up and storing it are it just changes.

I you know, Brian, our IT analyst discovered this, and this is a good solution for us.

So if you're at the back of the amphitheater, do you feel it's I've been down there a couple of times.

I think if you're sitting at the very top, uh again, it's it'd be kind of like watching TV at home.

Yeah.

Um there's still, I mean, I think still people would for certain events want to be out there.

But if you're kind of a third of the way down and below, yeah, it is sufficient.

And and again, we've looked at what other cities do for their movies in the park, which is a very common practice, San Francisco, Redwood City, and they tend to do inflatable screens.

Redwood City has something similar to this on a trailer, and this is about the size they come.

So this is pretty normal.

People know you're not getting a movie theater experience or even a drive-in experience.

You're just getting something that is nice to watch on, and you can watch the event or the movie while participating in a different way.

Can the screen go up at all?

Like, we can look at that.

I was thinking about that, but um I I think we would be careful of that because it's the way they attach together and they're on wheels.

I think we'd we'd be want to want to be very careful to you know, they're stable the way they come.

Do we want to try to modify that and cause issues?

So I think it's something we would look at, but I'm not sure it would be necessary or practical.

Right.

Right.

Um Yeah, you know, I think it would bring I do think it would bring a lot of folks interested in events.

You know, you can broadcast concerts, you could broadcast a meeting, you know, a company meeting, and I have guest speakers, you know, be zoomed in.

Um it's great to see a live concert video, you know, video broadcast, sporting events, world series, hopefully with the Yankees.

Election night.

You know, election nights results, yeah.

So I mean, yeah, that's election night out could have a whole new meaning, couldn't it?

I was frankly surprised that the cost was only $30,000, actually.

I thought it would be so much more expensive.

I didn't realize the technology is such that you get such a bang for a buck for 30 grand.

So um I think it's a great idea.

I think a lot of people will be interested in having events and um 30 sap 30,000 seems like a pretty reasonable investment.

Vice Mayor.

Yeah, I I love the idea.

I think it's a great idea.

Um and I think you will get sponsors.

I I don't think that's gonna be that hard.

The um uh one issue that I have with Carter Park as it is right now is the concession stand is not adequate.

And if you really are inviting people to come to watch a movie, you need to provide popcorn.

You gotta provide, you know.

You know we have a rolling popcorn cart in our rec department already.

I didn't know.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Good.

And cotton candy, our our rec staff are trained on making cotton candy.

Anyway, I I I think that that part is important.

But I think it's a great idea.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Councilmember Johnson.

Um I like the idea.

I do I am concerned about the stairs and tripping and falling that I pointed out, or we you guys pointed out, I saw it.

You know, I'd like to get to make sure that we are uh that's done.

Uh I I do have concerns if if are we ready to rock and roll with Carter Park?

Are we signed off so we don't have a liability issue that's sitting there?

Um because I kind of pointed that the you guys actually like siliconed it back up and then it fell down.

It's just it's not getting resolved.

Um then I do have um concerns about wheeling it up the pathway all the way up and up around the corner, all that movement.

Do we have, you know, are we gonna carry them?

Are they heavy?

Are we gonna have a dolly?

I know these are pity little things, but the more you move equipment and you just drop it, you crack a screen.

It takes two seconds.

So I'm concerned about that.

Do we have if we do store them at Carter Park, do we have a security system at uh Carter Park?

We do not have a security system again.

Because we've got a $30,000 unit, $40,000 unit sitting in there, and that's a dark place.

Um I'm worried about like if we can get an insurance, this was just brought up, like if some something were to go wrong.

I did reach out to the company to try to get some specs, and I emailed them.

I haven't gotten anything.

Have you gotten response from them?

Um I uh we haven't been talking directly to the manufacturer.

We're talking with organ you know, companies in California that are distributors of these and supply them and and um you know there's several of those in California that's my concern corrosion, but you know, this thing is apparently, you know, corrosion or waterproof somewhat is what you're telling me.

Uh those were the questions that I emailed them, but I haven't res they haven't responded back.

Um let's see, what else?

Oh, sound system.

Do we have a sound system or is this unit come with the sound system?

We we have a really nice portable Bose sound system that we would use for this.

It's already been tested.

Um ultimately we would like uh a high-end mounted system that's outdoor rated and just permanently out there.

But we have a system already that can be used and it's been tested and really sounds amazing.

And then the other one was the group, I guess uh we have the licensing, what's it called?

Um uh what's the soccer that's called FIFA?

For FIFA.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Do we have um you have that all secured?

I mean that's we're we're working through it.

Um obviously there's um we we will have to buy a commercial sports package to show it, and we haven't done that if we don't have the uh ability to show it.

But again, the the host committee has provided really great support, and we've been involved in all of their trainings and they have a playbook, and anything we do out there will meet the requirements of FIFA.

So you don't need what they're calling a public performance license or you do.

We we won't because we're our events won't be large enough to require that.

And that would be a thousand and less, right?

A thousand per event.

Yeah.

And how many people I think seven hundred as a part of parking.

That's the max.

I don't think we would ever get that many for a single showing.

Okay.

And then on um who's gonna watch over the unit, like let's say we have an event.

Like let's say we have an event.

Are we going to have staff that's available to set it up, watch over it, put it away, all these things.

We have all that dialed in.

Yeah, and and what we would do is for rentals, um, you know, that would be part of the cost of renting the unit is paying for a building attendant that would be there to staff it.

They'd be trained on how to set it up, take it down, troubleshoot it, all of those things.

And then are when we do have the events, is are we at some point going to have an indication of parking in the correct areas in the business park as you indicated in the Mariner's church?

I think it was is that what you said?

Yeah, that's that's often what we use.

The um post office during off hours also has been a good partner.

Um I don't see anything permanent going in because we have to work this out on a event by event basis.

Um because obviously Mariners, you know, if if we wanted to schedule event during one of their church services, their response would be, well, you can't use our parking lot.

So there's coordination that happens for all of these events.

But um through we we've had experience now with several events, and this happened before we remodeled Carter Park because we've done events at Carter Park for years.

