Good afternoon.

I'd like to call this meeting to order.

That means council members, may I have your attention, please?

Calling this meeting to order.

If you're able, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I'm gonna do the pledge first.

I pledge allegiance to the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Just as had to keep you all on your toes, and I know you're trying to keep me on my toes.

Okay, now Tony, will you take the roll?

Yeah, can I here?

Campos?

Present.

Tordios.

Here.

Cohen?

Here.

Ortiz.

Present.

Okay, heandellas, Casey, fully here.

Mayhem, you have a quorum.

Great, thank you.

Today's invocation will be provided by Tina Tuan of the Tsu Qi Foundation and Councilmember Cohen, please tell us more.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

The Chu Chi Foundation is an international Buddhist humanitarian organization whose mission is to relieve suffering of those in need while creating a better world through compassion, love, and hope.

The global nonprofit was founded by Dharma Master Cheng Yen in Taiwan, a nun who set out to provide compassion based relief through charity, medicine, education, and humanistic culture.

The organization the American organization, Suchi USA was established in California in 1989.

They now have 63 offices and facilities throughout the U.S.

with volunteers working to make a difference and respond to disasters in their community.

The Northwest region of Suchi USA is located on Oakland Road in District 4.

Joining us today are Northwest Region CEO Chi Jen Huang, PR Director Rebecca Yang, Media and Media Director Renee Liu, Deputy Executive Director Tina Tuan will provide today's invocation.

Thank you, Councilmember Cohen, for your kind invitation and that great introduction.

Good afternoon, my mayor and all of the council members.

And that little change has become a global movement.

Today, Suji has over 10 million supporters across 136 countries in the world, serving people in all religions and all backgrounds.

Twice a month, our medical volunteers operate the mobile dental clinic, which you'll see on the slide.

Providing free medical and dental services.

In time of natural disasters, from the devastating campfire in 2018, to the CZU lightning fires in 2020, to the floods in Paharo reverse in 2023, our volunteers responded with care and urgency, offering not only financial assistance, but also comfort and hope.

So this is a picture of our distribution when we are working with the wildfire survivors.

As the City Council meets here today, the decisions being made here will shape the future of every one of us here in San Jose.

So I want to offer this reflection.

May our work be guided not only by data and policy, but also by compassion and wisdom.

May we continue building a city where every resident feels seen, valued, and supported.

May we all remember that small acts of kindness can create an impact far beyond what we can imagine.

As our founder, Dama Master Jengyan reminded us, when we put our hearts together, nothing is impossible.

Last but not least, I would like to invite every one of you to visit our office in San Jose to see how firsthand compassion is put into action.

Thank you.

Thank you for that invitation.

Next, I'd like to invite Councilmember Duan to join me at the podium as we recognize and proclaim April as displaced Vietnamese American Heritage Month.

Good afternoon.

This month carry a deep meaning for many of our Vietnamese communities.

It is a time to honor the individual and family who were forced to flee Vietnam in search of safety, stability, and new beginning.

Their journey were marked by hardship, lost, and uncertainty, yet defined by extraordinary courage, resilience, and unwavering hope for a better future.

I'd like to clarify something.

This place, Vietnamese American Heritage Month, and Black April are distinct and separate.

Black April is a solemn day of commemoration.

It's remembered the loss of life, the fall of a nation, and the profound tragedy experienced by the Vietnamese people under communism.

It is a time for remembrance and reflection.

But as moments like September 11th or Pearl Harbor, or deeply painful chapter in American history, they do not define the entirety of American story.

Displays Vietnamese American Heritage Month reflect the full journey of the Vietnamese American community.

It's includes remembrance, such as Black April, but it does not end there.

It's also honor what came after.

It's told the story of rebuilding, perseverance, and achievement.

It recognized how those who lost everything came to this country, worked tirelessly, and become proud, contributing Americans.

This month is about the entirety of that experience, from lost to resilient to success.

This proclamation also matters because too often there is a lack of understanding of what Vietnamese community endure and what it took to rebuild that history should not be overlooked or misunderstood.

It deserved to be recognized clearly and respectfully.

Here in San Jose, we are proud to be home to one of the largest and most vibrant Vietnamese American community in the nation.

Vietnamese Americans have made invaluable contribution to the cultural richness, economic vitality, and civic life of our city, from small businesses to public service.

Their impact is deeply woven into the fabric of San Jose.

This month offer an opportunity not only to reflect on the hardship of displacement, but also to recognize the strength and determination it took to rebuild and thrive.

It is a statement to resilience, to family, and to the enduring pursuit of freedom and opportunity.

San Jose stand proudly with the Vietnamese American community, and we honor both remembrance and resilience, each in their proper place, and recognize the lasting contribution that continued to shape our city.

This is for all of us, for those who came before us, for those alive today, and those who will come after us.

I am a proud Vietnamese American to wear the yellow flag alongside red, white, and blue.

It is my honor to proclaim the month of April a displays Vietnamese American Heritage Month.

And the Vice Mayor will present a commendation.

Next, I'd like to invite down Councilmember Ortiz to the podium as we recognize and proclaim April as Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Month.

All right, and I'd like to invite our friends from the Cambodian community to please join us.

Thank you so much, Vice Mayor.

In 2023, when I first took office, had the opportunity right here in this very chamber to share an important chapter of Cambodian history that is not widely known in our society or around the world.

By the end of 1979, the Khmer Rouge regime was overthrown, bringing an end to the darkest four years in Cambodian history, during which more than two million innocent lives were lost due to torture, starvation, and execution.

More than 140,000 Cambodian refugees were admitted to the United States.

And California is home to the largest Cambodian diaspora community.

Since then, Cambodians in San Jose have established businesses, pursued higher education, and are raising new generations, determined to succeed without being hindered by the past.

Last Friday, my office held the third annual Cambodian flag raising ceremony right here in front of City Hall, along with the grand celebration of Cambodian New Year that filled the rotunda.

We also have an opportunity to acknowledge and honor the lives lost during the genocide, as well as the past, present, and future contributions of those who have survived.

Today, alongside the vice mayor and my colleagues on the San Jose City Council, I proclaim that the Cambodian people will not be defined by the unmanageable atrocities of war and genocide.

And we will designate April 14th to 17th as Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Week.

And at this point, I would like to ask Ms.

Nancy Kao, who was a huge contributor to all of our Cambodian events and flag raising ceremonies to please receive the proclamation on behalf of the Cambodian community.

But first to say a few words.

Thank you.

Yeah, of course.

Good afternoon.

My name is Nancy Keo.

And on behalf of the Cambodian American community in San Jose and across the state, thank you, Councilmember Peter Ortiz and the entire council for commemorating the 51st anniversary of the Cambodian genocide that took the lives of more than two million Khmer people from 1974 to 1979.

Today marks the first day of Cambodia New Year.

Last Friday, we hosted our third annual Cambodian flag raising, celebrating Cambodian Heritage Month, and recognized that was recognized by the City of San Jose.

As our Khmer community celebrates the new year with wishes of good health, prosperity, and happiness.

We must also remember the innocent lives lost 51 years ago.

On April 17th, 1974 was marked as year zero.

It became one of Cambodia's darkest periods.

Silence enveloped the entire nation.

Phnom Penh the Capitol turned to a shadow of itself.

The schools becoming chambers of execution, the rice fields transforming to mass burials for hundreds and thousands.

A dictator declared himself king, massacred at will, with no consequences or threat, driven only by the thirst of power.

Freedom of speech, justice, fair election, human rights, religion, education, and language and democracy no longer exists.

Cambodia has become a country that threatens democracy and freedom, a country where escaped or suffering are the options.

Thousands fled to neighboring countries only to be forced up Ghost Mountain and slaughtered.

