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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-04-08 Policy & Services Committee Summary MinutesPOLICY AND SERVICES COMMITTEE SUMMARY MINUTES Page 1 of 13 Regular Meeting April 8, 2025 The Policy and Services Committee of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in Council Chambers and by virtual teleconference at 6:00 PM. Present In-Person: Veenker (Chair), Lu, Stone Absent: None Call to Order Vice Mayor Vicki Veenker called the meeting to order. Deputy City Clerk Christine Prior called roll and declared all were present. Public Comments 1. Jennifer L. submitted for consideration an opinion piece by Andrew Milne regarding three structural change recommendations concerning how the City engages with residents on budget and resource allocation decisions for fire resources management. It was observed that changes in budget and standards for managing health and safety among different councils were poorly communicated. A petition by over 700 residents on Change.org was necessary to draw attention to fire resources concerns. This commenter sent an email to the Council and City Manager on January 11 regarding the City's priority setting process and performance measures about health and public safety. This commenter asked how the public could raise the Milne opinion up for discussion and how these types of items could be made part of the meeting agenda. Action Items 1. Office of the City Auditor Presentation of the Emergency Preparedness/Wildfire Audit Report City Auditor Kate Murdock stated that the objective of the audit was to determine whether the City was working to prevent wildfires and if the City was adequately prepared to respond to wildfires as part of the Emergency Management Plan. A background was provided including the various agencies who work with the City in wildfire preparedness. This audit focused on three key areas of emergency preparedness: Prevention, protection, and response. Slides were shared showing various findings the City had uncovered in regard to wildfire prevention efforts and included six recommendations to enhance prevention efforts: 1) Continue efforts to SUMMARY MINUTES Page 2 of 13 Policy and Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 4/8/25 underground WUI distribution infrastructure – prioritize maintenance and replacement of remaining utility poles. 2) Line Clearance policy documents should be updated and finalized. 3) Continue efforts to better track and monitor WUI property violations to enhance enforcement. 4) Prioritize efforts to establish a Firewise Community including stakeholder engagement. 5) Formalize contract with CAL FIRE to ensure service provision continues. 6) Ensure wildfire education and outreach plans document coordination efforts between OES, Fire and CPAU to ensure consistent regular information is provided to residents. Management agreed to the first four recommendations and partially agreed to the last two. The audit found that overall the City had a strong response plan, including six wildfire emergency response plans which largely followed FEMA's guidelines. The audit also noted possible areas for improvement related to evacuation planning, After Action Report recommendation implementation, and communication efforts. Four recommendations were outlined for the City to consider improving wildfire response efforts: 1) Incorporate a more comprehensive revision and review process for emergency plans and review evacuation plans for possible improvements. 2) More formally track and monitor findings and recommendations identified during training exercises and in After Action Reports of emergency incidents to ensure timely resolution. 3) Explore ways to increase resident registration in the County's emergency alerting system. 4) Determine an appropriate solution for staff to more easily access, track, and monitor the status of all mutual aid agreements including renewal deadlines and key contacts. Management agreed with the first three and partially agreed with the last one. Assistant City Manager Kiely Nose cited that the City had launched a series of public engagements and meetings to raise awareness of wildfire preparedness. Future conversations are expected to be agendized on this topic. A news story was mentioned that was released on March 26 which included revised Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps recently released by CAL FIRE. This audit concluded prior to the 2025 California wildfires, with the audit's period of study ending in December 2024. The Action Plan outlined why the City only partially agreed on two of the recommendations to enhance prevention efforts presented in the audit. For example, for Recommendation #5, while having a contract with CAL FIRE in place is best practice, CAL FIRE provides these services without contracts to many cities in the area and agreement on both sides is required. Vice Mayor Veenker asked if management wanted to comment more about the partial agreements on the recommendations in the audit. Vice Mayor Veenker expressed that the City may want to be more specific about why there was only partially agreement on those certain recommendations and findings. Item 1 Public Comment 1. Fred B. commented it was mentioned the staff report was going to be released on April 3 as a late item but that as of that moment no staff report had been released or was online. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 3 of 13 Policy and Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 4/8/25 City Manager Ed Shikada stated the report was actually posted online but pointed out that it required users to be familiar with the agenda management system to access it. This was labeled as "late packet report." Councilmember Stone felt the audit findings were generally positive. His opinion was the best way to keep the community safe was by having fully staffed fire departments. Councilmember Stone asked what the City had learned from the LA wildfires and how that information could be used to update some of the emergency plans. Signs along Page Mill Road related to evacuation routes and wildfire information had been noticed, and Councilmember Stone inquired if that information was different from information Palo Alto residents would need and also how the City was targeting the residents in the most vulnerable parts of the community. In regard to the audit, it was alarming to see that only 17 percent of residents were signed up for the County's emergency alert. Councilmember Stone questioned the staff as to whether a utility insert and/or a QR code had been utilized to get residents signed up for wildfire alerts. Fire Chief Geo Blackshire said the level of community awareness was higher since the January wildfires. Monthly and annual county fire drills and exercises are being done. Preparedness and notification were key. Each district was responsible for how particular signage was enforced, and enhanced signage in Palo Alto is anticipated. The revised Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps were released and available for public comment. Chief Ken Dueker, Office of Emergency Services, mentioned that WUI was multijurisdictional and needed to work with allied agencies, especially the adjacent county. The CWPP and EOP were on a normal revised cycle; however, the City EOP was slightly delayed because of the pandemic. The County EOC and the County fire district extended their updates because of staffing issues and lack of resources. The Committee would see updates to the EOP and CWPP by the end of 2025 and would be available for public comment in the interest of transparency and education. The percentage of residents who were signed up for the County's Emergency Alert System was roughly double the county-wide average, although it should be higher. In the past two years that number increased by 2 percent after much effort and education. The system was now an opt-in system, mostly due to cell phones. Mass notification was not always an opt-in notification, an example being that of a tsunami warning, and Palo Alto had that ability. Examples of apps and resources that residents could use for wildfire alerts were on the cityofpaloalto.org/stayinformed and cityofpaloalto.gov/wildfire web pages. A utility mailing was also done for flood season. Assistant City Manager Kiely Nose stated that as wildfire season approached the City usually did a wildfire preparedness campaign. Almost 7000 subscribers (equaling 2 percent) were added to the Emergency Alert System after a concerted effort. Councilmember Lu asked the staff how updated the audit was after the January LA wildfires. Advanced notice was a specific issue to be learned from the LA wildfires. Councilmember Lu questioned if the City evaluated other procedures beyond power shutoff since these were specific issues for LA. Councilmember Lungs: suggested a procedure could be adopted to notify SUMMARY MINUTES Page 4 of 13 Policy and Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 4/8/25 the City Council of high-risk situations. Councilmember Lu queried if the six wildfire emergency response plans (seven in the staff report) could be cross-referenced or if a master plan could be developed from these to make it easier to find information. As the audit report did not extensively describe collaboration with Stanford, Councilmember Lu wondered if there was anything notable about Stanford that was not considered in the audit. More collaboration with Stanford may be worthwhile. Pertaining to underground utilities, Councilmember Lu wanted to know if all utility poles would be undergrounded in the near future. It was hoped in the future when all power was undergrounded it would not have to