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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-01-25 City Council Summary MinutesCITY COUNCIL SUMMARY MINUTES Page 1 of 27 Special Meeting January 25, 2025 The City Council of the City of Palo Alto met on this date at Mitchell Park Community Center (El Palo Alto Room) and by virtual teleconference at 9:00 a.m. Present In Person: Burt, Lauing, Lu, Lythcott-Haims, Reckdahl, Stone, Veenker Present Remotely: Absent: None Call to Order City Clerk Mahealani Ah Yun called roll and declared all were present. City Council Retreat: Discussion and Selection of the 2025 City Council Priorities 1. Welcome by Mayor and City Manager Mayor Lauing welcomed all to the meeting. City Manager Ed Shikada noted that the agenda had been amended, which affected Sections 5 and 6. All public comment would be taken at 10:10, which he expected may involve items on and not on the agenda. He noted that Mayor Lauing would act as facilitator for much of the day, although some of the duties had been split up. 2. Introductions City Manager Shikada invited councilmembers to share their why. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims discussed why this was important, and she suggested that one day City staff be involved in this exercise. Councilmember Reckdahl stated that he grew up in a small town and his parents volunteered, which was engrained in him. He raised his kids in Palo Alto, and volunteers helped them in sports. When there was an opening on Parks and Rec 12 years ago, he thought that would be a good chance to pay back. He was also on NVCAP, which was rewarding, and how he ended up on the PTC, which was evolution of public service. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 2 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 Mayor Lauing stated that he had always been involved in service of some kind. His family was not his formative influence. He had been on councils for decades, which started in high school, which may have been his formative influence, and it was satisfying. Councilmember Stone stated that he had no interest in being involved in student government in high school. When he was in college, a friend got involved in drugs and alcohol, so he talked with school leaders about opportunities for such students, and there was an alcohol and a drug taskforce, although there was no student representative, so he was put on as such and participated in creating school policy. He saw the work they were doing making a culture change at the school, and he saw that policy could be used to make meaningful differences. When he returned to Palo Alto, he wanted to get involved, especially in human relations issues, so he applied to the Human Relations Commission and was appointed, which is where he began his true journey in public service. Councilmember Lu stated that he grew up in Millbrae. He voiced that he stumbled into service in college at Stanford. He did a lot of work at the college radio station, and every Monday night they broadcasted the Palo Alto City Council, which he thought planted the seed. He had gotten involved in the PTC and then City Council because he was excited by great public spaces. He found a park full of people to be inspiring. If he found a new restaurant or a hole in the wall, he was inspired by the personality and the creativity and what people were bringing. It was about bringing and enabling more of those great public spaces and was how he thought about housing, retail policies, safe streets, and transportation. He wanted to make the city feel more vibrant. Councilmember Burt believed that at least five of the councilmembers had parents who were public school teachers, which he voiced was not coincidental. He thought councilmembers shared the experience of their parents viewing their careers as public service. Public service was motivating because it offered a fulfillment in life that went beyond self-fulfillment, which was foundational. His mom was also involved in politics, and those experiences were embedded in him as being normal. When he went into business, he gravitated toward being deeply involved in environmental policy, which he did for 30 years. After the birth of his first child, he received a flyer on his door for a neighborhood group. There was something especially fulfilling in serving the community when there was inclusivity and a focus on solving problems. It demonstrated the power of a well-channeled local democracy and the positive impact it could have on a community. A sense of having a positive impact was fulfilling. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims stated that her mom was a public school teacher and her dad a public health physician, so she was raised by two public servants who were motivated by a desire to serve. They came from challenging circumstances in life and they wanted to bring others along on the human journey. They both inspired her. They were a mixed-race couple in a time when that was hard. The family moved a lot in response to her dad’s career, and she learned young that it was sometimes hard for people of color to buy homes. She explained her parents’ strategy for buying a home. She was the only child of color in her high school of 1,200 in Wisconsin. In 1984, she found Mario Cuomo’s words inspiring – that it was not a race one SUMMARY MINUTES Page 3 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 person won, that we did not win unless everyone was over the finish line. She developed a sense of political policy philosophy in herself in that moment. She knew she wanted to help others. She was on student council in high school, in college, and in law school. She was a lawyer, had a career in academia, and was a nonfiction writer to be a helper. She voiced that people in Palo Alto and the region needed help with safe and affordable housing, which ultimately pursued her to be of service. Vice Mayor Veenker stated that justice was her why. She quoted Micah 6:8. She had done community service since she was a child. It was modeled in her home. Her parents were school teachers. She was in student government. Her first public service position was about 20 years ago when she was appointed to the Mediation Panel of the Federal courts and a few years later appointed by the U.S. International Trade Commission to their Mediation Panel. She had learned that the process should fit the problem, which also worked in this sector. Doing justice was broader than just for the legal system. It was balancing priorities fairly, protecting the weak, providing equitable opportunities for residents, leading on climate change, restoring residents’ dreams when they were disappointed, and creating a sense of community and belonging. She spoke of her daughters who work for the federal government in science and national security and normal operations of their workplaces being shut down this week, and she was appalled at the waste and risk it had caused, and as a mom she was angry. She commented that she would not sit idly by while the new generation was disillusioned and disheartened. She would do everything in her power to pursue justice for everybody. The most immediate place to restore dreams and have impact was local government. Local government was the antidote to the polarization, marginalization, and paralyzation seen at the federal levels. She served because it served her sense of fairness to protect those who were vulnerable. She wanted to give back to Palo Alto because it gave much to her. When one was driven by the need to fix things and the conviction that one could and the belief that together there could be movement past the problems, one had no choice but to serve. City Manager Shikada thanked councilmembers for the reflection and inspiration. He shared that the three seated at the staff table had educators for parents. 3. Discuss Key Inputs: Community Input & 2024 Accomplishments Chief Communications Officer Meghan Horrigan Taylor shared a video looking back at 2024, which provided a glimpse of the work underway and completed in the past year as well as an opportunity to think about the items that had not yet been completed. A few key inputs included emails to Council, public comment that would be received today, and a community survey that was released in December, which provided an opportunity for feedback in an open way. She noted that key inputs that may inform this conversation included the Palo Alto community survey results that were presented to Council in December and the annual neighborhood Town Hall meetings that had been hosted. They had hosted six of eight, and the last two would hopefully occur this quarter. She provided details related to the community survey received through the open Town Hall platform, and she furnished slides outlining the questions and responses. She noted that at the end of the survey there was a question asking SUMMARY MINUTES Page 4 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 what neighborhood a respondent lived in, which was an opportunity to see which neighborhoods were engaged. She listed the approximately 10 neighborhoods that had 30 or more responses. Vice Mayor Veenker asked if the community feedback listed on the slide in response to question 2 was in any particular order, when the survey closed, and how many neighborhoods were identified. Officer Taylor answered that it was in alphabetical order. The survey closed on January 2 or 3. It identified 19 neighborhoods. Other than the approximately 10 neighborhoods that had 30 or more responses, the remaining neighborhoods responded at about 2 percent each. She thought all neighborhoods were represented. