Okay, are you ready?

Pat, you ready?

Okay, great.

All right, so it's six o'clock, so we'll call the meeting to order.

Welcome to the Council of Appointment Reviews Committee Meeting of November 17, 2025.

We'll move on to item two, which is our roll call.

Committee member Ramos?

Here.

Committee member Showalter?

Here.

Here.

May?

Here.

All right, so now Cora moving on to item three, approval of minutes.

Item 3.1 are our minutes.

would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment on this item

if so please click the raise hand button in zoom or submit a blue speaker card to the deputy city

I can't see.

Should I log in?

No, there's no one.

Okay, perfect.

Thank you.

All right.

So there's no in-person or virtual public comment.

So we'll close public comment.

Is there a motion in a second to approve?

So moved.

Not fancy.

So motion by committee member Showalter.

And then seconded by committee member Ramos.

So all of them just raise our hands.

It's unanimous.

Great. So we'll move on to item four, oral communications from the public.

Would any member of the public joining us virtually or in person like to provide public comment?

There's still no one.

Okay. So we'll close oral communications and we'll move on to item five, our new business.

Item 5.1 is committee openings.

Deputy City Clerk Wanda Wong will make brief remarks and then we will proceed with review

and selection of interview questions. Good evening. Just want to let you know that all

the applicants will be attending in person with the exception of Renee Fitzsimons,

PRC applicant, who will be attending via Zoom. And Sarah Dondish has not arrived yet.

She told me today that she was going to be here.

Okay.

So we'll go through the questions and see if they arrive in time and everything.

All right.

Would any member of the public joining us like to provide comments on the opening?

None.

All right.

All right. So per the selection process outline in Council Policy Number K-2,

interviews will be conducted in a panel format. Applicants will be interviewed in groups by body.

Each applicant will receive the same amount of time to answer each question,

and the questions selected by the committee will be asked in randomized round-robin order.

The committee may ask a limited number of clarifying questions in the event that an

applicant's answer was unclear or otherwise not understood. Clarifying questions should not be

used to allow an applicant an additional opportunity to expand on the original

response. The committee will now review and finalize questions to ask each applicant

the time allocated for each question. Questions previously asked of each group

of applicants are included in the memo from staff where

Where there are fewer applicants than open seats and incumbents are the only applicants,

the committee may choose to move these applicants forward without interviews.

So we're going to go over our questions and then we'll move on to Parks and Rec.

So did we want to go over our questions?

Well, I just have a comment.

We did make some changes a few weeks ago.

Do these represent those changes?

There are no changes to the Parts and Rec and Senior Advisory Committee questions.

Oh, okay.

So, yes.

They're still the same.

That's the Performing Arts Committee.

That's right.

That makes sense.

Okay.

I wanted to check.

Okay.

Well, we still have an opportunity to change them if we want or to keep them similar or

however folks want to.

Yes, they are.

Yeah, I think they're...

Okay, no.

So shall we do this way or this way?

What should you do?

This way?

This way?

OK.

So how about you'll do question one, and I can do two,

and then we'll do three, and then same order.

We have one, two, three, four, five. Five applicants, only three citizens. Okay, Sarah, and then, no, that's Renee. That's Renee, and Sarah hasn't arrived yet.

Okay.

All right.

Did we want to have you send a message?

I can go look for her and see.

Okay.

Some people may have gone upstairs.

I don't know if I'm from one person.

Yes.

I have that email.

You'll see if that would be helpful.

I'll have it all here.

This is why she was going to drag you all here.

We'll see.

And if not, we'll proceed if that's okay.

Because then it affects the round-robin order for the question.

Oh, right.

Right.

And she's actually first.

So there's a question personally.

So we'll tune in with you and then we'll move to proceed.

Yes, because sometimes we also tell people at different times. Do we tell everyone?

There were no times given. Oh, perfect. Okay, yeah, because I feel like that's what we get into.

And Renee, you can hear us fine? Okay, perfect. Yeah.

yes I can hear okay perfect I don't know that we're going to do the timer on the zoom

are we or we're just going to yeah so you're not going to see a countdown clock when we ask you

questions but you'll hear the alarm go off when the time is up okay okay sorry sorry that's all

right I just wanted you to know just in case because sometimes people wait for the clock

unit so yeah no i appreciate it yeah

of course

Hmm.

Thank you.

started so and this is a special meeting because there are normally been like Thanksgiving

Is everybody ready for Thanksgiving?

If I'm ready.

I was making up the family menu to pass around today.

That's fun.

Okay.

Yourself.

Yeah.

What do you want?

What are you going to bring?

You're hosting?

Yeah.

Do you cook the turkey or is someone else going to cook the turkey?

Actually, my son is buying the turkey and he's bringing it to our house and he's cooking it on our grill in the backyard.

That's one way to do it.

Actually, it's a great way to do it because, you know, oven space is always at a premium on Thanksgiving.

And so if you cook it in the grill, then that leaves the oven open for everything else.

So I started doing that many, many years ago and it works.

Does he spatchcock it?

Split it down the show.

It cooks a lot faster.

We just sit it on the go for hours, right?

