Recording in progress.

Okay, the appointed hour has arrived, so we'll go ahead and call this regular meeting of the South San Francisco City Council for this Wednesday, July the 8th to order, and we'll begin with a roll call.

Councilmember Coleman.

Here.

Councilmember Flores.

Present.

Councilmember Nicholas.

Present.

Vice Mayor Nogales.

Here.

Mayor Adiego.

Here.

Before we begin the meeting, I'd like to point out, you know, in the past, some members of the public have expressed some distress over sometimes our travel budget and such.

And so I wanted to point out this evening that the two colleagues, the two councilmen that are not here but are actually zooming in from Baltimore, are not on a city-sponsored trip.

No funds will be expended on their behalf or their time away.

Why they're vacationing in Baltimore, I don't know, but I've been to Baltimore and just once.

So let's um let's go ahead and um now that I can see all the way to the city clerk.

I've not called on her.

Um I'm gonna let Jasmine Miranda um lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance tonight, hi.

Thank you, Jasmine.

Well now move along to Levine Act Disclosures.

Does the council have any reporting?

Any reporting by council here or in Baltimore?

There appears to be none.

We'll move along to announcements from staff.

Good evening, Mayor.

This evening we have two announcements, and it they're both for the same day.

So Saturday, July the 18th is going to be a fabulous day in South City, and we hope the entire community can join us for the following two events.

Um from 10 until 1 on Saturday the 18th in the morning, um, we are doing a diaper event, uh otherwise known as Touch a Truck.

So we have a combo thing where we're going to be able to climb and explore and discover your favorite big trucks from the city of South San Francisco.

Um we also are um asking for donations of packs of diapers.

It's something that's been very successful in the past and very helpful to the community.

Um we're hoping to collect an excess of 10,000 diapers.

Vice Mayor Mark Nogales is going to kick that off right at 10 a.m.

Um, and along with the South San Francisco Firefighters local 1507 and YCMA leaders.

Please join us at station 61, which is 480 North Canal Street, and they will also be free.

Um really important thing that we all need to learn, free can free CPR training at 11 a.m.

and noon.

Um starting as soon as the other one is ending, um, there's a neighborhood meeting that everyone is invited to.

Um District 4 Councilmember James Coleman is sponsoring and inviting you all to this meeting uh again, Saturday the 18th.

It starts at 1 p.m.

It will go until 3 p.m.

at Spruce Cafe, 230 South Spruce Avenue, and there's going to be traffic updates, some tabling, public safety update, um meet and greet with me, and some light refreshments.

Um and a couple of I think interesting interactive conversations are being planned.

So please join us for those two events on Saturday the 18th.

Thank you, Madam City Manager.

And um now we'll move on to presentations.

Presentations item number one is a certificate of recognition honoring Lotus Rodriguez, nationwide youth competition winner of America's field trip from the America 250 Foundation.

So I'm going to turn this over to uh Councilwoman Flora Nicholas, who actually became aware of the idea of this competition and encouraged local students to um be part of the competition.

And um uh there's a lot of talent in South San Francisco, and it really shown through um in regards to this poetry contest.

And so I'll let Flor take it from here.

So, like the mayor said, last March, while attending the National League of Cities Congressional Summit, I came across this organization called America 250 and found out that it's a nonprofit organization today that's supporting the U.S.

semi-quincentennials commission.

And one of their initiatives is a contest called America's Field Trip that's geared towards young people, the leaders and innovators and thinkers who will shape our next 250 years.

America's Field Trip is a nationwide contest that invites students across the country in grades 3 to 12 to be part of our nation's 250th anniversary by sharing their perspectives on what America means to them with a chance to earn an unforgettable field trip experience at some of the nation's most iconic historic and cultural landmarks.

As soon as I got back, I sent an email to the Unified School District here in South City and private elementary schools.

And noted that this contest is on and the submission deadline was looming.

It was March 18th when I did that, and in the deadline was March 30th, and I encourage them to offer this opportunity to their students.

Students are asked to submit writing or original artwork in response to the question.

Over 10,000 students in grades 3 to 12, representing all 50 states, five U.S.

territories, and the District of Columbia submitted original artwork and writing in response.

A panel of current and former educators picked the winners for capturing the youngsters' creativity and curiosity.

We are extremely proud to announce that one of the first place winners is in our midst tonight.

And she won first prize in the middle school category, and she's from our city.

Her name is Lotus Rodriguez, a rising eighth grader from Allsul's Catholic School.

She will be embarking on a once-in-a-lifetime field trip accompanied by her father, Tim Rodriguez, in August, and will have an opportunity to also watch Hamilton in Broadway.

And you will hear that award-winning poem in a minute.

So, Lotus, on behalf of the City Council of South San Francisco, we hereby congratulate you on garnering first place in the prestigious 2026 America's Field Trip National Contest for your poem in response to the prompt.

What does America mean to you in connection with the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States?

And your community applauds your efforts and your talent.

In a moment, I will also give you a certificate of recognition also from Congressman Kevin Mullen.

And he was uh he was telling you the same almost the same thing, and in in add in addition, he's saying rising to for rising to meet a demanding deadline with remarkable grit and determination.

You gave voice to what this country can be and reminded us that the work of forming a more perfect union belongs to each rising generation.

It is with tremendous pride that uh Representative Kevin Mullen congratulate you on this extraordinary accomplishment and wish you every success on the journey ahead.

Again, let's give a big hand to locals.

Do you want me to talk about this?

Yes, you want to join us.

Good evening, Mayor Adiego, Vice Mayor Nagales, Councilmember Nicholas of District 3, honorable council members, distinguished guests, my principal, vice principal, teachers, family, and everyone joining us tonight.

Thank you for all being here.

I'll have to admit, speaking in front of all of you and on live TV is a bit more intimidating than I thought.

But it is truly an honor to be here and to receive first place in the America 250 contest.

I would like to sincerely thank Congressman Kevin Mullen for his thoughtful letter of recognition.

I'd also like to thank my teacher, Miss C, for encouraging me to share my voice and for supporting me through this journey.

To my family, thank you for shaping me the person I am today and encouraging me to think deeply about the world around me and my friends for always believing in me and for trying to convince me to make my very long poem 250 words.

With that said, thank you.

And I would like to start with my poem.

I pledge resistance to your flag of the divided states of America, and to the republic for which you claim stands, but for who?

For whom does it stand?

One nation, indivisible.

That line feels fictional.

I see division in every decision.

Red against blue and constant collision, left against right and constant division, the truth getting lost, especially on television.

You say united, yet I don't see proof.

Just power that sits in a well-guarded booth.

Rich getting richer, poor fighting to breathe, history buried in which you don't teach.

So I ask again, what nation is this?

Where justice is promised yet nearly exists.

You told me to stand for the anthem and song, but silence gets louder, the more feels wrong.

You switched up the show, rewrote who belongs, like cultures accepted until too strong.

Puerto Rico, a quarter what I am, still part of the land, but somehow not part of the real plan.

You cheer for the rhythm, you profit the sound, but question the people when they come around.

And under God, which do you mean?

The one used for comfort or the one truly clean.

Because mine wrote a verse you forgot to recite.

Cheat strangers as neighbors and do what is right.

But maybe that page got lost over time.

Somewhere between power, profit, and pride.

With liberty and justice so boldly you say, but I watch who gets it and who's turned away.

For some, it's a promise, for some it's a lie, for some it's a badge, for some it's a crime.

You wave red, white, blue in the air, while red and blue lights bring my people to spare.

Not signals of safety, but signals of fear, where siren means danger is already near.

Black and blue bruises, stories untold, truths that don't fit in visions you sold.

Not I stand for a country that could truly be with justice that's equal and set my people free.

Until then, I challenge my question, I speak for the silence, the strong, the unheard, the weak.

So I ask you again, since you claim it's true, the sign of the free, tell me, free for whom.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Lotus.

So we'll move along.

We can now move along to Council Comments and Request, honoring the life of.

Okay, let's uh let's start with Councilwoman Nicholas tonight.

Sure.

Congratulations to our public like public library staff for a widely popular summer learning challenge kickoff on June 11th.

Vice Mayor Nagales and I attended the 128th anniversary of Philippine Independence at the Philippine Consulate Office on June 12th.

Mayor Diego, Vice Mayor Nagales, Councilmember Flores, and I attended also the America 250 dinner hosted by the Women's Club on June 13th.

I also attended the retirement event for two of our beloved ECD members, Eric Rittdorf and Karen Kennahan last June 18th.

Joined by um the Vice Mayor Flores, Vice Mayor Councilmember Flores and Councilmember uh Coleman and the much-awaited grand opening of the Safeway flagship store at Elkamine on June 24th, and great fun at the 4th of July celebration on July 4th.

Thank you very much to everybody who made it happen.

I also would like to say kudos uh to the quick action by our city manager for responding to an issue regarding the pike breakage that affected many of our residents along Grand Avenue.

Calwater promised to establish an emergency alert list that will include the city manager going forward so that we can respond to the residence inquiries faster.

For best and fastest information, just in case of an emergency water uh issue, contact Calwater emergency line is 650-558-7800.

You can also request bottled water through that line.

Um I also would like to say kudos to our um public works, especially to Johnny Wilson.

Um, you know, I'm one of the reviewers.

Everything that is a project going through the TDA, the Transportation Development Act, Article III goes through the B PAC, where I am a member, and um I was very pleased because we got the highest number of um score for that.

Uh I'm really pleased with the submission, it's really uh way above everybody else's, and so for those who are not familiar, that is TDA funding is uh due to the two percent of the statewide quarter, quarter cents sales tax.

Our capital improvement project is really the highest scoring one on that one.

Um I would just like to request our police chief uh if you can update us on the illegal fireworks that uh crackdown that you did, and also the safety and hygiene issues at the West Borough Safeway.

Was there a crackdown on fireworks?

Well, what they did, because a lot of our residents were complaining about it.

Yes, uh good evening, mayor, vice mayor, council member Scott Campbell, your chief of police.

As you're aware, the 4th of July remains the the busiest night for South San Francisco.

Um I want to thank all of our public safety professionals and our community members um for helping us to make it a successful night.

I know not all of our community members are happy based on all the explosions and loud sounds throughout the night.

However, our win is that there was no significant injuries or major fires, and that's a win in our book.

We did have a fireworks suppression team out working alongside our drone as first responder program, responding to over 90 firework calls, seized over 400 pounds of illegal fireworks and issued four citations.

In addition to that, we responded to routine calls for DUI, uh arson arrest, family disturbances, parties, and at the end of the night we had a uh very large response to our downtown area where we had approximately 150 unruly individuals.

We called for mutual aid, had to disperse the area.

Uh fortunately nobody was injured because we did locate a loaded firearm the following morning that had been discarded.

So, all in all, it was a success for South City.

And your second question regarding Westboro Square.

Yes, West Barrow Safe Safeway.

Westboro Safeway.

So, yes, we are very familiar with that complaint.

Uh it's been ongoing for for several several months.

Um, it is challenging because it is private property.

However, we have worked and continue to work alongside our code enforcement uh division.

Uh we've contacted the property owner, we've contacted Safeway Management, loss prevention agents, as well as Safeway Corporate Security, who were not happy with what they saw out there.

Uh we have worked with Safeway Management to tag a number of vehicles to be towed.

Uh, we brought in homeless outreach team services to contact individuals.

Um, we've given Safeway some direction on how to abuse some of these problems.

They have since installed signage uh video surveillance, and we just checked it on July 3rd, and the lots were cleaned.

A lot of the vehicles uh and individuals had left, uh, but it's a continuing progress.

Uh the property owner has been advised that if the issue does not abate for any time soon, then they are will be held liable to code enforcement uh violations.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

And also I would like to request that we join this meeting in memory of the following.

He is a he was a um the deacon for Ozuls and Madre de la Rosa, Stroberta Davidson, she was the sister of the Cultural Arts Commissioner Lidia Pomposo, Rhoda Nicolas Manrique, a childhood friend and classmate, and Julieta Talisayon, the beloved mother of our new Philippine Consul General, Arnell Talisayon.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Flor.

Next, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor, because of the large crowd here.

We have here gathering really quick.

To Lydia Pomposa's sister Austri Davidson, and uh I also wanted to mention someone I think most of us know or have definitely heard him sing, and that's uh Johnny Midnight.

And for those who've been around in South City for a long time, I've definitely been swooned by the smooth voice of Johnny, and so I wanted to make sure that we recognize him and for his services to the city.

So as my colleagues mentioned, there were a lot of events, but I just wanted to highlight two of them.

Um, one was the Safeway event uh for the three of us, it was 15 years in the making, you might say, in terms of getting to the actual ribbon cutting.

And honestly, it was great that it finally happened.

If you haven't been there yet, please check it out.

Spend your local dollars in South San Francisco.

There's a lot of great things there.

And then I also wanted to say thank you to the mayor.

Um it was his um leadership in terms of the Fourth of July celebration.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor, for kind of organizing that and leading it.

And I also wanted to thank staff who really put it together because it was really really a great event.

So with that, I'll just leave it that, Mr.

Mayor.

I have more to say, but I'll wait for the next meeting.

So okay, all right.

Um, I actually I wanted to also note that we have a large um uh amount of public in here for a couple of items on the agenda, and uh I'm sorry that um Ms.