Um between temporary signage and volunteers, you can get people directed to the right parking, and we haven't had any issues with the Stone Pine Shopping Center parking lot.

And then are we going to be able to advertise using Instagram and Facebook and our website that we're having this event and promote this event and so that we can make it successful and also make sure that we have you know that we were sending that message out to walk or bike also?

Yeah, that would need to be part of our our outreach for any event to encouraging people to walk bike or park downtown and and you know enjoy the businesses and walk down to Carter Park.

And is this event uh with the World Cup would this would be a free event?

Is that what it's going to be?

Yeah, I I I envision free events.

Uh well, one, you can't charge for these events.

So um they would be free community events, but again, we can sell concessions, the nonprofits can collect donations, those types of things.

Okay.

That's all I have.

You did ask a question about transport and your concern about that.

Um so as as I shared, uh, you know, uh I I was a DJ for a long time, so I'm familiar with some of these things, but there's these things called flight cases.

And well, we got one right here.

So picture a box similar to that that's built specifically for these units.

There's foam padding inside that's cut to fit these units.

That's how we would move these.

We would never roll these around other than just getting them out onto the stage.

Anytime we're putting it in a van, taking it anywhere for storage or for a rental, they would always be in these flight cases which are padded, and they're built, they're called flight cases, so you literally put them on an airplane and ship these things overseas if you needed to.

So they would be very well protected in and that these are units that come with the screens when you buy them.

Yeah.

I looked at the brochure, it actually shows that.

And it's two per flight case.

Two per case, yeah.

So I looked through the whole thing, checked it out.

So when you talk about rentals, you're not talking about people coming and get them and taking them some other place.

No.

What we're thinking is someone's doing an event at you know, Johnston House or one of our local businesses that has an outdoor space and says, hey, we got an event, we want to rent it.

We'd have a fee schedule, and part of that fee schedule would be for delivery setup, and they'd have to pay the hourly cost of a staff member to be there during that event.

Because this is our equipment.

So never handing it off to someone else.

You know.

It's just got to be supervised.

Yes, absolutely.

Comfortable, you know, any other way.

Yeah.

Um, but I think I think you need a security plan, a storage plan, a staffing plan.

I mean, I'd like to see all these things, you know, in writing.

Maybe not the security plan.

You want to probably keep that to yourself.

But I think this needs to be, you know, written down so that we know that you know.

Yeah, and that would that would be included, I think, with the fee schedule as well.

All that needs to go together.

Yeah, all that all that information I think is really important.

Sure.

Um so you've looked into our insurance coverage for this equipment is this would be a separate uh insurance policy, so we would have to look into that and determine if it makes sense giving the cost of the equipment.

So that is something we need to explore further.

Yeah, I think you would want to do that before you make any purchase.

Yeah.

And then have you talked to anybody who uses this equipment to get like user testimonies about how it works?

We've done that through the vendors, yeah.

And and again, the feedback has been great.

Feedback from other customers.

Through the vendors.

I haven't talked directly to any customers, but through the vendors that that sell these units.

Um ultimately they're the ones that we were looking at a different unit that is more expensive, and they recommended this because of how we wanted to use it.

Correct.

Yeah, I mean it would might be nice to get, if you can, customer testimonies to help identify, you know, any issues.

Sure.

Um then uh somebody shared with me what I thought was a good idea is that you know, allowing maybe the businesses in the shopping center to, you know, operate the concession stand.

You know, if they can make a little money selling stuff down at the park, maybe they'd be a little, you know, more open to having parking there.

Um just finding a way to enlist their support and incentivize them to allow access to the parking lot, I think would be you know a good idea.

Yeah, one of the things we've hoped for for some of the festivals is if they would even set up like delivery stations where you wouldn't have to go all the way to the business to order, you know, if you had special packages like, hey, I just want you know your your cheesesteak and fries and you pay for it at Carter Park, and you either pick it up just at the top of the stairs or even it gets delivered.

So um we continue to try to work with the businesses, and I think part of it is having more events.

You know, we only had a few events last year, and then you know, the season ended.

Going forward, we would like to be able to have those kind of partnerships with the businesses because frankly, we've got built-in concessions, right, for for real food, um, a variety of different foods.

It's a very diverse set of restaurants up there.

Yeah, so I like the idea of having um you know the the movie, the film capability.

Um I just want to make sure that we have a plan, and that plan is in writing.

And we know we're getting into insurance-wise.

Um you know, it's easy to get really excited, Carter Park.

Let's do this, let's do that.

I think we need to be sensible too, and just try to, you know, contain ourselves a little bit.

Keep it real.

There's one thing I notice also, and Matthew, you might be able to correct me if I'm wrong.

There are eight units total.

You don't have to use all the eight units.

You can use singular units one at a time.

So if you want to put two together if they have a small space that say somebody else is using it, or just one panel.

So you can use one to eight panels total.

Correct?

That that's correct.

Yeah.

And you know, for certain formats, you know, like an older movie that is not widescreen, you would only pull out as many panels as you need to to show it full screen.

So they're very, very flexible and very user-friendly.

It's a from all of our investigation, it's a very simple setup and and coordination with that.

Then you come up with a fee structure of one panel fee, two panel fee, eight panel fee, and things like that.

So uh council member Johnson, where are you um authorizing this purchase?

I would like to get all the details figured out first, but I'm excited about it.

Uh but I'd like to have all the answers because I don't and I would love to get a feedback from somebody, a city or somebody that's used it and over a period of time.

I know if it's a new product, you're probably not going to get that, but it'd be great if we heard one year of use and it worked flawlessly.

And yes.

Uh it's like buying a car, I'd want a test drive.

It would be great if we could get a test drive out of this thing.

If some if the manufacturer could do a display.

And I want, you know, we want to see the quality of it.

There's nothing worse than getting something that you know that's it's it's it's from China.

It's gonna be somewhat good.

Most of their products are good.

They copy really well.

Um the burnout rate and all these little s stats that I did at AI on, they don't really give it in this unit at all.

And that's what I was asking for.

So you were we're kind of chancing it.

I'd like to hear what the feedback is and see how long it lasted and and the quality.

But I'm excited about it.

Yes.

Has anybody on staff actually seen it operate?