Yeah.

It would take a while.

It takes about three hours.

It's actually faster than it is in the oven.

I don't have turkeys.

My family.

As long as you don't eat meat, I'm like, I don't.

Sides are where it's outside.

Turkey is snow.

It's not my favorite.

All right.

My family doesn't cook, so we're going to Maggiano's on Thanksgiving.

Oh, it sounds great.

Is that the tradition or just this year's plan?

This year's because my mom's also getting her kitchen renovated.

That's right.

So Sarah's at the community center.

Oh.

She's on her way.

Are we going to do this in reverse order?

All right.

It would be allowed if we created the senior advisory,

because everyone's here for senior advisory.

If it was fair in mind, that seems quite right.

Renee, is that okay with you?

We're just going to swap and somebody went to the wrong location.

That's unfortunate.

I had let Wanda know I am traveling.

I'm out of town and I have a hard stop at 7.

So we'll be done by then.

I think the whole meeting will be done by then.

So that's the goal.

All right.

Thanks everyone for working with us on this.

Really appreciate it.

Thanks for warming up our seats.

It's good to see some returning.

And then, are you keeping time?

Yes, I will be.

All right.

Yes.

Great.

Do you want a piece of paper to write on?

No, no.

Oh, okay, okay.

I'm glad you asked if my glasses are over there.

I don't have to see, do I?

We just have three questions.

I'll just review the three questions.

So the first question is 30 seconds.

Why do you want to serve on the Senior Advisory Committee?

The second question is one minute.

what do you think would be likely areas of particular focus for you on the committee?

And then the last question is two minutes.

What would you like to see on the senior advisory committee?

Or what would you like to see the committee advisory committee do?

And so our deputy state clerk will take the timer.

And as soon as you hear it, just feel free to end your sentence.

The order is Michelle.

Then is it Madhu?

Madhu.

Madhu.

And then Maricela, is that right? Okay, great. So that's the order. So we'll start with Michelle.

And then the second question, we'll start with Madhu. And then the third question,

we'll start with Maricela. And we'll just kind of like go in that order. And then asking the

first question will be me. Jose, so once again, this question is 30 seconds. Why do you want to

serve on the Senior Advisory Committee? Well, now that I'm retired, I find I have a lot of time on

my hands. So I wanted to give back to the communities as best I could with what my resources

are. And I'm doing so by a volunteer at the Senior Center. I'm also on the advisory committee for

SourceWise. I've been doing that for a couple of months. I already finished my first assignment.

and I also spent a year on Qantas on the board of directors.

So I want to give back somewhat, whatever I can do.

Thank you.

Thanks, Madhu.

Do you want me to repeat the question?

No, no, no.

Okay, answering the same question, right?

Yes, okay, thank you.

Sorry.

Again, piggyback on this one, same.

I just retired myself last week.

Congratulations.

With children for the past 23 years, I've been a program director with elementary school.

And I, again, wanted to, you know, I've never seen the senior center.

So the first thing I wanted to go and have a look and I feel, you know, it's kind of a different, you know, it's a change between children.

That's a timer.

All right, Maricela, would you like me to repeat the question or if you have it?

Sure.

Okay, so it's 30 seconds.

Why do you want to serve on the Senior Advisory Committee?

So I've worked previously as a community organizer for Latinx cancer,

so it's kind of a passion of mine to kind of be in the community

and try to organize people, especially like in a 60-week type of way.

For me personally, I've worked with seniors for the past 10 years

from actual direct care to actual, more like a policy or more like insurance background.

And I like my skill sets based with maybe my other council members can help maybe drive

some type of mission forward, especially depending on what your guys' goals are for like this

year and maybe like long term.

So kind of finding that at a larger scale is what I like to do.

So, you know, I was trying to see what areas I could get organized in, I guess, how to organize others.

Thank you.

Okay.

So, Madhu, we'll start with you.

So, one minute, second question.

What do you think would be likely areas of particular focus for you on the committee?

um about mostly it's the help you know how we can support because i do see

especially in care they are lacking you know there's not a proper care of them

and we can entertain them okay so it's just it's a very different feel like i said but

I felt it's very important to take care of the seniors too. I've been trying to have them,

you know, with children. Most of the adults or seniors, they lack, you know, children are busy

and they don't get to see the grandkids and all. So have those, you know, connections between

the families or if they don't have their own families, have, you know,

kind of do the grouping so they can meet those families.

Okay, Maricela, what do you think would be likely areas in particular focus for you on the committee?

So right now I am a home and committee-based services specialist as a health, as a nuclear family health plan.

So I think that pretty much like long-term services and support.

So I work a lot with in-home support services, and I think about how we bring that to our seniors within our community and how we kind of orient them to these type of programs that are available to help them live safely in their homes.

home and community-based services and all these services that can potentially just, you know,

help them with the overall quality of life. And so something that I see is that since in-home

support services, it's, I love IHSS, but I feel like it does have some areas where it can get

better. And I see somewhere where maybe seniors do need some type of peer counseling. We're trying

to help orient them with that program. So like, I think about how that's just one area that should

potentially make some type of impact, but also maybe doing.