Rodriguez left so quickly because you know her words, if you really listen closely, her words challenges us all right in America on so many different levels, and and she's a young person, and the perspective over the last few years has been particularly harsh um for um for people of color, for people that are new to this country, and but what I want to assure her, and and some of the older people in the audience will know that it's really the promise of America that we celebrate it on July 4th, right?

The words that are in that declaration of independence are what we're trying to live up to, and I'd like to be able to assure her and other young people that America will still keep marching in that direction.

We haven't been there in the past, we aren't there now, we have quite a ways to go, but we will get there, and that's really the beauty of our country and our form of government.

Democracy, and it really I've been at this game a long time, but it is always a great night.

I don't care if there's 200 people in the audience that are angry and want to let me know why they're angry, or if there's 200 people in the audience that want to cheer us, I just want participation.

So the fact that you're here tonight participating makes this old councilman feel really good.

So thank you for being here.

Uh, some of the little thank yous I wanted to make also um in regards to our little Fourth of July get together.

It would have been wrong not to recognize the 250th birthday of America.

I was here for the 200th on the same street, Grand Avenue, and and I have vivid memories that that stay with me, and I'm hoping that the people that were there on this July 4th, 50 years from now, we'll think back to what a fine coming together that was for this little community of South San Francisco.

It really was the best of small town Americana for that for those few hours.

It was John Rankin.

Now, many of us only knew him as Johnny Midnight, but John Rankin was one of those personalities bigger than life.

He was an arborist for this city.

And so for years you could find him up in a tree.

And he left us too soon, but he he leaves some indelible memories in this town at all different levels.

We have a new lieutenant with the police department.

So in the neighborhood of Sunshine Gardens, Sean Kermy is a well-beloved local police officer who is now a lieutenant.

Congratulations to him.

So special congratulations to Alex Henry on that big move up.

So with that, we'll move the meeting along and um and um oh wait, we have two people that are 3,000 miles away, but we'll give them a moment to share with us what they'd like to share under council comments.

So would Mr.

Coleman like to go first?

Sure.

Um I can start.

I apologize for not being there in person.

I see we have a packed house, um, but I believe both you know, Council Member Flores and I are in Baltimore for uh the local progress conference, and we're doing so uh without using any public dollars.

Um I was able to you know get a scholarship and and pay for the uh I I guess I could take it price myself.

Um but this is you know a conference that I attended last year also um, you know, self-funded, and it's a very, very policy-heavy substantive uh conference for local elected officials that I thought was you know very um useful to to some of the issues that we're facing uh right now, and um and I'm happy to be back.

Um, and some of the issues and I'll you know, of course I'll have more to report back during our next meeting.

Um, but some of the issues uh pertaining to housing, to public safety, to you know, data centers and what that means for the community and and so on, and so um, you know, very um contemporary issues that will be discussed uh this week.

Um next, uh I just want to give big kudos um for city staff for such an incredible and successful fourth of July event in South City, and I know that there are many moments in which we feel like our uh country is headed in you know a wrong direction, but really I think celebrating fourth of July in our own way in our own community and seeing that diversity of the people and and how we celebrate it here in South City really gave me hope um for the future of this country and and what 4th of July really is, which is celebrating what makes our community special, and and that means all the folks who come from a variety of backgrounds, all the folks who really built uh our community and every part of it.

Um, and then after that, I actually headed up to San Francisco, which where I hoped uh to see some fireworks, but it was all fogged out uh up there.

So I think definitely South City uh Fourth of July was the highlight um of that day.

Um, and then the other thing I want to mention is just uh the Safeway project.

Uh this was a long-awaited um uh amenity for the community along the way to supermarket.

I mean that lot is vacant for uh nearly 10 years, um, and now to finally see uh an incredible um new and and large facility.

I think it's uh one of the largest safeways uh on a fence, but I think you know the community definitely deserves it.

Um, and if you haven't checked it out yet, I I think you should be you know, they might be handing out free tote bags, which I I know my mother really really wanted and enjoyed after she got one.

So that's all I have for today, and um I guess I'll pass it on to uh Council Member Floyd.

Thank you, everyone.

Uh, likewise, I also uh want to excuse myself from not being present there.

I know it's important agenda items, but I'm very much looking forward to this conference.

It's a conference specifically in four uh elected officials across the country.

Some of the topics that we're looking at are of course immigration, um, the brown Act, housing, transportation, but also uh safety for elected officials and things such as data centers as well.

So I'm always looking to learn more, to be open-minded and explore uh different uh avenues where I could learn more and bring back those opportunities uh for myself in my development as a council member.

Um equally to that, uh I think this month of June really focused on uh being able to interact and engage with the various stakeholders that I have the great honor of representing in District 5.

Uh the beginning of June, we celebrated uh Genentech's uh 50th anniversary at the Biotech International Conference, where I really engage with the meaning truly of what it means to represent and be the birthplace of biotech here in South San Francisco, engaging from those that want to come to South San Francisco and invest in our city, economic development, not just for um our larger uh corporate, you know, um entities and businesses, but also for our small businesses and what that means to really move that needle forward.

So I was really excited uh to be able to partake and engage in conversations uh from various stakeholders that really uh um look up to South San Francisco.

I was joined by the mayor, some uh city staff, and uh really engaging opportunities to get and promote, but not just promote South City, but it really engage in what truly it means to be the birthplace of biotech.

Um, and just rightfully so, talking about economic development.

I'm very proud and excited to be able to finally welcome Safeway into the Discovery Project, which potentially will also bring in additional life science and housing units, affordable housing units uh to uh South San Francisco.

And believe it or not, uh Safeway is also part of District 5.

District 5 is very vibrant, very um uh eclectic, I would say.

Um, so it was very exciting to see folks, and I've gotten already word from various elected officials that have come from their cities to visit the Safeway and please continue uh to pay patronage to that.

I'm really excited to share some news, and that is that our city has been selected by the League of California Cities for the Helen Putnam Award for our initiative that was staff driven and staff initiated, um, launch local.

I want to thank this council uh for having given direction and space to staff to really create this opportunity to really transform our uh storefronts here in South San Francisco and really uh turn around a very creative and innovative idea to remodelize and not just have Blythe up and down our small business sector.

The Helen Putnam Award, named after the first president, women president of the League of California Cities, which represents over 484 cities.

Um we hadn't received this honor, I believe, since 2021, I think uh when Mayor Arliego was last mayor.

Uh so it was it's a great opportunity.

We'll be celebrated in September at the leagues annual conference in Southern California, which staff again I want to uh congratulate and thank all the staff that put together the application packet.

Um uh Nell Sealander and her entire team, Ernesto Lucero, uh Katie Donner, and everyone there that helped contribute to to showcase what we're doing here in South San Francisco at a statewide level.

Um, so kudos to that.

Uh I want to acknowledge and thank uh all the staff as well that came out on Saturday on a holiday and contributed not just that day but all the pre-plan that took place uh from communications to library to public safety to Park 10 rec to public works, everyone that that really um took care of this event.

I want to give kudos to Devin, uh Stenhouse for putting it all together and making it look uh seamless.

And uh want to absolutely give uh flowers to our mayor, uh Markadiego when you first you know came I think with this idea almost two years ago.

Um it was a little bit kind of distant, and people were saying, do we really celebrate the 250th?

And I was really proud to see uh what you said, our community come out, come out to their front porches as we engaged in the in the parade, celebrating, smiling.

Um, it didn't matter whether you had just moved into South City, you've been here for decades and decades.

Everyone was happy and celebrating, and it was a joyful community inclusive spirit and uh want to thank everyone that made that possible um and lastly I I join uh council uh member Nicholas and sharing the condolences for those that have passed away thank you that's all I have thank you councillor um so next is we can move along to public comments this is the time to comment on items not on the agenda and on and that are on the consent calendar uh at this time we have uh one individual signed up Sam.

Welcome Mr.

Chakuti thank you okay my mayor Adiago board members of South San Francisco City Council and fellow citizens my name is Sam Kitkoone I am certain that all of you know of the approval of the city planning commission by the city planning commission for the construction of the new South San Francisco Fire Station 63 at 71 Camaritas Avenue when this new fire station is built there will no longer be any occupants at the municipal service building a little over a year ago the city council of South San Francisco had a special meeting to discuss the future of the municipal service building at that time mayor flores told those who attended the meeting that for two years the city council was going to put a final the final resolution of the MSB on hold at the end of those two years the fate of the MSB would be ultimately decided call me conspiracy theorist but the approval of the new fire station the ultimate abandonment of the fire station at the MSB and the announcement a year ago line up very neatly and seemingly premeditated I hope that the city council hasn't set up a smoke screen to those of us who have fought for years to save the MSB has it always been the intent of the city of South San Francisco to ignore the outcry of the seniors of the city don't the people of South San Francisco own the MSB and not the city the municipal municipal bonds issued in 1979 to help pay for the purchase of the value giant retail store were ultimately paid for by the residents of South San Francisco.

How can the city council justify the building of an outdoor pool in Orange Park for a handful of lap swimmers yet ignore almost 50% of the population of South San Francisco over the age of 50 these actions and others have completely turned off many residents to the happenings in the city and that is a shame for the city council that is a good thing because if everyone not only knew but cared about the shady shenanigans of the city council not one of you would ever win elected office again thank you.

Thank you Sam.

Any other com public comments we are accepting comments via Zoom but at this time we have no raised hands so we can now move along uh to the consent calendar mayor are there any items that the council wishes to pull okay and because there are so many um people in the audience so the consent calendar usually has items that in this business we call housekeeping things that we have to do maybe we've already had a first reading and there's a second reading so to move things along we no longer read all of those items unless a council person has a particular question or wants to highlight so does any council person want to pull something from the consent calendar but alas the mayor does.

So we'll slow things down a little bit.

And we're looking, um, we're looking at uh item number nine.

Number nine, I've asked um through the city manager.

I've asked if the fire chief or the deputy was available to um share with our community uh what they will be purchasing um in the near future.

Yes, sir.

Hi, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council, Devin Flannery, Deputy Fire Chief.

So for the last 10 years, we've been monitoring the emergence technology of lithium ion batteries and electric vehicles.

For the first five years that they've really come out, we really didn't have a lot of problems, but as these batteries age, we start to see more incidents.

Anecdotally, uh, since I've been in operations and monitoring that as a deputy chief, we've had about four in the last three years from in residence to warehouses.

Um when these incidents start, they go on what we call thermal runaway.

These batteries are in series, they go in thermal runaway, and they propagate to the rest of the vehicle.

Our traditional firefighting methods are to cool as much as we can because these batteries are in case hardened steel.

After doing lots of research, we try to find what's the best option.

We looked at blankets, different nozzles, different apparatus, and what we found is what we call the cold cut cobra.

What this device does is uses about a six-foot lance that we'd like to put into a transport vehicle that uses an abrasive and water application.

The abrasive allows us at a distance to not be in the smoke that's put out with the hazardous chemicals that come out of these batteries that we'll be able to go through the floorboard, pierce with a three to five millimeter hole, and introduce high pressure water mist into the battery pack.

Now, on those four incidents I talked about, we used anywhere between three to fifteen thousand gallons of water in those incidents.

Now, with this tool, we'll be able to use about 150 to 200 gallons and successfully put it out in 15 to 30 minutes.

We monitor, we help the tow company get it to where it's going.

Uh, but this tool will finally give us what we need in order to mitigate these with the less impact to the community and to the firefighters.

Okay, thank you.

Great, Deputy Chief Flannery.

And you know, for those of you who have Teslas at home, um, we might not be able to save the Tesla, but maybe the house.

So with that, we need a motion on the consent calendar.

So moved.

I'll second.

And uh roll call.

Mayor Adiego.

Yes, Vice Mayor Nogales.

Yes, Councilmember Nicholas.

Hi, Councilmember Flores.

Yes, Councilmember Coleman.

Yeah.

It's a report regarding introduction of an ordinance amending Title 20 of the South San Francisco Municipal Code to revise section 20.350.7 related to beekeeping regulations to expand beekeeping as a permitted accessory use to all zoning districts and to broaden standards related to beekeeping and determination that the proposed zoning amendments are exempt from CEQA.

Item number 13A is the ordinance.

Okay, so we'll go ahead.

This is a public hearing, so we're gonna go ahead and open the public hearing and we'll start with the staff report.

Uh Dina Friedman is here for that.

And um, this is um a special um item that uh has come up in uh when we have our retreat and we talk about what we'd like.

So we have to give uh compliments to um uh councilman Coleman, who has uh advocated for this um beekeeping ability.

So please, Adina.

Thank you very much.

Uh good evening, mayor and vice mayor and council members.

I'm Adina Friedman, the chief planner, and I'm actually here to introduce Cecilia Mariscal, who is a relatively new planner with the city.

She joined us in November of last year and has been doing a great amount of work both on current planning projects and long-range planning policy projects such as this item.

So just wanted to introduce her.

Tonight is her first night at the city council.

So with that, I'm gonna pass it over to Cecilia, and of course, I'll be here to answer any questions as well.

Thank you, Adina, and uh welcome Cecilia first meeting, and we'll be very kind, I promise.

Thank you.

Do you come to us with beekeeping experience or I do now?

Okay, um, so good evening, uh mayor, vice mayor, and council members, as Adina mentioned, my name is Cecilia Mariscal, associate planner with the planning division.

Here to present the proposed revisions to the beekeeping ordinance in uh South San Francisco Municipal Code Section 20.350.007.

Um, so just for some background, beekeeping is currently restricted as an accessory use to a detached primary dwelling.