be preemptively shut down. City Auditor Murdock stated that the audit report did not have updates past the December timeframe. Palo Alto did not necessarily uncover any issues in the audit specific to how information would be routed during wildfire emergencies and other procedures referred to by Councilmember Lu. It was sometimes hard to anticipate what issues may surface when doing an audit prior to an emergency event happening. Assistant City Manager Nose said the City was coordinating with their partners to bring the information learned from the LA wildfires into the organization. Undergrounding the transmission corridor was a primary goal, and the City was looking to underground the poles in the High Fire Threat Zone. City Manager Shikada stated that because Palo Alto was smaller than LA, the communication would happen much more person to person. It was felt that OES did an extraordinary job in keeping the City leadership informed because of personal relationships interdepartmentally. It was in everyone's best interest to have the six wildfire emergency response plans move across disciplines and jurisdictions. Chief Dueker added there was an evolution to streamlining the six plans to making them more accessible and less redundant. A local hazard plan was used as an example. Early detection was key and very beneficial. EOS had an excellent public safety and emergency operations relationship with Stanford, and Stanford worked with EOS in land management, best practices, and technology. Utilities Chief Operating Officer Alan Kurotori pointed out the poles outside the High Fire Threat Zone were actually outside the City of Palo Alto in the lower threat zone, so the City had prioritized all the poles in Palo Alto that were in the highest threat zones. Vice Mayor Veenker wondered if the City had any need for prescribed burns as a method of prevention in areas such as Foothills Park and who would be in charge of that. Vice Mayor Veenker asked if resources should be considered for these prescribed burns or if it would mitigate the risks sufficiently without prescribed burns. Vice Mayor Veenker questioned if controlled burns were looked at in the audit in terms of prevention risk. Vice Mayor Veenker commented that the Public Safety Power Shutoff Protocol was a big deal in the LA wildfires and asked who does this with respect to our protocol and what we learned from this. Vice Mayor Veenker wanted to know how the Fire Safe Council relates to the Firewise Community Program SUMMARY MINUTES Page 5 of 13 Policy and Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 4/8/25 and what comes with the Firewise USA Recognition. Vice Mayor Veenker also inquired if there was anything else that did not come up in the audit or the discussions that staff would like done for wildfire prevention and response. Fire Chief Blackshire stated that it had been approximately 12 years since controlled burns were done in Palo Alto and that those were dependent on resources, appropriately trained staff, fuel conditions, and time of year. A prescribed burn will be a part of County fire exercises this year. It was best to remove the fuel from where it was most accessible. It was emphasized that all factors have to align to do a controlled burn. City Auditor Murdock said various vegetation management programs were looked at including the City's partnership with CAL FIRE. Chief Operating Officer Kurotori answered that the PSPS was described in the Wildfire Mitigation Plan and that it was updated annually. Information from the LA wildfires was used to refine the City's protocols. Staff was on site 24/7 during a Red Flag Warning to initiate public safety shutoffs as well as to inform the public. Assistant City Manager Nose said that the PSPS plan was brought to the UAC and Council annually. Fire Marshall Tami Jasso stated that the Firewise Program was initiated by residents with a series of steps to be taken and that the Fire Safe Council helped facilitate and guide that process by educating residents and doing hazard assessments. Sections of Palo Alto, not the whole, would be Fire Wise Communities. The Firewise USA Recognition was a process submitted to the NFPA to receive a certification, and certain steps were taken annually to maintain that certification. Some benefits of this recognition would be a safer community and insurance discounts. City Manager Shikada stated that maximum participation by residents would be sought through multiple community meetings. MOTION: Councilmember Stone moved, seconded by Councilmember Lu, to recommend the City Council approve the BakerTilly Emergency Preparedness: Wildfire Audit Report. MOTION PASSED: 3-0 2. Recommend City Council Approval to Extend the Deadline for Several FY2024 Audit Plan and FY25 Audit Plan Task Orders City Auditor Kate Murdock said that several orders from the FY2024 Audit Plan