No, we're we're trying to get access to one of them that's here locally somewhere.

So that is something we're working towards, and we would do before we made a purchase.

Okay.

Um Councilmember Nagencast, where do you come down?

I'm still I I there's still pieces I would want completed.

I I still want to know, make sure we're clear on the parking that the park is completed.

Uh to me, that's a fundamental issue.

Um I was trying to figure out how long does it take to get this if you bought it.

We'll get a lead time on it.

Yeah, because to me in the first world what you're trying to do first World Cup game is June 11th.

June 11th.

So there's some time.

But I, you know, I don't want us this is a I think a big decision.

And it's really it's kind of cool.

Again, I was all on projectors, but now knowing you can you know show daytime, you can, you know, for uh younger adults or older adults even daytime becomes more practical for a lot of us and uh the ability to do that so we're not waiting until summertime is nine o'clock at night before it's dark.

So it's I like that, but I still I'm not all there with the parking and uh let me clarify.

Yeah.

Are you willing to give direction tonight to move forward with the purchase, or are you saying you would like more information before you say move forward with the purchase?

I want more information.

You want more information.

And you wanted more information.

Councilmember Brownstone Um I would think hope the vendor would give you the name of a number of customers, maybe a dozen and call them up and then see which if any of them are close.

Are any of them close?

So then you could really ask a lot of questions.

I prefer custom.

How long has this particular model been on the market?

It's a fairly new model.

I don't know the exact time frame, but this is new technology.

Yeah.

So is the prior model been out for two years?

You know what I mean?

Is there a prior model that's been out for a couple of years that we can go and check out with people?

Um that would be great.

Um I like what the mayor said about getting the other pieces of data.

Um I would probably think to hold off on rentals.

I mean, if you we can get enough events that start only because I'm a little wary of you know, moving something that big around, and people who are moving it really, you know, are caref know what they're doing, even if you know what you're doing, moving something that big things can happen.

So I feel like um maybe the half panels wouldn't be you know so bad, but moving the whole shtick might create more risk.

Um so maybe not jump into that too quick, you know, until we're sure we can handle it even on you know the premise of car park.

So may I summarize?

Yeah.

You're saying that you want some more information, you want staff to do a little more research.

But what are you saying about moving forward with the purchase?

Are you saying hold off until you do a little more due diligence?

Is that what I'm hearing you say?

Yeah, I think you at least want to look at it yourselves, you know, and speak to the customers.

Yes.

Because vendors do have confirmation bias.

That's exactly right.

They'll confirm whatever the heck you say you need it for.

So you know, you do want to have some more um customer, I think input would be great.

Uh Vice Mayor.

Yeah, is there any way you could get the screens to Carter Park for a trial run before buying them?

Uh I don't think so.

I don't think that's possible, but certainly um getting our eyes on it is part of the process.

So getting wherever they're located.

Yeah.

Okay.

And then the the other question I have is if you're talking about getting feedback from customers, and this is new technology.

Um it sounds like you can't do it.

It'll be limited feedback is my guess.

You know, we're not going to have extended use.

But the company's been around for a while, so I think to Robert's point, at least earlier versions of technology, maybe they won't be the rolling cabinets, but the screens that they use, are they durable?

Do they last a long time?

What's their lifespan?

Those types of things.

You know, they're newer units, but they're coming from the same manufacturer and they're similar.

That also is helpful for you.

And we we were talking about insurance, but I guess also what are the warranties actually.

Right, okay.

What about warranties?

You know, what about returns?

You know, all that stuff is important information.

Yeah.

And I'm going to throw my hat with the three other council members who have spoken already about.

I'm not ready to give direction to move forward until we tie down more of this information.

I think it's important.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But let's hear from the vice mayor.

Yeah.

Um I I guess I feel the same way.

I think it would be nice if Matthew knew exactly what information he needed to gather because he is under a time crunch to get this in time for the World Cup.

So it it would be nice to um give him a list of things to do.

Yeah.

I'm hearing insurance, warranties, feedback from other customers.

Obviously, we want to get our eyes on it.

Um, I think that's a good question.

The plans.

How we do everything, how it's okay.

Yeah.

Um, you're taking this to the parks and rec commission tomorrow night, right?

Um we were planning to because I mean, well, part of it is this is within my purchasing authority, but it's such a big deal.

You know, we we kind of pulled it, and it's like, no, let's have some public conversations.

They're excited at this use.

They're the ones that recommended that we should really pursue movies and events at the park.

So they're very excited about it.

We uh we haven't weighed in with them on the units themselves.

I assume it'd be a similar conversation.

So it's not agendized, so we can't talk about it tomorrow night.

So I think you have a handle on the information that you need to say.

I well, I've got a couple of follow-ups.

Um, Paul, you we'll do some follow-up to ensure that you understand that we have the right to use the park and we're not creating new liability.

And ideally by the time we purchase these units, the closeout's done, and you know, there's some other things that we'll be doing with the park and the contracts, but it'll be buttoned up.

The parking.

I I'm not sure I understand what you're looking for from a parking because we we've already kind of addressed how we manage parking.

We did that before we opened the park.

Then remind me.

I mean, I have the plan, and that's how I see what the parking plan is.

Two people standing at the driveway saying park that will be.

It's kind of event by event.

Um we could put something in writing.

That's how we do our accessible parking, and and we're okay with that.

I I think the parking is really a separate issue here.

I think I'd like us to focus on the recommendation before us.

And I think you just bring it back in a couple of weeks with with more information, and then you know we can make a decision here.

Okay.

And and certainly I'll probably check in with you as I go through my notes and make sure we're catching everything so that we can have everything for you at the next meeting and know we're good to go.

So I think that's a good idea.

And we have another big item coming, so let's uh public comment.

Is there anybody in the audience or online who would like to comment on the item of the um recommended purchase of um some film technology for Carter Park?

I don't see anybody in the audience.

Is there anyone online raising their hands?

I don't see any raised hands online.

So I think we can move this item to 11 COVID.

Great.

Um to switch presentations.

Thank you, Verma.

Okay.

All right.

Okay.

Let's see.

While we're pulling that up, I can just give a quick background.