Thank you.

Michelle, what do you think would be likely areas of particular focus for you on the committee?

Well, working at the center, I see in here transportation,

we don't have enough food for our citizens.

and

I don't have the answers

but I'd like to work on a solution

to someone else's

great ideas, right?

I know

the county is also doing

rideshare programs, not rideshare

but they have a nice ride

program going that I'd love

to see extended here to Mountain View

and that's what SourceWise

is doing that.

So, yeah.

Okay. All right. Well, this one is a little longer. What would you like to see the Senior Advisory Committee do? I think I start with Michelle.

Marisela. Marisela. Sorry. Two minutes. Two minutes. Well, as she mentioned, I know Sourcewise,

I think, is a great studio that can help, that we can partner with. And as mentioned, I think housing,

food security, and transportation are like the three things that are affecting our seniors. And

I think that there's an overall growing population, not just within our county, but throughout the

state and I think trying to get ahead of those problems is really important and therefore seeing

how we can partner with like other county or community-based organizations to try to make like

some type of coalition to get on some type of um if we like want to like create policy I mean I'm

always thinking I think that's like my ultimate like what I would want to work on so maybe like

trying to um get other um members of our community um try to engage other stakeholders really

trying to let seniors know that we are like an advocate for them and seeing how like we

can really support with them living in our communities and thriving in our communities.

So just I guess it would really depend on yeah like what the advisory board would want to work

on and seeing how like we can all create you know some type of timeline or framework to

push that mission forward.

So, um, we're almost the same.

So, um, emotional stability and resources so they can go around.

And of course the food is also scarce.

So try at best.

I do not know myself and too much of the resources and all, but I would like to, um, join in

and partnership with people who would give them food.

I do volunteer at GSA, but not all the time.

I would make sure, you know, the citizens, especially the seniors,

as I feel, you know, they're lonely, they don't have enough of resources,

so I try my best to do whatever I could help them out with.

I do need guidance.

I'm pretty new, but I would.

I'm being honest, but I will try my best, whatever resources we can pull around and help them with that.

Thank you.

Okay.

Michelle, what would you like to see the Senior Advisory Committee do?

Well, not knowing much about what you do now.

Like she said, I would love to be just a body to use my wonderful skills that I've learned along the way through my career.

But what I would love to see is a resource center that has all the answers where people know where to go.

You know, they have their questions.

And I get these all the time.

And I don't have the answers.

I mean, I have old binders with old information.

you know they're always looking for something you know that um other than food and transportation

but they look for um housing rent stabilization health um all kinds of things i mean you know

through your own life what what questions and problems arise where do you go where do you go

for your answers so i would love to see i don't know even know how you would do it you know

Senior said a senator tries to have a newsletter, that website of you, and I don't believe all the answers are there.

Questions.

Anyway, just someone would go, where do I get this?

Where do I do this?

Or how do I do this?

Right.

As well as setting up transportation, food, and relationships.

I believe SourceWise is also doing that, where they're getting the youngsters involved.

To spend time with seniors that are maybe inbound now.

Inbound.

Something.

Something to let them know that we care.

I'm getting that.

I'm going to need it myself.

So maybe it's selfish, but we're all going to be there at one point.

So let's make it easy with dignity.

Thank you.

So that concludes all our questions for the Senior Advisory Committee.

We will deliberate after the direct commission interviews.

So you're welcome to stay or you can go home.

We'll have the City Clerk's Office let you know.

We'll be notified later.

Yes, you'll be notified later.

Yes.

Thank you.

Really appreciate it.

Thank you for inviting me back.

Thank you.

And I see your little name plates everywhere in my community.

Oh, I know your name.

It's lovely to meet you.

I enjoyed the Veterans Day celebration.

Yes.

That was really nice.

Yes.

I really enjoyed this.

to that. That was great. Well, we know Renee has a hard stop, so let's just get oriented quickly.

He's out. Renee, are you back? Yeah. All right, here we go. So the committee will now interview

the applicants for the Parks and Rec Commission seat. So all our questions are in round robin,

And so the first person will be Sarah, then Renee, then Sumesh, then Ben, then Ida Rose.

Sumesh.

Okay.

So the first question will be Sarah, then Renee, then Sumesh.

And we'll just kind of continue that order.

And then the questions for the Parks and Rec Commission, the first one is 30 seconds.

Why do you want to serve on the Parks and Rec Reaction Commission?

Question two, one minute.

What do you think would be likely areas of particular focus for you on the commission?

And then the last question is two minutes.

What do you think should be the priorities of the Parks and Rec strategic plan?

All right.

All right, let's go.

So the first question, it goes to Sarah, and it's 30 seconds.

Why do you want to serve on the Parks and Recreation Commission?

As a resident of the city of Mountain View, I've always, actually, even before I lived

in Mountain View. I always use the parks here and growing up, I've spent a lot of time in Mountain

View. I am also a huge dog person and I really strongly believe that there needs to be more love

in the Parks and Rec Department for the area's dog parks.

All right. And next is Renee. Up to you in Zoom. 30 seconds. Why do you want to serve on the Parks and Recreation Commission?