My mother lost her parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, neighbors, and my oldest brother.

With immense heartache, she was forced to leave his lifeless body behind, covered only by leaves.

Days and nights spent seeking what was thought to be refuge along the border only to face assault and attempted rapes.

Despite this, my mother and many survivors are testaments to hope, resilience, strength, and courage.

Thousands of Khmer refugees have resettled in the United States, where they have made significant contribution to the shaping of our vibrant culture and society.

I want to remind us that we must not normalize the death of one being okay.

We must not turn a blind eye to the innocent lives suffering.

We must not allow silencing of our voice to be normal.

We must not ignore the reality that people are innocently persecuted, harassed, assaulted for their freedom of speech.

We must condemn all acts of violence against another nation's sovereignty as they can serve as a tool leading to genocide.

To my brothers and sisters, Mother Nature Cambodia, Lenghi, Janarvot, Bontierata, Gauda Smaya, along with countless others, my heart's thoughts and prayers are with you.

Even a single innocent life loss is too many.

Genocide is never justified.

Taking one life is already an atrocity.

Once again, thank you, member.

Thank you, Councilmember Peter Ortiz and the councils for presenting a proclamation recognizing April Cambodian genocide.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Finally, would Councilmember Campos please join me at the podium as we recognize the Creekside School of Camus?

Good afternoon.

Today I am proud to uplift the phenomenal work being done at Creekside School, which serves students with the autism spectrum disorder throughout San Jose.

We are joined by Principal Katie Shepherd and Executive Director Megan Cooper, as well as members of the board of directors and several site leaders here with us today.

It is through their dedication that dozens of students each year thrive in a specialized learning environment that is tailored to their unique needs.

Here at Creekside, students are provided with career preparation and vocational training.

Students are prepared for independent living after high school, and they also learn emotional and sensory regulation.

These are all essential tools that help our students grow inside and outside of the classroom.

As a former educator and champion for our youngest learners, I understand this work deeply.

And I know that every student has a diverse set of needs, and each requires specific support.

We appreciate their commitment to our students and their families, and we thank them for providing supportive, high quality special education in our community.

On behalf of the city council and councilmember Mulkey was who is unfortunately and sadly unable to join us today, I am so proud to commend Creekside School for their service to students in San Jose.

And I would now like to invite Executive Director Megan Cooper to the podium to share a few remarks.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you, Mayor and Council members.

I'm Megan Cooper.

I'm the executive director of the Creekside School.

And I just wanted to share that it is serendipitous that we are being honored in the month of April.

It is autism acceptance month.

Used to be awareness.

We've moved on to acceptance.

And it's also our 20th year of operation.

And so we're extremely proud to be here together to represent all of the work that we've achieved.

We started with just two students 20 years ago, and it came out of an act of the most selfless love, and that is the love of parents.

There was not a place for students with profound autism that served their children's needs.

And so Creekside came to fill that niche.

Profound autism actually represents a quarter of the autism incidences that you see.

And at Creekside, we not only ensure that they have that very specialized educational and therapeutic care, but we also understand that parents that have children with profound autism are really in a caregiver crisis.

And so we make sure to also ensure that they have the supports they need so we can support the whole child and that they really feel safe when their child is at school.

It's a home away from home for them.

Four out of our, or I'm sorry, we've had five graduates, and four out of those five graduates so far have not found successful placement outside of school.

So when they leave Creekside, there is no adult programming that can meet those same needs.

And so we're very excited to be launching an adult day program so we can continue to offer them a lifelong place of belonging.

To tell you a little bit more about our school program and what we're being recognized for today, I want to introduce Katie Shepherd, our principal.

Thank you.

Thank you so much to the City of San Jose and everybody here today.

Creekside is first and foremost a place of belonging.

Our students, young people living with profound autism, deserve a school where they are fully known and genuinely valued.

We work hard every day to make sure that when a student walks through those doors, they feel safe and at home and accepted.

What makes this possible is our team, our teachers, paraprofessionals, behavior analysts, speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, mental health professionals, and more.

They don't just work side by side together, they work together.

A family feeling truly supported, a young adult stepping towards independence, those are our milestones.

We believe that every student, regardless of the complexity of their needs, deserves high quality education and support.

So we would like to thank everybody.

We definitely want to invite you to our celebrate at our Better Together event, which is a benefit show on April 26th, is where we're going to bring together inclusion community and fun to celebrate the community of profound autism that we have and the larger community that they live in.

So thank you so much, and we're very grateful as we keep going on with our mission.

A little bit more like this is the second one.

Okay, now moving on to the regular agenda under orders of the day.

I don't believe we have any changes to the orders of the day.

Do we have a report out of closed session?

Mayor and councilman closed session to or rather excuse me, the councilman closed session to discuss the items as listed on the agenda.

There's nothing to report on at this time.

Okay, thank you.

Moving on to the consent calendar, are there any items that the council wishes to pull from consent?

I don't believe I heard from anyone.

Uh if not, do we have any members of the public who wish to speak?

Brian Darby.

Okay.

And thank you for the opportunity to speak on the consent calendar.

I thought some of the stuff that was written was very interesting.

I appreciate the fact that we're given a second chance to see some of the I never really noticed that before.

I should have paid more attention that we're given a second chance to actually see an item gets approved, and then it goes on the consent calendar, some of them, and we get another chance to talk about it.

So I appreciate that.

That's that openness I was asking about.

Thank you.

Back to council.

Okay, seeing no hands raised, move approval of the consent calendar.

Thank you.

We have a motion and a second.

Let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously with those present.

Okay.

Next, we will go to the land use consent calendar, which is item ten point one.

Do we have any members of the public who wish to speak on that?

Yes.

Um, oh, I have the applicant, but he's available for questions.

So I'm not going to be able to do that.

On ten point one, okay.

It's consent, so unless someone pulls it.

Okay, very good.

Do uh then back to council.

Does any members of the council wish to speak?

Councilmember Kamei.

Thank you so much for the opportunity.

Uh move approval of the consent item.

Second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second.

No, I see no other hands raised.

Let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Okay.

Now we are going to move around a little bit on the agenda.

We're going to uh adjourn as the city council and convene the meeting as the joint city of San Jose, City Council, and San Jose Housing Authority.

And I will refer you to item one of our agenda, which is in the back of the agenda.

We will hear this item in conjunction with eight point one.

We will vote these two separate items, one as the joint meeting, then we will adjourn and then we'll come back and vote on the arena hotel as the council.

So with that.

And you're sitting right next to me.

Okay, so thank you very much.

Mr.

Sullivan, please.

Thank you, Eric Sullivan, Director of Housing for the City of San Jose.

I have a very brief presentation here regarding our partnership with the Santa Clara County Housing Authority.

And on the two items, one is related to the annual MTW plan submitted.

And then two is just an update on uh upcoming uh project.

So first is I'll give a quick history here overall through our partnership with the Santa Clara County Housing Authority on the Moving to Work Plan.

This is a quick recapture of some of the key elements of the plan.

One is overall, the Santa Clara County Housing Authority invests primarily through project-based vouchers into affordable housing developments within the city.

You'll see as totaled up here, over 2300 units have been leased within the city representing support provided to over 11,000 uh tenant-based voucher families with over 350 million total invested in the past year.

And within the city limits, as the Santa Clara County Housing Authority provide support to the entire county.

There are 21 affordable housing communities within the city of San Jose.

Secondly, overall, the partnership continues to remain strong as well as expanding some investments.

As you can see, we are committed to executing other work that we've already done around the pavilion home key project, which adds to our overall shelter capacity within the city, some additional developments at Bellarino and Recon, and then some newer developments that are underway at Hawthorne and Trillium, which are two projects that the Housing Authority recently got underway as council approved funding for these initiatives.

