Speaker numbers apply only to this recording. Names come from transcript evidence. “Possibly” marks uncertain attribution.
The Mountain View City Council convened a special study session on October 20, 2026, to interview four candidates for two upcoming vacancies on the Environmental Planning Commission (EPC). The session combined structured interviews with an extensive procedural debate over the appointment timeline, prompted by the possibility that a sitting EPC member might be elected to the City Council in the November election. The Council voted 4-2 to advance all applicants as finalists and prepare a contingency process for potential additional vacancies.
Applicant Interviews The Council interviewed four candidates using a standard set of questions in a round-robin format:
Procedural Debate on Appointment Process The debate centered on whether to make final selections from the existing candidate pool or to wait until after the November election to account for the potential resignation of Commissioner Donahue, who is running for City Council.
And we should have your visible justice. Okay. Thank you. The city clerk will take attendance by roll call. Councilmember Hicks. Here. Councilmember Kamei? Here. Councilmember McAllister. Councilmember Ramirez. Here. Vice Mayor Clark? Here. Mayor Ramos? Here. You have a quorum with Councilmember Showalter absent. Thank you. We'll now move on to item four. Study session. Huh? Study session. 4.1. Environmental planning commission applicant interviews. The purpose of this meeting this evening is for the council to interview applicants for two openings on the environmental planning commission. And make a recommendation for adoption at the December 15th, 2026 council meeting. 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 city clerk. We will take in-person speakers first. Each speaker will have three minutes. Speakers, seeing none, I will now take virtual speakers. Seeing none, thank you. For the selection process outlined in council policy number K-2. Interviews will be conducted in a panel format. Each applicant will receive the same amount of time to answer each question, and the questions selected by the council will be asked in a randomized round robin order. The council may ask a limited number of clarifying questions in the event that the applicant's answer was unclear or otherwise not understood. Clarifying questions should not be used to allow an applicant additional opportunity to expand on the original response. On October 21st, 2025, Council posts the following questions to EPC applicants in the denoted time limit for each category. Would any council member like to suggest changes to the questions or propose a time allocation per question? Councilmember Hicks. Excuse me. Perhaps I would like to add um to question number three, which reads what are your thoughts on the city's existing plans, like the general plan, precise plans, and specifically the downtown precise plan. Maybe add and the Moffitt precise plan. And any objections to that? Seeing none, we'll put and the Moffitt precise plan. Any other changes to the time limits or the questions itself? Alright, how do we want to break down the questions? All right. What we're gonna do is that we're gonna start from Councilmember Ramirez, and then we're just gonna go down with asking east questions.