expired at the end of December and approval was being sought to extend the deadline on those audits through June 2025. The Office of the City Auditor also wanted to extend the FY25 Task Orders SUMMARY MINUTES Page 6 of 13 Policy and Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 4/8/25 from June 30, 2025, to October 31, 2025. These extensions would have no fiscal impact. Slides were shown that outlined which specific Task Orders needed extension. One reason for the delays was the change in leadership in the Audit office in the spring of 2024, causing that office to do two years' worth of audits in one year. No further delays were anticipated moving forward. Public Comment: None. Councilmember Lu was curious to know if these delays would persist and cause more extensions. City Manager Ed Shikada reinforced the organization's ability to perform multiple audits simultaneously. Multiple information requests from various organizations needed to be fulfilled to do these audits. MOTION: Councilmember Stone moved, seconded by Vice Mayor Veenker, to recommend the City Council approve the extension of the following task orders from the FY24 and FY25 Annual Audit Plans. These extensions will have no fiscal impact. 1. Extend the deadline from December 31, 2024, to June 31, 2025, for FY2024 Annual Audit Plan Task Orders still underway: 1. Task Order 4.24 – Grant Management Audit 2. Task Order 4.25 – Emergency Preparedness (Wildfire) 3. Task Order 4.26 – Utility Billing Audit 4. Task Order 4.27 – Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards Audit 5. Task Order 4.28 – Dispatch Center Assessment 2. Extend the deadline from June 31, 2025, to October 31, 2025, for FY2025 Annual Audit Plan Task Orders still underway: 1. Task Order 4.29 – Purchasing Card Audit 2. Task Order 4.30 – Building Permit & Inspection Fees Audit 3. Task Order 4.31 – Junior Museum & Zoo Audit 4. Task Order 4.32 – CSD Equipment & Materials Inventory Management Audit 5. Task Order 4.33 – Public Safety Staffing & Overtime 6. Task Order 4.34 – Follow Up Audit Activities SUMMARY MINUTES Page 7 of 13 Policy and Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 4/8/25 MOTION PASSED: 3-0 3. Update, Discussion, and Potential Direction Regarding State and Federal Legislation, Executive Orders and Other Regulatory and Funding Activity Deputy City Clerk Christine Prior stated no action was required from the Committee on this item unless there was disagreement on the recommended positions. Senior Associate Carly Shelby, Townsend Public Affairs, stated that the legislature in Sacramento was very busy and would be breaking for spring recess on Friday, April 11. SB 456 would exempt mural artists from provisions of the Contractors License Law. This bill was being supported by the City and would be moving forward. SB 457 concerned development standards surrounding the Builder's Remedy. This bill was also being supported and would be moving to the Senate Housing Committee on April 29. Ms. Shelby, Townsend Public Affairs, believed AB 650 was very complimentary to the goals of SB 457. This bill was sponsored by the League of California Cities and had to do with the cadence by which California HCD communicates with local governments to ensure uniformity, clarity, and transparency. A support position was being recommended for this bill. AB 306 originated out of a desire to expedite housing after the LA wildfires and created a six- year moratorium on the adoption of new state and local building standards affecting residential units from June 1, 2025, to June 1, 2031. Under this bill, local governments would be prohibited from making changes to existing building standards unless specific conditions were met. Townsend was recommending an opposed position because of issues concerning local autonomy over building standards, impact on emission reduction, and economic implications. AB 259 and SB 239 concerned Brown Act Flexibility post COVID, which was set to expire at the end of 2025. AB 259 would indefinitely extend provisions of AB 2449, which allowed teleconferencing for public agencies in specific emergencies, travel, or medical circumstances. SB 239 would allow advisory-only subsidiary bodies to meet via teleconference. Support was recommended for these two bills. SB 707, known as the Comprehensive Brown Act Modernization Bill, would extend teleconferencing flexibility for a longer period of time, would require two-way telephonic communication at almost all meetings, would expand remote participation to subsidiary multijurisdictional bodies, would require that there be certain translation requirements and language access, and other provisions. Townsend was still working with the committee consultant and a number of stakeholders on this bill with Palo Alto in mind specifically. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 8 of 13 Policy and Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 4/8/25 SB 346 was sponsored by Cal Cities and concerned Transient Occupancy Taxes. It would provide cities with the assessor parcel number of each short-term rental listed on a facilitator's website such as Airbnb and would grant full audit authority over transient-oriented tax dollars. It would also allow for enforcement against unlicensed units. This bill would be important because of upcoming major events in the area, including the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and the 2028 Summer Olympics in LA. Townsend would recommend a support position. Ms. Shelby, Townsend Public Affairs, outlined several factors that will drive the upcoming state budget, including the impact of the LA wildfires and CA-DC fiscal dynamics. A state budget revision was anticipated in mid-May. Item 3 Public Comment 1. John (Zoom), a resident of Palo Alto, spoke about the establishment of quiet zones along the rail corridor. The question was raised if lobbyists could help expedite the paperwork for this issue. 2. Jennifer (Zoom), wanted to make a correction to what she had said earlier. This commenter stated subcommittee meetings were noticed, but outcomes from committees were not as transparent. This commenter discussed aircraft noise and ICAO, a specialized agency of the United Nations, which provides guidance in balancing airport operations with community noise concerns. A suggestion was made that the City challenge the airport improvement grants and that the City's federal lobbyists could possibly help with this issue as well. 3. Debbie M. (Zoom), a participant in the Fossil Free Buildings in Silicon Valley group, was grateful to the City for the recommendation to oppose AB 306. A recent ruling in New York concerning banning gas in new construction would help open up the possibility that California's Reach Codes may be legal. AB 306 would allow all new construction after the LA wildfires to include gas. Ideas were presented to offer monetary incentives to residents who choose not to install gas and to fast track permits for rebuilds which do not include gas. It was hoped the City staff would pass along these ideas to State Senator Becker and others. Vice Mayor Veenker suggested it might be helpful in the staff report to have a list specifically of those bills that needed consideration on positions and not just intermingled throughout the document. Vice Mayor Veenker wondered if there could be coordination with other entities with respect to their legislative advocacy in order to understand their position on various bills. An example was given of SB 540 as to why these positions needed to be coordinated. Deputy City Clerk Prior stated the positions of the bills listed for this meeting were in line with the legislative guidelines and did not require any action from the Committee. City Manager Ed Shikada said that how the lists were presented in the future could be explored to make it easier for the Committee to identify those bills that needed more in-depth review. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 9 of 13 Policy and Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 4/8/25 The City did try to maintain coordination with other organizations in regards to their position on legislative bills, but the volume of current activity made that challenging. Senior Associate Shelby noted regular coordination had been established with the City's Utilities Department on what was being flagged in these bills. Councilmember Lu asked for more context about SB 282. A suggestion was made to write a letter concerning SB 282 to showcase Palo Alto's efforts and progress in this matter. Senior Associate Shelby said that SB 282 streamlined local permitting processes for the installation of residential heat pump and water heaters to support building decarbonization efforts. This bill was opposed by California Building Officials, and there were potential difficult requirements associated with the bill. It passed the Senate Utilities, Energy and Communications Committee. Townsend was monitoring this bill with the Utilities staff and issues were being worked out. Vice Mayor Veenker agreed with Councilmember Lu in regard to SB 282. Contractors with common certifications and training would be beneficial. Vice Mayor Veenker expressed that there were a lot of bills on the list that deserved more investigation because of Palo Alto's climate work. City Manager Shikada noted the need to organize the legislative bills in regard to which committee each bill would go to, the P&S Committee versus the Climate Action Committee. Deputy City Manager Chantal Cotton Gaines offered to keep in mind how these bills may impact the City, the best committee to have discussion about these bills, and the desired outcome. Councilmember Stone recalled the P&S had a discussion on how many bills the