Um so this item is to continue discussion of our council priorities work plan for the upcoming fiscal year and really the next two fiscal years.

Um we've historically done this on a two-year rolling basis.

Um I don't think I need to give a lot of background on our process for setting priorities.

We've done our normal steps, including listening sessions and a council priority workshop back in March.

Um that workshop really focused on um establishing the list of projects that we have coming forward and that are beyond our kind of day-to-day work and identifying if there are additional things that the council needs us to focus on or work on and make sure we have resources for in our budget.

So what we've done since the priority setting session is take all of that information and compile it into a very high-level work plan.

Um this is not the level of detail that we would finalize it with, but it helps us to just organize it and see it and make some decisions on it.

And so what we've done is taken this very long list of of different projects and and ideas and loosely organized them into several different categories.

In this case, there's six categories.

And um what we want to do tonight is go through this list and identify any of these projects or programs that you just don't think we should even be spending time on over the next two years.

Hopefully we're not adding new things because that's how we spend a lot of our time at the priority setting is identifying additional things that were not already listed, and then getting some level of prioritization from you so that when we come back in June with the work plan, it's prioritized.

It has more details about the steps we will take related to each project and some timelines for delivery on each of them.

And that way you can adopt that and we can start implementing those plans.

So that's the goal tonight.

There's really you know three things we want to establish.

Are the lists correct for the next two years?

Um is there anything we need to add to or take away from those lists?

Number two, what is the prioritization we want to put on certain things here?

Are there things that are less important or can wait versus things that are more urgent?

And then kind of loosely are the categories right.

We can always change them.

We can organize this information differently if that's what you prefer.

Um, and that'll help guide us towards a final work plan.

Um the list has been slightly updated since we published the agenda.

Uh there are copies of the amended list by the door.

We will be updating it on um the Granicus site for the attachment, and then you all have copies of the updated list.

I dropped it on your table here, and it's just the couple of items highlighted in yellow that have come up that we need to address as well.

And um the color coding, green is stuff we're already actively working on.

Doesn't mean we can't stop, but it's important to know that there's already time and energy and resources being put into it.

Items that are blue are things that are mandatory and we really don't have a choice on.

And then items that have an asterisk, we just wanted to point out those came up as a priority for our parks and rec recreation commission, which you know their role is to advise you on and staff on activities and things we should be working on.

So I think that's all the context.

And um what the mayor and I talked about earlier is kind of going by group.

So each slide in front of you contains all of those on the list from the document that was attached, and that way we can kind of look at it group by group and and at least work our way through it.

And so I think what we had talked about is um the council members, if they so wish, can comment on anything they'd like to see removed from this list.

Again, we can add things if we need to, but hopefully we've already worked through that part of the process, and then anything that really is a top priority from these lists.

Is that that fair?

Great.

We have one speaker slip.

Would it be okay with everybody if I took that now?

The speaker is Harvey Rabuk.

Uh if you look at the list, it's really incredible.

I I don't think there's any way in hell that you can actually implement all that.

But my comment today has to do with two real long-term items that are on the list on the item about uh public health uh that have a real possibility of making a big difference on the entire coast side, not just half moon bay.

And those two items are first to have a special district that would deal with water and sewer uh along the entire coast side.

We've talked about it before.

It's on your priorities list.

I would like to bring that up in a priority.

I think it's really important.

I think it's gonna take a few years probably before it gets implemented, but uh a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

Uh the other item that's on your uh org plan has to do with uh implementing a health care district.

Uh I've been trying to get an urgent care facility uh along with a lot of other people uh for the last three or four years.

And it's just pretty clear that without a source of funding to have an urgent care facility, uh we're not gonna be able to do it.

We're just too small uh an area.

If, and this is again a long multi-year process, we were gonna get a health care district implemented that would then have the taxability to create uh funding for uh much more health care, which if you talk to people it's really important on the coast side, something we don't have, and unless we get some source of funding, and I I can't think of any other way beside uh implementing a healthcare district that we need to do that.

And unless we get some source of funding, and I I can't think of any other way beside uh implementing a health care district that we need to do that.

So these are two items that are long range, uh, but I think they're really important.

They're gonna take a while, but if either or both are implemented, I think the coast side will be better for it.

So I urge you to raise the priority of those two items.

Thank you.

Thank you, Harvey.

Um I see no other speakers in person.

Is there anyone online who would like to address the council priorities?

There are no online speakers.

Thank you.

Okay.

So if we could bring back that uh first category, organizational health and excellence.

Uh the camera just went out.

But in the meantime, your the the worksheet you have in front of you and the worksheet that was attached to the staff report is the same list you see here, with the exception of the new item 15, which is website 88 compliance, which is a new state mandate.

Okay, so um, we're gonna focus on like by group.

And um I'm gonna ask you for your comments.

But basically, I'd like to hear what your priorities are.

And those are mostly in the black.

Green is already in progress.

Blue is legal mandates.

So we're we're mostly concerned about the the bold items.

The bold and black.

And then if you want to delete anything or add anything.

Uh adding as allowed.

We want to use this judiciously.

Um have discussion about it.

So I'm gonna go around the dais and I'm gonna start with Councilmember Johnson.

Can you address organizational health and excellence?

Only the black.

Only the black.

I've got a process.

Okay.

Um Councilmember Nagencast, would you like to start?

All right.

Bookshelf here.

Um I I I looked at and of course my printer at home, uh, green and blue, kind of did the same thing.

So it helped getting the handout here, it really helps identify what those are.

So we're doing the black anyways.

I kind of looked at one through five, kind of were all tied together.

There's some things I know we're doing as uh part of the study that will come out of the study.

It could be even, you know, the staff training development could be part of the uh organization, you know, coming out of this.

So I kind of thought one through five were kind of attached together.

Um what was the other?

So the 113, the corporate yard improvement, what is that?

So um it's not an active project, but um when we built the corporation yard, um it was built as phase one.

The design includes other features, including uh a workshop building for storing equipment, for staff to be able to do projects within.

Um we we created a pad um on part of the site that could be the location of that building, but we don't we don't have the funding, we don't have you know the ability to move forward with that.