In addition to some of the work we do around permanent housing, we're also expanding investments with Arena Hotel.

This is the second item that'll come before council after this one, which is approving that partnership with the housing authority to approve the investment of 6.4 million dollars into arena hotel shelter operations that builds on the work that's already being done at the Pacific Motor Inn for the three-year commitment of just 5.1 million dollars to bringing alternative revenue sources into our overall shelter system.

And that is a quick overview of these two items.

Thank you.

Thank you, Eric.

Before I go to council, or or I guess I need to go to the members of the public first.

Is there anyone who wish to speak on this item?

Yes.

Um, and this is for both items.

So I can't read the handwriting.

It starts with a G.

Um, and I think the last name starts with an S, but I can't read the handwriting.

And then Brian, come on down.

Again, I want to acknowledge the hard work for um everybody on uh the vouchers, and um I just wish we had more.

And I know that there's gonna be more of a challenge on that as far as the federal government.

So making every dollar count also the whole person, and I think that's some way that includes bus passes for people, so that people have a way to get around the county.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Yeah, my name is German Sarah Francisaro by the handwriting, so like engineering and doctor handwriting.

Uh, but my name is Gervin, I live in San Jose, and I'm a former foster youth myself.

Um I entered the f uh foster care at a young age uh due to instability at home in another state, and I spent several years navigating that system.

Uh, like many others, um, when I aged out, I faced a lot of uncertainty coming up and showing up at a lot of uh San Jose City Hall council meetings, uh, sometimes with no success.

Um, but I am happy to say that I'm strongly here to encourage you to approve the 2027 uh move to work plan as adopted by the Santa Clara County Housing Authority.

Um, I think the provisions in this plan, especially the focus on working with the community partners to identify the best practices and better supports for transition age youth are official.

And I think the flexibility to move beyond the traditional um waiting list and create more direct uh direct pathways for young people uh will be able to be very helpful and also necessary.

Uh just considering we have different students in different cases.

We have students that are in community college, we have students that are in four-year schools, we have students that are trying to work are in trades.

So I think these approaches allow for faster, more effective housing placements and ensure that youth exiting the foster care are not falling through the cracks.

And it's also important that the commitment is clearly outlined in the plan, which it is, and that's because it holds all of us accountable to this goal and that no uh young person should exit uh without a safe place to live.

And uh thank you again for your time and your commitment to the plan.

Thank you.

Back to council.

Thank you.

Uh before I go to counts the council colleagues for any comments, I would like to say uh some thank yous on behalf of the mayor and council member Mulcahu, who are both traveling today.

And that is first to Princeton Prince, executive director uh and Angie Garcia Nguyen, Deputy Executive Director of the Santa Clara County Housing Authority for their partnership.

This is a model that strengthens interim housing and provides a clear path to a permanent home for our most vulnerable residents.

Also, thank you to Eric Sullivan, the housing director for driving successful partnerships and to the Alameda Business Association for ongoing engagement and support.

And finally, we hope the on-site operator for supporting clients on their journey to stable housing.

Want to thank you all for your participation and to the success of all of these programs.

With that, uh Councilmember Campos.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Um, and I also want to begin my remarks by thanking staff and uh the housing authorities uh moving to work plan.

These essential programs are meaningful as they increase the number of affordable units in our high cost area, and I'm particularly interested in activity uh 2026-2, the direct rental assistance pilot.

I think that it is uh an effective approach at supporting and empowering tenants, and according to the housing authorities report, 40% of voucher holders fail to successfully use their vouchers, which is why this alternative approach is important as the report states direct assistance can help get around barriers that prevent tenants from successfully using rental vouchers, and we should be staying up to date on HUD's approval status as well as the outcome data that comes with that program.

And so, with that, I have just three questions on this item.

Um the moving to work activity 2020-2 has been around for years now and commits housing vouchers for interim uses.

This activity is referenced in item 8.1, which is using project-based vouchers for interim units at Arena Hotel.

Does this reduce the number of project-based vouchers that are available to support the construction of new permanent affordable units?

So thank you, Councilmember, for the question.

So, first, the types of vouchers that are being used at both the interim housing sites at Arena Pacific Mortar Inn are part of local discretion, so it's not taking out of the total pool of project-based vouchers used for development purposes.

It's a separate fund within the housing authority based on sort of local needs and preferences, and that's what's partially outlined within the MTW plan.

Okay.

And while there is no fixed length of stay anticipated for Arena Hotel, the intent is to apply vouchers to permanent housing units that are under construction or become vacant.

So do we have an estimated timeline for how long interim housing residents will typically stay?

So at the Pacific Motor Inn, which is the current model that the arena motel will replicate.

The Pacific Motor Inn tenants there tend to stay approximately six months as they're quickly cycle through into a permanent housing solution.

Thank you for that.

And my last question is given the city's direct investment in interim housing at Arena Hotel.

I'm interested in the extent to which these units are occupied by residents experiencing homelessness, specifically in San Jose.

And though I appreciate that the housing authority takes a countywide view on providing services, uh, I'm quest uh my question is will the housing authority collect intake data to demonstrate where the interim housing tenants previously resided.

Yes, that's part of our standard reporting requirements and our partnership between the San Jose Housing Authority and the Santa Clara County Housing Authority is collect that data on unit utilization both in our interim sites and in our permanent supportive housing sites and what's their transition.

So we'll be collecting that demographic data.

Thank you.

I appreciate those responses.

And with that, I will move this item.

Great, thank you so much.

Seeing no other hands, let's vote.

This is on item one.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you.

We will now uh adjourn as the joint meeting of the San Jose City Council and the San Jose Housing Authority and reconvene as the San Jose City Council.

We will be discussing item 8.1.

We've already heard public comment on both of these, so I will move to council for any discussion or a motion.

Don't be shy.

Okay.

We have a motion and a second on 8.1.

Let's vote.

That's driving me crazy.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Next is the report from the city manager, Jennifer McGuire.

Do you have something for us?

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

I I do not have a report for you today.

After all that, but oh, you are so fun, and we needed to do it for the record.

Thank you so much.

Sorry about that.

Next time I'll have a report for you next time.

That is hysterical.

Okay, moving to item 3.3 approval of the issuance of the tax exempt multifamily housing revenue bonds.

Do we have a presentation?

No presentation.

Do we have any members of the public who wish to speak?

Brian.

I'm not sure who does the bond.

I just wanted to bring we really need to thank the people that help us with our bonds because we would not have been able to build a lot of the stuff that we're building without them finding a way to get the financing.

So I think they again need to be acknowledged as some of the unsung burrals.

So I do if they were here, I would thank them.

Thank you.

Back to council.

Great.

Seeing no hands raised, is there a motion?

Move approval.

Second.

Okay, seeing no discussion, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Okay.

Next item is item 5.1, transportation policy priorities for Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, local investment plan related to Senate Bill 63 revenue measure.

And I see we have a presentation on this one.

Welcome.

Yes, uh Vice Mayor and Council, John Risto, Director of Transportation.

We do have uh guests from VTA here.

And we do have a presentation with me today is Greg Richardson and Sam Sargent, and they're gonna cover part of the presentation.

Jessica Zank, Deputy Director, Department of Transportation, and I will cover the part that uh responds to the item before the council today.

So, Greg, do you have uh clicker right there?

Do I have a clicker?

Okay, I have a clicker.

Um, good afternoon, um Vice Mayor uh to the council and to the city administration.

Thanks for this this opportunity to present.

Uh, for Sam and me, this is part of what we're considering to be our um VTA spring tour to introduce this draft investment plan related to the proposed regional transportation revenue measure.