It's an opportunity for me to deepen and more directly get involved with the city that I live in that I value very much.

It's also really a great opportunity for me to bring together my former experience in land use and environmental planning with my more current work as a program manager for the Open Space District and creating kind of enriched experiences for people.

Thank you. Next, we have Sumesh, and it's 30 seconds. Why do you want to serve on the Parks and Recreation Commission?

Sure. Thanks for the opportunity. I mean, for me, I'll start with the core value. Your strategic plan says that, like collaboration, future focus, and, you know, stewardship. I think one thing is aspect of being part of the community. Second is like leaving this place better than what I kind of, when I saw that or when I was part of it. So it's all for me, it's like leaving it as a better place.

wonderful all right next we have ben yes um 30 seconds why do you want to serve on the parks

and recreation commission all right well i've been a long time resident for over 15 years in the city

um i've worked here um i used all the facilities in the parks i do a lot of running and cycling so

i can trail backwards and forward i raised two children here in the city i'm an empty nester now

so I have my time and so I feel like I've been a big user. I think now I want to be a contributor

and help so others can take advantage of the facilities and increase and improve those

facilities that we have. Great and last but not least Ida Rose. 30 seconds. Why do you want to

serve on the Parks and Recreation Commission? Our parks and our recreation spaces shape our

community. They're where people connect across neighborhoods, generations, and their cultures.

Our parks and our recreation facilities and programs are absolutely amazing.

And I want to be part of the planning that is so important now to support their long-term

growth, inclusion, and sustainability. I bring experience from other advisory bodies,

as well as community leadership and equity and sustainability, to help us ensure that

our parks stay inclusive, reflect our community needs as they change, and protect our biodiversity.

All right, so I have the second question. We're starting with you, Renee.

So what do you think would be likely areas of particular focus for you on the committee?

One minute.

Given my interests, my background, my passions, I really am eager to be involved with implementation

of the Biodiversity and Urban Forest Plan.

I'm also really keen to see how we can work together to do more collaborative partnerships

with other resources in the community to provide programming for, you know, our multi-generational

folks and really work together to see how we can leverage both staff and funding resources.

And really, I want to deepen my understanding of how we can do more to provide parks in the

areas of the cities where we don't have them, whether that's understanding, again, funding

and sort of financing strategies

that we can make that happen

because there are areas

that are really in need.

Thank you.

All right, Samash, same question for you.

No, it's fine.

If you can hear.

Oh, okay.

What do you think would be likely areas

of particular focus for you on the committee?

For me, I believe one is funding.

I think I briefly scan through the plan,

say it's like $750,000.

is like what you need.

And then I personally feel that it'll probably kind of exceed that

if you want to do more.

So that's like different sources of funding.

That's one part.

And the second piece is collaboration.

So my role itself, my current role that I work with Amazon

is more on the business development and strategic alliances.

So I feel that connecting more to different sources,

like the companies that are here,

or for example, the Shoreline Golf Course,

or different groups that you can connect with

and create these revenue streams

and collaboration avenues.

That's the second one.

And third is the design part.

I mentioned my application as well.

So the more I travel with different places

like Stockholm or Australia or New Zealand,

the way they have designed these parks

and recreation across these cities is like amazing.

What I would love to do is like bring those things in

and create this like it's one of the best cities

in the world to start with.

And then we can move on to the larger part.

like, hey, can we extend across different countries,

different states of the United States,

and then move on from there.

I think, yeah, I think that's, yeah.

No, I just, yeah, I was like, okay, great.

All right, thanks.

All right.

Well, I would want to increase volunteerism.

I would want to get the companies

and the corporations that are in our cities

because their employees enjoy our facilities too,

even though they may not live here.

I was one of those people as well, so I know that.

And also, I want to bring out of the box ideas to increase and improve our parks.

And so some specific things would be increasing the communication and reaching out to foster community participation.

These are our parks.

And I would really want that the people who live here and the people who work here to feel that ownership.

So let's get them more personally involved.

Have local leaders become park owners.

Have companies sponsor the parks.

Maybe they're even, you know, it says this park is sponsored by XYZ.

Perhaps for the urban forest, we can have trees that we plant on the public lands also be sponsored.

Maybe folks can rally to plant them if we provide the saplings to them.

So, again, creating more and more ownership directly with the public.

My areas of focus would mirror my experience to date in the community, including my deep

understanding and commitment to equity, community building, and sustainability.

My focus would start with equitable access, making sure that every neighborhood has welcoming

parks and programs.

Right now, our park and rec space distribution is out of balance.

And I'd want to make sure that our existing facilities meet our current needs, like providing

modern playgrounds, in-demand sports fields, and other amenities the community keeps asking us for.

Second, I'd like to focus on community connection and inclusion, thinking more about how our parks

and our facilities are as places where our community comes together while improving our

mental and physical well-being as a community. I also want to think about how our programming

can continue to reflect and celebrate our rich cultural diversity. And lastly, I'd like to focus

on sustainability, including meeting and even exceeding our tree canopy goals, enhancing

biodiversity, and providing for future climate resiliency needs.