Uh so it's on the list as a question more than anything.

Is this something you want us to consider moving forward?

What I will say, and I apologize for not sharing this context, we included CIP projects here that are kind of in the pipeline just for context.

We'll be having an item uh probably at the next meeting to talk about our CIP for the coming year.

And if that also expedites things tonight, we can talk in more detail about some of those projects.

But if there's things you have questions about, maybe we put that out there and that helps us prepare for the next meeting.

Yeah, I think that will help the CIP because that usually that's what I tend to focus on first.

So those item, and there's that whole transportation, circulation mobilities, mostly CIP, a lot of CIP in there, I should say mostly CIA.

And parks and record, there's a lot there as well.

So um, and then I I guess I need to follow up because it says slash construction, and of course that's CIP, that City Hall reconfiguration.

And now maybe part of this is me, because last year I we had priorities, but we didn't have a work plan.

Was that it?

We had discussions about priorities.

Ultimately the council didn't adopt official priorities, and so that's why a work plan wasn't developed.

So we're working off a list that's two years old?

No, this is just a list of what we're working on.

The previous priorities have kind of been set aside a new council, you know, approach.

Um it's been a couple of years.

So what you did, and and some of the titles were a little different.

Sure.

Okay.

So what you have done and put in what you are working on, that's the blue-green, what whether it's a mandate or that's uh the ones that in blue aren't we're not necessarily actively working on yet, but we will have to.

We really don't have any discretion on the items in blue.

So I'm just assuming that gets done.

It's uh it's a required.

But it's there for context for the scope and scale of what we have in front of us.

Yeah.

So and then um what is that city the city hall reconfiguration?

So we've we've just done some initial work with uh a space planner to identify what could be done downstairs to address some security concerns, uh workflow issues and and just the space needs.

Um as you recall two years ago when our annex, which is where our entire admin services team was housed, uh, when that lease expired, we moved everybody into City Hall.

And the thinking was well, you know, we've got some staffing positions open, we have some remote work policies.

Could we squeeze everybody into City Hall?

And I think in a lot of ways the experiment has been really great.

Um we get good feedback, everybody loves being in the same building, you get better interaction.

But it's tight.

And I think as we go through the organizational study and staff up, we're gonna run out of space very quickly unless we're taking some thoughtful approach.

So we've started just with some reconfiguration planning.

And depending on what comes of that and the costs, then we may approach the council with uh an actual project to move forward on.

So that'll show up next meeting then.

Yeah, there will be more details.

So I don't we're not gonna really talk about it tonight.

I just want to make sure I understand that.

But that's what that is, yeah.

City hall, especially the first floor, yeah.

And making sure that we have the space to serve the public, to keep staff safe and secure, and have the space we need to to do our jobs effectively.

Okay.

So and then so then I guess the eight and nine, which what it refreshed me again, the commission committee appointment process.

What what is it we're not?

So this this is going back several years, and and this is a good example of one that really is at your pleasure.

Um we got complaints um maybe two cycles ago that like we didn't really have a formal process or a written process for appointing people to commissions and committees here at the city.

There's just been kind of a uh a tradition of each council member gets to appoint somebody and then it gets reviewed, and we had some issues.

We brought back something uh two years ago after the election or around the election, in anticipation of new appointments.

It wasn't very well received, and so it was tabled again.

So this is kind of a hey, do you want us to work on this still?

Um, or are you okay with how things are going?

And we move on from it.

Oh, okay.

I I mean I don't feel one way or the other on this unless others do.

Does this have something to do with whether uh council are appointing people from their districts or not?

It could.

It could.

So that maybe could be something.

But I I'm not I didn't I don't know, this process seemed to work for me.

I'm just my last year or so, so I don't know.

Yeah.

But there and then the the benefits uh exploration.

I I thought that was out there.

We're waiting until after negotiations and everything that if that comes up.

So again, I just you know one through five, I see there are three black in there.

I just kind of looked at those kind of all together that we were uh would dress it.

They kind of lead into each other.

Yeah.

That's it for me on the first.

Uh Councilmember Roundstone?

Yeah, I agree with uh sorry.

Uh I agree with Councilmember Nagengast.

Um the matrix study, that's exactly what we will be finding out.

Are there needs for so all that will be happening as part of that?

So it's um an ongoing priority.

Um I think we already voted to put that on an agenda, an agenda, didn't we?

Future agenda?

No, the decision when you know we did a study session on that several months ago, and the decision was to wait till after labor negotiations were complete and then bring it back for discussion.

So to some degree, yes, it was let's bring it back later.

But it it you know, and and that's why it's on the list because it's on our radar and something we would bring back unless we were told otherwise.

So based on what you just said, I don't know when the union or uh negotiations should be completed by the end of the by the end of the fiscal year and as part of this year's budget.

Right.

Correct.

But we're talking of FY 2026 through 28 priority work plan.

So, in a sense, we're already committing to going back and looking at that.

We yeah, we probably wouldn't address the council benefits exploration until after July.

Yeah.

That's why it's on this work plan.

So July, okay, yeah.

Okay.

Just want to get the time in on that.

Yeah, otherwise I have um no other questions with the list as it is.

So yeah, I agree.

I think one through five are sort of part of the matrix study, so I wouldn't like call them out separately.

Um you just address the council benefits exploration.

That's good will come forward after the MOU.

Um, I'm okay uh with removing number nine commission committee appointment process.

It seems to me that given everything else that's going on, that's kind of low priority.

Yeah, so I would I would favor striking that.

Um then I guess we're gonna hear more about the corporation yard improvement project as part of the CIP.

So that's my thinking on that.

Um, Vice Mayor.

Yeah, I I find this list extremely confusing.

Um the first five things on here.

I it was not my priority that core services identification and planning or staff training and development, they weren't on my list of priorities.

So you're mixing up CIPs, things that you are already doing or think should be done, and CIP projects.

I makes me crazy.

I I don't know how to how to deal with it.

Um you're doing the matrix study.

That's that's what the first five things are about.

So why are they even on the list?

We have to do the L C L UP implementation.

We've already doing the sewer rate prop 218 study.

Council benefits, I don't care about commission and committee appointment process.