City would support each year and agreed to endorse a smaller amount of bills rather than looking at every bill that could benefit or harm the City. Vice Mayor Veenker suggested identifying which bills affected the City because Palo Alto was viewed as a climate leader and also because the City was at risk of having programs shut down from federal legislation. Vice Mayor Veenker wondered if this item could be continued or reagendized back to P&S. City Manager Shikada stated this item could be continued or reagendized at the discretion of the Committee. Councilmember Lu was curious about the progress of AB 762 concerning disposable vapes. Councilmember Lu said that this subject matter would be high on his watch list. Senior Associate Shelby gave an update about bill AB 762. A number of local stakeholders were in support of this bill, while a couple of organizations were opposed to the measure. This bill did SUMMARY MINUTES Page 10 of 13 Policy and Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 4/8/25 pass the Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee earlier this week. Townsend would be happy to add this bill to the tracking list for more in-depth analysis. Vice Mayor Veenker expressed her desire to agendize a review and potential update of the Advocacy Process Manual. The staff was asked to give context on the impact of the large DOT grant in the amount of $16.5M. Deputy City Manager Cotton Gaines stated that the legislative guidelines are brought to the Committee annually to review. The Advocacy Process Manual could be brought forward as one discussion as opposed to a separate item. City Manager Shikada said that agendizing the Advocacy Process Manual was a question of timing and that the Committee's docket was quite full. The option was offered to make it a recommendation for Council that there be a review to put the Advocacy Process Manual on the work plan. Some progress had been noted on the $16.5M DOT grant. A proposed grant agreement had been received, and the City was looking at problematic provisions related to DEI restrictions. Councilmember Stone asked if AB 306 targeted only areas that have experienced an emergency. Councilmember Stone asked if Senior Associate Shelby was aware of a proposed bill to lower BMR requirement and Builder's Remedy from 20 percent to 13 percent and if it was included in the recommendations. The staff was looking into what the impact was of the current Builder's Remedy. Councilmember Stone raised the question as to why AB 609, which exempts some housing projects from CEQA, did not make this list and if the Committee should discuss this bill at a later time. Senior Associate Shelby stated that AB 306 was not restricted to just areas affected by the wildfires because of residents being misplaced into other areas. In response to the bill concerning BMR requirement percentage being lowered, it was believed that was AB 1893 having to do with reforms to the Builder's Remedy process. AB 609 was a late-breaking bill that was released as part of a permit-streamlining package but had been flagged for Planning Department staff to determine the City-specific impact. Cal Cities was supporting SB 456. Assemblymember Papan's office believed that SB 457 and AB 650 were complimentary, and Assemblymember Papan possibly may want to be added as a co-author to SB 457 and vice versa with Senator Becker's bill, although the intent was to keep them as separate bills. City Attorney Molly Stump confirmed that in Builder's Remedy 2.0, newly filed Builder's Remedy applicants could choose the old process or the new process and that it does lower the threshold to 13 percent. City Attorney Stump recalled hearing from staff that there were no requests to opt into the current Builder's Remedy by current applicants. Councilmember Lu stated AB 609 would greatly reduce the CEQA requirements for housing, and it was agreed that this bill should be watched. The Committee should oppose or support with amendments to promote housing but also manage larger housing developments. The SUMMARY MINUTES Page 11 of 13 Policy and Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 4/8/25 recommendations on the legislative bills were sensible. It was reasonable to consider opposing AB 306 unless amended by accepting Reach Codes. Vice Mayor Veenker wondered if an update could be received sooner on the six Energy, Utilities and Communications bills, the three Environmental Quality bills, and AB 609. Vice Mayor Veenker asked if Cal Cities was supporting SB 456 as well. Vice Mayor Veenker also wondered what Assemblymember Papan's office had said when Senior Associate Shelby had spoken with them concerning SB 457 and AB 650. Vice Mayor Veenker requested thoughts pertaining to AB 306. Vice Mayor Veenker recommended to consider opposing it unless amended by accepting Reach Codes. Deputy City Manager Cotton