The Legislative and Rules Committee of the Stanford Board of Representatives convened to address three major legislative items: a tax exemption for veterans, a comprehensive tree preservation ordinance, and a regulation on the sale of dogs and cats in pet stores. The meeting addressed public misinformation regarding the timing of a public hearing for the first item and featured significant debate regarding municipal authority versus state preemption, particularly concerning the pet store ordinance.
Veterans Tax Exemption (LR 31.108):
Tree Preservation Ordinance (LR 31.106):
Pet Store Sales Regulation (LR 31.072):
Veterans Tax Exemption (LR 31.108):
Tree Preservation Ordinance (LR 31.106):
Pet Store Sales Regulation (LR 31.072):
My name is Philip Burns. I am the chair of the legislative and rules committee. Also in this meeting this evening is Sean Boger, the vice chair of this committee. And I want to apologize to members of the public that I called me today on the first item on the agenda, which is the tax exemption for veterans, or at least certain veterans, and that I was misinformed by one of them who I asked to read the agenda item, and they told me the word hearing did not pop up here in there. And so there is a public hearing, so they are permitted. So anyone from the public may speak on this matter. Um to do so Barbara, they can call. Can you tell us what number they can call, please? The time for signing up in advance has closed. So what we would do is we would go through the uh list of people who had signed up by two o'clock today, and then at the end of that period, we would ask anyone who wants to speak but was not already called to go ahead and raise their hand and we would take them in turn. Right. But the but the step. I guess anybody hearing me, I guess anybody hearing me already is signed on, but if you have friends, relatives, acquaintances, neighbors, coworkers, et cetera, who want to be involved, uh they can uh if they don't have access to teams for any reason, they can call by telephone 929346 72 76. I'm sorry, 7262. I'm dyslexic this evening, but um and uh and the way to so then there's a way to mute and unmute, and there's a way to raise your hand and lower your hand. And Barbara, what are those ways, please? Star five is to raise your hand, star six is to mute and unmute. If you do use the phone or tell someone to use the phone to call in, there is a phone conference ID number they will be asked. That number is highlighted on the agenda on the screen. If anyone has their camera on or is using a device and can see it, if you can't, I'll read it out for you nice and slowly. The phone conference ID number is 22934 901, and then it will have you hit pound. So if you need to share the information with someone, they can do that, or they can open the agenda on our website, board of reps.org, and they can use the little join meeting now link, and that would take you in on a computer or a smartphone or a tablet. Would it take them in if they did not have teams loaded on their computer? That one I'm not sure about. So at the very least, they can call the number that's vaguely in the middle of the screen, uh, and then enter the phone conference identification, which is on the following line. All right, so again, Phil Burns, this is legislative and rules committee of the Board of Representatives, the legislative body of the city of Stanford. Today is Monday, October 27th, 2025, and I'm going to ask Barbara Montalvo, our staff person, to please call roll. Thank you. Let me get the roll call. I already have updated a few folks as I saw them enter. Let me go with committee members that are not accounted for yet. Representative Pierre Louis, are you here? Representative Sherwood. President. Thank you. Representative Vanderboard. I'm here. Thank you. I also see Representative Tomas. And I see Representative Goldberg. Mark you here. If any other representatives are on the line and are not presently accounted for on the sheet, please feel free to unmute yourself and announce yourself, and I will put you on the list. Barbara, I'm going to ask, please, that we do an oral road roll call for the for the record. Okay. Representative Burns. I am present. Representative Blank is excused. Representative Boger. Present. Representative Cottrell.