I don't care about corp yard improvement project phase planning.

If that's on a list of priorities, that's not my priority.

So that's what I have to say.

Could I ask a clarifying question?

Would you agree that um the matrix organizational study is a priority?

We're already doing it.

Right.

Right.

So it has nothing to do with a list of priorities that's being done.

We're doing that, so maybe that doesn't have to come back on the list.

Well part of part of this process is there's there's kind of two phases of work city staff do.

There are day-to-day routine responsibilities, right?

Processing applications, providing customer service, maintaining our parks and our facilities.

That's our our day-to-day work, and that takes up a ton of our time.

And then in the rest of our time, we work on projects that we may work on it for a time period, it will be finished and we move on.

And in order for us to take on new projects, we have to prioritize and identify what's important and what's not.

And so you can't do that if you don't know everything that we're working on.

And so what this list really represents is everything that is outside of our routine day-to-day work.

And it's an opportunity for you all to say, why are you doing this?

We you shouldn't be doing this, or we don't want to do this.

So I understand your point that these may not be things that you're prioritizing, but if we're gonna add things to staff workload, it needs to be in the context of what we're already doing or planning to do or have to do.

So I get that a lot of these things on your list might not be your priorities, but there are things as we go through that have come up as priorities for you, and others have agreed, yeah, that can go on the list, and vice versa.

The last thing if I could if I could just say is on those first five, um they're all impacted by the org study, but they all came from my evaluation in your direction on my evaluation.

Well, I don't do any of it on my own.

It affects, you know, I have to work with our staff to get all this accomplished, which is why these things are showing up on this list.

They are a time draw for our staff.

I I get it.

I I understand that that the staff is overworked and that you're you're trying to figure out what you should do and what you can let go.

What I'm saying is this is not 2026-28 City Council priorities work plan.

That's not what it is.

This is a a demonstration of what's going on in City Hall, what staff is doing.

So I, you know, I it it has to be everything has to be done in context, but I don't need to know the details of what you're doing day to day.

I d uh I I don't want to know that.

I want I want to know I want you to hear what my priority is, and then you can say to me, no, can't be done.

We're too busy.

I'm gonna make a maverick suggestion.

I also don't find this very useful.

The more I dug into it today multiple times.

Um I think what would be helpful would be like to have maybe a subcommittee of the council, sit down with the city manager, review this document, and boil it down to something that's that's more condensed, and that would be easier to talk about and not dig down further into it this evening.

It's late.

We have some big other big meetings coming up.

I'd like to see some council members work with staff to like boil this down and into something that's more condensed and clear.

How does everybody feel about that recommendation?

I like that recommendation.

Anyone else?

I like that idea.

Well, I would like to recommend Councilmembers Nagengast and Brownstone to find time to sit down with the city manager and and review this document and and try to find a way to to clarify.

I I I will accept that and I'll let council member Brownstone speak for himself, but you know, I and I'm not gonna what how I looked at this was the city manager's attempt to show what he's working on too, and and I get it, and how it can be I don't need to know that because you're already working on it.

I'm I'm supposed to look what our new work plan is, but and and I think maybe this subcommittee would work because part of a new work plan is you still working on the old stuff, right?

So you have to it's all tied together.

So providing maybe something clearer for a hearing how what you were saying, I think that can be done.

Um I'll do it, I'm okay.

I I like I liked seeing all this stuff.

I I want to know what you're working on, but I don't want it to at least in this stage of identifying priorities, crowd that out, that part out.

Now, once we say what our priorities are, boil it down into a few reasonable doable things, then you can say against everything else that we're working on, here's a a work plan that makes sense.

So I don't really necessarily see this as a work plan.

I see it as ongoing tasks mixed in with some priorities mentioned at our previous meetings in uh March.

So I'm not trying to disparage the work that went into this, but I think we need to put it in a format that's that's clear and that allows you the vice mayor to to see the information and to see her concerns registered as well as everybody else.

So I think that work would need to be done in that will help like next year too to have your thinking on it.

Um, Councilmember Negan guess.

Yeah.

I can I ask a question?

Sure.

I want to make sure that Paul and Robert are clear on what we need to do because I'm not.

This is this is a process we've done for eight years.

Um and it sounds like we're looking to shift it, which is fine.

Obviously, it's got to work for you all.

Um, but I'm not clear then what you're looking for.

Uh are we just looking for a list of what's the new things that council wants staff to focus on?

Is that what we're thinking of with priorities?

I would say because this is not a list of our ongoing day-to-day work.

That's I would say hold that thought, meet and look into it and have that conversation together.

You know, three good minds working on this, ought to be able to come up with an approach that allows the council more quickly to give that solid direction that you want.

So I don't think we have to figure that out right here tonight, other than to say we need something that's boiled down and clear.

We'll care for what you ask for.

I mean you want a clearer list more concise, I assume.

Um something that reflects more clearly the decision to be made, and that is to identify priorities.

But are you are you looking that priorities are new?

Right?

Because we know supposedly we know what the old priorities are being worked on, so we just need to know what our new ones are.

I think what you want to look at is not I I guess what I'm looking for is something more recommendation on formatting.

What needs to be in this and what sh should not?

What what is maybe something needs to be an attachment to a list of things that aren't on the list yet?

Right.

Rather than having these all mixed together, the green, the blue, the black.

Yeah, it's like it's like three lists and one.

Yeah.

And it needs to be broken down so that it's reasonable, and I can look at it and say, well, this is what we decided our priorities are, and how are we going to stack them up against what's possible?

So it's kind of initially a formatting exercise.

You t you two and the city manager tasked with improving this as a decision support tool.

Using your communication skills and your thinking skills.

I'm using my listening skills right now to try and be able to communicate to you what we as a group are going to want to approve.

So I'm trying to uh uh the the items in black were those taken from our work sessions or listening sessions, sorry, our listening sessions, is that what you can't priority settings priority the priority setting session some of them, yes.

Some of them have come from other places.

You know, like you didn't ask me to add number nine, but number nine has been on the list for a couple of years, so I'm not gonna take it off the list until the council tells me to.

Um council benefits exploration came up prior to priorities, but it is something that will take staff time, and we want to have it on a list so we don't lose it.