And in response to growing interest, and the community, staff has revisited the beekeeping regulations and drafted some additional requirements and language clarifications.

These next few slides will provide like a high-level summary of the proposed text amendments.

So I'll just go through those.

This is the overarching section that regulates the keeping of domesticated animals, livestock, and beekeeping.

Proposed changes to the section differentiate standards for beekeeping versus those that apply to keeping pets and livestock.

Proposed changes here, are to regulations that specifically apply to beekeeping.

So changes under this section would allow beekeeping in all of zoning districts.

Outlines good management practices, includes a requirement of a natural food source on site.

I'm sorry, a natural vegetated pollinator-friendly food source on site, limits number of hives, and establishes requirements and restrictions on where hives can be located on a residential site.

Language revisions here proposed requirements uh for hive sighting orientation and distance distance minimums from property lines, public seeding areas, and pedestrian walkways in order to minimize contact between bee colonies and the public and minimize potential nuisance behaviors.

Aside from potential nuisance behaviors, honey bees can pose some risk to the natural habitats by increasing competition for food resources with native bee populations.

Native bees are highly efficient pollinators of native plants that are threatened local and endangered wildlife species rely on, and disruption of the native bee to native plant connection could contribute to an ecosystem collapse.

So to decrease this potential risk to local habitats, proposed changes to the ordinance include the addition of the vegetated pollinator food source on site for the honey bee colony foraging.

This reduces competition with native bees for food resources.

Therefore, staff finds that the proposed text amendments align the general plan goal ES1, which encourages healthy ecosystems and supports native bees, promoting biodiversity and is essential for ecosystem health.

Staff presented the proposed draft ordinance to the planning commission on May 21st.

The planning commission responded favorably overall to staff's recommendations and requested staff develop a supplemental handout for potential applicants.

Additionally, public comments were received in writing and at the hearing in support of allowing beekeeping citywide.

As a result, planning commission recommended approval to city council.

Because these changes represent an action taken by regulatory agency to protect the environment through the addition of language that would protect native bees and promote biodiversity.

Staff recommend city council determine the text amendments are exempt from CEQA under guidelines section 15308 and adopt the attached resolution and text amendments related to the beekeeping ordinance.

That concludes my presentation, and I'm available for questions.

Okay, let's see if we can come up with some questions.

Because this was his uh special effort.

Councilman Coleman, did you want to make comments or have questions for Marisko?

Ms.

Mariscal.

Um I don't have questions.

Um I think that this is you know, great presentation, good staff report.

Um, I'll just maybe give a few comments on uh how this came to be.

Um, so and not intended.

Uh but um basically, about a year and a half ago, uh a group of residents uh who work in uh Genentech.

Uh they have a group called the GBs, which is you know, employee group where they have uh beekeeping, they have beehives on campus, and then I'm not sure how they realized, but they had learned that basically beekeeping in commercial areas uh in South City was not allowed, and so technically they're breaking the law.

Um but it was really a loophole, right?

Because we do have beekeeping in residential areas.

We allow people to do so, and yet it was not allowed for commercial areas, and then when you look at, you know, kind of how our East of 101 uh sector is transforming, you're seeing more greenery, right?

You are seeing more more of the businesses there, you know, think about how to incorporate, and while the developers there think about how to incorporate greenery, flowers, trees, and and so on in their campuses, border employees and in the park space that they're also you know, um, allowing you that you know, there are amenities for for many of our residents to uh enjoy as well and think of you know the bay trail, right?

So many of us walk the bay trail and uh think of you know how much more flowers could be there, right?

If we had more pollinators um in those areas, and we all know that you know bees are an integral part of our ecosystem, um, there are pollinators, and of course, um, you know, I appreciate the staff report talking about you know ensuring that they don't aren't overcompeting uh native bees.

Um and another thing that G bees has is they um you know, of course, with beekeeping comes honey, and so they do produce honey, and I believe they do give them away.

Um, and so this is really um, you know, something that was you know a long time coming, and I'm glad that we can you know fix this loophole in the zoning um and and encourage uh the continuance of beekeeping uh in our entire community.

Okay, thank you.

Um any other comments on the side?

Yes.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

I really do support the encouragement of the healthy ecosystem and nature in general as we adapt uh to a changing climate.

Uh I just want to have a little bit more specific uh verbiage in this.

Um I just reminds me of a very traumatic experience when I was five-year-old.

Um a playmate died of a bee sting, and so we know bee stings pose serious health risks to those who have severe allergies.

So on some of the key strategies um that we have here for ensuring, uh, can we add that we have to ensure clear flight paths for for the bees?

And um, I know you have talked about a barrier there, and you said only six feet if you look at uh section C.

Can we make it the six to eight solid fence?

Go back to I know there's something here that says um so one more, please.

Sure, there you go.

Uh so which include conducting regular inspection of hives, blah blah blah.

And can we also include in there the uh making sure that there is a clear flight paths for for the bees?

So uh and then somewhere here you also talk about the six feet um solid fence, right?

Uh, yes, because it a hedge would also work in this.

Right, a six to eight solid fence hedge or trellies, that's directly three, um, because I look this up as the best practice, so that's directly three to five feet in front of the hive entrance.

So that this will force the bees to immediately fly upward above human head, um human head height.

And also, if you can also add uh that the face that this beehives should be or or where their site is, it should face the entrances away from traffic so that we have to angle the hive toward a wall, a dense wood or an unused area of the yard for the residential areas, and make sure that you know if there are nearby obstructions that we treat away low-hanging branches, tall weeds or dense brush within the 10-foot radius to the entrance to prevent bees from bumping into objects and becoming defensive.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Mayor, go ahead.

Uh, just a quick question.

If in terms of notification, if uh a neighbor has a do this, is there any notification requirement to inform your neighbors that you're doing some sort of beekeeping?

Because if they have children, the children might be allergic to to the bees.

Is that a requirement?

Have you seen that anywhere in terms of notification?

Because I think neighbors might want to know that their neighbor is doing this.

Yeah, that's a fair question.

I'm gonna ask Adina for support on that.

Um currently there's not a requirement for that.

We can certainly add that to do a you know notification to all properties.

I would say who are adjoining, you know, touching a boundary.

We don't have that currently, but we can add that.

I think that might if it's okay with council member colmu, we could add that there just for safety measures, so that the neighbors aren't surprised, and then all of some call the planning department saying my neighbor is installing bees, and then they find out that they went through a whole permitting process, didn't know that was allowed.

And so I think just for notification and just for transparency, I think that would be nice to have.

And then I thought in the original presentation, I thought I saw a beekeeping on top of the roof.

Is it are we saying that's not that is that allowed in this ordinance as well?

And that's because of the bees would naturally just move up, and that would avoid any public content?

I'm sorry, I'm trying to get to the vote or that's the that's the extra slides that I was saying.

Okay.

That's right.

Okay, they would fly out.

So because of the fly up, okay.

And that would be allowed under this on this.

That's why I think it's really important to have the notification and also to alert the neighbors of where the bee hive is going to be, if it's going to be in the backyard or if they're gonna put it on the roof.

I think that's really really important for the neighbors to know, especially if if then the yards are next to each other, and then someone's walking in between, and all of a sudden the bees are, you know, buzzing around.

Someone will need to know that.

Yeah, just to be just to clarify, like this is only a lot if you're eight feet above grade.

Okay, so okay.

But I think the notification is really the important part.

Yeah, so um uh councilman uh Flores, do you have any comment or question?

Uh yeah, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Just a quick question.

Thank you, Cecilia.

Welcome by the way.

Thank you.

Um the planning commission recommended uh uh to develop written guidelines uh orientation requirements of applicants.

What is the timeline look like on that?

And and I mean, what's the communication plan on that?

Yeah, can you share a little bit about it?

Sure.

I think I could have something recently drafted by the by the second reading, which I think is scheduled for August.

Yeah, because I'd like to see something to see what kind of framework you guys are putting together.

Sure.

Thank you.

Okay, do we have um this any um public comments on this?

No public comments, Mayor.

Nobody in the audience is here to talk about bees?

Actually, I do have another question now that so in the notification process, let's say the neighbor has a child that's actually allergic to the bees.

Is there an appeal process in terms of this?

Like, could someone a neighbor say, I this is very dangerous to my family, I'm actually against this.

What what happens in that situation?

Um, I would like to defer like to the city attorney.

Yeah, I was gonna ask if Skye could actually weigh in on that.

I'm sorry, could you repeat the question?

Yeah, it's so in terms of the notification.

I'm just thinking of like if there's a neighbor that's allergic to bees and or someone is might say, I actually don't want this.

Is there an appeal process to in terms of the permitting, or can they someone like a neighbor stop it potentially from happening?

Um, I can take a shot.

Yeah, but the general the general appeals process applies to this, doesn't it?

Yeah, I would say we have an appeals process that would apply to this as well.

A neighbor could submit an appeal.

This would be this is approved uh administratively, which means staff approves it, but if it's appealed, it could be appealed to the planning commission.

Okay, yeah.

Okay, thank you.

I do have a question.

Um so we have had legalized beekeeping uh in residential areas.

Have we ever had appeals of this nature?

I know a couple years ago that we did have some public comments um for beehive that that was aggressive.

Brian, right?

And there are you know aggressive beehives, and there are, you know, those are more passive, and of course, we want to you know encourage you know the the passive honeybees, but uh just in terms of history, like maybe in the last few years, last 10 years.

How many instances have we had and how many appeals have we had?

We have only had two permits issued or yeah, approvals issued for beehives in residential properties since we've had this application process, and we have not received any appeals.

Thank you.

And I do uh agree with uh council, sorry, uh Vice Mayor Nogales on.

I think it's it's good courtesy, right?

To notify your neighbors and I would support that uh that inclusion in this awareness, okay.

Um, with that, we need a motion to get this rolling along.

Uh councilman, would you like to make the mayor?

Mayor, would you like to close the public hearing?

Oh, yes, yes, thank you.

I uh didn't recognize your voice, you haven't been around that long.

So I'll go ahead and uh close the public hearing, and uh what we're looking for now is a motion, and we're looking asking councilman Coleman if he would like to introduce the ordinance.

Yes, uh moved uh with the amendment that we would require um of neighbor neighboring parcels of the um the application of beekeeping on that property.

Okay, motion on the floor.

And adding some more specific language, right?

Okay, yeah, council member.

Does that include all of the items that council member Nicholas previously mentioned?

Uh yes.

Okay, so all of the items that okay, okay.

So we have a motion and a second roll call.

Councilmember Coleman.

Yes, Councilmember Flores.

Yes, Mayor Adiego.

Yes, Vice Mayor Nogales.

Yes, Councilmember Nicholas.

Aye.

Okay, here we go.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

We can now move along to administrative business.

Item number 14 is a report regarding options for next steps on a potential project labor agreement for public works projects.

And our deputy city manager is here.

She's been working diligently with uh with these groups on the PLA agreement.

So, thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

All right.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council members.

My name is Megan Woolley Osdall, deputy city manager.

This evening I'm presenting options for a potential agreement for city capital improvement projects.

As a part of preparing for tonight, I have coordinated across multiple departments, including with our city attorney's office.

Uh, we also wanted to know that in the staff report, we've included a lot of background information.

In the interest of time, I'm gonna have a succinct presentation, but I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have about materials in the staff report.

As a part of the 2026 priorities action plan, the city council established the key strategy of engaging with labor groups on an agreement.

The council also passed a motion directing staff to prepare recommendations on this topic for discussion prior to the end of July.

This evening, we are returning to council with recommended steps to continue working with the NorCal Carpenters Union and the Building and Construction Trades Council of San Mateo County to support their interests in working on city capital improvement projects.

Over the past year, staff has met with the Carpenters Union and the Trades Council a number of times.

The Carpenters Union has shared their request that the city adopt a pre-qualification ordinance, which would pre-qualify contractors and subcontractors to work on city capital improvement projects.

The Trades Council has shared their request that the city adopt a project labor agreement for all public works projects over one million dollars.

Both of these organizations represent multiple construction trades, which are vital in helping to build our local infrastructure.

In recognition of this, as a part of the development agreement for 1051 Mission Road, the city recently required the development team of that project to negotiate a PLA for all site work funded by the Infill Infrastructure Grant, which totals approximately 20 million dollars.

Based on these conversations, it is staff's understanding that both organizations share similar goals of providing meaningful work opportunities to their members and supporting their members with training programs, health care benefits, and safe job sites.

Staff has developed a list of recommended steps that seek to support both groups.

This would be through working with both on a single agreement that speaks to all parties' interests.

The steps include first, conducting a South San Francisco-specific economic analysis of the costs and trade-offs of an agreement that is specific to our city.

Many previous studies on the effects of project labor agreements referenced affordable housing projects in Los Angeles.

A South San Francisco study could determine the financial impacts in our local context, if we need to anticipate any increased costs, and how this may impact funding of future projects.

The reason we are concerned about the possible cost impacts is that we have limited funding for unmet capital needs.

We are currently gathering data on the millions of dollars needed as a part of the fiscal sustainability plan, which council will be considering in 2027.

The second step would be to hire a third-party negotiator to assist with the negotiation process.

This will help ensure that the city's interests are met and facilitate a more efficient process.

As a third step, initiate negotiations with the Trades Council and the Carpenters Union and develop a single agreement that addresses the interests of the Trades Council, of the Carpenters, and of the City.