Um, as part of it is to gain some insight and solicit some feedback from the various cities and community groups directly impacted by them by the revenue measure.

And this afternoon will provide a little background, some framework for the draft and and again solicit your feedback.

There it is.

Okay, um, I trust each of you is aware of the role that VTA uh plays in the region, but just in case, this slide provides just a little snapshot reflecting our responsibilities in transit, congestion management, and as a funding partner.

Suffice it to say that we see VTA's role as connecting people to the things that are most important to them jobs, medical needs, school, and then family and community.

Beyond the connection piece, VTAA also helps create the significance of transit can be seen in that first statement, courtesy of research done by our industries association APTA, or the American Public Transportation Association.

For every dollar invested in transit, there is five dollars in economic impact.

Jobs are created through the many projects led by VTA, including BART Silicon Valley, uh phase two, the rail projects, highway projects.

And when each of these is complete, it then also will connect people to jobs throughout the Bay Area.

VTA also leads in the development of affordable and market housing, utilizing our inventory of property, delivering new homes and new opportunities to residents.

And that economic impact is felt by the small businesses where contracting opportunities are available across VTA's range of projects.

The City of San Jose sees and experiences a great deal of the transit options provided by VTA as shown here on this slide.

The city and VTA have partnered and collaborated on many projects over the years to improve transportation opportunities for the residents.

And at the bottom of this slide, you'll see we're providing specific reference to the more recent utilization of 2016 Measure B funds with a heavy emphasis on improvements to local streets and roads.

And then this slide here provides just a brief summary of the fiscal impacts or the fiscal elements of the regional measure, SB63, specific to uh Santa Clara County.

The regional measure is designed as a citizens' initiative, requiring a 50% plus one vote for approval.

Through our board, inclusive of several individuals here on the Dais, VTA was able to ensure a full return to source component with the measure, ensuring that over 84% of sales tax generated in Santa Clara County is returned to the county through VTA.

The 84% return is after our contribution of 5.25% to MTC for transit transformation initiatives and administration costs, and our obligation to help fund Caltrain capped at 10.38%.

Using this the using the measures base year of fiscal year 2031, this means that approximately 264 million dollars annually will come to the county through VTA to support transit in the region.

And it's at this point here I'll turn it over to Sam to take you the rest of the way.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Greg.

Sam Sargent.

Sam Sargent, I serve as the director of strategy and transformation for VTA.

So SP 63 was the legislation that uh gave us this potential regional measure here in November.

And under SB 63, regional measure funds may be used for, and I quote, public transit expenses and roadway repavement projects on roads served by fixed route transit.

I think that this is really important to call out as we go around and educate uh our community members as we speak with and solicit feedback from our city councils and the board of supervisors, as well as community-based organizations, because this is different than some of the other sales tax measures that you've seen here in Santa Clara County, which are a little bit broader and get at that broad mission of VTA.

It could be express lanes, bike pad, et cetera.

Well, this is very transit specific, although you can see here that there is the opportunity for roadway repaving on corridors where we have either VTA buses or light rail.

Now, the local investment plan principles.

So we've been going through a journey with our board.

Uh we have the second uh workshop with our board actually this Friday of thinking through some of the principles behind how we would use these funds going forward, and frankly, how we should think about funding generally going forward for VTA.

How do we stay focused primarily on outcomes?

And so we've identified three primary outcomes here.

The first of which is growing ridership, increasing productivity, and enhancing the customer experience, which includes safety, security, and cleanliness.

If we are investing money, we want to drive at least one of these outcomes, if not more, and delivering all of the above in a financially sustainable way.

Reimagine, which is how does VTA modernize its business models so that we can operate more effectively, more product, have increased productivity and generally improve the delivery of our core transit services, and then transform, which is how do we adopt new technologies and form strategic partnerships, whether it's with our public sector partners or the private sector, to future-proof the VTA transit system.

I'll move quickly to these slides before handing it off to my City of San Jose colleagues.

But as we've gone out and asked for feedback from cities, and we've gotten through uh half of our city councils so far this week, and we'll continue uh soliciting feedback from uh hopefully the rest of them in the county as well as the board of supervisors.

But again, this is an invitation for input, and so we'd like to put a couple of example uh investments out there in each of the categories.

Bus corridor improvements, station upgrades, increasing transit services, and transit capital improvements.

Under reimagine, how do we fund our visionary network to get more of our routes from 30 minutes down to 15 minutes or better, as well as speed improvements to enable the visionary network, things like transit signal priority, fair programs for seniors and students, and safety and security enhancements, and then under transformation, things that are one step beyond innovative customer experience projects, advanced vehicle technologies, including light rail, fleet replacement, and then station redevelopments, as you can see on the bottom right here with our successful TOD program.

And then at the end of the day, or at least uh in the coming weeks uh or months, we'll be bringing it all together.

And what you'll ultimately see go to the VTA board in June will be something that graphically hopefully pops a little bit more than this, but it would be a local investment plan that has these categories or sort of programs of projects, the percentage of revenues to be applied to each, the primary outcomes that every investment drives, and then KPIs for each project because we can't manage what we can't measure, and we want to make sure that if we're something's going well, that we hopefully double can double down on that.

And if something is not going so well, we know how to correct and keep moving forward.

And we'll continue our engagement uh in the coming weeks, uh, not only again with more of our city councils, with the board of supervisors, with the VTA board, with uh dozens of community-based organizations and the public.

We have our future of transportation workshop this Friday, and then ultimately we'll get to June 4th, which will be the board meeting, where the VTA board will take action on the local investment plan.

And with that, I will hand it over to my friend Jess Inc.

All right, thank you so much, Sam.

Jessica Zank, Deputy Director in the San Jose Department of Transportation.

Uh so this is just a summary of what Greg reviewed in terms of the full return to source uh of the funding generated in Santa Clara County, so that you can see it.

Now, what you've seen in the staff memorandum is that at this point in the process, city staff are here to highlight a few potential city priorities.

And with your feedback and pending your approval today, we will work with VTA to advance those to the extent possible through the VTA board.

Uh so with that, I'm gonna turn it over to John who will go through these priorities.

Thank you, Jessica.

And I also want to mention we have Rick Scott, assistant director of the Department of Transportation in case there's questions on pavement and Ramses Medue in case we have some questions on some of the transit priorities we're gonna talk about.

As both Greg, Sam, and Jess talked about, what we're here today is actually to provide feedback and input to the board of directors at VTA for their consideration of how to craft the local investment plan.

And that's what we're gonna talk about, the three priorities that staff is going to recommend to the council that would then be uh forwarded to VTA for their consideration.

Priority number one, roadway maintenance, very important to us.

This is our visionary network.

We like to maintain our pavement at uh at a high degree.

We will be losing our measure T funds coming over the next year or two.

So we're looking for some way to actually fill that gap for our major streets and roads, and what we're suggesting is that up to 20% of the funds that Jessica was referring to actually go into that category of foundation, which is has the local road improvements in it.

We're we actually have probably the most transit miles that VTA buses and light rail uh transport on within the city.

Those buses do cause quite a bit of wear and tear on that pavement.

They are heavy.

So with the opportunity to use these funds to actually make sure that the buses and the patrons that are riding those get a nice smooth and up-to-date and first class ride, we would like to recommend that at least 20% of those discretionary funds go into that bucket for VTA to consider.

There's still a lot of work to do to actually determine how that would be distributed and work through, but that would be something that we would be working with VTA staff in the other cities to develop that.

The second priority area would be the transit supportive capital, and uh council knows that we've got a number of very important capital transit projects in the city.

Number one, Deirdon station.

So we'd love to have some of these funds be able to support that work that is ongoing, as well as connections to that between Deeredon and the airport with airport connector, and a number of other capital projects, whether it be the Caltrain electrification to Gilroy, which we are all planning to get.