So uh again, I I I think I'm just a little bit lost here that I think I understand that it's okay to have a list of like here's the special projects that we're working on, or the isolated projects that we're working on versus our day-to-day like ongoing work, and there should be a process where you can tell us get rid of some of this at it, and maybe that is different than a council priority, but then I'm not sure what to call a council priority.

So we had a meeting where we discussed our priorities.

The priority setting workshop?

The priority setting workshop in March.

And I'm assuming that that was captured, that information was captured by staff.

Yes.

And it's captured here in this list.

Yes.

But you need to take capture the priorities and bring those back separately.

So the meeting we had in March didn't establish, like, okay, here's the priorities, and here's a list of the stuff you're already working on.

We did add at the end of the meeting, we added and came to consensus on like seven new things to add to the list for prioritization, and they're on here.

And maybe that's part of it is calling those out.

Like here's based on that conversation, the additional things that were added to the list through that priority setting session.

But you know, I'll give an example.

If I go to um public health safety and emergency prep, the the study of a health care district formation.

That wasn't a new thing that came up in that meeting.

That's something that has been ongoing discussed.

But the vice mayor said this is important to me.

Can I get some support to at least add it to the list for consideration?

So it's here.

But it's not new, it's it's not some new concept.

And so I mean I think there's work to be done with with a couple of the council members and try to refine this process.

So I think them the document that was captured at our priority setting meeting.

We have to start there.

We have to start with that list.

Which I I'm not sure I understand what document you're talking about.

We each took turns and said what our priorities were.

And that was captured.

And what I'm looking at now is not that.

It might be in there, but you need to tee off the report from that meeting before we move forward.

Let me make a so.

I always ask myself in a situation like this.

How did we get here?

So the thing that I felt that we didn't complete in the priority session, we did list all our priorities, and we have that list.

What we didn't do is we didn't take the extra time to do a process, facilitate a process where we say, well, we have all these, but let's vote on your top three or four, get it done then.

It's hard now without the rest, you know what I mean, without the rest of the council, it might be an easier process to actually go back and do that with the rest of the council where we have time to figure out what's really most important and agree on a council, especially if that's what we want to hold you know staff accountable for.

That seems like a fair process to complete a process because it's just you know, really feels like an incomplete process, and that's why we're here.

And I don't think Paul and I want to you know guess what everyone's priorities would have been.

Otherwise, it's um we can't make those recommendations without some full council input.

We need the information from the priority setting meeting.

The information that was captured.

But this kind of reflects everything that was captured, so it might be a lot quicker to get the full council's input and just bang it out to really be clear on these priorities, right?

You know, you say there's three lists and one, whatever.

So the whole council has to really look again.

This is all the ideas we had, but we didn't really prioritize them, is what I'm getting at.

Yeah, and maybe that's what we're supposed to be doing now.

But it's it's difficult to do that without with all of the other information that's in here.

It it's too confusing to me when I look at things like staff training and development.

I never said a word about that in my the priority.

And I think it's important.

I mean it's not that it's not important, and I don't know how much time that takes, but it's not my priority.

So while I I really think it's incredible what staff does accomplish, and while I really think that you know that that having us know all of this is just fine.

It's different from what I expected tonight, which was to talk about five to ten items and come to a consensus on which of those was important, and then rate them in importance, and then present it to staff and have staff say, sorry, number two doesn't work, or number five is too difficult, or that was my thinking about what was going to happen.

Well, I also feel it's maybe jumping a little of the gun because Paul and I are also on the um matrix subcommittee, and we know there will be a lot of data coming out of that, which will actually help clarify what some of the priorities should be.

In other words, we think these are what the priors should be and a lot of it are, but the matrix data will help validate some of these and others not.

So, you know, for example, staff training and development.

That's very general.

But probably from the matrix uh study, we'll learn, oh, you know, there's ways that um people's roles and responsibilities could be better defined.

There's ways where line managers could um give feedback differently.

And this is about, you know, retaining people, making sure they got the right skills.

So there's a bunch of things that could come out in terms of, you know, there's always what the work is and then how the work gets done.

And the matrix study really gets deeply into how the work gets done, not just what it is.

We always kind of have this list.

So from an OD perspective, it really helped to see what all of us have said, you know, in our interviews and what staff is saying and a few others to really help inform this more.

So it's just another piece I feel that we don't we don't have yet.

And us having a conversation with Matthew isn't going to resolve that, you know.

But what do you think?

But right, but some of this is Matthew's what we're expecting him to do.

Because some of these are his priorities that he's have.

Yes.

So I think trying to figure out maybe it's it's just this heading is awkward because I was trying to go to maybe another heading is different.

So if I look at economic and community vitality, those are things you can physically see.

Is that a priority or are those just things?

I'm trying to understand when somebody says that's not my priority, is it because I I don't necessarily know your priority, but well, but you're just saying, look, we we came up and I have my March what date was it?

March 14th.

It was a Saturday we did the priority.

I have that packet here.

And I don't necessarily see uh a list.

So I was trying to understand, you know, maybe in the minutes there's something.

I don't have the minutes.

It's a meeting report.

Yeah, I don't have the minute.

I just have the capturing of everything we said.

We I think you need to see that.

Yes.

And maybe that's because I assume that's how this list got developed.

But somehow you have to show it in context with what's currently worked on.

Because we we have a small staff, they are working on something.

In fact, one item, you know, is an ex- I mean it's probably more than one, but I looked at one of these items that says it's in green, the automated license plate reader pilot program.

Well, they're working on it, but I heard a lot from the community want us to talk about whether we're going to keep the flock cameras or not.

Is that a new uh item or is that it something they're still working on?

And I didn't want to lose it.

Uh so th this is why I'd like to have you two sit down with the city manager and work out present the information from our priority setting meeting.

You can include the stuff that's being worked on already.

I'm not saying don't show that.

We have to make a rational decision, but come up with a way to clarify or help our ability to prioritize some way to present this.

So we may need a separate session then to do that.

You know, I mean, that'll take a big chunk of a council meeting.

So either we have it separately because there's other things we have to decide.