Once the economic analysis is complete, staff would present the findings to council.

The findings may warrant additional direction to staff, and this also provides the council with an opportunity to give additional direction on the perimeters for the negotiation.

Parameters for the negotiation, not parameters.

As the last step in the process, continue good continue negotiations to cover the Orange Memorial Park all abilities playground, which has an estimated construction cost of four million, and the pump station number four redundant force main project with an estimated construction cost of 14 million.

And just to note, this is an estimated construction cost, not the total project cost.

Staff recommends these projects because both are funded and will be constructed in the foreseeable future.

In order to implement these steps, the direct costs are approximately $30,000 for an economic analysis, which can be covered by the city manager office's professional services budget, and the cost of an outside negotiator would be approximately $50,000 and can be covered by the same account.

Staff anticipates that the economic analysis and hiring the outside negotiator could be initiated immediately.

Negotiations could begin once the negotiator is hired.

The findings from the economic analysis would be presented to council approximately 60 days after receipt of the final report.

And finalizing the process would likely take about six to eight months after staff receives any additional direction from council following the economic analysis findings.

And we have the quarters that we anticipate this timeline would fall in.

So in summary, staff is requesting direction from the council by motion on the recommended steps to continue working with the unions to support their interests in working with the on city capital improvement projects.

So myself and many and my colleagues are here tonight to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you, Megan.

So I think what I'd like to do is because there are so many people who are anxious to communicate with their elected officials, maybe start off with a public comment.

Thank you, Mayor.

I do want to note that we did receive a total of 12 uh e-comments that were submitted that are available to the council and online.

Um but we can start with our public comments here in the chambers at this time.

We have a total of eight speakers.

Uh we can start with Juan Espinoza.

Good evening, mayor, vice mayor, city council members, members of staff, and uh members of the public.

My name is Juan Espinosa.

I'm a field representative for Carpenter's Local 217, uh Norcos State's Carpenters Union.

And uh I'm here to urge you to um uh accept the recommendation from staff, and uh also wanted to thank you for your leadership on making South San Francisco a great city to live in.

I've been working in San Mateo County for over 10 years, and uh all we want is to improve people's lives, and that's what you guys have been doing.

So um that's all I have for now.

Thank you for listening, and thank you for your time.

Thank you, Juan.

Next speaker is Nels Delander.

Good evening, Mayor Diego, council members, and city staff.

For those who don't know me, my name is Nels Delander.

Tonight I'm not only here as a field representative for the North Coast States Carbers Union, but also a lifelong resident of South San Francisco, a city where my parents are raised, where my grandma, my grandma built a career at City Hall while raising my father as senior mother.

This city means a great deal to me, both personally and professionally.

I'm here this evening alongside my fellow POW drivers, concrete form workers, framers, drywall finishers, and lathers, scaffold builders, acoustical ceiling installers, insulators, harbor floor layers, modular installers, mill rice, and mill cabinet workers.

Collectively, our crafts cover more than 65% of the work on any typical project.

First, I would like to thank city staff for the time and effort they have invested in developing this recommendation.

We support the staff's recommendation for a tripartite agreement as it demonstrates the willingness from all parties to collaborately, and that everyone has a seat at the table.

I hope we can all move forward today in a stronger uh to build a stronger future for South San Francisco.

Thank you, Tom Trayer.

Good evening, Council members.

Thank you again for allowing me to speak in support of a project labor agreement between the city and the San Mateo County Building and Construction Trades Council.

I'm here representing thousands of trade members and their families across San Mateo County, many of which are here tonight.

Thank you guys for standing up.

And here in South San Francisco, project labor agreements are a great tool to directly help the middle-class families on the peninsula with quality construction jobs right here in South City.

PLAs help guarantee fair wages, health care, and safe working conditions to all the construction workers and all the crafts, both union and non-union.

We stand before you in this beautiful building that itself was actually successfully completed under Project Labor Agreement with all the building trades, and on behalf of all San Mateo County construction families, please move forward with the project labor agreement in South San Francisco.

Thank you.

I don't see them on the screen, but I know they're out there.

You know, when I got here, I thought I was going to skid an usher to see uh which side their groom or bride was sitting on in the uh room.

I want to say that regardless, uh, well, not regardless, but all these people here that you see that have stood up and that are present are construction workers.

They work in the construction industry, right?

Um, but I'm here on behalf of the 13,000 men and women who work in this construction industry in San Mateo County, many who reside in South San Francisco.

As you will hear, uh, there's a significant amount of information regarding project labor agreements.

You you also receive correspondence from my office, the labor council, and several of our affiliate trade unions describing the immense value and importance of project labor agreements in promoting workforce development and fostering economic health.

We respectfully request.

Oh, wait, not there yet.

You've also received or will receive uh, or you've received the city staff's recommendations regarding the forkforce uh policy for public construction.

The building trades met with staff to discuss the concerns and preferences of the building trades regarding the report.

We respectfully request that the city council direct staff to negotiate a project labor agreement with the building trades council, and there are numerous reasons why this represents a more beneficial path than alternative policies.

One key difference is that a PLA will be less of an administrative burden on the city than the alternative.

We can all appreciate when tax funds can be redirected into other areas of critical need.

Furthermore, project labor agreements provide a multitude of established benefits that you've that you will hear and have heard in a lot of the information that was been given over the past year.

Um that uh including some of these things are including robust training infrastructure, the recruitment and retention of workers into sustainable careers through apprenticeship programs, project stabilization, and a guarantee of no work stoppages or slowdowns.

The benefit that I believe is the most significant is the real-time workforce compliance that PLA brings.

As it stands currently under prevailing wage enforcement, it takes a minimum of approximately 18 months after a project completion to resolve a case regarding wage and hour violations.

Furthermore, if a worker receives a judgment in their favor, it is often difficult to locate them after the project has been completed.

Under a project labor agreement, utilizing its binding grievance procedure, union representatives, union representatives can assist workers in ensuring they are correctly compensated, regardless whether they are union members or not.

And this can be achieved in a matter of weeks instead of a year.

Oh, I just ran out of time.

So again, we look forward to working with staff to negotiate a PLA, and thank you for the time.

Thank you, Bart.

Julie Lind.

Good evening, everyone, councilwoman.

I appreciate the color coordination.

I'm glad that we could do that together.

Um, Julie Lynn with the San Mateo Labor Council representing 105 affiliate unions and nearly 100,000 workers countywide, including 12,845, because I ran the numbers earlier.

12,845 folks who live right here in South City.

First, thank you for the time and effort you've devoted to this issue.

We all share the same goal.

Ensuring South San Francisco's public investments deliver the greatest possible public benefit.

And we believe the best way to achieve that is by directing staff to negotiate a project labor agreement or PLA with the San Mateo County Building Trades.

The PLA delivers quality projects through a highly skilled workforce, consistent work rules, establish dispute resolution procedures, and labor stability that helps avoid pricey delays.

But its greatest value is what it builds beyond the project itself.

A PLA connects local residents to state-approved apprenticeship programs that provide family sustaining wages, health care, retirement security, and lifelong careers.

Further, it creates pathways into the middle class while strengthening our local workforce and our economy.

We support negotiating a PLA that allows construction unions, including those no longer affiliated with the Building Trades Council, to sign on and participate.

Our goal is an inclusive agreement that welcomes everyone willing to work under the negotiated terms.

Tonight's about more than working on a construction policy.

It's deciding what kind of legacy your public investments will leave.

Every dollar this city spends can build a road oral building, but it can also build careers, strengthen local families, expand opportunity, and invest in the next generation of South San Franciscans.

Given that, I respectfully request that you ask staff to negotiate a project labor agreement with the San Mateo County Building Trades, thereby ensuring that the projects you build today create opportunity for generations to come.

Thank you.

Anthony Nuez.

Good evening, City Council.

My name is Anthony Nuanis, and I'm a business representative for District Council 16, representing painters, tapers, glazers, and floor installers.

I was born and raised in South San Francisco since 1964.

Have worked my entire career here in San Mateo County as a union floor covering installer and now as a representative.

I am here today in support of a PLA for South San Francisco.

Thank you.

Matt Craig.

Project labor agreements help out local workers like me to work in our communities.

We'll provide new opportunities for young workers to get into a valuable trade like I did.

Sheet metal isn't just a job, it's a career that will allow me to afford to live in the area, have quality health care, and ultimately retire with dignity.

As an apprentice, I value the chance to work in the community I live in.

But also I want to have a safe job and to get home to my family at the end of the day, and this PLA will help protect all the crafts on the job site.

PLAs are critical in providing safer job sites, and research shows jobs done with PLA show 31% fewer on-site injuries.

The chance to support the PLA.

I look forward to helping build South San Francisco.

Thank you.

Andrew Marino.

Good evening.

My name's Andrew Marino, and I'm an assistant training director for Sprinkly Fritter's local 483.

I'm here to support the PLA.

Part of being training is that the PLA will benefit the registered apprenticeship program and provide uh dedicated work for you know our apprentices coming up and learning how to how to be tradespeople.

So again, I'm in support.

Thank you very much.

Joseph Lopez.

Good evening.

City Mayor, Vice Mayor, City Council members, city staff.

My name's Joseph Lopez.

I'm with the Northern North Coast States Carpenters Union out of local 217.

I'm the senior field agent there.

We cover all of San Mateo County.

I just want to thank you for your time today.

Um and just wanted to show our support in the staff recommendation of a triparty agreement between the building trades, the city, and the North Coast States carpenters.

I think it's a move in the right direction.

I think it can show the example of us working together and standing here in solidarity.

Maybe one day they would stand with us, vice versa with them, because at the end of the day, we're all on the job side together, and we have one goal is to get the job done and do it with the proud skills that we have.

So we stand here today in favor of staff's recommendation of a tri-party agreement.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Lopez.

Harvey.

Like a fine oiled machine.

Yeah, thank you.

Um, so my name is Harvey.

Uh, I'm from the North Coast States Carpenter's Union as well.

Um, and you know, like you've heard from um, the other speakers or some of the other speakers, we support we support staff's direction to initiate tripartite negotiations that do not discriminate between worker organizations that legitimately represent the local construction workforce.

So, namely the Carpenters Union, which, as you heard, represents eleven uh different crafts and the buildings trades, building trades council, which uh we have exercised a democratic right to not be a part of.

Um public policy as a principle should not be non-discriminatory when negotiating a PLA.

And we legitimately represent eleven different crafts, so we shouldn't be excluded from any public works negotiations.

Um, and I'll I can't help but knowing how it'd be remiss for me not to know that uh we heard some of the public comments only calling um for a negotiating with one party, namely the building trades, and that our union simply has the uh option to sign on to terms that we wouldn't be negotiating.

Uh that's not right.

And uh for those that may oppose our ability to represent our members, uh, you know, you have to ask yourself, um, what is the real true uh motivation for that for anyone not wanting our union and its members to be equal negotiating partners?

That's just simply not pro worker.

Needless to say, we will get to the bottom of what that motivation is, and uh, we won't hesitate to expose it publicly when the time comes.

So thank you very much to City Staff.

We really appreciate their work, and we really support their uh direction or their recommendation to initiate tripartite negotiation.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Harvey.

Mayor, that concludes our speakers here in the council chambers, and I don't see any raised hands on Zoom.

Okay, so that that completes everyone who signed up for public comments, and there seems to be a lot of people that are here in support, and but I'll give you an opportunity if anybody would like to stand up and come to the dais and be recognized.

And if not, we're gonna go ahead and uh uh close the public comment portion, and um, I think this council will take a little break before we come back and have our questions and comments.

All And we'll uh move ahead with um some questions and comments from um the council, and uh let's turn to um either councilman uh Coleman or Flores, whoever would like to uh begin the conversation.

Either or I can pick one.

Councilman Flores.

Thank you, uh Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you, everyone uh that spoke and and thank you to the staff for um putting this together.

I did want to just make a a technical administrative, I did not see the uh the PowerPoint presentation uploaded um on the on the files under the agenda item.

So um I have not seen it um closely.

I was only able to watch it from the screen here.

Um I I did spent considerable time with the staff report um and in the underlying uh research and the proposals uh put forward by both uh uh staff and and kind of the history that has been happening.

I did want to just mention, though, that this hasn't been something that just started uh in twenty twenty-six.

It was perhaps more clearly defined during our council uh workshop, but this has been going on uh for many years, I would say.

Um, not even going back to last year where council member Nagales and myself would often mention it during council comments, and I various points asking staff, asking the then city manager to uh engage to bring something forward, um, and it is uh very disappointing and very unfortunate that that wasn't given the recognition and enough weight to bring it forward, and thus only until the latter part of twenty twenty five was um the interest of discussions and and communications started, but this started way back when so just wanted to give contest on on that record and and putting that forward.

Uh in addition, I just uh had clarifying questions for for staff.

Um I often want to make sure that we get um apples to apples and not apples and oranges mixed, Megan and can't see on the screen, but um I'm assuming you're coming to the podium.

Um the uh other uh studies that you mentioned um in terms of uh Marin County.

Uh was that a uh public um was that for public projects, or or can you clarify it on that?

It just it it felt like it was something different there.

Um and also uh one more question and then I'll I you can go on.

Um you mentioned also in your report that most recently we gave a P uh or or staff or I mean council gave staff direction for uh PLA on the mission road site.

Uh can you clarify again uh what that was and the scope of what of what that was?

Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Councilmember Flores.