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims noted that Green Acres 1 and 2 did not show up in the responses, but the pulldown did have a place for those neighborhoods. She mentioned that she read every comment, and she was blown away by the level of engagement in the community, and she appreciated all who had responded. Officer Taylor pointed out that the question asking what neighborhood a respondent lived in was not required, so comments may have been provided by that neighborhood but maybe that question had not been answered. Mayor Lauing stated that the point was to show the multiple inputs received on the overall objectives but also more on the specific objectives to support this year’s priorities. Public Comment Ken H. stated that his why is because he is a health professional, and he taught at Foothill College so he could influence students. He thought health was a priority that affected all of Palo Alto. He detailed why he supported a soda tax being on the ballot for 2026 or 2028. Mora O., Executive Director of YCS, expressed her gratitude to Mayor Lauing for his inspiring remarks during the Martin Luther King Jr Day of Gathering. She added that Vice Mayor Veenker shared powerful words about the importance of community and intergenerational dialogue. She thanked councilmembers and City staff who contributed to the event. She spoke of suicide in Palo Alto and requested that it be addressed urgently as a priority. She urged Council to invite a process that would engage community members and those with lived experience and expertise into the process. Hamilton H. spoke of intensifying climate change driving increasingly severe wildfires and floods. He wanted there to be an investment into mitigating those now. He requested that the Newell Bridge replacement, the Hamilton Avenue storm drain expansion, and the San Francisquito Creek Reach 2 widening be prioritized and that climate change adaption and community safety be prioritized by funding flood protection and wildfire mitigation efforts. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 5 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 Darlene Y. thanked the Mayor, councilmembers, and staff for addressing aviation impacts. She stated that the FAA was reviewing noise issues with the SFO arrivals procedure over Palo Alto. She appreciated the City’s leadership on the six city noise policy review letter. She requested there be focus on eliminating leaded fuel and avoiding changes that could increase flight numbers with negative impacts. She urged caution as it related to advanced air mobility and drones. She wanted aviation developments to prioritize residents. David S. stated that his community contribution for the first 25 years of his residency in Palo Alto was on the Palo Alto Little League Board and he served as a coach for 25 consecutive seasons. Now his giveback was as the president of the Palo Alto Pickleball Club. He expressed that the club and the sport of pickleball directly addressed the key priority of health, wellness, and belonging – social infrastructure – and he looked forward to helping Council meet this objective. He encouraged all to visit the Mitchell Park court to witness the magic happening. Martin S. wanted the objective of community health, safety, wellness, and belonging to include the June 28 Supreme Court Decision regarding arresting, citing, and fining those who camp on public property. He spoke of parking lots being used by the homeless for shelter, and when he had called to report it, he had been told to speak to Council. Kat S., on behalf of 350 Palo Alto, thanked Council for prioritizing sustainability and climate change last year and asked that it be a priority in 2025. To help in the progress of the 80 x 30 goals, they asked Council to add interim checkpoints to the S/CAP goals in the 2-year working plans, so it could be determined if course correction may be needed. Greg H. thanked Council for having this session. He acknowledged the great work the Fire Department was doing in Pacific Palisades. Jennifer L. requested that the Q&A in the neighborhood meetings be summarized and added to the public inputs for the annual retreat and priority setting going forward. She commented that broad community support was needed to accomplish goals. She suggested that Council show its positions and actions on topics directly affecting neighborhoods, such as SFO jet noise, on a public agenda more regularly and to invite public input. She commented that listening and responding to residents was fundamental in shaping community support. She noted that the Midpen Media archive was gone, and she would be happy to weigh in on improving the City’s archives. Dashiell L., Conservation Coordinator for the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter, hoped climate change and the natural environment would continue to be prioritized. He discussed new sea level rise guidelines. They looked forward to the adoption of bird-safe design, dark sky, and stream protection ordinances. He asked that waterways and public health be protected from artificial turf contamination. Regarding climate and building code updates, he hoped the AC-to- heat-pump language found in the CALGreen voluntary code would be considered. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 6 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 David C. wanted active transportation to be a much higher priority and Safe Routes to School to be expanded. He asked what language could be used to put bike ped at a higher priority than it had been in the past. Julia (Zoom), Co-Founder of PASCC, supported continued prioritization of climate action and protection of the natural environment. She urged Council to make extreme heat a priority. Richard H. discussed why he was concerned with the direction of downtown retail and questioned the feasibility of the three major capital efforts. He thought there should be greater engagement with Assessment District members and that the capital projects should be pursued in a manner that would put feasibility and mitigating the impacts on retailers first. He suggested that replacement parking be in place before there is any disruption to existing parking and that plans for downtown be evaluated for Assessment District support. City Clerk Mahealani Ah Yun suggested that Amie A. submit her comments to Council at city.council@cityofpaloalto.org as there was an issue with the Zoom audio. 4. Selection of 2025 Council Priorities City Manager Ed Shikada displayed slides and recapped the context for Council discussion. He read the statements of values. Mayor Lauing appreciated all senior City staff being present at the meeting. Council wanted to focus on devising overall priorities that were generally in three or four focus areas selected for special attention to address community needs. He voiced that one of the comments in the survey indicated that the 2024 priorities were too general and without substance, and he wanted to see a list of projects. He supplied slides and suggested an umbrella strategy, an overall approach to managing an issue. He remarked that, if Council agreed, there could be a number of strategies spanning various departments and other priorities, which he provided examples of, and he discussed job vacancy rates and issues with executing the priorities. He thought there should be a more cautious approach to budgeting. He stated that in trying to staff departments there needed to be a cautious approach to budgeting, and he did not know if priorities would need to be dropped. He thought work should be done to increase effectiveness and channels of communication to and from residents. He wanted to do what he called press conferences, which he explained. He felt it was necessary to look at the structure of committees for optimum effectiveness. He asked for feedback on the four bullet points he shared related to umbrella operating strategies. Councilmember Burt thought the bullet points Mayor Lauing presented should be included in the discussion but he did not support them being the framework for proceeding with umbrella operating strategies. He stated that the employee vacancy rate was 10 percent, which was not high. He discussed budgeting and usually having a surplus, which he explained was somewhat budgeted. He stated there was a tension between Bullets 1 and 2. He thought Bullet 3 was a good concept. He voiced that communications should reflect the Council’s position and the SUMMARY MINUTES Page 7 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 City’s position. As for structuring committees for optimum effectiveness, he noted that there would be discussion related the ad-hoc committees at this meeting. Councilmember Veenker thought the operating strategies were interesting. She expressed that often dollars were left over in the budget. She discussed vacancy rates and overtime being expensive and there being a morale cost, which was important to consider. As for taking a more cautious approach to budgeting decisions, she thought Mayor Lauing may be inferring that it was an operational way to manage expenses now and in the future and acknowledging that this year there may be a particularly high set of uncertainties given various things going on in the background. Considering what may happen with tariffs, deportation polices, fires, etc., she thought it was prudent to keep close tabs on that. She thought communication was consummate with value statement Number 5. She commended staff for the communications produced, although there was still a demand, so it needed to be matched up better and prioritized. As for structuring committees, she wanted to be efficient and responsive to community needs. Councilmember Reckdahl stated that the list was overall a good set. He wanted to lower the vacancy rate, but he did not want to sacrifice quality. A cautious approach to budgeting was prudent, but he explained that it could impact residents. As for communication channels, he mentioned that some were hyperconnected but there was a segment of the population that was unconnected, and he wanted to make inroads into that population. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims appreciated the framework. She spoke to Bullet 3, and she was excited by the idea of holding press conferences. She wanted consideration to be given to bringing more of the public in, and she thought a press conference may do that. Mayor Lauing noted that 600 of 60,000 residents filled out the surveys. Councilmember Stone appreciated the approach to creating a new style of framework. He thought Council’s retreat needed to be refined to be the most effective and that maybe P&S could address it this year. He agreed with everything Mayor Lauing presented. He appreciated the third bullet point – increasing effectiveness in communication and soliciting feedback from residents. Councilmember Lu agreed with Councilmember Reckdahl’s comments concerning vacancies, budgeting, and community outreach. For a more refined list of priorities with more focused deliverables, he stated that maybe some things did not need to be listed as a 2025 priority. Mayor Lauing asked if this should be sent back to P&S for 2026 and that there not be an edited version of this in place now. He noted that this was intended to be an add to the traditional process, not an exception to it. Councilmember Stone thought there should be a more intentional discussion at P&S over the course of the year about how to select priorities and that they should think about the process. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 8 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 He had no objections to the four bullet points and thought they were good operating strategies for 2025. If incorporated, he thought P&S should further refine it. Vice Mayor Veenker was interested in looking at structuring committees and the retreat process in the future. She felt that P&S could address structuring committees over the course of the year. Mayor Lauing wanted to know if these bullets or a revised aspect of them should be used before going to P&S. He stated that there could be additions and/or subtractions from the list and then it could be adopted as guideline umbrella operating strategies in addition to the priorities and the strategic objectives that would be decided on. Councilmember Burt voiced that Council needed to have deeper thought on whether the set is right and the approach to take. There was some merit to the approach. He thought a community priority was to achieve greater operational efficiency. He believed Council needed to weigh in on the role and the cost of consultants in finding dollars for staffing, etc. He discussed the importance of regulatory streamlining, and he explained that he did not think Council was doing itself justice because the Planning Department and the Development Center had implemented a series of permitting and regulatory streamlining for individual homes and housing, retail, and business approvals. He noted that the type of communication Mayor Lauing outlined required a great deal of discipline, that facts needed to be spoken, not opinions, and statements should be reflective of the Council as a whole. He added that care needed to be taken in implementation and there needed to be a clear set of guidelines and responsibilities. Vice Mayor Veenker saw this as an attempt to create a strong three-legged stool with priorities for 2025. She voiced that the values were in place to inform decisionmaking. She interpreted the third leg to be strategies for doing the work. She liked the four bullets, and she appreciated the comment concerning conservative use of consultants being an aspect of the intentional operating strategies as well as regulatory streamlining. If those two items were added, she would be happy to support the six. Councilmember Lu agreed with the comments of Councilmembers Burt and Veenker. As an operating strategy, he thought the objectives should be more tangible, less of “continue engagement” and “advance”, and more deploying, completing, and developing goals. He thought taking more aggressive goals that had concrete deliverables was riskier and harder for staff to commit to but that there could be an operating framework outlining the goals that could not fail and would be 80 to 90 percent complete by the end of the year and then the risker goals that might be 50/50 goals. All the goals may not be hit by the end of the year but there would be fewer softballs. He thought structuring the objectives and risks associated with them and getting stronger commitments was an operating strategy. [Council took a 20-minute break] Mayor Lauing announced that during the break he had spoken with the P&S Committee Chair, and he thought the draft should be presented to P&S to look at ASAP (edited or not, SUMMARY MINUTES Page 9 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 recommended or not) and that possibly there could be some action on it in a month or so, so it could still be operative for 2025 if recommended by P&S. Mayor Lauing addressed the 24 priorities, which he stated were high generalities but shaped what was listed under them. He commented that this was not all that would be done and that staff had more work to do than what was displayed on the slide. He asked councilmembers to speak on adding, editing, or deleting anything on the list. Councilmember Reckdahl stated that the priorities had gone from three to four and that they were all very broad and covered almost everything the City did. He voiced that nothing was a priority if everything was a priority. He wanted to separate things into categories – those to make progress on and those to make exceptional progress on. He wanted to identify the high- priority items. City Manager Shikada stated that the priorities would eventually determine choices related to where time and resources would be spent. He suspected that choices would need to be made on resource allocation. Vice Mayor Veenker thought it might be helpful to discuss having two or three items under each of the four and to talk about time line aspects and milestones. She appreciated time frames being reflected on the 77-item list. She wanted climate change and natural environment changed to climate action and natural environment protection and adaptation, and she thought it might be helpful to elevate some of the priorities under that. She added that enhancing the Bike Ped Plan had a climate and a public safety aspect to it. She felt it was important to get the Whole Home Electrification Program right this year. Sea level rise had a broad impact on safety, quality of life, etc. She was pondering choosing a couple of those. She felt that public safety was forefront for many. She wondered if community health, safety, wellness, and belonging should call out public safety, not just safety and that perhaps it be public safety, community health, wellness, and belonging, which could include items related to fire safety and theft reduction. Mayor Lauing asked if Councilmembers Reckdahl and Veenker were addressing weighting with a higher priority some of the eventual strategies listed under the general things. Councilmember Stone liked the idea of weighting. He thought a few of the priorities could be modified to achieve some short-term goals. Since the Housing Element had been certified by the State, he believed the focus should turn toward implementing it. He liked the idea of adding public safety that Vice Mayor Veenker spoke of. He felt there should be a particular focus on emergency preparedness and prevention for wildfires and flooding impacts, which he elaborated on. He discussed the Reach 2 Project requiring staff time and funding. He wanted to continue with climate change and natural environment. A greater investment in community building was important. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims suggested reinforcing the value for very broad but clear levels of focus. She was in favor of the four priorities, which may become five if public safety and emergency preparedness were teased out from community strengthening and wellness and SUMMARY MINUTES Page 10 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 belonging. She pointed out that public safety would strengthen the concept of safety. She was in favor of the language to implement the Housing Element as opposed to housing for social and economic balance. She liked the notion of climate sustainability action and adaptation, as it was not climate change but dealing with climate change. As for economic development and transition, she preferred the term economic vitality. Councilmember Burt wanted to speak about things at three levels. One was the priorities. As for two, he referenced Packet Page 9 describing 6 universally shared values, and he remembered that they were framed and adopted by Council as enduring values, which provided framework for things continuing outside the priorities. He wanted councilmembers to compare those to the priorities. Thirdly, what he called an implementation plan was titled priorities and objectives, but he stated they were initiatives and programs to implement those goals. He agreed that climate action would be a better descriptor than climate change. He noted wildland fire protection was within adaptation and public health and safety, so it did not mean the wording needed to be changed. Regarding the set of programs and initiatives, he noted that shoehorning a program under a given Council priority sometimes fit but that at other times an important program would not fit and sometimes a program might check several priority boxes. He thought it would be useful to note how one priority would address other priorities. He stated that the term economic vitality might be an improvement. He thought it would be appropriate to drop the word transition. As for community health, safety, wellness, and belonging, he struggled to understand why wellness was not a subset of community health. He suggested making these as succinct as possible without reducing the intent. Regarding the programs and initiatives list, he commented that there were a lot of action verbs that were often not concrete, which he provided an example of. He thought it would be useful if the descriptions of the programs focused on the milestones intended to be achieved in a given year with a notation on which ones would be continuing beyond the milestone – what was planned for a given year and a description of what the objective would be in the longer term, which may or may not have clear milestones for the balance. Mayor Lauing thought work had to be done to ensure that there would be enough data for a given item, and he thought some were okay to be described with action verbs that were not as concrete such as “research” or “evaluate and report out”. As for housing, he thought the term could be housing production. He noted that the phrase social and economic imbalance covered price points of house rental and purchases. He agreed that climate action was a better term. He expressed that natural environment protection covered wildfires. He supported eliminating the word transition. He had originally thought of the wording economic development and retail vibrancy, but he stated that perhaps economic vibrancy or vitality would cover that. He thought the last one should read public safety. He believed that wellness and belonging was within community health, but he would accept community health and public safety or some variety of that. Councilmember Lu thought it would be good to stick to four priorities and that it would be okay if priorities turned over every three or four years. He felt the high-level objectives and strategies could be clear enough and scoped so that they could be taken down at some point. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 11 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 He provided an example of completing economic development as scoped and then the next phase being defined. He agreed that the word transition should not be used. He discussed why some framing around vital or vibrant public space could be right. He stated that there was a way to wordsmith to be inclusive of another major priority that would be on a clock. He voiced that climate action and natural environment protection and adaptation could be just climate and that housing could be housing production for social balance. He noted that the last one could be safety and wellness. He considered the words community and public to be broad and that belonging and health may be subcases of wellness. He thought having shorter priority titles would be good for focus. He believed that safe transportation had its own inherent value, which fell outside the list of the four. He stated that a few things were coalescing this year – the Bike and Pedestrian Plan and the Safe Streets Plan. A Vision Zero goal would be set coming out of the Safe Streets Plan, and he believed that funding, plans, and time lines needed to be discussed. He thought it would be suitable as a headline item under safety and wellness or potentially its own priority. Mayor Lauing suggested wordsmithing each of the priorities starting with housing for social and economic balance. He noted that it could be listed as housing and transportation for social and economic balance. Councilmember Stone thought the housing piece could be phrased as Housing Element implementation. Implementation would take a lot of effort on the City’s part and the commitment from Council to do it. Vice Mayor Veenker was fine with Councilmember Stone’s suggestion but another option was balanced housing production, and implementing the Housing Element would be the way to do that. She wanted to scope things enough so that there would be real direction given. She thought simplifying things was good. Councilmember Burt explained why the phrase social and economic balance was important. There was a good argument for the addition of transportation. He was hesitant to add a category, but he thought linking those together was intriguing. Councilmember Stone continued discussion on the Housing Element implementation language. He remarked that implementing them all would not be accomplished in one year and it would require a targeted focus. He thought the Housing Element incorporated the goals Councilmember Burt discussed. He believed the language would provide understanding of the desired achievements, but he was open to language on transportation and additional capital or physical infrastructure of the community. He was frustrated that with the State mandates and housing having to be built before being able to adjust with the appropriate infrastructure to accommodate the increase. He was open to including transportation, but he thought there needed to be a particular emphasis on the Housing Element implementation. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims suggested the term Housing Element implementation for social and economic balance. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 12 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 Councilmember Lu asked if there was anything in the 2024 priorities on housing for social and economic balance not covered by the Housing Element and if anything would be lost. He thought the spirit of the goals went beyond the Housing Element. Housing Element implementation was clear and the core programs, zoning changes, etc., could be done in the next couple years and then it could be rescoped into another very focused housing priority. He was fine with any variation of the language discussed. City Manager Shikada stated that there was a focus on services, programs, and other activities for the unhoused. Councilmember Burt added that housing types (families versus singles) was not part of the Housing Element. Vice Mayor Veenker stated that Housing Element implementation would include implementing policies, rezoning, and things that might not signify balanced housing production. She was happy to withdraw the balanced housing production phrasing she had suggested, but she wanted to keep the sense of going beyond the production idea with the polices but going beyond the Housing Element with the desired balance. Councilmember Burt moved to use the language that was on the screen – Housing Element implementation for social and economic balance. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims seconded. Councilmember Stone asked how staff would interpret this as a priority. Planning and Development Services Director Jonathan Lait answered that it was clear, that a lot of the anticipated work for the upcoming year would largely focus on Housing Element implementation. He was sure there would be continued work in the area of unhoused and homeless services, and they had some program implementations related to that. Some of the work being done currently may be broader than what was set forth in the Housing Element, but he did not know that it would be problematic. Mayor Lauing inquired if Director Lait would prefer the word production instead of implementation. Director Lait did not know if production needed to be added, but there was something about using the Housing Element implementation that struck him as narrower than the City’s interests. As a possible alternative, he suggested that it read implementing housing strategies for social and economic balance or equity, but he was fine with what had been presented, and staff could work with that. City Manager Shikada stated this was a communication tool as much as anything, which would lead to the implementation. He thought the goal was to use terms that would resonate with the audience. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 13 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 Deputy City Manager Chantal Cotton-Gains mentioned that Council would address the objective activity later and staff would be able to include an objective related to homelessness if Council provided guidance. The Housing Element included a few things being worked on, such as Homekey. City Manager Shikada added that staff could reduce resource allocation in that area if Council did not consider that directly tied to the priority as stated. He did not want to shoehorn things onto the list simply because they were ongoing activities. Councilmember Burt offered an amendment to his motion, and he felt that Director Lait’s suggestion was good, so he was interested in changing it to implementing housing strategies for social and economic balance, which was broader and would include aspects going beyond the Housing Element but within the priorities being set related to housing. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims agreed. MOTION: Councilmember Burt moved, seconded by Councilmember Lythcott-Haims to set the following as a 2025 Council Priority: • Implementing Housing Strategies for Social & Economic Balance MOTION PASSED: 7-0 Vice Mayor Veenker suggested changing climate change to climate action. Councilmember Lu stated that the natural environment 2024 goals of stream corridor setback, bird-safe glass, and light pollution ordinances were approaching the finish line. If the 2024 natural environment pieces were completed in the first quarter of the year, he did not think it needed to be mentioned as a top-line priority. He thought climate adaptation covered forest, flooding, fire-risk management, etc. If there were no other specific natural environment goals that were not a direct response to climate change, he stated that the words natural environment could be removed. Vice Mayor Veenker expressed why she preferred to keep the words natural environment protection expressly stated. Councilmember Burt supported the language shown on the screen. He thought the greatest threat to the natural environment was the risk of wildfires and perhaps the greatest economic threat and threat to public health and safety. He detailed why in the last four years he had pushed for it to be a priority to move on. He felt that it fit within several of the priorities, though he did not know if it needed be called out as a Council priority, but he wanted it to be noted in the implementation plan the different places where it had an important role. MOTION: Vice Mayor Veenker moved, seconded by Councilmember Burt to set the following as a 2025 Council Priority: SUMMARY MINUTES Page 14 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 • Climate Action & Adaptation, and Natural Environment Protection MOTION PASSED: 7-0 Discussion ensued concerning using the word vitality versus vibrancy. MOTION: Councilmember Lythcott-Haims moved, seconded by Councilmember Reckdahl to set the following as a 2025 Council Priority: • Economic Development and Retail Vibrancy MOTION PASSED: 7-0 Councilmember Lythcott-Haims stated that the wording public safety as opposed to safety was a valuable add. She discussed wellness and belonging being different facets of the existential sense of one being okay. She felt that wellness included physical and mental health, and she also considered it to have a preventative element. She stated that belonging related to how one felt in the community. She proposed that it read public safety, which she felt included emergency preparedness, wellness and belonging. MOTION: Councilmember Lythcott-Haims moved, seconded by Councilmember Stone to set the following as a 2025 Council Priority: • Public Safety, Wellness & Belonging Vice Mayor Veenker voiced why she had suggested earlier that public safety be in the phrasing. She thought it included OES and the Fire and Police departments. She liked the connotation of public health, but she was fine with wellness. She remarked why it was important to expressly call out belonging, which she felt led to increased health, wellness, and safety. Councilmember Lu thought Cubberley could fall under wellness and/or belonging. Councilmember Burt stated that Cubberley was a good example of falling under different priorities but that it was a program priority even if it did not fall neatly within one of the categories. He thought there were several aspects to public safety and that it included water coverage at all fire stations and retail vitality. He added regarding wildland protection that the communities leading in the area tended to develop plans based upon incremental improvements on previous plans and comparing adequacy in that way and comparing adequacy to neighbors’ plans. He voiced that a more appropriate way to think about would be to compare the plan to the actual risks and consequences. He wanted there to be thought given to what would be adequate. He did not think any of the communities were close to adequate in terms of prevention levels or early detection. He stated that it was prevention, detection, coordinated response, and leveraging resources and the myriad of recovery elements to them. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 15 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 Councilmember Lythcott-Haims added that belonging impacted mental health and lack of belonging harmed it. She commented that belonging fostered civic participation. She stated that public safety, wellness, and belonging got to an existential sense of being okay. MOTION PASSED: 7-0 2025 City Council Priorities: • Implementing Housing Strategies for Social & Economic Balance • Climate Action & Adaptation, and Natural Environment Protection • Economic Development and Retail Vibrancy • Public Safety, Wellness & Belonging [Council took a 35-minute break] 5. Initial Discussion of 2025 Objectives City Manager Shikada stated that on February 24 there would be an opportunity for staff to return to Council with the first cut of actual objectives. With Council’s comments at this meeting, staff would need to determine what they believed could be accomplished, which would lead to the discussion on February 24. What could be accomplished would be based on resources, whether it be staff, financial, partners, etc. He noted that in the past there had been agreement to use the SMARTIE framework, which he presented on a slide. Things had been phrased in a way to reflect the one-year time period. Some of the objectives would be started as opposed to being completed. Mayor Lauing requested that each councilmember itemize the important things that should be on the sheet for each of the objectives. Councilmember Reckdahl considered San Antonio to have time constraints, and he stated that bike lanes and parks needed to be planned before building anything. He voiced that a lot of work needed to be done to prep for Cubberley. As for retail, he did not want to lose critical mass, so maintaining and improving retail would be critical. He expressed that flood and wildfire protections did not have rigid timeframes but they were urgent. Also important was affordable housing; climate; continued electrification; bike ped, particularly the bike ped crossings at Seale and/or El Carmelo; and rightsizing the Police and Fire and possibly needing to do additional hirings. Councilmember Burt addressed the title and the format. He did not think strategic objectives was the right term as they were programs and initiatives. He wanted to see the formatting have boxes to check where a given program listed under one priority would help fulfill other priorities. He addressed the asterisks and requested that there be a collum for 2026 completion SUMMARY MINUTES Page 16 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 dates, even if not quarter by quarter. Concerning the commercial corridors, he recalled being told there could not be a permanent closure on Cal Ave until going through the CEQA process, but he saw it was just being launched. He asked if that was mistakenly reported that way. He addressed Number 9 and suggested it be put under the climate initiatives if it was a grid mod. Under economic development, he wanted to see promote and advance the City’s core assets of being a center of technology and innovation. He would speak to that more at a later time. He questioned if the Airport Master Plan would return to Council. He had heard a concern that funding might be jeopardized if the plan did not proceed. He discussed his concern with the Bike and Ped Master Plan proceeding without knowledge of context. He noted PABAC, Safe Routes to School, and PTC could have meaningful input. He understood that there had been or will be a meeting with formal input as opposed to a workshop. He asked if Vision Zero was listed specifically. He assumed that the Bike and Ped Plan would be a fundamental part of that. He wanted to ensure that community stakeholders were being engaged in a material and substantive way as opposed to periodic input. He thought AI had great potential as it related to efficiencies in the use of resources. He believed there could be greater staff efficiency through the appropriate use of AI now, and he felt it should be a deliberate part of efficiency improvements. He spoke of the need for Council representatives who were on regional bodies to have a more strategic relationship and interaction with staff members. He explained why he thought there should be a policy for such. He did not want to have to go through a process to get a briefing when trying to represent the City. He spoke of the CIP and did not understand why a project might drop off the five-year program, and he thought there should be a policy change. He noted that there were inconsistencies on the different committees, whether standing or ad hocs, and degree to which the key staff liaison would confer and determine the agendas in collaboration with a committee chair. He wanted that to be strengthened and to make sure that it would be necessarily the practice. City Manager Shikada believed that in March staff would come to Council to with the CEQA clearance. The report may have used the phrase initial study or some such but it reflected clearance. He did not believe Vision Zero was specifically listed in last year’s but bringing it forward could be considered. Councilmember Lu expected Council to adopt a Vision Zero goal with a potential timeline of 