There's a number of stations along that route also that need upgrading.

The modernization of the zero mission fleet and the conversion of the next generation light rail, all also very important aspects that uh VTA is considering right now that these funds could go a long ways in supporting that.

So we're recommending 30% of those funds go into that category that Sam had talked about.

And then the last one, and it's really important to VTA, which is a transit service and rider experience because we all want it to be better than it is today and actually modern and futuristic and actually very innovative and effective.

And so that ridership hopefully follows that innovation and effectiveness.

And we're looking and support VTA in that effort.

There's still a lot of work of what that visionary network is going to look like and how it's going to operate and function.

But no matter what, they're going to need some more funding to make that a really top first class uh system for San Jose and Santa Clara County.

That would be a recommendation of 50%.

And obviously, that that's the highest amount of those three categories, and we support that as well.

So we're recommending those three categories and percentages will be forwarded to VTA for their consideration.

And that uh concludes that part of it.

I want to make one last piece and pitch, which is as just went through the list of the different breakdowns of where the funds go.

We don't want to lose sight that there's a portion of this that goes to MTC for regional distribution.

And that funding would come back to ultimately would come back to the count County of Santa Clara and then to San Jose.

And there's a number of things that we'd love to see that fund actually help us with.

Uh, improving our transit signal priority is one of those.

That's something that um VTA is very interested in seeing other cities get to where we are.

We're a little ahead of the pack on that, but that is at least one thing that we'd like to see.

So we don't want to lose sight of the fact that MTC will be distributing portions of the sales tax generated in Santa Clara County, how they're going to do that and how much would come back to Santa Clara County and San Jose.

With that, I'm gonna wrap up for questions, and we are here, the whole team is here if there's any questions on any of this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for the presentation from our visitors from VTA and from the city.

Uh I've heard this presentation a few times as a director for VTA, and the return to source was a huge uh component of actually the board deciding to approve moving forward and being part of the regional measure.

So I'm I'm really glad to see that, and then I'm hoping that we get to see the return to source, return to source when it comes to the city of San Jose.

Um, also the transit signal priority is really important.

I know Ramses is very fond of our priority uh transit prior first priority uh program that we established a few years ago, and now this uh VTA is taking it on, and we need to encourage all of our surrounding cities to make sure they have that as well.

And and then, of course, the pavement component, making sure all of our streets are paved after the after we exhaust the funds that we're using from Measure T and other sources.

So that that's great.

Um, I know there are several colleagues who would like to speak, but let's go to members of the public first.

I have two cards.

Um, Vincent Ma and Brian come on down.

I would like to thank you for the members from VTA.

They provide a serious service for people with disabilities.

Um access, I think it's called now, and so it helped it's very helpful.

Um, the program I ran uh was part of wouldn't have been able to run without that.

Um the other thing I I really think it's important.

You're talking about return to source.

The source is us, for I mean, eventually the people, and one of the people that doesn't seem to have this source is people who are unhoused.

And just access to bus passes.

Uh I called around, tried to find out, and it was hard to find out where you get it.

You know, and if you're gonna remove people, and I understand why that needs to be done, just having access to that would be a very basic return to source.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Uh good afternoon, uh, members of the San Jose City Council.

My name is Vincent Ma.

I'm here on behalf of Glideways.

Uh, we are one of the partners of the San Jose Connector Project, which is the private sector side uh of the public-private partnership.

Our consortium was selected by the city to develop, design, build, and operate an automated transit network system to connect the San Jose Durdan Station and the San Jose Mineta Airport.

I just want to take this opportunity to thank the staff from San Jose, City Department of Transportation, as well as all the airport staff for partnering with us on this project.

In 2000, voters approved measure A for transit funding and the Deirdon Airport Connector was among uh the one of the most popular projects uh in that measure, according to voter polls.

Our request is that the innovative transit projects like the San Jose uh Connector Project are made eligible for funding through the regional measure.

These local funds can be leveraged for state and federal dollars, which will be necessary to bring this important transit project to those in the community who need it most, and for the voters who asked for it.

Thanks for your time and consideration.

Back to council.

Thank you.

Thank you for the members of the public who came to speak on this issue.

Going first to Councilmember Campos.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Um, I'd like to start off by thanking our phenomenal DOT team for their partnership with the VTA and our community throughout this process.

A special thanks to Jessica Zink, uh Ramsis, Director Risto, NLA, and David Tran for their tireless advocacy on behalf of the City of San Jose.

We know that this regional measure has been years in the making.

And if voters approve this investment, it has the potential to save our regional transit network.

We have heard about the severe fiscal cliff that our partners at BART and Caltrain are facing.

Considering the significant local investment that we are making here in San Jose to establish Deirdon as a major hub for Caltrain, VAR, and high speed rail, their survival is crucial for our local transportation priorities.

And in Santa Clara County, we also have the unique opportunity to reimagine how we are delivering transit to our community.

Because if this measure passes, we must spend the next 14 years making our system fast, reliable, and safe.

In my experience, when I'm talking with residents about why they choose a car over public transit, it usually comes down to two things.

Transit isn't fast enough and they don't feel safe.

And I'm gonna focus on the second point because this is uplifted further by our youth commission.

Safety has to be at the center of everything that we do.

It isn't just safety on the bus or the train, it's safety at the station.

It's making sure there's enough visibility.

It's uh safety on the way to the transit hub.

It's safe for walking or biking to that station, and for those who can't park and ride, it is crucial that we are making that last mile safer and better connected.

And so, with that, um, my question is around the 20% that's requested under the pavement bucket.

Can we use those dollars to add complete streets or active transportation elements as part of our repaving efforts?

I'm sorry, I thought I was gonna be directed toward Jess for a second, but so can you just repeat?

Yeah, so that's part of that 20% is what they were suggesting.

So the question is around the 20% under the pavement bucket, and the question is if we can use those dollars to add complete streets or activation elements, active active transportation elements as part of the repaving efforts.

Um I'm gonna offer that I don't know if we know the specifics well enough at this point that those would be able to.

What we're gonna need to do is actually go back and check to see the eligibility that's actually written into SB63.

It's not entirely clear that those are uh eligible yet, but that is something we're gonna have to all the cities are asking the same sort of thing.

What is eligible if if funding goes into local street network?

What are there gonna be the eligible uh categories of improvements that are that would meet the SB63 language?

So I think it's probably a little bit undetermined right now.

We have to clear that up.

But if I could offer, I think the focus will always be on the transit.

Well, for us, it's gonna be on that transit component, um, the the safety reliability of the individuals.

And so that's the primary focus.

So if the ability is there for that to be utilized with these funds within that the local streets type work that we'll figure out a way to do that.

But but we need to make sure that it's eligible within the SB63 itself.

Thank you for that answer.

I know that maintaining our roadways is costly and that we have to find these dollars somewhere, but to the best of our ability, we should be um pairing roadway maintenance with changes to our built environment.

That's how we promote public transit.

I'll share one example in my district, uh, which Monterey Highway runs along, and so right outside of Edenvale and um the one Branham Lane Life Moves EIH, there's a bus stop, and that bus stop um has no bus shelter.

So when people are having to wait in these circumstances, it doesn't make writing public transit the number one option.

And I'm sure that there are uh examples like that throughout the city and the county.

So I just wanted to highlight one uh really key element of looking at how we're repaving, but also matching that with the the needs of creating um that last mile connectivity that our our riders really are asking for.

My uh second question is regarding safety at our transit hubs, specifically light rail stations.

Has the agency explored adding turnstiles or other infrastructure to collect fees uh and fares?

Sorry.