Uh in regards to the uh agreements in Marin County, uh from our understanding, well, we have three examples uh from two different counties.

Um the first is uh the Marin County Board of Supervisors approved an agreement for the Marin County fire headquarters uh that included both the uh building and construction trade council and the carpenters union.

So that was for a public uh a public uh uh project.

Um and then uh another example we provided was with the College of Marin, in which uh the Trades Council had negotiated a PLA in 2018, and um many years later in 2026, the Carpenters Union signed a side letter uh with the college um signing on to that PLA.

And then we also had an example from Solano County as a part of the California Forever project, in which the Napa Solano Building Trades Council and the Carpenters Union signed the same agreement.

Our understanding is that that would have been on a private project, not a public works project.

Uh and then to speak to your second question, um the the PUC site, the former PUC site at uh 1051 Mission Road, there is a development agreement for that site for um mini units of multifamily housing, and um the the city has secured a grant.

Um the city in partnership with with our uh with our development team received a 28 million dollar infill infrastructure grant from the state housing and community development department, and that's for infrastructure for the site.

So uh OakAv extension, sidewalks, um trail of improvements recently.

Um, of course, the council knows uh amendments were needed.

The council approved amendments to the development agreement for 1051 mission road uh in April, and as a part of that, uh the council directed the development team to negotiate a PLA for 20 million dollars um of site work funded by that infill infrastructure grant.

So it has happened uh most recently um as a directive from this council and also as I believe some comments were made.

Uh the library parks and recreation building was also under a PLA agreement, correct?

Correct.

That and the police station.

And the police station, okay.

So there is president here in in South City and most recently uh this year as well.

Okay, thank you for clarifying that.

Of course, okay, uh Councilman Coleman.

Any question comment?

Yes.

Yeah, thank you.

I I appreciate um, you know, this is an agenda item that's a long time coming.

I really appreciate the many meetings that that staff has had with the various groups um and unions.

Um, I do have a couple questions.

Um you did talk a bit about some of the some of the um I guess the examples of collaboration between the two groups.

Could you explain more what a side letter is and and how that like what the effect that is?

Yes, and I will say this is staff's understanding.

Of course, we we weren't a part of that, so um, we could always get more information um as desired.

Our understanding is that in 2018, a project labor agreement was negotiated uh between the College of Marin and uh the Trades Council.

Um after that time, uh the Carpenters and uh the Trades Council uh uh took separate paths.

And um the in 2026, the Carpenters Union um signed uh what they what was called a side letter of agreement.

Um so this folds the uh carpenters union work back into the PLA.

So it's it's from our understanding was the Carpenters Union um signing on to the PLA as as their separate organization.

Um it obligated the Carpenters Union to the core tenants of the 2018 agreement, um, such as the mandatory no strike no lockout clauses and um the jurisdictional dispute resolution procedures, and uh with that side letter, it did not reopen the negotiations.

Uh it it preserved the negotiations that did occur in 2018, but uh it did ensure that the uh district PLA rules uh came in into um coordination with the carpenters union around uh wage scales and benefit uh contributions and craft definitions.

So I think it would in summary it was that there was a 2018 PLA that was negotiated by the trades, the two groups uh took separate paths, and then the carpenters union sighed signed the side letter so that they were folded uh into the PLA.

Thank you.

Um, and then my next question is so for the California forever project.

I mean, we know that that hasn't happened yet, and it's it is a private sector project, but what do you mean when you when the staff report says it they signed the same 40-year agreement?

What is that referring to?

Yeah, so our understanding is that uh that project uh uh again it's in Solano County.

So if you want more, you know, specific details than what I'm able to provide tonight.

I'm happy to follow up with that.

Uh, but that uh the that PLA from our understanding would have been had a 40-year timeline, and so uh that uh the agreement um yeah would have had a 40-year timetable to it.

Okay, okay, so four years going forward.

Sorry, I was thinking it was going backwards.

Yeah, that is correct going forward.

Thank you.

All right, there's those are questions I have for now.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Vice mayor, would you like to do that?

Sure.

Um Megan, thank you for all your your great work on this.

I know you've put a lot of time into this, so I appreciate that.

Uh a couple questions.

I uh maybe clarification for me is I uh council Council Member Flores kind of mentioned the 1051 mission road project in terms of the PLA.

Are there the the Carpenters able to sign on?

I guess sign on to that project as a as a to work on that because they were talking there was talking about signing on to the project in terms of the PLA, and I don't know if that is something that's potentially could happen with that project as well.

My understanding is as so I may look to Sky or uh others if you have more details, but um the city's direction to the development team was to negotiate a PLA.

Um I'm I'm not aware if we directed to which group, but do you know it was it was agnostic as to um who the agreement would be with it just required them to negotiate a project labor agreement for the work that would be covered.

Got it.

Okay, and then there was the Megan, you provided examples in terms where PLAs were were being done.

Um and there was I was interested in kind of learning a little bit more in terms of what other cities and really the county, the county has done a PLA, and there's a tiered down system.

And can you just talk about more about the I guess the differences in terms of the PLA with the county what they're doing, and then there was another example I'm thinking of in terms of San Mateo and because they're kind of in the same process as where we are, and kind of want to understand where they are in terms of their PLA discussions.

Obviously, the county is already completed, but I would kind of want to hear terms of San Mateo as well.

Absolutely.

Uh so both you're you're absolutely right, both San Mateo County and the City of San Mateo uh well the county has adopted a PLA, and the city of San uh San Mateo is currently in the process of adopting a PLA.

They're in there in the negotiation process.

Um so both PLAs, but they're taking different models.

So the model of the county is what's called a blanket PLA, and that it applies to all projects over a certain amount.

Sort of threshold, you might say.

Certain threshold.

So as you mentioned, Vice Mayor, it's a tiered uh threshold for the county.

So it starts, I I believe it um three million and then over five years it tears down, which of a lower amount.

Um daily City has also adopted a similar structure.

Uh the more recently, uh the city of Foster City uh entered into negotiations, and uh they in May they negotiated a PLA for three specific projects.

So that's what staff is proposing here in our city is that we negotiate PLA for specific projects.

So that follows the model of foster city, and that is also what the city of San Mateo is doing.

They're uh negotiating it for specific projects rather than what we call the blanket approach, which is what the county and daily city did.

That's right.

All right.

Um I appreciate that's that's all the questions I have for now, Mr.

Mayor.

Okay, thank you.

Um councilwoman.

Yeah, in my almost three decades career in biotech and my current position as vice president of drug safety and pharmacovigilance, safety is paramount and it is ingrained in my reign safety, safety, safety.

So both unions have similar goals.

Protect and support your members and keep everybody safe.

And the city has been very, very fair already in in terms of what we have been doing.

We have prevailing wage for all capital projects, we have wage theft ordinance.

In the current situation wherein two groups push for a PLA, it is already costing the city resources in terms of our staff time and potential cost for additional staff to be hired to administer a PLA.

At the end of the day, I want this to be a win-win situation and not make it worse for the city is the absolute minimum.

Um I want to insulate the city against significant costs, which may be due to less competition and bidding and rigid requirements.

The scholarly studies are mixed and conflicting.

I really want a deep dive into this, and and you know, I know you have done a really thorough study.

Um, and let us make it what is suited for South San Francisco.

It has to be a win for the city.

If it means hiring a third-party negotiator, uh learning from the experiences from Marine and Sulano counties, if it's going to be a joint party agreement, that's where I will, that's what I'm going to support.

Okay.

So I mean, at this point, should we go back to the portion of the staff report that you know talked about the options moving ahead and see if the council is in agreement on next steps?

So can you directly?

I think we'd like to pull the slide back up that has the recommendation with the five steps showing all at once.

That's a clear expression of my intention.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah.

We're working on it, they might have a different recess program.

Mayor, would you like me to begin with um the first step?

If you'd like.

We didn't do economic analysis when we did a PLA for this for this building or for the PC.

Yeah, I'm gonna ask Megan to stand up and and continue working with council.

That is correct.

We did not do an economic analysis at that time, which um from staff's perspective is a even more compelling reason to do one at this time.

Maybe maybe we could talk a little bit about what transpired and why we ended up with the PLA with this building across the street.

So it was it was a much different time where there was um there was so much occurring in town as far as construction, and um there were um uh supply chain difficulties because of all the construction, and and we really were fearful of any type of uh uh slowdown that might come because of some labor disputes that um would greatly impact.

Remember, when we entered this project, we really thought that we were maxing out our ability to afford what we needed to build.

As it turns out, um the money was cheaper, the building came in the much in budget, so it was uh the economic security.

Some palpable fear of what might happen if there was a labor agreement dispute and our ability to complete the project.

It was a very different time.

I don't remember what.

In terms of the timeline, I can you bring up the timeline again.

If we did an economic analysis, six to seven months, that's gonna add to the to the timeline to this.

And so, that's not even potentially with the negotiation is starting, correct?

Or is that yeah, it's not that long.

We would be able to conduct that economic analysis.

I mean, we would kick it off, we could kick it off tomorrow immediately, and then we could also hire the negotiator uh immediately.

Um, and then once the negotiator is hired, we would begin the negotiation process.

We see them um able to uh kind of happen concurrently to the point at which we need to start defining the parameters and the economic analysis will really help with that, and so we would present those findings as as soon as they were complete and final uh so that we could continue negotiations promptly.

I mean, how how do you feel?

I mean, you think that that's moving too slowly, or I mean, I I guess I kind of just want to I think maybe we we need to figure out first is the direction we want to go in terms of before one and two, in terms of I think the tri-party agreement is what we need to talk about first, if that's something we really want to do.

I think that's kind of the conversation I want to go with.

Okay, so and so well one of the questions I was thinking about is if we decided to go with a triparty agreement, but for whatever reason, it doesn't work, it doesn't work, right?

Um that we're potentially back here at this situation again while we already hired a negotiator and then conducted an economic analysis, and and so I just kind of want to understand if that process doesn't work, what happens because we're suggesting this, it doesn't mean it actually happens, I guess.

You know, one group could decide, you know, during the negotiations we don't like what they're where the negotiations are going.

I kind of I just want to kind of understand that and flesh it out a little more.

Yeah, I would say that that could happen.

We can't we don't have a crystal ball, so tricky to know.

Um, but that's one of the reasons we are recommending hiring a specialized negotiator.

Yeah, there are um many many firms that have experience with this.

Um they've been through negotiations before, they understand the players, they understand the terminology, they understand um both uh they have a sense of what's been negotiated in other cities and what really we could negotiate on what's kind of a non-starter.

Um it also we would be working very much um in close pro with our city attorney's office, but it would also give them the opportunity to continue broader policy and the day-to-day legal.

So I think um we also want this to go smoothly.

We want to support all groups in their interests in working um here in the city, and we uh our belief is that uh specialized council can really help smooth the process and help it be as successful as it possibly can.

Yeah, no, I don't disagree with you in terms of the negotiator.

I think we we're gonna need a negotiator on this.

So I think to add to that, we would if councils, you know, we're looking for policy direction from council and if council is the majority of council is interested in moving forward um with any or all parts of the recommendation.

Um if a party we can't force anybody to come work with us.

If somebody chooses to not work within the policy direction, then we would work with those who are and bring an agreement back to you all, a recommended agreement to you all for um consideration, you know, in six to twelve months.

Yeah, I mean, I I want I want something in front of us by the end of the year to tell you the truth in terms of us council voting.

So let me just okay, so let me just do this.

You know, I I want to begin by recognizing something fundamental and I that both the building trades and the carpenter share.

Like, I believe core values in the sense that they all want safe job sites, they all want skilled workers, they all want responsible contractors.

Then they want public dollars spent in a way that reflects the highest standards of craftsmanship and accountability, and and uh those values are shared across I think every trade, and I would say that this council also wants those things as well.

We want safe job sites, high quality construction and strong workforce standards that protect both workers and taxpayers.

And I I'll say this in terms of major public projects, you know, the PLA is something that I'm strong and lean towards too.

Um, you know, because I've seen it in terms of this building, and I understand where my colleagues were coming from in terms of a different time, and I and I get it.

Um, so multimillion dollar projects, I I'm just more comfortable with the giving the direction to a PLA.

I mean, so where I'm where I'm looking at in terms of a direction is you know, I would direct staff to negotiate a citywide public project labor agreement with the building trades.

Um and hopefully bring something back by the end of the year.

That's that's the direction that I'm I'm going to right now.

Mr.

Mayor.

Please go ahead, Councilman.

Thank you.

Um I I wanna just push back on the delay.

I started my comments earlier and giving context of how it's been really painful for me to see years and years go by.

And even though I I really appreciate staff um wanting to get it right and being intentional about getting the information, I don't want to see another six months, another year, another two years, another three years, another four-year go by.

Um, and to the vice mayor's point, what if the tried part agreement doesn't work?

We're back at maybe negative three steps.

And and we've spent a lot of city resources and financials on a lot of stuff.

Um, I I support the vice mayor's uh intent, I uh of a PLA.

And and again, the PLA does not exclude uh the carpenters or any other group.

Um the PLA as as a definition uh wouldn't prohibit any contractor or any carpenter from working on a project or or you know being open to coming on to that project.

But I think if we're going to talk about analysis or anything else, which really scares me the word analysis because it just means six more months, eight more months of consultants and additional staff that uh we frankly at this point uh could move forward, give direction on a PLA, giving a runway for other groups to join the discussion, but we need a baseline, and I would support uh uh direction to to the city manager and and city staff team to move forward with a project labor agreement.

