Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee Meeting - August 20, 2026
Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee Meeting - August 20, 2026
This meeting of the City of San José's Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee (PSFSS) covered four major items: the Fourth Quarter Financial Reports for Fiscal Year 2025-2026, an Employee Turnover Audit Report, a Fireworks Ordinance Work Plan Status Report, and the City Manager's Office of Emergency Management Work Plan Priorities Annual Report. All items were accepted unanimously by the committee, with additional discussion and clarifications on each topic.
Public Comments & Testimony
- During Open Forum, one speaker, who identified as a resident of District 1, expressed strong opposition to the city's direction on surveillance technology, including the planned deployment of 490 automated license plate readers (ALPRs), 1,020 public safety cameras, 1,000 private network cameras integrated into a real-time intelligence center, and a 33-camera automated speed enforcement program. The speaker stated that they should not have to monitor committee meetings to catch such proposals and opposed the entire surveillance expansion.
Discussion Items
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Fourth Quarter Financial Reports for FY 2025-2026 (CC 26-0901): Finance staff presented the quarterly report, noting the investment portfolio stood at just over $3 billion as of June 30, 2026, with an earned interest yield of 4.127% and a weighted average maturity of 661 days. Net income recognized for the fiscal year was $109.2 million, with no policy exceptions. Staff also highlighted two updates: the business tax amnesty program had collected $2.15 million as of June 30 against a projected full-year net revenue of $2.9 million, and the purchasing audit completed 7 of 8 recommendations, with the final one expected by end of August. Councilmember Mulcahy asked about property tax distribution spikes and the effectiveness of the amnesty program, requesting a comparative analysis with prior amnesty periods. The committee voted unanimously to accept the reports and refer them to the September 15, 2026 City Council meeting.
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Employee Turnover Audit Report (CC 26-0912): City Auditor Joe Royce presented the audit, which reviewed non-sworn full-time staff turnover across city manager departments. The average annual turnover rate between FY 2022-23 and FY 2024-25 was 6.5% excluding retirements and 8.7% including retirements, below the city's 10% target. Two findings were identified: (1) the city lacks sufficient employee sentiment data (e.g., stay and exit interviews, engagement surveys) to understand turnover drivers, and (2) workforce analytics and succession planning guidance are needed to address staffing changes. Four recommendations were made, including providing guidance for interviews and re-establishing a citywide employee survey. HR Director Aram Kyoum Jan agreed with all recommendations. Councilmember Tordillos moved acceptance, and the committee voted unanimously to accept the report and cross-reference it to the September 22, 2026 City Council meeting.
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Fireworks Ordinance Work Plan Status Report (CC 26-0923): Deputy Fire Chief Greg Tuyor presented the 2026 update, highlighting a multi-department effort including the Fire Department, Police Department, Code Enforcement, IT, and Animal Care and Services. The strategy focused on education, accessible reporting via SJ311, and enforcement. Key results: during the 4th of July period, there were 69 fireworks-related incidents (10 vegetation fires, 26 rubbish fires, 15 medical emergencies, 17 smoke/noise complaints, 1 vehicle fire). Police received 450 calls, and SJ311 received 522 reports, resulting in 80 warnings and 7 citations. A new $500 spectator fine was implemented in December 2025. Drone enforcement was deployed from five fire stations, but line-of-sight restrictions limited coverage. Councilmember Tordillos asked about increasing citation volume and the lack of criminal citations. Councilmember Kamei inquired about alternative drone operators and streamlining the citation process. Councilmember Mulcahy raised concerns about messaging clarity between 311 and 911 for fireworks emergencies, and IT confirmed that 311 calls include a disclaimer. The committee voted unanimously to accept the report.