The the concept of fair gates um is continuing to be a conversation that occurs.

Um the difficulty that we have is really being such an open system and trying to close it completely to the point where it can be something that can be utilized throughout the entire system.

So um I'm not gonna say it's completely off the table, but it's something that's a little more difficult for us to manage than it is for the likes of like a BART, which has a much more closed system and easier for them to manage that.

But but we'll look at any other ways possible for us to manage that that component as best we can.

Thank you for that response.

Those were all my questions, and I just want to uh uplift this last piece about how we're promoting ridership because you know there's definitely um a correlation that our youth, especially uh when I've attended Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action meetings, and they're demonstrating that they they're aware that single use uh vehicle trips are causing huge amounts of pollutants, greenhouse gases in our environment, and they want to be writing public transit.

And so I I just want to close out with some advocacy on behalf of our youth.

Um, I'm thrilled that on page 17 of the presentation we're seeing the staff recommendation, including youth passes, and I want to expand on our vision for transit equity.

Um, I strongly encourage us to work together and think about how we could potentially provide transit passes that are free or extremely affordable to youth under the age 18 because we have opportunities throughout the city that our youth need to be able to access, and public transit can be that great equalizer that helps get our youth from you know district two, district nine to downtown to to their neighbors to the services that they need.

I know that um the uh initiative VTA Smart Pass Pilot has demonstrated great success from our community colleges and getting um more ridership there, and um the Fremont Union High School District, along with VTA has recently secured smart passes for all of the students in their high school district.

And so I'm inspired by how we could potentially uh champion a similar initiative in our city.

Um we need to recognize that economic mobility has a lot of components, and public transit that is free, that is reliable, that is accessible, is definitely one of those vehicles that helps uplift the economy of our residents.

Um I just want us to really think about the future that this could bring us if it does move, um, if it is approved by the voters.

And with that, um, I will move to approve the uh five signature memo and thank my colleagues for their partnership on this.

Second, thank you.

Thank you.

We have a motion and a second.

Councilmember Ortiz.

Thank you so much, Vice Mayor.

I want to thank staff really for a really thoughtful memo.

It's clear a lot of work went into aligning our city's priorities with VTA's broader framework, and I appreciate that focus on improving service, wider experience, and long-term sustainability.

Uh, I also want to express my support for the memorandum brought forward by Councilmember Campos alongside Vice Mayor Foley, Councilmember Cohen, Councilmember Condellas, and myself.

For me, what's most important here is what this means for East San Jose.

We are the most transit-reliant area in the county, and as a result, we should also be among the areas that see the greatest benefit from this investment.

When we invest in transit in District 5, we're not just improving a system, we're directly impacting people's ability to go to work, get to school, and access important resources like grocery stores, community centers, child care.

Investments like these have the potential to further accelerate the progress we want to see in East San Jose, with the largest portion of VTA riders coming from our area.

These dollars can go further, supporting more activity along our corridors, strengthening our small business community, and making our neighborhoods more connected and economically resilient.

This is also about long-term economic growth.

When we invest in a transit, uh, when we invest in transit communities that uh rely on it the most, we're investing in workforce access, um, local small businesses having access to customers and workforce, and then overall vitality of those communities.

So I just want to thank staff for bringing this forward.

Um, and I'm proud to support both the staff recommendation and the mem uh memorandum we worked on together to ensure these investments truly deliver for our our residents.

Um, one thing I just would continue like to like to mention, and something I I don't see in this document, is VTA's responsibility to address impacts to surrounding communities during transportation uh construction.

There has been, then there's continues to be great impacts in District 5 uh due to the EBRC project.

My experience as a resident and organizer during the BTR BRT construction and now as a council member during the EBRC project, have been at best unsatisfactory.

Um now I'm forced to unfortunately CC um uh former Mayor Lopez just to receive a response from VTA staff.

We have a lack of communication when responding to my constituents and even responding to my office.

This is unacceptable.

Uh, and I won't stop raising this until my constituents get their support.

We finally got support for our small businesses after many of them had to sell along the Capitol Expressway corridor, but it took half a year to uh to be able to prove to VTA that district five residents were worth this type of funding.

And now we have construction going on late at night, overnight, during times in which people are supposed to be sleeping.

It's hot in District 5.

They're not able to close their windows because of the heat.

Um, and there's not proper dust mitigation.

There's a requirement for the contractor to put water on the construction sites to reduce dust.

That is not happening.

Um also uh just just to be honest with you, VTA continues to cancel our public meetings, and Lupita, who's leading some of the PR work, the community relations work, she's not open to feedback and she's not open to communications.

I've I've had tried to have public conversations with her.

She's not doing a good job.

I would like to ask that she never be assigned to work in my district.

I don't want to see her in my in my area.

She doesn't do not, she doesn't do right by my constituents, and she doesn't do right by me as as a council member.

And so, you know, a lot of these resources are gonna, these funding, they're gonna have to be voted on.

Good good luck getting votes from District 5 residents.

Good luck, because they're unhappy with VTA, um, and many times that that unhappiness extends to the city of San Jose.

Uh, I have to practically yell and CC everybody and and and the VTA board to get updates, and and that's not acceptable.

And until I feel like my district's being respected, I'm gonna continue to raise that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Councilmember Collin.

Yeah, thank you.

And I I appreciate the um buckets of investment that have been brought forward.

Obviously, there's a lot of detail under those that we'll figure out as we move forward move on.

Um just to highlight one obviously electrification of the line south of here on Caltrain, probably not going to happen in the way that we envision, but since PacalTrain is investing in the battery electric units, the hybrid trains, which will allow us to have continual certain continuous service from San Francisco to Gilroy without having to actually electrify the UP lines.

So there will probably be some need for additional investment in in that service and that expansion.

Um did want to raise one item that I I know is on the list of many things, but to me, the efficiency of service north of downtown into North San Jose and then around through you know down eventually over to Eastside through Down Capital uh is a very inefficient service.

Um, you know, my people are you know, people tell me it takes twice as long uh to get from North San Jose to City Hall than it does to drive from North San Jose to City Hall.

It hasn't been a very compelling argument to get on the train.

So that's the signal priority and things that we're talking about in North San Jose are are really important.

We know that fortunately, because of separation and other reasons, the line south is uh pretty efficient and is is one of the better um utilized parts of the line, but until we have something some similar and equivalent in North San Jose, we're not gonna see the usage that we want and the drive and driving people onto transit.

So I I definitely want to keep focused on that uh along with the um idea of grade separation at some of the intersections, and some of these resources could potentially be invested in helping us reach our grade separation goals at Montague and Trimble and maybe some other intersections uh in North San Jose.

Um so I just want to elevate that.

I also want to appreciate the comments from Council Member Campos.

I have been having conversations with some of the folks at VTA already about transit passes for youth.

I've been talking to many of the youth in my district who have been asking for it.

Um I know that the model that's been done at Fremont Unified, a Fremont Union high school district in Sunnyvale is a little different in that they're paying for passes and services being adjusted in order to be used for for getting people to school.

Um my vision is that we don't we're not necessarily talking about using it to and from school unless it's already coincides with existing lines or existing routes, but that we should be encouraging students to use transit at other times of day or to get to after school activities or uh to get to jobs or come downtown, and to me, building that ridership habit.

Many students seem to want to have it, but without passes, they're not utilizing it as much would be great.

The other thing is that you know, there's times a day where the buses are not utilized, but they're running, and getting people on the bus to me seems to be just as important a goal objective as Fairbox revenue return.

Um, given that people feel more comfortable riding when there's more people on the bus.

So we sort of create a problem where we don't have enough riders, and so people don't ride.

But if we were to give students passes and get more students on the bus, we could actually help solve that problem as well.