Um and being inclusive of other groups um and allowing that to occur at that level.

Um, but again, I'm I'm I'm not um really very to no appetite in extending the timeline and and continuing in with more analysis and more studies and and furthering this um uh time and and and I don't know what else could happen after those reports and and study sessions come in.

So the mayor, may I please please go ahead.

Um, you know, I I I think we're I this is definitely a tough decision that that we have to make tonight and I think you know many of us come from the same place of ensuring that you know there's safety, that um there's fairness in the work that is being conducted in in South San Francisco, um and you know I'm not afraid of PLAs because you know we this the LPR that the police station um was completed with it, and it it provides uh security, it provides um you know, no strike, no lockout, you know, you know that sort of language that I think is very much beneficial uh to public projects.

One thing that, and I and I may be wrong, right?

But one thing that I believe what causes the mix um findings and the studies of of PLAs and the associated costs is if you're only calculating the cost of construction and nothing beyond that, it may come out that you know the the construction costs are a little higher, right?

But when you but I remember talking to um, forgetting his name, but uh some like a labor uh academic who said when you count the cost after construction, right?

Does the building last um that's when the PLAs really work because when you have people who are trained, when you have people uh who are going through these apprenticeship programs, building uh you know these projects, these projects are built to last, and that could save us money in the future, right?

Save us headaches in the future where where these buildings last longer and are much more uh enjoyed by the community, and of course it's buildings, it's also other uh capital projects.

Um and so and so in that sense, you know, PLA is a is a is a tried and and tested um tool to lift up those labor standards, and I also want to say that you know while you it's a different strategy uh and and a different philosophy that the that the California carpenters are employing.

I think it's very commendable.

I think there's a lot of merit in what in trying to change the conversation um in California.

Um but really what I'm looking for moving forward is a way where we can be inclusive of everyone through this process, right?

Of course, the with the billing trades uh council, but also with the unions um who may not be affiliated, um and you know, one of them of course is is the carpenters union, um and I want to support a process in which in which the carpenters have the opportunity to sign on to it and and participate um in a PLA.

And and that's um you know where I'm standing right now because I you know, I'll just say full disclosure, like I've I've met with representatives um from you know uh the the carpenters as well as the the building trades council and I you know what I got out of those conversations was one I learned a lot.

I I learned a lot.

Uh but also I I got the sense that you know we like our goals are very similar and there is a willingness to be collaborative in this process, and I just want to ensure that what process that we move forward uh is is inclusive of um uh of all parties.

I'm I'm I'm with Councilman Coleman on board with the the tri-party um way of doing business.

I need to I need to just say that you know I'm I'm sitting here, I'm a little bit um taken aback by uh not seeing the necessity of of having economic analysis specific to South San Francisco.

I mean, that's just plain good business sense, and it should factor in everything, it should factor in the craftsmanship that is is hopefully superior to what you have outside of a union job, but um you know uh for people outside of government um the business sense is not always one of our hallmarks, so uh the maybe maybe it's an abbreviated economic out analysis, maybe you can put a time frame on it, but I can't imagine walking into this without doing that initially.

That's just pretty foolhardy.

Mayor, may I?

Please.

Yeah, I I don't think that you know timing should be what constrains us.

I think we have to get it right, and so therefore, if we have to do the things that that's been recommended, I think we have to do it right, and what's good for all of us for the city.

If it's a tripartite tripartite agreement, then be it.

It has to be good for for everybody, especially for the city, most and foremost.

So where does that leave us in a sense?

I just want to clarify that.

I mean, um, I'm not sure if you call it triparty, but just a way where we can move forward where and it could be through that PLA process with the billing phase council, but a way where um the carpenters are are included in that language.

So you're you're basically saying a PLA with the opportunity for the carpenters to sign on, is what I'm hearing.

I could correct me if I'm wrong, Councilman Coleman.

Is that what you're saying?

You should be able to participate in the processes of a PLA.

Okay.

You know, in terms of your economic analysis, it's I I totally see your point.

I understand what you're saying.

I uh I would I would be okay with the uh expedited economic analysis.

It's just like we've been waiting for so long, and I think that's where my frustration is coming from, Mr.

Mayor, is that we've been kind of talking about this for the last two years.

You know, I mean, let's let's let's be honest.

Um uh in fairness to the staff that we have assembled now, yeah.

Um she's been working in breakneck speed, was the previous administration that really drug their feet on and really refused to get it started, was just maybe flummoxed by the whole idea.

Right, and I and I I I absolutely agree.

No, absolutely, and I would appreciate what Laura you said.

She had warp speed since in comparison when we did this.

So it if that's something that would help you agree to move forward with the PLA in terms of a faster economic analysis.

I mean, I would support that.

Okay, so let's let's let's see what can be accomplished.

Can you go back to the schedule again on our on our screen and see how much we can.

We can.

We've also we've we've gotten an estimate of um likely being able to complete something within three months, not within six months, but within three months, um, and I can commit staff resources to getting the an agreement in place and moving forward with that uh expeditiously and trying to see if they have additional resources they could put towards it um to complete that even sooner.

Okay, I mean that's that's satisfactory to me.

That that sounds through the mayor.

Go ahead again.

I I am from where I'm looking at and where I'm standing in my point of view on this and my direction is not a triparty agreement because I don't really honestly think there will be a three-month period of formalizing and finalizing a tripartite agreement.

I would like us to use the framework, the structure, the architectural framework of a PLA, and start jointly with that.

I am open to an analysis that will last three months, but I want to make sure that we start as a foundation uh on a PLA, but not ultimate all belts and whistles of a tripart.

Right.

So that you think we're ever going to get to a triparty in three months or I think that's what the mayor and I were kind of kind of discussing is that the framework is the PLA, and in terms of the economic analysis, isn't the expedite at economic analysis?

Because it sounds like it's a three-month process.

At the same time, we're we have we're having a negotiator and they're negotiating.

There's a number of components that we can initiate negotiations on prior to an economic study of 90 days being completed.

How does that sound to my colleagues in terms of so there's a framework of a PLA?

There's an expedite economic analysis.

Is that okay with that?

So concurrently having a negotiator and okay.

Yes, we can concurrently simultaneously initiate these steps.

Um it is our guess that we are still gonna need additional direction from council at some point for the terms for whoever we're negotiating with.

Um and it could be well informed by that economic analysis before we finalize everything, but we can simultaneously start all three processes, and it has to be an informed decision if the council will make a decision.

Okay.

So I think we've established a viable path to get started.

Yeah.

So the and just to clarify, if we are now in throwing in a negotiator, doesn't, I mean, are we gonna start with a negotiator tomorrow?

Okay, it says immediately.

In three months, is it is it going out and finding and putting an RFP for a negotiator and all of that?

That that in and of itself is gonna be at least two, three months.

So my understanding in our municipal code is that we have a process for professional services where we can um target uh how we hire, and therefore um uh it is we will be asking for a formal proposal because that's how we do our scope of services, um, but this process can take just a couple of weeks instead of several months, okay.

Um through the mayor, yes.

Um would it make sense if you we go through to economic study, but we can pursue a PLA for the two projects we have in the study session, or or sorry, the two projects that we have in the staff report.

Sorry, what that way we could move a little faster, but I I just don't want to rush like I I think data's great, right?

I don't think we too too rush a study, but what we can do today or what we can move forward on is just the the two project specific PLAs that that were referenced in the study.

Um and then just you know moving forward with it, seems like there is um going to be a motion to move forward for PLA with the billing trades council.

I just want I just hope that in that agreement that is drafted, it does not um prevent any construction unions that are not currently affiliated with the billing trades council from participating in that.

I think if you're talking about about the 1051 mission, is that what project the project that you're referring to?

Um the two projects that I was referring to were the orange memorial park all abilities playground and the pump station uh number four redundant forcement.

Okay, so so one was a what 13 million dollar project, and one was in excess of 40.

Uh well for this one the playground is four million.

Oh four, and then uh the construction costs in the uh pump station is 14 million.

So those are relatively in this in the scope of city work, those are relatively small projects.

I mean, they certainly would be within wherever we land on the PLA.

Right.

Okay, there's maybe Skye can kind of walk us through what we've just kind of discussed here.

So we're all on the same.

I know, Scott, you've been taking a no, it's here.

I can see it, Sky.

Or maybe Laura.

I Although Rich too, Rich.

Yeah, either one of us happy to do it.

Okay, um, but I don't want to.

This has been driven by the city manager's office, so I didn't want to insert myself, but I'm happy as you always to uh try to summarize what I've heard.

Okay.

Um so please, Megan and Sky, help me out here.

So what I am hearing um is that um first and foremost, the council would like us to move forward as expeditiously as possible.

Um, and to make sure that we are doing that in every one of our steps.

Um I am also hearing um that with that parameter and with um trying to make sure that the economic analysis is focused enough that that is an acceptable component to the council in in general for the majority of you, and that the I'm trying to find the list, um, and that an outside negotiator um is acceptable to the council, and that um the two specific projects are what we would like to be uh negotiating over.

Um I'm a little less clear on um uh, and that the well, I guess I'm hearing that the framework would be to call this a project labor agreement and to ensure that um more than one party is offered an opportunity to sign on to that.

Is that accurate?

That sums up what I heard, but I don't know.

Um, is there more?

I can't think I can't think of anything else.

Oh, okay.

All right, that's good.

I I thought you were struggling with something.

I there was a lot there.

So I'm trying to think of anything you're missing.

I mean, is that what like also my other colleagues have heard too in terms of because we we threw a lot out there in terms of I didn't mean to kind of okay um in terms of kind of the direction, so I just want to make sure we captured everything.

And I think we're asking both Coleman and Flores.

Yeah, this is are we it's it's a little difficult with you just on the screen, so yeah, I can't.

And it's a little hard when you guys, sorry, and I don't need to be disrespectful, but when you talk to each other, we can't get on the mic.

Well, that's by that's by design.

That's the advantage of having live versus Zoom.

So in terms in terms of what was presented by the city manager, did we capture everything?

Yeah, I mostly yes.

Okay.

I believe that is what I heard.

Okay.

So I'm seeing at least three heads nodding.

I can't.

Okay.

Thank you.

I don't know which one she was counting, but I guess as long as she gets the three, she's happy.

Okay, so I think we've given direction on this item.

Yes, thank you.

And that's it for tonight.

That's it for that item.

We still have other items.

We haven't more fun with Mr.

You know, the well-behaved audience that's been here needs to be commended, and they get to go home before nine o'clock.

So thanks for joining us tonight.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

We'll give a moment for everyone to depart, and then we'll start again.

Sorry, I didn't want to stop here.

Don't bother me.

I'm always respectful, you guys.

You are.

I don't have any problems with just transpired.

I don't feel as strongly on this as you do, and so you get to leave the chart.

Okay, Jasmine, probably can read the next item.

And uh, oh that's familiar face.

We'll move along to item number 15 is a report regarding advancement and preferred alternatives for El Camino Royale to the Caltrans project development process.

Item number 15A and 15B are the resolutions.

Great.

Here we go.

I'm ready.

Well, good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council members.

Uh my name is Megan Woolley Osdall, Deputy City Manager, and I'm joined this evening by my colleagues, Matthew Rubel, Principal Plant, Principal Engineer.

Uh John Wilson, senior Engineer, and Taylor McAdam from Fair and Pierce.

Tonight, we're presenting a new vision for El Camino Real.

El Camino Real is one of the main corridors in our city that our residents use all the time.

It has a number of important destinations, including the Library, Parks and Recreation Center that we're in now, a primary health care destination with Kaiser, our BART station, our recently opened Safeway and community businesses, both large and small.

El Camino Real is a backbone of our city's transportation network.

Today the street serves motorists and freight traffic mostly well, moving traffic relatively easily.

However, the street does not serve everyone equitably.

When we consider our community members who are walking, bicycling, and taking transit, when we consider our older adults and our families, El Camino Real is not serving these residents as it's configured today.

With very narrow sidewalks, long crossing distances, and fast-moving traffic, El Camino Real is not the safe, healthy place envisioned by our general plan, but rather can be experienced as a hectic, stressful place for many people.

But what if this could be different?

What if we could create a street that best serves everyone in our community?

What if we created a place where people felt safe to walk along, maybe by themselves or with their toddler or with their grandmother?

A place where people could easily make the choice to bicycle, take transit, walk, or drive, could get to their destination comfortably and safely.

This was our North Star as we worked on our El Camino Real Mobility Plan, creating a street where people can get where they want to go in a safe, easy, and reliable way.

El Camino Real has always been a priority, and improvements are highlighted in a number of our adopted plans, including our general plan, active South City Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan, and others.

The effort to reenvision El Camino Real got under really truly got underway when SAM Trans recently relaunched the Grand Boulevard initiative with a focus on improving safety and mobility on El Comuna Real within San Mateo County.

Over the past year and a half, SAM Trans has convened a working group of 14 cities along El Comuna Real, including participation from us here in South City and other regional agencies.

You can see a photo here of the staff and the participating jurisdictions, which includes all cities from Daily City down to Minlo Park.

This collaborative effort has provided the opportunity to have a region-wide conversation about what El Camino Real could look like.

And what's really unique about this process is that each community has the opportunity to design its own vision for El Comino Real, and then these individual visions are all pulled together into one region-wide vision.