Gaines said that when the items on the list align with the legislative guidelines, the Committee would be confirming the bill positions as shared in the staff presentation. MOTION: Vice Mayor Veenker moved, seconded by Councilmember Stone, to recommend the City Council: • Confirm the below bill positions: o SB 456 (Ashby) – support o SB 457 (Becker) – support o AB 650 (Papan) – support o AB 306 (Schultz, Rivas) – oppose unless amended o AB 259 (Rubio) – support o SB 239 (Arreguin) – support o SB 707 (Durazo) – seek amendments o SB 346 (Durazo) – support • Refer to the Policy and Services Committee an update to the City of Palo Alto Advocacy Process Manual to address sponsorship of legislation Vice Mayor Veenker stopped the first motion to allow the Committee to take a look at the advocacy process. Vice Mayor Veenker pondered withdrawing her motion but wanted to hear her colleague's thoughts. City Manager Shikada suggested it would be helpful to have the Council's awareness and ratification of that position. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 12 of 13 Policy and Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 4/8/25 Councilmember Lu said the Committee's position would be clear because Townsend would draft a letter to state why the bills were opposed. Councilmember Lu stated that a motion did not need to be made at that time. MOTION WITHDRAWN BY MAKER NO ACTION TAKEN 4. Establish a City Council Interview Selection Process for Boards, Commissions, and Committees Deputy City Clerk Francesca Reyes presented a slide detailing four options and asked that the Committee select the best fit, stating that more than one option could be selected. Keeping the current method was also an option. Another slide was shown listing additional considerations to keep in mind. A failsafe provision was being proposed that allowed the Mayor to adjust the method in case of anomalies. Public Comment: None. Councilmember Stone expressed the need to have a policy for this item and that it should be consistently utilized. Councilmember stated that having a threshold would make sense and paper applications should be a threshold to get through to the interview process. Councilmember Stone voiced an inclination to a hybrid of Option 1 and Option 2. Having two votes in order to be interviewed would be a clear threshold. The question was raised of what would happen if the votes were tied. Councilmember Lu stated that whatever was done with interviews and selections should be replicable for uniformity. Councilmember Lu noted that the process should be nonpolitical specifically for the PTC and that all qualified candidates should be interviewed regardless of viewpoint. His opinion was that the process should be consistent, nonpolitical, time efficient, and simple. A preference to Option 2 was expressed. Councilmember Lu wondered with Option 1 if certain candidates would not have a chance to interview despite writing great applications and being otherwise qualified. Vice Mayor Veenker wondered how politics could truly be removed from the process. Vice Mayor Veenker noted that candidates should be considered by how they would fit into the organization as a whole in the sense of having people with different skills, experience, and viewpoints. Vice Mayor Veenker asked if four was the largest number of positions that would come open at the same time in the normal course on a given commission. Vice Mayor Veenker suggested having a threshold of applicants to be interviewed. For example, if there are 6 or less applicants, all the candidates should be interviewed; however, if there are 7 or more applicants, the number of candidates to interview should be based on the number of openings. Vice Mayor Veenker stated that using Option 1 in regard to prevoting would be useful. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 13 of 13 Policy and Services Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 4/8/25 Staff verified that four is the largest number of positions that could come open at the same time on a given commission. MOTION: Vice Mayor Veenker moved, seconded by Councilmember Lu, to recommend the City Council adopt the following procedure to select BCC candidates to interview: The number of candidates to interview varies based on the number of vacancies. Councilmembers will vote on who to interview, getting twice the number of votes as there are openings. The top vote getters are interviewed. • Interview all candidates if there are 6 or fewer applicants • Interview up to 6 candidates when there are 1-2 openings • Interview up to 8 candidates when there are 3 openings • Interview up to 10 candidates when there are 4 openings MOTION PASSED: 3-0 Future Meetings and Agendas Vice Mayor Veenker noted the next meeting would be May 13 in the same location at 6 PM. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:55 PM.