2035 or 2040. He thought it was important that there to be an objective to formally adopt a Vision Zero goal and then start engineering projects or applying for grants or otherwise building the roadmap for accomplishing that, which could potentially include year-by-year deliverables. Regarding retail, he stated that there were a lot of important objectives to carry over, and he wanted to know if the long-term project or any other long-term recommendations from the consultant could be kicked off this year. Parking flexibility and long-term zoning changes were top of mind for him. He spoke of San Antonio, Cubberley, and climate goals being on a clock, and he believed there should be very clear and aggressive objectives. Councilmember Stone addressed the public safety goal, and he wanted to ensure that the Fire Department had the resources necessary for Station 4 and that there would be closer work with regional partners with regard to fire mitigation. Concerning climate change, he wanted to SUMMARY MINUTES Page 17 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 continue to focus on coordination with the SFCJPA and investment in the REACH 2 Project and to ensure that the budget and funding sources for the project were being identified. He voiced that prioritization of the Newell Bridge replacement was critical. Under the category of public safety, wellness, and belonging, he wanted to expand social infrastructure with additional community events, etc. Under climate change, he thought extreme heat should be looked into by the S/CAP Ad Hoc. He felt it was important to continue the work and funding in mental health and youth mental health. Vice Mayor Veenker agreed with councilmembers’ comments. Regarding climate, she wanted enhancement of the electric grid to be a priority and to keep in mind the increased demand. She voiced that it was a sub-priority of climate that manifested in many of the objectives. Ensuring that the means to accomplish the goal through management of the grid was important for the next year. She added that fully launching the Whole Home Electrification Program would be a big asset in reaching goals. She discussed sea level rise response being critical. Under climate, she supported councilmembers’ comments related to the Bike Ped Plan and Vision Zero, which fell under many categories, and she voiced that it needed to be moved forward in 2025. Under public safety, she wanted to ensure fire safety with a focus on staffing stations, working with other agencies, etc. She wanted to do more to prevent theft and break- ins. She found a subcategory to be education on best practices for not becoming a victim of crime, which may be done alongside the Mayor’s emphasis on communication. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims addressed why housing on El Camino, San Antonio, and downtown was a focus. She discussed her concern with vacant/ghost houses. She hoped to continue efforts to protect renters. She considered Cubberley to be a worthy investment that served the community, which had urgency. She mentioned that Bike Ped and Vision Zero were essential. Regarding retail vitality, she hoped to continue with further zoning changes and addressing vacancies in the two downtowns and enhancing cleanliness. She spoke of folks wanting flood and wildfire protections maintained as a priority. She liked the idea of promoting and enhancing Palo Alto’s status as the center of technological innovation. She also liked the term social infrastructure to define the ways in which community would be built and strengthened. It was clear to her that pickleball was transforming society in positive ways, and she found it important to pay attention to such trends and the demands on various services and to invest in such. Mental health of all populations was a high priority for her. She supported the unhoused population and addressing the concerns about how the unhoused and their presence may be negatively impacting business and quality of residential life. She thought it would require reckoning and solution-oriented thinking. She hoped to have a couple PERT teams fully staffed 24/7. Mayor Lauing addressed public safety, and he wanted Fire fully staffed. He added that public safety was the most important obligation as a local government, which started with Fire, Police, and Emergency Services. He discussed speeding vehicles and linked it to revenue. He did not want to back off anything with regard to youth mental health. He spoke of the importance of subsidies for electrification programs. He expressed that just because the word transportation was not listed in the priorities, Council would find ways to address it within the existing SUMMARY MINUTES Page 18 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 priorities. He noted that some things may be able to be deemphasized, such as grade crossings, etc., and he suggested such be considered as everything could not be a top priority. Councilmember Burt wanted active transportation to look at the benefits of promoting retail, parking, and community physical and mental health and to look at reducing traffic and pollution. He addressed AB413 and asked if curb painting would be done. He requested that the highest priorities be considered first, such as crossing of bike boulevards and Safe Routes to School intersections. In addition to staff reviewing the use of consultants, he inquired if the City Auditor should have a supplemental approach to it, which may be referred to P&S. He wanted to refer the Suicide Prevention Policy to P&S today, and he wanted the update to be done in collaboration with folks in the community who had expertise, the stakeholders, and those with lived experience. He believed there should be a study session on wildfires to more understand the program and the opportunities. He had found a lot of things in the CIP report to have been carried over and there were not updates on the status of the projects. In looking at budgetary constraints and prioritizing some even capital expenditures, he voiced that CIP initiatives that could go slower needed to be scrutinized. He wanted to know the plan for achieving community City Hall access, including the City Hall Library being welcoming. Regarding the downtown safety issues related to a minority of the unhoused population, he wanted to know if the LifeMoves Project could be aligned with being stronger in asserting that people respond to that, and if they did not, he wanted enforcement ramped up. He noted that it was unsafe and a public health issue and affected economic development and the community’s perspective on the performance of City staff and Council. City Manager Shikada stated that curb painting was a work in progress, but he needed to get more details on what had happened. He added that he would be happy to receive emails if there were any additional comments related to the objectives. 6. Discussion of Organizing for Effectiveness City Manager Shikada stated that the conversation would include discussions about committees and ad hocs. Staff also thought it would be appropriate to discuss the liaisons and to a certain extent the time commitments individuals had to devote to meet Council duties. He acknowledged that there was tension with work production of staff versus the timing of the reporting of the work. There was also a tension between individual interests to dive deep into particular topics and the organizational interests that could affect the effectiveness as an organization to meet the cumulative expectations of production. He displayed a slide posing questions as to what committees would best advance priorities and support Council’s efficiency and effectiveness, committees maybe not being necessary, and the designation of liaisons as opposed to establishing committees, which may relate to how liaison assignments would be organized. In discussing committees, consideration should be given to combining topics under an existing standing committee or an ad hoc. He displayed a slide with considerations for discussing ad hocs, which he elaborated on. He asked how Council envisioned ad hocs advancing the priorities and general organization and which ad hocs were needed. The Staff Report suggested that the number of committees not exceed the number of priorities. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 19 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 Mayor Lauing agreed they needed to discuss the committees overall because they were fixed on Finance and P&S being solid ones, but there had been evolution in Rail. He asked if the Retail Ad Hoc followed Brown Act procedures. City Attorney Molly Stump replied that Retail was an ad hoc in the sense that it was temporary and subject to revisiting whether it would be needed in an ongoing way. It did follow Brown Act procedures. City Manager Shikada thought a source of some confusion was having some ad hoc committees subject to the Brown Act and others not. It had been a choice by Council, which staff wanted to reconcile and move, to the extent possible, all to the Brown Act protocols. Mayor Lauing summarized that ad hoc committees were formed for a specific charter for a given year to solve particular issues and when the issues were solved the committee should dissolve and/or redefine its mission. City Attorney Stump stated that formulation would work. The terms ad hoc and standing did not exist in State law. When asking whether there was a requirement to follow Brown Act procedures, they did not look at the labels but what the group was intended to do. Groups of councilmembers that meet for a specific and limited purpose qualified for a choice to not meet in public but any group meeting with a continuing jurisdiction over a group of related topics was required to follow Brown Act procedures. Mayor Lauing stated that the first committee was no longer necessary but Retail was, so they needed close contact. He questioned how it should be managed if it should happen at a committee versus Council level. Councilmember Burt noted that there may need to be a committee for Cubberley to move forward on the project development and the bond proposal. He noted that there was currently S/CAP, Rail, Retail, and Stanford committees. He did not understand the notion to correlate the number of committees to the number of priorities. He considered it appropriate to be limited to the degree possible. He thought it would be appropriate for Cubberley, S/CAP, Rail, and Retail to be Brown Acted. He noted that Stanford was less formal and that it opened the door to communication and collaboration with certain things coming to Council for consideration. Cubberly could be a new ad hoc focused on the Cubberley plan and bringing forward a bond measure. He wanted councilmembers to consider the purposes of those five and how they might be structured. Councilmember Reckdahl expressed that there was a tradeoff between ad hoc or subcommittee. If there was to be a lot of public comment, it would be very time consuming for Council. In that case, he thought it should be shrunk down. The tradeoff would be having a messenger, and there would be reliance on the subcommittee to accurately digest and report to Council. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 20 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 Councilmember Lythcott-Haims loved that ad hocs were more nimble as councilmembers to ensure that people’s expertise and interest area would be channeled toward development of good policy. On the flipside, she knew staff was overwhelmed by the number of ad hocs. She struggled with how to reconcile that. She thought ad hocs allowed for moving forward faster, but she did not want it to be at the expense of staff. She did not think there would be as much expertise and interest in standing committees. She feared possibly losing coherence with combining ad hocs. Vice Mayor Veenker noted that the Staff Report suggested some committees continue but meet less. She was interested in ways to take advantage of expertise and engagement of residents. She thought citizen advisory committees should be considered. She found the possible guidance on the slide from staff fascinating, but she thought there was a lot to think about and address. She believed there should be a discussion about combining liaisons and their role. She felt there should be a refreshed Cubberley but combining it with Housing felt awkward. She did not know if Rail needed to meet as often, and she did not know if it fit in P&S, so there may be a way for it to stay independent. She wanted to see Climate continue and she advocated that it be Brown Acted. Mayor Lauing noted that committees were needed for S/CAP, Retail, Housing, Cubberley, and Rail unless that could be made part of Housing, but it was also Transportation, so he questioned if there should be a Housing and Transportation committee. That was all he saw in terms of a combination. He addressed Stanford and possibly Cubberley and queried if it would be different if there were to be committee members from two sources. City Attorney Stump responded that it must be a Brown Act body when there are people from two organizations together. To qualify for non-Brown Act, the group must consist of councilmembers only and it must be for a single or limited purpose for a time limited period. Councilmember Burt asked for clarification. City Attorney Stump replied that for any legislative body, it included City Council. If a subordinate body was created and wished not to follow Brown Act procedures, it needed to include only members of that body. Discussion ensued related to what had to a be a Brown Act body. Mayor Lauing asked councilmembers if S/CAP, Retail, and Housing should remain as committees. Councilmember Lu felt S/CAP, Retail, and Housing should remain as committees, but he stated that Housing could go to the full Council or potentially P&S, but he did not have a strong opinion. Mayor Lauing did not agree with Housing going to the full Council or potentially P&S because much work was done at the committee level. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 21 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 Councilmember Lythcott-Haims was in favor of Housing, Retail, and S/CAP being committees. Vice Mayor Veenker thought there should be consideration of commission support. Councilmember Burt wanted to know what the Housing Ad Hoc needed to do this coming year. If it continued, he assumed that it would be a Brown Acted committee. Mayor Lauing noted at the last meeting rental protection issues had been discussed and they looked at the rental registry, which was not ready for Council. They were tracking housing production, which he wanted to be visible to Council more frequently. Last year they got an additional introduction to possible ways to finance affordable housing, and they were trying to narrow down the list, which would return to the committee. Councilmember Burt stated, related to Housing, that over the last couple years Council received information from staff, but he did not know what was coming from colleagues and to what degree Council was being asked to concur. He felt the committee was making decisions on behalf of Council without looping back on some important policy issues. City Manager Shikada noted that Housing being a Brown Act committee would change the ability to do the brainstorming that had been done in the past year in a very informal exchange between the ad hoc committee members and staff. Staff would need to do staff reports for the committee. Moving into more of a production role in housing, he presumed that the items discussed at the committee would be recommendations to the full Council, which needed to be factored in. If the PTC should be in the workflow, it may add an additional step before issues could be presented to Council, which could slow work down. As a consequence of having committee discussions, information flow to the full Council may not be as good and correcting that would require staff to be more diligent in ensuring that the full Council get information that goes to the ad hocs so the communication would be clear for Council as a whole rather than the small groups, which would increase the burden of what would need to be prepared. He summarized that committees did not always improve efficiency. Director Lait acknowledged that the Housing Ad Hoc was incredibly useful in advancing the housing objectives. He noted that the upcoming work was pretty much scripted in terms of the Housing Element implementation and they had some specific deadlines in which to achieve goals. Having another Brown Acted meeting take place could impact the schedule. He explained that there may be an opportunity to refer specific issues to the Policy & Services Committee or the Planning & Transportation Commission. He did not feel strongly about the need for a Housing Ad Hoc this year. Councilmember Stone thought there needed to be a balance of transparency, efficiency, and advancing the workload on housing. If Housing was to continue, it would have to be Brown Acted, and he felt the strengths would be structurally removed, and he did not see the point of continuing it if it would not be used effectively. He addressed the communication Councilmember Burt referenced, and he noted that they were not authorized to make recommendations. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 22 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 Vice Mayor Veenker thought today’s task was to determine what committees were needed now, and she understood that committees could be added midyear if needed. She suggested delaying starting a committee if there was uncertainty of it being needed. She noted that there was no Public Safety commission or committee, and she was not sure one was needed, but she did not know if it needed to be decided today. Councilmember Burt thought staff reports could be more focused and done more succinctly in terms of reporting out for an ad hoc. He believed some committees could meet semimonthly, such as Rail and Retail. He noted that other agencies would do check-ins with board members, which he explained, and he thought it might be appropriate to do that occasionally. Councilmember Reckdahl inquired if the planning process for San Antonio and the Ventura/Fry’s affordable housing would be through PTC or an ad hoc. City Manager Shikada answered that as it related to Fry’s and the affordable housing site, it had been designated on that property. They envisioned exactly what had been happening with Lot T, which he outlined. There had been no need to involve a committee with that development. Councilmember Reckdahl asked if iterations would go to the full Council. City Manager Shikada answered that iterations would go to the full Council unless Council wanted to delegate feedback on massing design issues to a committee, for example. Director Lait added that PTC would also be involved in Lot T as it made its way through an application process. For San Antonio, there were a number of committees and they would be engaging technical experts and stakeholders here and