Last July, we kicked off the planning process to provide a South City vision.

We started by asking the community what they wanted El Camino Real to be like in the future.

We tabled at community events like concert in the park.

We had pop-ins at various community meetings with Rise South City, Winston Manor Homeowners Association, and meetings with our BPAC and Traffic Safety Commission.

We also held in-person workshops and hosted an online survey and conducted door-to-door outreach to businesses on El Camino Real.

We heard overwhelming support for safer ways to walk and bicycle, more street trees and landscaping, and a desire to maintain parking at key locations on the street.

We took all this feedback along with the data we'd gathered and developed three alternatives for the community to consider.

Each of these alternatives share similar characteristics, wider sidewalks, better crop ways for people to cross the street, closing the gap, the sidewalk gap nearest South City High.

Of course, new street trees and landscaping in the medians and on the sidewalks, and all three alternatives maintain on-street parking in key locations, such as outside of Kaiser, Tiani's, and El Camino Florest.

Each of these alternatives creates a true boulevard, a place that invites people to meet and spend time together, exercise, grab lunch.

Here we are showing alternative one, which includes all of these elements, plus a shared use path for bicyclists and pedestrians on the western side, and uh maintains three levels or three uh lanes of general um purpose travel lanes.

Uh this is alternative two, which includes a dedicated transit only lane and also the shared use path for bicycles and pedestrians on the western side.

And then here was our third alternative with the class four separated bike lane.

We went back out to the community, spoke with all lots of folks, as shown here.

We had pop-ups at the library at grocery stores.

Uh we spoke with over 100 students at a uh career fair at El Camino High.

Uh we met with our boards and commissions, we had stakeholder meetings with Silicon Valley Bike Coalition, and again did the door-to-door outreach to the businesses.

After considering all this input, staff recommends moving forward with alternative two as our preferred option, and alternative one as our secondary option.

The next step in our process uh is to submit these two options or to submit a preferred option and a secondary option to Caltrans for their review and approval, which is required because El Camino Real is a state-owned street.

Um alternative two offers a complete street that provides space for all modes, and this option really has the greatest alignment with our general plan and adopted policies.

So that's why this is our preferred option.

Uh alternative one is our secondary option because it also provides space for bicyclists, pedestrians, and drivers, and does not negatively impact uh the speed and reliability of transit or emergency vehicles.

Staff does not recommend moving forward with alternative three because it would worsen bus speed and reliability from today's conditions and provides uh less space for emergency vehicles.

During our outreach, we also heard concern from many bicyclists about the number of driveways on the corridor and the conflicts this can create between drivers and bicyclists, and we're not proposing to close any of the driveways so that we support the businesses that are there.

So, in summary, this evening we're asking for council's direction on the two alternatives to move forward to the Caltrans project development process.

SAM Trans uh has offered to lead this process for all cities in San Mateo County, and so our second resolution asks for council support to work with Sam Trans to lead the process in partnership with city staff, uh, to work with Caltrans to plan design and implement complete streets on El Camino Real.

So thank you so much, and we're available for questions, Ms.

Mayor.

You want to start off, Mr.

Vice Mayor?

I don't think any of your district has anything to do with El Camino Real.

No, it doesn't.

I was actually gonna turn to Councilman Coleman, I think the majority of his.

You're right.

I apologize, Mr.

Mayor.

Yeah.

It touches a little mind.

A little bit.

So uh Councilman Coleman, would you like to lead off on your preference?

Sure.

Um, I do have I do have a question.

How long does it take currently for the ECR bus line to go from say Daily City all the way down to Menlo Park?

Yeah, I'm gonna tailor.

Do you have I think from my understanding from Sam Trans, I think it is um, I think it's in from Daily City down to Palo Alto technically, which is where Route ECR turns around.

I think it's um an hour, can be an hour to a uh, depending on traffic, an hour and a half each way.

Does that sound good?

It's your estimation.

Over an hour, okay.

I'm sorry, I'm getting support from colleagues that it is over an hour.

That's our response.

Okay, well over an hour.

And do we know how much the trip time will be cut with a bus lane?

Yes.

Uh, that is a great question.

Um, I don't know how much it could be cut specifically.

Um, and I will say that uh in full transparency, not all cities may recommend a transit-only lane.

Some cities will.

Many trips on El Comuna Real are quite short.

And so they can be accommodated by bus travel, bike travel or walking.

Okay.

And is there any plans?

Because you know how we had the um, you know, we had the pilot program where we had the bike lane, but we also had the bus bulbs outside that also like really shortened the time that a bus, you know, had to take to to let people off and let people on.

Are the bus bulb outs going to be a part of this as well?

Um there are there are some suggestions for bus bulb outs.

Um we're also the overall if we go with the preferred option, this would overall improve improve the transit experience, as would the second option.

We're recommending um different uh treatments such as um far side bus stops, which means allowing the bus to go through the light, which saves time, um, also having uh in lane um boarding and um onboarding and alighting, which also saves time.

Um, and so there's a whole kind of package of transit treatments um in order to make the experience more reliable and efficient.

Great, thank you.

Um, and I'll just say this comment-wise, like um, like if we want transit to be um, like if you want people to use transit, we have to make it as frequent and as reliable and as convenient as possible, and if it takes over an hour to get all the way down to Palo Alto or the roads, people just won't use it, right?

They just won't use it.

Um, and um, you know, when you look at how El Camino Real is transforming, at least in South San Francisco.

I mean, when we upzone through the housing element, and you know, to meet our arena goals and um, you know, even the new safe way project, right?

And it's not done.

There's going to be housing, there's gonna be jobs.

Um, there are gonna be a lot more people on on El Camino Real and we want folks to uh use transit, and um so I I agree with the staff recommendation um for bus lane.

I think it makes sense in most, if not all of South San Francisco El Camino Real.

I get a little worried once it gets to coal mud because the delanes get a little uh narrow.

I get I get a little worried when it goes to Burlingame.

I think they have some difficulties there as well, but I think in South City, it it can make sense.

Okay, I think the vice mayor wants to be next.

I think Councilmember Flores also said that the touches is district too.

So everybody but Mark Mr.

Mayor.

Go ahead, Cal.

I have a very unique perspective that I want to share.

I was also like council member uh Coleman, one of the hundred thousand uh individuals that went down to try to capture fireworks at Golden Gate Bridge for the 4th of July that evening.

And I went down Van S Avenue, and for those of you that have driven down Van S Avenue, it has a very specific red line or red lane for uh transit or Muni exclusively uh to use.

What ended up happening because of the mass over expectation of individuals that swarmed into the city was not only were buses buses and shuttles, but also public safety.

I started noticing that police officers and um in in motorcycles as well as in cruisers started going up and down, which provided actually, and ambulances actually provided a safer, faster response for them.

Uh, traveling on that um bus only lane.

I also started noticing that some of the uh scooters that are in San Francisco individuals were scooters, they couldn't get through the gridlock of traffic in the normal lane, so they started using that bus lane.

Which kind of led me to think back to the to this memo in this agenda item and and how in opportunities, I don't know that we'll ever have El Camino gridlock at that level, but it also provides a faster um uh uh express lane I would say for ambulance for EMS for public safety uh to track up and down.

I do want to say that alternative three was my initial favorite, but understanding what what was uh just shared by staff, the driveway component, the parking component, I completely agree with that.

Um so I am in support of alternative two because of what I just saw because I saw it being put into practice uh this past Saturday when I was uh on S Avenue in San Francisco.

Thank you.

Okay.

Yeah, well, I I do support this.

Uh it makes a lot of sense to have that.

Uh hopefully that will help the commuters.

It's just that um I I think we have to accompany this with a educational campaign for drivers, especially for older drivers, it gets so confusing with all these new things that were never there before.

And uh that becomes also sometimes a deterrent because they don't know where to go, and so they slow down traffic.

So that's something that I would like to recommend.

But I support this uh recommendation for the preferred option and the alternative, and I too support alternative too.

I um I had the same conversation with Megan some time ago about the beauty of the Van S situation in San Francisco, but maybe that's only practical for a major metropolitan region.

But I have occasion to get into the city uh and need to get out of there from time to time, and uh Van S is now an option again, where in the past it was when I would always use Franklin or Goff because um Van S with the buses was just um uh just way too slow, and as Councilman Flores pointed out, um they really are like the primary uh mode of moving people by having them in that middle lane, um, and the fact that it works to the advantage of uh ambulances and and fire and police vehicles.

Um but I I don't see that day uh on the peninsula for a very long time.

It's unfortunate because if we if we were to rework um the El Camino Real, um I remember there was a report and it was about housing, where where to put housing, and if you um would zone just that one block in from each side of El Camino, the carrying capacity population-wise would go up by a quarter of a million people.

We could we could solve all of our housing problems and then and then that transportation would be um mandatory to move them, but uh uh sometimes it's baby steps in communities uh like this.

So anyway, it sounds like you have uh a consensus, so nice nice job.

I know you were out there in the community scaring some of the local merchants, and um, because they saw that one where they wouldn't have parking and such, and uh when that went away, they um they can relax again.

So, what we needed to do is um actually this is my opportunity now to ask my questions.

This is not in my none of your just uh so uh uh Megan, I really appreciate this.

Um the question, let me start off with this.

I think what we're all trying to say is this terminology that us in the transit world has been using is transformative transportation.

That is what we're trying to achieve here.

You want people to take the bus or take the train.

He wanted it to be transformative, you want it to run smoothly, you want it to run on time, you want to get from point A to point B quicker than driving the car, and by doing that, you have a dedicated bus lane.

That's how you do it.

That's how you gain more riders by showing how uh substantial taking a bus is compared to riding driving your car in El Camille Real because you're stuck in traffic, and when so you have that, you'll see the numbers go up.

And I think you see that in terms of Muni because of what my colleagues have mentioned in terms of Van S.

It really is when I when I saw that, I'm like, wow, this is this is different than what we've seen in the past in terms of transportation in San Francisco.

And that's why you think you see in transportation in San Francisco, more people take Muni because it's it is something of a lifeline for them, right?

So the question I did have is in terms of this is gonna take some time, right?

And then the and the the cost is like what 10 75 to 225 million just for Altara 1 or turn 02, and so we're gonna have to get money funding for this for this project, and that's just our segment of this, right?

So what remind me that the time frame in terms of when we would actually see this uh if it gets built and we have the funding.

Absolutely.

Um so I do have a slide.

I don't know, um Lehman, if you can pull up the presentation again, but I can speak to it.

So um, because Cal because El Comuna Real is owned by Caltrans, we do um have to go through their project development process.

So um that that takes a while.

Um we let me let me go to my slide for y'all.

Was it on the secret slide again?

It was I have some secret slides.

Um here you go.

Um so we are in um, of course, 2026.

So um trans, um, as as mentioned, um, has um offered to lead all of the cities through the Caltrans process.

Um, so that process typically takes um about five years.

Uh we are currently going through the process um for um in partnership with the town of Colma.

Yeah.

Um, and so we have lessons learned from that experience.

The same team that is working on that project is has been hired by Sam Trans to work on this.

So it's really um lots of lessons learned and knowledge sharing with that.

Construction would likely begin um early 2030s uh uh at that time frame.

So I I ambitiously had previously written the staff report two to three uh excuse me, three to five years, but um was sort of corrected, it's gonna be more about five to eight years when we would see construction.

Um the project cost for our segment is um 175 to 225 million in future dollars.

So that's good.

Um the TA has also really stepped up and said that they really want to help fund this project.

So they are looking to put aside um 50% of the of the dollar amount for the entire corridor through measure A and W funds.

So that does mean that our our city would need to come up with the other 50%.

Um, but we we feel we feel quite um positive.

We feel we're feeling quite positive about that.

Um, we um are currently uh luckily quite successful with grants, so thank you very much, uh Nat and Johnny.

And uh we also feel that there's gonna be more opportunities coming up.

Um so uh this is on our radar, this is it very important to uh we know to the council and to staff, and so definitely looking for opportunities to be able to fund this.

Great.

We also um were told by Sam Trans that we received an A on our work on this project.

So we're hoping that that gets us some extra bonus points when applying for grants.

Okay, that's very studious.

Um the the one question I did have, again, this is future planning, so I'm not worried about it right now.

Is that dedicated bus lane going north, going towards the in and out?

Yes, and so does that bus lane dedicated bus lane go through the in and out, or does it I'm trying to get the sense because right now when it opens, I think there'll be some sort of gridlock there, and so I'm hoping in the future that isn't a problem.

Right, but it I guess I don't know where how far deep the dedicated bus lane goes because if you block that in terms of the in and out, now you're forcing traffic to go to the middle lane and then turning right into the in and out.

And so it's uh that's just me thinking in terms of just traffic impacts as we develop more around here.

That is something that I'm thinking about in terms of what the unintended consequences of the good things we're trying to do in terms of transportation.

Absolutely.

I will say in and out was one of the most brought up topics.

Uh, when we presented on this on this plan.

Um, so a couple of things with the in and out development, they've been very thoughtful about this uh about traffic impacts to El Camino Real.

They've they've done a traffic study, of course.

Um, they have three times the queuing space on site than you see at the say the Daily City in and outs that are just you know they back up.

So there's gonna be three three times the queuing site.

They also are gonna have three grills, so that's that's also different.

They'll be able to fire up the third grill.

Um, I think I think I thought what the vice mayor was talking about was people wanting to get in the right.

The bus lane would continue.