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City Manager's Office of Emergency Management Work Plan Priorities Annual Report (CC 26-0934): Director Ray Reardon and Assistant Alvin Galang presented the annual report. In FY 2025-26, OEM responded to six incidents, including Super Bowl LX and the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with no major incidents occurring. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program graduated 208 new members, bringing the total to over 1,700. For FY 2026-27, priorities include preparing for stronger El Niño events, early planning for the 2028 Summer Olympics, and pursuing EMAP accreditation. Councilmember Kamei asked about CERT statistics per district and noted she had signed up for CERT, challenging other councilmembers to do the same. Councilmember Casey promoted the CERT 5K run. The committee voted unanimously to accept the report.
Key Outcomes
- All four agenda items were accepted by unanimous vote and referred to the full City Council as appropriate.
- The Finance Department was directed to provide a comparative analysis of the business tax amnesty program's effectiveness after the current amnesty period ends.
- The Fireworks Ordinance Work Plan will continue to refine drone enforcement, seek FAA line-of-sight waivers, and evaluate the $500 spectator fine's deterrent effect. The customer service transformation project will review 311/911 messaging for fireworks reports.
- The Office of Emergency Management will share CERT membership statistics by council district and continue outreach to increase CERT participation toward a goal of 1% of the population initially, with a long-term target of 10%.
Meeting Transcript
All right, good afternoon, and welcome to the public safety finance and strategic support committee meeting. This is our first meeting with Zoom public comments available again. And we welcome those joining joining us remotely. If you're attending in person and wish to speak, please completely speaker card, which is right there near the box. And place it one in the designated box at the bottom of the council chamber. For those joining remotely, the Zoom link is available on the agenda for today's meetings. If you are participating online and wish to speak, please use the Zoom application and select the raise hand. If you are on telephone. When it is your turn, the secretary will enable you to speak. And a notification will appear on the screen, letting you know that you may unmute and provide your comments. Okay. Here. Vice Chair Committee, absent and chair Duan. Here. We have a quorum. Thank you very much. So we reviewed the work plans. Um nothing on the consent calendar. We're going to have a report to committee. We must ensure the principal of our capital also ensure that we have the money available when we need it to make payments. And of course, we want a market yield or rate of return. We make our quarterly reports available to the public in several different ways. They're online, they're in these committee agenda packets and also in the city council agenda packets. The portfolio as of June 30th this year was just a little over $3 billion with an earned interest yield of one 4.127%. The weighted average maturity was 661 days. As you know, we are in the short end of the curve. Our fixed fiscal year to date, net income recognized was 109.2 million dollars, and we had no exceptions to the policy. The investments are um diversified, as you can see from these graphs. Most of them are in U.S. agency securities, U.S. treasuries, but we also hold corporate notes and municipal bonds as well as other um investment options. This um slide shows them by fund. Of course, the general fund is the largest one with about 731 million dollars. But the wastewater airport, clean energy, and others are also quite substantial in size. Cash balances. I think the most important thing here, or the most interesting thing here is of course the spikes you see in the general fund based on when property taxes are received. We do benchmark ourselves. We're not perfectly benchmarked, but we do benchmark ourselves to the state's investment pool or LAFE, and also the Bank of America Maryland one to three year government index. And as you can see, we are the blue line here, and we are inching slightly above the others. Our investment strategy continues to match known expenditures with suitable investments within the 24 month horizon. We do extend a portion of the portfolio beyond two years whenever appropriate to provide income and structure to the portfolio, and we maintain the diversification of the portfolio, and of course, we will continue to focus on the core objectives of safety, liquidity, and yield. And I did say that I was only going to present the investment slides, but I do have two updates that I think you would like to hear. The first one, I want to thank the revenue management division who are here or represented here for their work on the business tax amnesty program. As you know, that is a program that's running from January this year through December this year. We projected in the budget that we would um bring in um net revenue of 2.9 million dollars for the full year, excuse me. Um, as of June 30th, we had already collected 2.15 million, so we have very high confidence that we will meet perhaps even exceed that target. I do also want to commend Fletcher Barnes, who is our new deputy director of purchasing with me here in the box. Um, the purchasing audit was done in September of 2025 by our internal auditor. He came up with eight recommendations. We completed two of those in December of 2025.
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