Perfect timing.

Sarah.

So I would love to use my backgrounds in both marketing and administration to really just

get things done.

Whatever needs to be done, I'm that person that if you give me a task, I will make sure that it gets from point A to point B to point C.

And I like thinking about things more on the small scale.

I know everybody else here has been talking about a large scale global community effort.

But for me personally, I think that we need to think about the person as well rather than the community.

And I think that a lot of times when we think about equity and sustainability, we forget about the single people that are involved in that, not just the groups, not just corporations, not just, you know, communities.

We need to think about how each individual person can be part of that and how we can reach out and actively get others to join in.

Okay. All right. So this is the long one. It's two minutes. Yeah. What do you think should be the priorities of the park and recreation strategic plan? And I believe we are starting. Yeah.

all right so um at the macro level i feel that there are two areas that can be prioritized

which is still there in the plan i mean one is connectivity so why do we say that we are like

people are within 20 meters of a park or 20 feet of park or something but then it's still there

it's the the problem is that it's if you if you look at it if i compare it with other areas that

I've been to, there are things that I can change and make it interconnected. That's one part.

Whether it's trail running, for example, I mean, as Ben was mentioning, if I have to go from, let's

say, one part of Mountain View to the other one, there's no straightforward way to kind of get to

the other place. So connectivity is one part. And having access to as many people as possible,

that's the second. It should not be a privilege. I mean, it should be something that is naturally

coming to the folks that are

part of this

living in Malphalew.

Second is sustainability. I think that

kind of aligns to the

principle of stewardship, which is

you want to create something which is

self-sustainable. Right now, it's not.

So that's the other area.

I would say I still don't have the

full view of the strategic plan, but

then I feel that that's the other area that we

should focus on so that it's sustainable

by the time the 2022 to

2037 is completed.

we have that self-sustainable resources and facilities and its accessibility as many people

as possible. So now we go to Finn. Do you want me to repeat the question? Sure. Okay.

What do you think should be the priorities of the Parks and Recreation Strategic Plan?

And this includes the urban forestry plans? Because I saw there's two plans.

I think they're all nested.

Okay, so the scope is broken.

That's what we're hoping.

Yeah, because there's a 183 page on the forest, and then there's another page on the parks and routes.

Okay, so I think increase the access to the parks, to the services that we offer.

And this should be across all of the spectrum, ages, incomes, locations, right?

So that everybody feels that they have these opportunities.

And then not just that they have them, but that we are doing good reach out to the community to increase the participation and people know what the opportunities and facilities are.

And I don't know what metrics we have today for measuring that.

That would be something that I would want to dive into.

And maybe we should add some additional metrics, maybe add new methods of communication and measure that participation and see how that can be increased.

Because what are the parts for if no one uses them?

Why are we increasing them? Right.

So I think we need to have our eye on the ball for that.

And then increasing the ownership, as I mentioned earlier. Right.

I think there are a lot of things that, you know, our budgets are limited, our resources are limited, but we have a community of 80,000 strong.

We have, when you add all the people that come in and work here, it's probably over 100,000 people, right?

How can we tap into that?

Even if they just gave us a small fraction of a percent, this would probably many times multiply the amount of effort and funds and all the other kinds of things that we could accomplish, right?

So I'd really want to get that multiplier effect going. And how do we measure that? That would be another form of metrics. And how do we engage them and get them involved?

and then I think the other one is like I know in my neighborhood I'm in Rex Manor

we have some local leadership there and we do some some events and so I'd like to increase that

and make sure that this is happening citywide and that there's also a sharing of ideas I know

there's some neighborhoods that do things much better than us and so how can we get that across

Next we come to Ida Rose.

What do you think should be the priorities of Parks and Rec strategic plan?

I have three areas.

First, equitable access and inclusion.

Data shows that overall per capita parkland in Mountain View is very high, but it isn't

equitably distributed.

Parks also don't have equal amenities.

So I would like to focus on bringing high-quality parks, programming improvements to the neighborhoods

that need it the most, like Sterlin or Sylvindale or Thompson Planning Areas, to make sure that

these facilities are serving everyone, including our renters, youth, and older adults across the

community. Second, I want to make sure we invest in existing resources. Our parks are beloved and

extremely well used. We need improvements like accessibility, shade, restrooms in some parks,

sustainable landscaping, connected trails, modern playgrounds and play surfaces, and new programming.

And we also need to focus on environmental sustainability. That means aligning with our

biodiversity goals that we have in a different plan, our tree canopy expansion, and climate

resiliency. Our parks and our open space help us mitigate against climate change, serving as carbon

sinks, and also helping cool the environment around them. They provide shade, they help with stormwater

runoff issues and provide opportunities to protect animals and plants in a changing climate.

But with that said, all of these goals are really, really important. But the reality of meeting them,

these ambitious goals, is that we need funding and we need more staff resources or we need to

balance our staff resources. They're finite. Park and loo fees and developer-provided amenities

don't really help with all of the issues that we face. City budget is facing some constraints.

So there's uncertainty around what future development fees will look like, and that will come out with the Nexus study next year.