We are not seeing we're not saying that it would stop and start.

There will be dash lines so that cars can turn into the parking lot.

I will say, so I've I think I think I got two in the weeds there, which I appreciate y'all pointing out.

Um, I think the point is that we've been thinking about it now in the near term.

We're also have the benefit of the in and out will be constructed and will be in operation for probably a few years before this goes into practice or this before our project moves forward.

So we'll have the benefit of being able to observe and pivot as needed.

Um, but we do feel that the team has been very thoughtful in planning for transportation impacts.

We're feeling very positive about the traffic signal that's going in at Southwood and first that will be a huge benefit.

Um, so that is very top of mind for us.

Megan, did you not have dinner tonight?

I can always eat, so you know, I didn't have dinner.

That's all I have to say, thank you.

All right, that's great.

Um, anything through the mayor, I do have one question on the topic of funding since it is brought up.

This isn't this isn't Caltrans.

Um, and so shouldn't the state be kicking in some dollars for this?

We do all have a response to that.

I mean, I the I ideally.

I uh yeah, I'll let Matt come in.

Matt Rubel, your principal engineer.

Ideally, yes, but our history with Caltrans on El Camino Real is they support us funding and building projects as we currently do.

And so we have the opportunity to apply for state grants, federal grants, local regional grants, um, and we hope they're a good partners in delivering the projects, but they're not bringing money to the table.

Yeah, all right.

Thank you.

Okay, so are we ready to move on this?

We need a uh to separate motion resolution on alternative a single motion for both resolutions is fine for this item.

All right, we can do it your way.

One motion so moved for both.

Thank you.

One second, and a second from uh the east coast roll call.

Councilmember Coleman.

Yes, Vice Mayor Nogales.

Yes, Councilmember Flores.

Yes, Councilmember Nicholas.

Hi Mayor Adiego.

Yes.

Thank you so much.

Megan.

We'll move along to item number 16, a report regarding a resolution approving a disruption of remote participation during a council meeting policy as required by Senate Bill 707.

Item number 16A is the resolution.

Uh good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor and City Council.

I'm Sky Woodruff, your city attorney.

As you know, SB 707 went into effect this year and made major changes to the Brown Act.

One of those changes has been implemented tonight, which is to allow members of the public to participate in the meeting uh via either an audio visual or telephonic platform.

That's a new requirement.

Uh companion requirement of the new law is that each city council must adopt a policy addressing what it will do when that AV or telephonic platform is disrupted during a meeting, which prevents members of the public from being able to participate.

Before you tonight is a proposed policy for South San Francisco.

Uh, the core elements of the policy are that if internet service is disrupted at the meeting location, the city council will recess the public meeting to try to restore the internet service.

If services restored unless than an hour, council may resume the meeting.

If service is not restored after an hour, council may either cancel the meeting or may resume the meeting after making a finding that despite good faith efforts to restore internet service, the public interest in continuing the meeting outweighs the public interest in remote participation.

While the meeting is in process, council may meet in closed session regarding any items that have been agendized for closed session.

Staff recommends that city council adopt the proposed resolution, which would approve the proposed policy.

And I'm available for any questions, as is the assistant city clerk.

Okay.

Thank you, Sky.

Let's see if we have any questions on this disruption.

Go ahead.

Is that just uh visual audio?

Um or what is it mostly trying to address?

Like is it just if if someone you can't hear someone, is that part of it, or is it also visual or both?

So the the it there is a definition in the policy.

The the most standard example of it for a typical city council meeting would be that internet service to LPR is disrupted.

So the city is is providing the opportunity for the public to participate using Zoom.

Um in order to participate, um, the city needs to, in order to be able to offer the platform, there needs to be internet service at LPR.

If the internet service is disrupted for some reason, if power is lost to the building, so that internet service is lost, that is a disruption of service.

Uh there have also been um instances in the past in which the Zoom platform itself becomes unreachable, um, and that would be another form of disruption.

That would be the most common type of thing for the city council for a standard city council meeting.

Um, if there were an unusual circumstance in which um uh internet was working, but for some reason members of the public, um, multiple members of the public reported that they were unable to um either see or hear the meeting, or that they were not able or people in the council chamber were not able to hear the public comments, we would also treat that as a disruption because then the purpose of the AV platform is not working, and so that would also qualify, but it seems like a less likely occurrence.

Thank you uh for that clarification and um one more question.

Does this apply only to council meetings?

No other commission meetings?

It does only apply to the city council meetings because um for South San Francisco, SB 707 only requires the provision of remote participation for the city council.

Um, in other communities, other bodies um are subject to the same requirement.

Uh SB 707 does allow for um other bodies within the city to use um uh an audiovisual platform, but city council's policy has been that for the advisory bodies that those will not use um Zoom or another platform.

And this uh last question, this includes special council meetings and any uh publicly noticed where the five of us are appearing, not just a regular council.

That's correct.

The only exception to that um is that if um council scheduled a meeting at a location that simply did not have internet or telephonic um service.

Um, for example, for some reason, if you wanted to hold a special meeting to inspect property and it was not possible, which is something that the Brown Act allows, and it was not possible to provide uh there's no internet service or phone service available at the remote location in order to offer the platform.

SB 707 does not require that the council make something that is not possible happen in order to hold that special meeting.

I guess more specifically, I was referring to um sometimes when we hold commission interviews, et cetera, at the conference room in city hall.

Sometimes we do have uh tech issues, tech problems.

Over there.

So it's just apply to that.

It would apply and it would apply to those meetings as well, and so that this policy would apply if there was a disruption to Zoom during the course of that special meeting.

Okay, thank you, Scott.

You're welcome.

My pleasure.

Anyone else on disruptive meetings?

I do have a question about disruptive case.

Go ahead, Councilman Coleman.

Sure.

So this is good.

I'm glad we are restoring virtual public comment by just going back to, you know, when you the moment we did remove virtual public comment was through a series of um morally reprehensible public comments.

But I do understand that state law may have changed since then that allows us to respond in a particular way.

Could you remind us what those procedures might be?

My pleasure.

So one of the things that we did as part of the 2026 update to the city council handbook is attempt to update the policies regarding uh disruptive behavior at meetings to take advantage of some of the tweaks that were also included in SB 707 for those situations.

So the basic framework is that the council has approved is to treat um hate speech and um similar types of um comments or at least provide the council with the ability to treat those as a form of disruption of a meeting.

Um I think that that um you all having experienced that will understand that um the it during the course of the of those comments um it was extremely difficult for the council to actually conduct the business that was on the agenda, and so we felt that that um would fit within the definition of a disruption.

So um if council agrees with it in that circumstance, the uh the mayor or somebody designated by the mayor is authorized to interrupt the speaker, explain to them that they are disrupting the meeting and in violation of council policy, and um ask them to come to order by stopping the disruptive behavior.

If they continue, um there would be another warning, and if they continue again at that point, um the policy allows for uh the clerk to mute them and to move on to the next speaker.

All right, thank you.

My closure.

Okay, um, do we have any public comments on this item?

No public comments, Mayor.

No public comments.

Okay, closure of council.

I'll I'll move the motion.

Thank you.

Motion on the floor, and a second roll call.

Mayor Adiego.

Yes, Councilmember Coleman.

Yes, Vice Mayor Navalis.

Yes, Councilmember Nicholas.

Aye.

Councilmember Flores.

Aye.

Next item.

Items from council, committee reports, and announcements.

So the uh city attorney indicated me that we ran by a little business that should have been conducted under the consent calendar.

Yes, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

There's one bit of housekeeping that we needed to clean up.

Um, item 12 on the consent calendar was a comprehensive update of the city's salary schedule.

It included a cola adjustment for the city manager's base compensation at the same level as other members of the executive management unit.

Um the city manager's employment agreement states that she will receive that same adjustment as the executive management group contingent on a positive performance evaluation.

Um so that was included in the in the um in the adjustment to the salary schedule, and state law just requires us to note that um orally, and there were no other changes to the city manager's employment agreement or any other aspects of her compensation, and that's that's all I needed to do was make that announcement.

Thank you, Mr.

Woodruff.

And while we're on uh I'll I'll begin with the the second and last round of council comments.

Um while we're talking about the consent calendar.

Does any council person um miss the fact that we're not reading the consent calendar into the record?

Um I I know I'm maybe more traditional and have done it one way for so very long.

Um, but it's sometimes it seems as if we're in a a rush to get past things.

Would you prefer to bring it back?

I guess is one of the things I I'm kind of leaning that way, but I you know, need to know how you feel.

I I heard some people saying like, you know, they were here for something to listen if that's approved, and so that's true.

Yeah.

And so they were like, was it approved?

And I said yes, because that's the new system.

So I don't know if we need to educate more or we bring it back.

I I whichever way I'm fine.

Well, that actually makes a good point.

Um, you know, there are items like for example, we were reappointing several commissioners, and I noticed that there were a couple here, and uh they I don't think they realized that they were reappointed because we didn't because we didn't mention the items, and you know, they took the time to be here, and honestly, uh I we should probably have pulled that item so we can thank them for their service.

We and but I think there was a lot of things happening today, right?

So uh I I would be in favor, Mr.

Mayor, if you want to bring it back.

It's obviously um I don't have a problem with it.

I think there are times like today when we should have actually read the items because people are taking the time to be here.

And I think I think what you just described is probably the best argument for that because um sometimes it's that moment when you realize it's being read and you're looking out there, yeah, and then you pull the item.

Right.

But let's um let's hear from uh councilman Coleman.

What time is it in uh Baltimore?

It's uh 12 22.

You're still with us, you're doing really good.

And I is still young.

Yeah, when you're tw when you're 27 it is, but I'm fading here, so it's not young for me.

So do you have uh any feelings about the consent calendar?

So I always felt like you know, when you're when you're reading the consent calendar, it's a time to pause, right, and kind of collect your thoughts and also again like, you know, of course we we read the agendas before and everything, but it's a good time to kind of be reminded just because there's so many items, right?

Be reminded about what may be on agenda that we might want to pull.

And so I kind of always appreciated the kind of slowdown and giving us you know a few minutes to gather our thoughts and kind of you know th think think about the meeting that that we're currently in.

Um and so but but then again, like I I understand that if we have a long meeting, potentially we don't have to read the entire consent calendar.

Um, but um I think if I were to have a preference, it would be um let's continue reading it.

Okay, well thank you for that.

And and they do it so well.

So uh councilman uh Florida, anyway for me, I I think I will dissent and and probably be uh different opinion of opinion.

Um I I look back at other uh regional bodies that we all sit in.

Uh CCAC, the one I I mostly look at, they don't read every single item on their consent agenda.

Uh they adopt the agenda and then they move forward with the actual business items.

I like it not because we're rushing, but because we're being efficient.

I think what we could perhaps, um, because I'm also looking at the uh the city clerk team, right?

They have to go sometimes through 25, if not more items.

Maybe there could be some different verbiage that they say we're gonna pause now for the next 10 seconds, items one through 25, it kind of what they do in the assembly, right?

All those in want willing to vote vote now, all those willing to vote, kind of that's the same scenario where we're giving the public an announcement that this is the consent agenda item, and this is the time where these items are gonna be approved.

And I will tell you the same thing happened on school board.

People never understood what the consent was, and if those were approved or what that was.

I think it's just the misfortune of of public meetings that um our residents and constituents won't really align what that means.

Um we used to debate on what else we could do so that even elected members would understand what the consent agenda items were.

So I think this is an ongoing thing, but if I'm looking at it again from the city clerk's perspective, reading 25 and sometimes very lengthy paragraphs.

Um I would opt to just maybe shorten it, giving it a little bit of a direction, but not reading every single um item.

So I'm I'm um uh I think I think it was the vice mayor's comment about kind of recognizing at the last minute that there's something on there that you would pull if if it was read out loud.

And I think in some respects, uh Councilman Coleman was kind of um making the same uh had the same point of view, um, because you know, we we always focus there are certain items that you know are going to be the items of the evening so you focus on those and sometimes other things kind of um momentarily fall by the wayside but when read out loud it jogs your memory and the need so um how can we go about this can we just set the policy tonight um yeah I I I think that um since this is an internal council business not not um not a something that really requires an agendized item um I think it's okay if you just direct that you would like the items to be read again um I think that's fine if you would like to agendize it for a fuller discussion we can certainly handle it that way as well yeah I think Mr.

Mayor at the next council meeting you can say we we discussed this at the previous council meeting and we were tonight we will read the consent element yeah and then the next mayor can change whoever that is change the round all right so that's great any other uh last minute comments from the council on anything come anyway I do have a uh separate least chance all right so um about as of a week and a half ago uh clean energy has officially renamed itself to West Flight Energy um and so now now we embark on a campaign to uh educate the residents of um San Mateo County and Los Banos on um our rebranding um and it is you know associated with that you know all the various programs uh and initiatives that we are doing for um clean energy and and the environment so well we'll we'll look forward to that line item change on our PGE bill and uh one other thing is um I'm forgetting on a date but I will I will look it up uh but uh West flight energy it's gonna take me a while to get used to saying that uh but Westlight Energy is also going to be doing a ribbon cutting for the largest EV charger uh project in I believe the entire state maybe the country uh in South San Francisco and I believe it's right across the street yeah I think it's July 29th July 29th yeah you you got it that sounds about right okay thank you for that reminder anyone else if not um this meeting stands adjourned thank you everyone have a good night take care of everybody good morning recording stopped