So there if there's some need for some investment through this money, that would be great.

Although I do believe that it's that these are kind of separate conversations, and providing bus passes for students should be something we can do either way.

But I just wanted to elevate that point as well and and also ensure uh Councilmember Campos that I'm definitely having those conversations as a board member at VTA.

So thank you.

Thank you.

I agree that bus passes are important.

Whether we use these funds or other funds, we should be prioritizing access for our students.

Councilmember Kamei thank you so much.

Um just to follow up on that.

I think uh one of the things that happens when as a youth you um uh sort of get accustomed to using the buses, uh, you tend to, as an adult, also uh use the buses.

So I think that you know, sort of bringing on the next generation of transit riders, uh, it's really a good investment.

So I just want to put that out there so that we can think about ways in which we can uh certainly support our youth and really uh provide access, because I think that if you've never been on a bus and you've always been driven by your parents, uh you never think about, oh, you know, what is it like out there, right?

And sometimes it could be a nice adventure.

So I think uh I think that that is something that uh we should uh think about promoting.

Uh but my point was uh really uh thinking uh more broadly.

I appreciate um the um the plan uh to move forward and having these policy priorities.

I think it's a good idea.

But I also think that we have to be a little bit broader to um Councilmember Ortiz's point in terms of how uh our community sees uh transit.

And I think that's gonna be really important.

Santa Clara County has always been very, very uh uh progressive in terms of supporting transit, in terms of putting their money out there to support transit.

Um that uh we're a little bit more strained, it's a little bit more difficult.

And so, you know, as this thing sort of moves forward, I'm gonna look to uh how we uh let the community know the benefits, right?

And certainly some of these outline these priorities outline what it would go to, but I also think that it's also the sentiment that people feel, you know, about transit and and um you know to some of my colleagues' point on uh easy access and you know just being able to um get from point A to point B in a timely manner.

So uh as we move forward with this, that's what I'm gonna be looking for.

And I think that if we are also seen as leaders to advocate for this, I think that community sentiment also needs to sort of kind of be uplifted.

Thank you for the presentation.

Thank you.

Thank you for all of the comments from my colleagues as uh VTA director.

I will take them under consideration, particularly as we go forward with our work study session on Friday and others before it comes to us for a vote in the allocation in June.

Also, I'd like to thank Greg and Sam for being here from VTA and Jessica and John Ramses and Rick for being here for the presentation.

With that, seeing no further hands, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Okay, next we come to actually the final item on our agenda, which is item 6.1, master consultant agreement with Brown and Caldwell.

Do we have a presentation?

I see Jeff coming down.

We must have a good afternoon, Vice Mayor and Council, Jeff Provenzano, Director of the Environmental Services Department.

With me is Mariana Chavez Vasquez, General Manager of the Regional Wastewater Facility, and Capel Verma, Deputy Director of our Capital Improvement Program at the Regional Wastewater Facility.

Today we have a very rousing presentation on master consultant agreements, especially pertaining to this particular topic, which is an owner advisor service.

We do many uh master consultant agreements for different programs, but this one is a little bit unique.

We thought this presentation might be interesting to council to see how it how it works and the importance and the value that it brings to San Jose and our ratepayers in our capital improvement program.

So, with that, I will pass it over to Mariana to begin.

Thank you, Jeff.

So we're very happy to be here today.

We are bringing you uh one of the major projects that we're gonna have at the RWF in the next 10 years.

Uh, the project that we are initiating today by getting the owner advisor is one of the essential projects in the facility in the next 10 years to comply with the new regulations that we have for this charge into the San Francisco Bay.

Uh, we have mentioned this in the past.

Uh the water board has given us uh new, more stringent nutrient regulations, uh, not only to San Jose but to all the facilities discharging into the San Francisco Bay.

Uh so the pro the project that we're bringing today is uh one of the projects will help us address that.

Uh the project will also be our fifth large design bill project.

Uh, this is becoming the method of choice for us to deliver projects at the RWF.

Uh Capill will talk about some of the advantages of that.

Uh, but we are seeing uh increased benefits for the city and how we manage the projects and how we minimize the risk and exposure to the city.

Uh, as uh mentioned, this is these are owner advisor uh services, and Capilla will walk us through the process that we follow to to secure these services.

Good afternoon, Capel Verma, CIP deputy director.

Thanks for having us.

Um I really appreciated our conversation last month when we had the opportunity to present the status of our CIP program, if you recall, and more importantly, I think to help council really understand some of the specifics of what comprises over 1.6 billion dollars worth of investment over the next decade.

One of the projects, as Mariana alluded to is the aeration improvements project, and that's what I'm here to highlight today.

Um I'll delve into some of the technical details, and that's what Jeff was referring to as rousing presentation.

Uh, but you know, I wanted to highlight that what we're doing today and what we're coming to council for the award of a master consultant agreement for owners advisor services, and that's to a consultant by the name of Brown and Caldwell.

I want to go back.

This one.

Okay.

Uh, just to get everyone oriented, um, it's a photograph of our secondary treatment process.

The main infrastructure that makes it up includes aeration basins, and that's where process errors added to feed the bugs that break down our waste to reduce BOD and ammonia.

Our secondary clarifiers are the circular tanks where activated sludge settles and uh is effectively sent either to waste in the digestion process or return to the process itself.

Um, trying not to get too focused on the wording here.

Uh, we previously operated the series in uh this this process in series.

We now offer it in parallel.

Uh, but uh this is a picture of our BNR2 process, which is about half of our secondary process itself.

Um, and as a reminder, this project really serves two primary objectives.

Uh, the first objective is asset restoration rehabilitation, which most of our program is about.

And then, as Mariana mentioned, we need to upgrade the process to account for more stringent watershed permit requirements that are right in front of us.

Not sure how the photographs are showing up on your screen, but just to kind of review a little bit about the first objective or asset restoration.

Some of the close-ups here are of structural and mechanical deterioration of a lot of the infrastructure.

And all of these components are in the need of repair.

Just some more photos of the existing infrastructure.

I would like this to take this opportunity to note that you know we're not only concerned with operational reliability, as we know that the treatment plant has to operate 24-7 to meet our permit, but we're also concerned about the safety of our staffing at the facility itself.

All of the operations, maintenance staff need to walk around this infrastructure, put their hands on it, and it needs to be a safe environment for them.

Okay.

The top half of the slide represents how we currently run our aeration process.

It's known as a four-stage step feed biological nutrient removal process.

And it's designed to remove BOD and ammonia.

Some denitrification does occur, but not enough to meet our upcoming total inorganic nitrogen limits.

And that's where the second half of the slide comes in.

The bottom half represents some process process improvements that we could do.

It's not set in stone.

We've done some previous studies on it, and we think that it's our safest bet right now to achieve a simultaneous nitrification denitrification process and remove enough ammonia nitrate and nitrite to meet our new TIN limits in the future, which is going to be super important for us.

It does include some supplemental carbon addition and operates at a lower dissolved oxygen level.

And what's interesting about that, that results in lower energy needs required for the process as a whole.

So just an overview again in summary, the project itself will consist of the scope shown here, the process upgrades and modifications, some structural repairs and a new carbon feed storage facility.

I do want to note that at the moment a preliminary planning level construction estimate for the project is roughly 240 million dollars.

Okay, a lot of information on this slide, but I just wanted to remind everyone that this project is being delivered using design build.

Again, one of the items that Mariana had mentioned earlier, why that's important.

This is our fifth design build delivery project that we're implementing.

And as such, in the early stages of the project where we're at, we're currently procuring our owner's advisor, Brown and Calwell.

It is industry standard to procure an owner's advisor, not an engineer of record, but an owner's advisor to help walk us through the project.

