OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Council of Appointment Reviews Committee Meeting - November 18, 2025

City Council — Tuesday, November 18, 2025
BodyMountain View, California
SessionCity Council
DateTuesday, November 18, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:07:46
Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

Okay, are you ready?

0:01

Pat, you ready?

0:01

Okay, great.

0:02

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

0:06

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

0:11

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

0:14

Committee member Ramos?

0:15

Here.

0:16

Committee member Showalter?

0:18

Here.

0:18

Here.

0:19

May?

0:19

Here.

0:20

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

0:25

Item 3.1 are our minutes.

0:27

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

0:32

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

0:37

I can't see.

0:40

Should I log in?

0:41

No, there's no one.

0:42

Okay, perfect.

0:43

Thank you.

0:44

All right.

0:44

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

0:49

So we'll close public comment.

0:51

Is there a motion in a second to approve?

0:54

So moved.

0:55

Not fancy.

0:56

So motion by committee member Showalter.

1:00

And then seconded by committee member Ramos.

1:03

So all of them just raise our hands.

1:05

It's unanimous.

1:07

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

1:11

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

1:18

There's still no one.

1:20

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

1:26

Item 5.1 is committee openings.

1:29

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

1:33

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

1:39

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

1:44

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

1:50

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

1:52

Okay.

1:53

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

2:03

All right.

2:06

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

2:13

None.

2:14

All right.

2:15

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

2:22

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

2:27

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

2:31

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

2:37

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

2:40

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

2:46

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

2:50

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

2:56

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

3:02

of applicants are included in the memo from staff where

3:06

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

3:13

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

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Parks and Recreation██████████████████████████████████████████42%
Community Engagement████████████████████████████████████36%
Procedural████████████████16%
Sustainability and Resilience█████5%
Personnel Matters█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Council of Appointment Reviews Committee Meeting - November 18, 2025

Note: The meeting transcript indicates November 17, 2025, but the official meeting date provided is November 18, 2025. This summary uses the provided date.

The Committee on Appointment Reviews met to interview applicants and recommend appointments to the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Senior Advisory Committee. Five applicants were interviewed for the Parks and Recreation Commission seat, and three for the Senior Advisory Committee seat. After deliberation, the committee forwarded recommendations to the City Council.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • No members of the public provided comments during the meeting.

Discussion Items

  • Interview Process: The committee reviewed and finalized interview questions for each body. Interviews were conducted in a panel format with round-robin questioning. All applicants received identical questions and time allocations.
  • Senior Advisory Committee Applicants: Applicants (Michelle McGuire, Madhu, and Maricela Paris) answered three questions: reasons for serving, areas of focus, and desired committee actions. Topics included senior transportation, food security, housing, resource navigation, and partnerships with organizations like SourceWise.
  • Parks and Recreation Commission Applicants: Five applicants (Sarah, Renee Fitzsimons via Zoom, Sumesh, Ben, Ida Rose) answered questions on motivation, areas of focus, and priorities for the Parks and Recreation Strategic Plan. Common themes included equitable access, sustainability, funding, community engagement, and maintenance of existing parks.
  • Deliberation: Committee members discussed the strengths of each applicant. For Senior Advisory, they particularly noted the experience of Michelle McGuire (active at the Senior Center and a SourceWise representative) and Maricela Paris (professional senior services background). For Parks and Rec, they highlighted the impressive answers of Renee Fitzsimons and Ida Rose, with Ida Rose praised for her leadership on the Sustainability Task Force and her focus on equity and sustainability.

Key Outcomes

  • Parks and Recreation Commission: The committee unanimously voted to recommend Ida Rose for the seat with a term ending December 31, 2029. Committee members also expressed a desire to engage other strong applicants (Renee Fitzsimons, Ben, Sumesh) through neighborhood associations and future openings (2026, 2027, 2028).
  • Senior Advisory Committee: The committee unanimously voted to recommend Michelle McGuire for the seat with a term ending December 31, 2029. They also noted the prior recommendation of David Kim and encouraged other applicants to stay involved.
  • Both recommendations will be brought to the City Council at its December 16, 2025 meeting.

Meeting Transcript

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.

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