But until then, we don't really know.

So we're going to need to look at creative funding, potentially partnerships with private entities, nonprofits, looking at grants and donations and even more traditional funding sources like potentially increasing recreational fees, which is really difficult with stomach.

But you need to do that to be able to have a plan.

Okay. And so, um, it's Sarah. So what would you like, um, what do you think should be the

priorities of the parks and rec strategic? You know, I have to say, I agree with everybody,

what everybody else has said. Um, I think sustainability is so important and we need

to think about how we can make our parks sustainable, not just for us, but for those

in the future, given our finite resources financially.

And I think that it's kind of a scale that we need to test and practice and figure out

what really is important and what isn't, especially when it comes to not just expanding our parks,

but upkeeping the ones that we already have.

We do have some of the best parks.

We have so many parks,

but they aren't kept up as much as the individuals

that I have spoken to over the years would really love.

And we do have wonderful, great new amenities

like the Magical Bridge Playgrounds that are coming in,

not just in Mountain View,

but in other areas that are funded by other organizations.

And that's really wonderful.

And we can think about how we can create other partnerships like that to grow and manage our funding for other areas of the parks.

Thank you.

All right, Renee.

So what do you think should be the priorities of the Parks and Recreation Strategic Plan?

One of the areas that I think we need to have as a priority, I've already touched on, as have others, and that's the distribution and accessibility of parks in the areas of the city that lack them.

And again, what funding sources and financing strategies can be put together to meet that challenge.

The other thing about with the strategic plan, I really wanted to support and provide for ongoing engagement with and involvement with our residents and visitors so that we can stay aware of community expectations and balance, essentially balance a more realistic, the best realistic approach we can in responding to what people expect for those amenities in their community.

Additionally, I really value that the draft strategic plan acknowledges the importance of organizational capacity and workforce resilience as key factors in the city's commitment to provide high quality programming services and parks.

I think that having been a longtime public agency employee, I think employees really need to know that they are valued and respected and represented in decision making and implementation of the agency's goals so that they know and are aware of what a challenge it is to struggle, you know, providing salaries and living wages with also supporting this larger community.

And, you know, it's a complex place to be. And I think Mountain View does well, it still has challenges. But those are the priority areas that I feel in the draft strategic plan, I'd really, really want to make sure we don't lose sight of.

Thank you. Okay.

And I'm going to sign off and say thank you so much for the opportunity to be considered and to be here tonight with everyone. Thank you all for what you did.

Big travels.

Okay, thanks. Bye-bye.

Great. So that concludes our Parks and Recreation Commission interview. So as I mentioned, you're welcome to take a seat or, you know, we'll be in touch.

But thank you so much for the shuffling and making sure. Yes, I'm sure Sarah appreciates it as well. So thanks, everyone.

It was really interesting to hear the other interviews. So it was great. Thank you, Sarah.

I am so sorry, everyone.

All right.

But our meeting is going to continue.

So we're just going to deliberate.

So thank you so much.

Thanks for applying.

Yes, thank you for applying.

Enjoy the rest of your night.

Thank you, everyone.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So I'll bring the matter back to the committee for discussion and a recommendation to the council.

So it's one seat, term ending December 31st, 2029 on the Parks and Recreation Commission.

And it's one seat with the term ending December 31st, 2029 on the Senior Advisory Committee.

Is there a discussion before we go into motion making?

Sure.

Questions or any committee members?

Yeah.

You want to start with Senior Advisory Committee since we...

Sure.

So Senior Advisory Committee, that is five people.

It's a five-person body.

And last time we put David, so David Kim.

So the motion would include David Kim and then someone else.

So we'd actually be recommending two for this.

Well, I, you know, we have three good people here.

It was really nice to have some good applicants here.

I mean, I just want to thank you both and the city clerk's office for being so big to just pushing it out to have applicants reapply.

And just really, really thrilled that we had, you know, more than more than one applicant tonight for the one to drag them here.

Yes.

Good job.

And securing a room and everything like that so that, you know, next month in December, we can make a full recommendation to our colleagues.

And it is really important. And we don't want these committees to have vacancies.

So thanks, everyone, for that. I just couldn't.

Go ahead. Well said. I was particularly impressed by two of these individuals, Michelle McGuire and Maricela Paris.

And they're quite different. I think Madhu, maybe a year from now, she'll be really good. But I don't think she's quite. She just retired last week. I think she needs a little time to catch her breath.

and um uh and she has so um but I felt like Michelle and then the other thing was I mean

clearly Michelle and you are seniors and they um I know that especially with COVID I had never

really thought of myself as senior or elderly before but then with COVID there were all these

people telling me I couldn't do this I couldn't do that because I you know and so it kind of hits

you. But anyway, I think that particularly it's important to understand that you're part of the

group. And Michelle does understand that. And she's stepping up and she's actively involved

in doing things. I know that she lives in Sunset. I think it's Palm State. Yeah. She lives in

in the local park and she's she's actively involved with seniors so that's you know i mean

i think that's of interest obviously maricela as i mean this is her job to more than seniors and

she has she brings a great deal of professional um expertise so they're both really i think they're

all three good but particularly those two there's reason so um i would be interested in hearing what