Yeah, and and I don't see it happening at the May 5th meeting either, because we have other things we're gonna be talking about.

So it might have to wait until the second meeting in May, I suppose, or a special meeting.

But given the late hour and all this information, I don't know that we can actually make clear recommendations tonight.

I I I sympathize or empathize with the Vice Mayor on this issue.

And there's things obviously that we'd have to account for in the budget.

So I mean this is the budget document is going to be coming.

And this I know they need that information for the budget.

Yes.

So Madam Mayor, if I may.

So it's that does sound like that there is uh at least an interest in appointing an ad hoc committee tonight to look at language in the document, format like headings.

What are the headings?

Are the titles appropriate?

Organization formatting, maybe taking the list that was discussed on March 14th and separating that out, putting another list together on staff staff work items that are being uh worked on this year or next year, and separating that out from the priorities that the council discussed at the March 14th meeting, and then somehow coalescing that into something that the council can look at cohesively to decide from that document what the priorities are for the 2026, 2028 years.

That makes that makes total sense.

And it's it sounds like there might be some delay in the ad hoc committee convening, but also bringing something back to the council because other things may need to come into play.

The only other thing I I'm not sure if I overheard you saying this correctly, but the priority council priorities are supposed to inform the budget, not the other way around.

So once we yeah.

I I didn't I didn't think I heard you right.

I was just not sure.

Yeah.

But also that the or there was comments that the organizational study may inform this process as well.

So it sounds like we may have some things that need to line up first before this item can be brought back to the council.

Maybe the full item.

I I I the maybe we bring back what we can.

I I don't know.

I'm just trying to keep this moving.

I don't want the budget to be held up, right?

That's what we're doing.

One thing I think that would be helpful for me is can we define what a council priority is?

Because I think that's maybe where some of this bleed is is the way we've done this over the years, the council priorities are more just a list of the the special projects and work that staff are working on.

And maybe that's part of the problem is when you think of a council priority, it's like here's something that we as council want to put some extra focus on, right?

And we used to do that by doing it by topic.

We'd pick the topics and then the work plan would be built out underneath it.

And based on feedback we got the last couple of years, it was oriented towards projects that then we would you know, categorizing was just to help organize it, right?

So I want to make sure I understand when you say this is a council priority, how do you define that?

What does that mean to you?

That means after over and above what your normal workload is as a staff to keep this city running.

What I want you to spend money and attention and time on.

And is it a project or is it a it could be it could be a project or it could be something like affordable housing, which has been on the list forever.

Just a focus on an area.

And I think that in our priority session, we sort of discussed a bunch of different things and came to a consensus about I don't I don't know, a group of things that we thought were important.

I don't I don't know if there were projects on it or not, because I don't have the list in front of me.

Could you give an example of like what one of those consensus items was from your recollection?

Because I want to make sure when I'm going back into the notes and in the records that we kept from that that I'm honing in the right area.

I'm not sure.

One of the things that comes to my mind is a formation of a health care district.

We did talk about that.

That seemed to be a priority as, but that's a project.

Sewer consolidation.

So it's and sewer con sewer water controls.

Yeah.

So so maybe as we work as I work, and and I don't think we need a new ad hoc.

I it sounds like we can use the organizational study ad hoc as a way to do this work.

It's the same two people and it's connected.

That maybe part of it is we do have two lists.

There's a list that is context of like here's all the non-day-to-day routine work that we're doing, special projects that we have ahead of us the next two years, and that's the context that I think is important.

And then here are the specific limited number of additional things the council is really wanting to pursue as its priorities.

Are we kind of heading in the right direction there?

Yeah, I think so.

Yeah, I think that would work.

It's not the way we've done it before, but it's it is um I think it's a workable solution.

Okay.

I mean that that gives me some path.

Patrick, you've got something.

I just remember uh I'm not trying to just push this.

I just remember last year we were talking about the Key watershed, Roseville watershed, and the Pullman, but that never got prioritized.

Then this year I reached out to the people who lived there and they came and then and I got consensus from that was like a priority.

I remember bike safety and e-bikes became like a priority.

I remember from those discussions.

Main Street bridge was a priority from gathering from people because we were talking about safety.

I remember internet was an issue because for emergency reasons.

I remember that.

So there are elements in here that I see that I remember talking about, but there wasn't a lot, and I was kind of lost.

I'll be honest with you, and when I got the like you start off, I was like, I'm kind of lost, and I got lost in the first section.

And then you have to like figure out, but a lot of it was like thing like wayfinding signage we've talked about.

Downtown kiosk, that's an old one, because I was never really part of that, but I know about it, but that's an old one from a while ago.

Um and then street furnishing policy, we've talked about that because I brought that forward through the meetings.

Um, and then the downtown formula chain ordinance, that's new.

That's something that just came about from that group, because I've I've known about that.

And then we've always talked about parking and um having a parking facility or structure because we brought that forward.

Let's put that on the agenda.

So there's things here that I see that we've talked about, but a lot of things I don't really get.

Like this one's kind of throwing me off.

So it got confusing, I'll be honest with you.

Yeah, I I think I'm starting to understand the challenge here and how working with the ad hoc we can address some of those.

The information all needs to be there, but it could be organized in a way to pull out what we're already working on versus you having to make some decisions about new things.

It's great to know what what's going on.

I mean, I believe me, I think that's it's critical and it's it's refreshing to have this kind of a list where I I see all of the all of the things that are happening.

Um but Patrick pulled out about six, seven things.

He didn't prioritize those things.

We haven't prioritized them.

Do I really care about a downtown kiosk or wait wayfaring sign?

Maybe I don't care about them so much, and I'd rather be talking about a parking garage or so.

I think it's I think it's trying to get it a list so that we can prioritize it and have it work with staff so staff can actually get this things done.

Yeah, yeah.

And it goes back to the old saying everything's a priority, nothing's priority.

Right.

Yeah.

Right.

Okay.

All right.

I think I've got some clarity and happy to work with Robert and Paul on a different approach to bring back.

So moving on to item 12.

Um future discussion items, possible agenda items.

I think we have a full play.

Any city council reports?

Hearing none.

This meeting is adjourned.