Their scope of services is in the top half of the slide, and some of their early activities following contract execution will be the development of a project definition report where they really help the city navigate through the possibilities of the projects, help build some boundaries and constraints so that we can go out and procure a design builder, which will in effect be our engineer of record and our constructor to help build a project for us.

Okay, uh just a snapshot of the anticipated scope of services, typical project management, uh building a project definition report for us, some CQA and permitting support, uh, helping us to procure the design builder.

Um, and then once we get the design builder and start the initial 60% design, helping us through that as well as developing a guaranteed maximum price with a design builder.

Um that the project moves into construction, which is the bulk of their services uh from a dollar amount, um engineering services during that phase, and then construction management oversight uh following completion, uh substantial completion of the project.

We typically go through a 12-month performance evaluation where they will provide some engineering support.

Um, a few items that I'd like to highlight uh for council.

Uh yes, uh the 18.9 million uh we recognize that is a large dollar amount.

However, I would like to emphasize that it is a not to exceed contract, and staff will be negotiating multiple service orders along the timeline of the project with cost effective delivery in mind.

So we have several multiple phases, um, and we effectively are looking at this as a savings account for the city uh that we'll be drawing down from the bulk of the dollar amount, as I mentioned, is in construction, so this is not an engineer of record contract for us.

Uh, they do provide a significant amount of service there.

Um, you know, we like to uh perform some benchmarking studies as now we're 10 years deep into the program and this being our fifth design build, and um you know, we've we've uh researched that industry standard ranges for OA contracts are roughly five to twelve and a half percent of the construction cost value of a project, and at 18.9 million on our 240 million dollar uh anticipated uh amount were less than eight percent.

So um the city uh and the RWF CIP are are roughly uh on the lower end of the range for industry standard for this kind of contract, um, and that's pretty consistent with the five or I guess the four previous contacts that we've had to drink to date.

Um I just a final note on Brown and Calwell.

Uh, you know, they've been a partner uh to the city for several years on several projects, um, and we certainly have the utmost confidence that they are well suited to help us navigate through this complex and uh really exciting project for us.

And that's the end of the presentation, and take questions.

We're open for questions.

Wonderful.

Thank you very much.

Let's go to members of the public for any comments.

Brian Darby.

Outside of the ceremonial um events that happened, this is probably the most important thing you'll do because this is the future.

If we don't have proper sewage, you get cholera.

It really, and and people do.

If you look around the world and you look at the history of those things, so that's a very small amount of money to pay for um building a next generation way of dealing with our waste.

Thank you.

Back to council.

Thank you.

Councilmember Kameh.

Thank you so much for the presentation, and thank you so much for the briefing.

I always get a lot of information from the briefing, so I really appreciate it.

I want to thank Brian for his comments.

You know, uh, it's uh one of those things where uh when you don't have any issues, don't have any trouble, everybody is all happy.

But the minute that something happens with the system, you're in a lot of trouble.

So I just want to thank you for uh looking sort of on the on the long site and and uh and and keeping things safe for us.

I mean, I look at that corroded um pipe, and I think, oh my gosh, this looks terrible.

Uh but uh but you're right.

A picture does show a thousand words, and and I and I'm glad that we're able to move forward on this.

And with that, I'd like to move approval and support of the master consultant agreement.

Great.

We have a motion and a second.

Thank you.

Councilmember Collin.

Well, I was gonna just thank you for the continual work of um keeping this facility running and doing all the important CIP that's needed, and was uh happy to uh second the motion.

I think we all appreciate all of the work you're doing, even though we probably don't see you very often, but I do appreciate the briefing that you had with me.

I think it was last week.

Uh I'm sitting here thinking, I've seen this presentation very recently.

I couldn't remember where, but thank you so much, and thank you for uh all that you do out of the wastewater treatment plant out in district four.

I think with that, let's vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

So concludes our regular agenda.

We now move to open forum.

Brian, John and Pachuco, come on down.

You do not have to call uh speak in the order that you're called.

Thank you.

Um this is the 250th year of the celebration of our declaration of independence.

And one of those was we hold these truths to be self-evident.

Um, do we?

I would really like to know that.

Why are we here?

Two people are resigned resigned from the House of Representatives because of abuse they apparently did or have committed confessed to.

And we had one person that was sat at this dais that did the same thing.

Did anybody know about that?

The investigation is over in this particular situation, and I'm merely asking that question.

Do we hold these truths and are they self-evident?

I would ask us to think about that seriously.

People are wondering why the uh the public has this negative output, negative you.

That's because of what happens.

Apparently, one of these representatives, this was a known situation for over a decade.

And to the women of our community, as a gentleman or not a gentleman.

Jury's still out on that one.

As a male, I'm sorry.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Uh hello.

Um, I'm Pachuco, obviously.

Um, I think I talked to most of you guys, emailed you guys a few years back, um, had the same agenda I do now.

Um, I think when I first came, um Matt Mayhem decided to cut the you know mic off the second time I came around.

Um, you know, I went up to I think all of you guys individually, some are new, you know.

Obviously, KC Campos, um, I don't remember Done being here, and uh Macaulay and Anthony.

Um, but with that being said, um, I think my bullet point was when they said I came down here to discuss how it was being homeless, and I think that it was more for them to get uh credibility for them trying to house people, but those homeless programs are you know, it's a different story.

Um, they're horrible.

But the bullet point was was that I told them, you know, uh Sam Licardo frame me, you know, destroyed evidence, filed a motion to mislead the jury, go horses witnesses, threaten them with fear, call my mom a fucking bitch, told me, you know, you fucking illegals come to this country, you're lucky you're not fucking deported.

Um, Stephen No heard everything and was right there.

Oh, I was just being um quote unquote of the words of Sam Licardo and Stephen No heard everything he said, and then last time I came here, you know, he motioned to him to go get a memo and pass it out to all you guys before I even spoke.

So it's what one person says to another to a we're gonna help you get exonerated.

What he did was illegal, you know.

Um, this is the person we're gonna have you contact in innocent projects.

You know, I want nothing to do with him.

I'm distancing myself from him, you know.

I don't stand for his views, you know, people like you or you know, the people that we fight for, the little people, and it just turned out the little person is fighting against his big friend, and now that they're running, it's votes over justice.

Um, I can't make this up.

I talked to him, I think, multiple times.

Now, whether Stefano wants to make next speaker.

Come on, Stephanie.

Council, thank you for the opportunity to speak for a moment.

Um, and I'm so sorry that my diabetes beeper kept going off and making a loud noise.

I apologize for that.

It was losing signal.

Um I I wanted to speak on the topic of uh road paving, which I think was one of the agenda items that went by already.

And um I'm I'm involved in the uh district 10 leadership group, and I uh we recently formed a committee about uh street paving conditions, and in San Jose, I know we have measure T.

We all know that we've got a bunch of money to spend, but uh it just seems like we're not getting the focus, we're not getting the quality control of the work that's being done, and some of the stuff in the streets overall in the whole city are still at, you know, if we want to grade them from A B to C, we're not getting good grades.

And I think, you know, I know everybody here of all the line items that you have to deal with every single day with our city.

Streets is one that actually impacts everybody.

There's nobody, you know, some people use the parks and some people use the libraries and so forth and so on.

Everybody uses the streets.

So we need to put some focus in it, get the DOT.

I sat and listened to their presentation.

And you know, it's interesting that that kind of goes on, and some of that work is happening.

So I'm just here to give you sort of feedback that are we really getting our money's worth for what do we got?

And can we do a better job with it?

And that's really kind of my my answer.

And the final piece of that is I don't think being in District 10, I don't think we're getting our share based on the whole city.

So that's my back to council.

Thank you.

That concludes our meeting.

We stand adjourned at three.