I just wanted so

they would be joining Brian

Arunas

and then Donna Castillo

and then Nirvana

so

and then David

what about Diana?

she resigned

and Cassandra resigned

or chose not to reapply

chose not to reapply

so

I just wanted us to think about the mix

that you were saying

you're right i i liked very similar to pat i liked um michelle and and marisella uh stood out to me

both i i actually appreciate michelle applying again she she tried that that first time and

and i loved her spirit like there's something about her her her spirit both of them nirvana

will have a lot of will have a lot of fun uh getting getting out of that so it is um really

kind of nice to have either of them i know maricela um cassandra cassandra reached out to me

to tell me that she wasn't going to reapply but apparently she had already met maricela and so

she kind of felt like oh i think it's she almost felt like maricela would be the good replacement

for her so that was something i was also thinking about i don't want to lose maricela i want her

involved in in something it may not be this if we choose to go with i really think the decisions

between those two um um i'm hoping that uh we find a way for either of them even if they even if one

of them is not on the can we find a way to get them involved i don't want to lose either of them

that will be both really good additions to this i think michelle is our representative for mountain

view and source wise. Oh, so we have a seat city, maybe through the clerk, maybe you could,

is that right? We have a seat. I think it's the city of Sunnyvale and the city of Mountain View

have seats on the course ways. And she is so representative.

She has a privilege.

It's been a couple months.

Yeah.

Oh, that's right.

Maybe since she last met with us.

Yeah.

So, I think we had the position on senior advisory and then we also, I found out we had

and position with Sourcewise.

So we reached out to both Michelle and Elna

so they didn't want to serve as a Sourcewise rep.

Elna said no.

So we reached out to Michelle,

who's been a representative.

In that same vein of, okay,

you know, trying to make sure

that we keep interested people, right?

Yeah, so that's what I worked with

on the office.

I wanted to share that with you.

Thank you.

Well, in that case, I'll move that we're going to Garisella.

Okay.

Yeah.

I mean, is that?

Yeah.

But I would hope that doesn't make Michelle not interested, right?

So I think that.

Yeah.

Because this is her second time applying for it as well.

How long does she get to be our rep for Sourcewise?

I don't even know this program that well.

There's a transportation program for, I don't know anything about it, just a little bit.

A transportation program for seniors?

Oh, I know like a...

Yeah, I know.

Yeah, so they have an advisory.

SourceWes has an advisory council to advise SourceWes and its board of directors about

the needs of older adults and disabled persons, advocating about how it's vulnerable, the

the grades of community, and the form.

So she sits on the advisory council.

So as you can see,

they have different representatives, like bodies.

So for our city, we have her.

So the term run,

so she started July 1 of this year,

and the term is for three years.

Three years?

Well, I don't know. We could make the argument that she's on that and this would be a good

connection for the Senior Advisory Committee.

We can also think about it. And again, we don't have, there is no alternate for this, right?

Yeah, okay.

Keep asking the same questions right there.

We keep trying.

But we could think about it,

and maybe we want to talk about Parks and Rec a little bit,

and then we can come back.

Okay.

I don't know.

I mean, I marinated.

It was also hard, too.

Oh.

I don't know.

So Parks and Rec is Roni Bryan,

and then we would be reappointing Jonathan Davis,

and they would be joining

yes

Steve Filios

so joining Joe Michener

Sandy Summer and then Steve Filios

is turned out

so we have two

two women

no

Sandy Summer is turned out

we just

reappointed her

She was in a different cycle.

We just reappointed Jonathan.

Well, anyway, she's there for a while.

Yes.

For a four-year term.

We have two women in Hoover.

That's what I'm saying.

So it's not as bad as BPAC.

Yeah.

I guess I was really impressed with the answers by Renee.

Those were actually really impressive answers.

I did enjoy the answers by Sumesh and Ben.

uh it's it you could tell that it's something they aren't insiders on this they're they're

the kind of people they're like you know it would be great if like those are the kinds of answers

that they you could it was clearly spent time thinking about it but never was directly engaged

and so it was a very kind of interesting thing but Renee I think had the most impressive answers

Well, Ida Rose, always prepared.

Like that is always kind of a clear thing.

And I do like the enthusiasm of Sarah, but I still think that the best answers were by Renee.

Renee had really good answers and I thought Ida Rose had good answers.

well they all had they all had good answers and it was

they thought that it was really interesting that um everybody who's here recommends

recognizes that sustainability it's a really big part of parks and that's true

and so you know so that was good to hear of all of them and um and the other thing i thought was

interesting was the

idea of

volunteers.

Several of them brought that

up.

So, and then that kind of the

ownership of parks, the idea of

ownership of parks. I know that's

come up in the committee.

We talked about that.

So those were points.

I also thought

Iroses had some

she has been involved

in

the consideration of

how the

Lake Mountain View work

for the

Relations Commission.

There is a

big equitability

issue, I think, with our parks

because of the

distribution of them.

So

I really

I really

I really

I really

I really

that's also why my ears perked up when Ben

Sharma said that he was in Metbrex Manor

I was like oh that is a place that

has some lacking up

like you know which areas in our city are

the park

the park division

yeah

when's the um

that we need a quarter-three practice graph.

There's one term expiring,

excuse me, at the end of next year,

December 31st, 2026.

There's one term 12-31-27

and another 12-31-28.

Oh, wow, it's just like every year.

Yeah.

I just, I think I love, I thought what five totally different applicants, five totally

different perspectives, all of value, I think, hearing about experiences with our parks. And

for me, I was just saying, how do we engage? You know, we're only going to pick one, but

to make sure that we're able to. So maybe being able to share that there, you know,

as there's a future opportunity as close as you know from now

i feel open to

to the top three that were mentioned, Renee, Ben, and

.

It's just exciting which one.

They all represent something so different.

That's why I had brought up the composition of both the senior advisory and

Parkinson rec for us just to think about it's too bad they're only five, right?

Okay.

Is that still on the HRC?

Yeah.

I think it sure is.

Yeah, she's going to end.

Her term ends on December 31st, 2026.

There's just one more year.

Yes.

She's been on it for seven years.

You usually don't last that long in HRC.

There's a turnover.

Oh, yeah.

There's been a lot of people turnover.

I mean, do you remember, like, Lucas was one, Evan Ortiz, Isla Malik.

Isla, I think, was one.

Oh.

She didn't turn.

She just...

Well, I feel like we have a tradition of custom often appointing people who have run for the

city council in order to give them experience for learning the game.

And so I would really like to quote Riverdida Rose.

I think she'd do a very good job.

She was on the second sustainability task force.

I don't honestly know about the first one, but she was really a leader in that.

And getting it finished and written up and making sure that the concepts were communicated to council members at the time, which was tough because they finished writing it sort of at the last, at the end of June.

and then we go on, you know, we went on recess.

And so there was really extra.

I really admired her persistence for that.

So I think that, you know, us going into this plan,

this sustainability plan,

it's getting the plan finished is a big deal in itself,

but getting it implemented is also going to be a really big deal.

So I think she would be very helpful for that.

I would like to see her.

I'd like to see her skip through the .

Although they're all good, you're right.

I mean, they're all good.

They're very different.

They're very different.

They're very different.

Yeah.

I'm okay with the words.

And then maybe, so I'm hearing consensus on Ida Rose.

I think maybe what we can do when we can work with the city parks office is on letting those that aren't selected to know that they can engage with the parks and the parks strategic plan.

I'm going through all that engagement right now, right?

And then, you know, openings are coming in 26, 27, and 28.

And we can't wait to stay engaged, right?

I just want to do like a little follow-up.

I thought, especially for the applicants, other applicants who stood out, that they had great ideas.

They do have great ideas.

And I think another thing that would be nice to mention is to urge them to get involved with their neighborhood association.

You know, the neighborhood associations very dramatically from place to place.

And now some of them are very little and others of them are just really, you know, incredible organizations.

But they all need people.

And many of them have their events at parks.

So that's why I bring that up.

It's like little things from my answers.

Like Ben mentioned basically what Canopy is doing.

And I think he was a little bit involved with that.

That's what I was thinking.

That's what I was thinking.

We had a beer.

Our Arbor Day, Earth Day is such a great opportunity.

The Cool Block program.

That Cool Block program.

Because I think I want them to feel like there's

a place for those ideas.

And we do have quite a bit going on that they may just

not know about, right?

Mm-hmm.

So it sounds like the recommendation would be for Ida

Rose and she would join Jonathan as part of the recommendation.

But her stop is not just

follow-up opportunities that are available. So that takes us back to the

senior advisory committee.

I'm happy with either of them.

Someone's just like, what is the tiebreaker?

well i guess the thing that i am thinking about is

michelle said yes to source wise she still wants to be on senior advisory so to me that's like a

of a tipping point for me is that i you know some people they get a point into something else and

that kind of satiates the appetite for wanting to engage but that she saw the opportunities

even though she already had one she's like i want i want to do more i think there's an enthusiasm

that i would feel bad about calling and the other thing was her knowledge of what's happening with

seniors and particularly i was with the senior center it's there yeah it's not theoretical i

mean she's there on a regular basis and i think that's that says a lot i'm sure let's

Okay.

And then kind of same thing.

We'll make sure that we want to do and probably sell them out of the other opportunities.

Yay.

I don't want to jinx those, but this, that committee is a big one to keep engagement

with.

But hopefully that has a good composition and hopefully we'll get it back on the team.

And so David, shall we join David?

it. So is there a motion and a second to approve the notification?

Second.

one seat term ending 12 31 29 on parks and rec to edward govester one seat term ending

29 on the senior advisory committee to michelle require motion by committee member

so welter seconded by committee member bramos all in favor right that is unanimous

these recommendations will be brought to the council at its December 16th meeting.

So I'll move on to item six, our committee, staff, comments, sections, committee of choice, anything?

Yeah, all right, adjournment. This meeting is adjourned at 7 0 8 p.m.

Thanks everyone.