representative interest in Mountain View. They anticipated going to PTC as a key public engagement forum. They also had strategic check-ins with Council. Mayor Lauing mentioned that San Antonio might be an example of something that, if there were a Housing Committee, Council or the ad hoc might see first or even see at the Planning Commission meeting. He declared that there was consensus for needing Retail and S/CAP committees. He asked councilmembers if Rail should be a standing committee or something else. City Manager Shikada thought the frequency of Rail meetings could decrease because they were in the grade separations stage. In the last year, Rail had met or heard issues like the Bicycle Transportation Plan, quiet zones, and the like. It was a question of the role of the committee versus the information and decision-making of the Council as a whole. Councilmember Burt thought Rail could meet every other month. Over the last two years, an important function had been negotiating the relationship with Caltrain and using the political voice of councilmembers to push Caltrain to collaborate with Council and to be more responsive than would have otherwise been the case. The committee had a lot of public SUMMARY MINUTES Page 23 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 engagement. He voiced that titling it an ad hoc that would be Brown Acted or continuing as a standing committee was a distinction without a big difference. City Manager Shikada noted that the frequency of Rail meetings should reflect the charge to the committee. Mayor Lauing asked if it was okay to designate it as a committee today but then decide if it should be an ad hoc. City Manager Shikada answered that as long as there was agreement that it be Brown Acted the other distinctions were not critical. Scope of committees needed to be discussed. Mayor Lauing asked councilmembers to comment on Cubberley. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims thought having a Cubberley ad hoc was imperative for the next phase as there was a tight time frame to develop plans. The committee would meet with consultants, and a ballot measure needed to be constructed and vetted. She considered it efficient and a way to get Council direction on policy without having to be on the full Council agenda for every conversation. She thought the ad hoc should consist of two or three meeting on an as-needed basis. Mayor Lauing stated if there was consensus, there would be a different mission defined for the narrow scope, and assuming it would be for one year maximum, he thought it should be an ad hoc. City Manager Shikada recommended it be Brown Acted largely for transparency. He noted that providing direction had not typically been the domain of a committee unless specifically delegated by Council, which led back to the discussion of identifying the scope of a committee. Councilmember Burt remarked that in the past the Rail Committee had a set of guiding principles and they could make recommendations to other bodies within boundaries. He thought Council needed to consider providing guiding principles to committees giving them a certain authority level and that outside that authority level they would have to return to Council. Mayor Lauing declared there was closure on that committee. He addressed Stanford and stated they liked things as they were. City Attorney Stump voiced that the City Manager and a councilmember had recusal on Stanford items, but she thought the procedural conversation could occur with them present. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims thought it was inherently about a relationship and furtherance of objectives to be set together, etc. She added that it was not time limited or limited to a particular issue. The ad hoc had looked at a number of issues with Stanford recently. She considered it to be a diplomacy function, which she discussed. She thought the Mayor being the SUMMARY MINUTES Page 24 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 liaison with Stanford was too much of a burden for one person. She thought it might be possible to have three liaisons. Councilmember Reckdahl commented that there could be an ad hoc consisting of councilmembers and experts could be brought in from Stanford for discussion. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims added that it would not be limited in time and that it would potentially continue in future years. Mayor Lauing mentioned that the mission could change. Councilmember Lythcott-Haims expressed that there had been a to-do list or a set of agenda items generated, and those topics could become the description of what the ad hoc committee would focus on in a year. Mayor Lauing understood that the mission should be narrow and not four subject matters in one year. City Attorney Stump added that there could be an ad hoc committee for a single project. If there were issues coming up between the City and Stanford, that was by definition continuing jurisdiction over a subject matter and required Brown Act. Mayor Lauing added that a way around that would be to set up a committee to deal with an issue that might come up during the year and then the committee could be dissolved. City Attorney Stump confirmed that was correct. Councilmember Reckdahl thought it would be much more productive with Stanford if it was not Brown Acted. City Attorney Stump remarked that having a single liaison was the way to get there. Three liaisons working together would be a committee. Councilmember Burt inquired it had to be a single project or if it could be a narrowly defined scope. City Attorney Stump answered that the language was single or limited purpose that could be accomplished within a defined time period, typically less than one year. Councilmember Burt considered that to be broader than a single project and less broad than he might like it to be, but it was a single purpose. He queried if a liaison was limited to a single person. City Attorney Stump replied that more than one person would be a committee. In terms of single or limited purpose, with the definition they had and the authorities they looked at, it was considered to be a single project. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 25 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 Councilmember Burt stated that was more narrow than what had been done historically. In a given year, he thought there might be an ad hoc with Stanford focused on housing development off campus for Stanford-owned housing within Palo Alto’s jurisdiction, for example. He asked if there could be single liaisons subject based, such as a liaison for housing, a liaison for transportation, etc. City Attorney Stump replied that depending on how it was defined, it could be considered. In terms of what the committee might do, the details mattered, which was a challenge in having this chicken-or-egg conversation. To look at particularly Stanford-owned housing to produce an outcome or a report within some months, less than a year, it sounded like it could fit into an ad hoc. She thought there could be single liaisons being subject based that would then come back and report to Council. It would be ok if there was staff present with the single liaison. Councilmember Burt understood that there would be constraints in what Council wanted to do, so they were left with what would be the best option to make of the situation. Vice Mayor Veenker thought for an entity outside of Palo Alto bounds there could be a liaison reporting to Council and they could flag when there might need to be an ad hoc of limited scope and time, which could then be established, which might be a bridging function to get the right ad hoc at the right time. Councilmember Burt thought such a liaison should be the Mayor or a Mayor designee. He stated that left Council with possibly needing to constitute an ad hoc with Stanford on a specific focus and Council might seek to have the Mayor appoint liaisons for certain respective areas. Mayor Lauing asked councilmembers if any other committees needed to be formed. Councilmember Burt noted that the VTA Ad Hoc Committee on the University Avenue Multimodal Station affected Palo Alto. City Manager Shikada assumed that Councilmember Burt would be liaison to that committee, which perhaps may need to be formalized as a designation by Council and that Councilmember Burt would represent the City on the VTA Ad Hoc. He discussed that staff briefing regional body representatives or liaisons on topics of note took it to the next level in terms of staff supporting the work of the interagency committee, and he thought what that meant procedurally and what it meant regarding Council’s decision in being intentional about allocating resources to support the effort should be considered. Mayor Lauing stated there may be referrals requiring an official vote. City Manager Shikada stated it was Mayor Lauing’s decision how the referrals discussion would be handled. On February 24, staff planned to bring back an initial cut at the objectives, and he anticipated that would be a first cut at committee work plans and presumably a first-cut recommendation on scope of the committees for Council’s consideration. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 26 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 Mayor Lauing requested a motion for Rail, S/CAP, and Retail Standing Committees and Cubberley Ad Hoc. Councilmember Burt voiced that the others would not be standing committees. They would be Brown Acted ad hocs. City Manager Shikada confirmed that was correct. City Attorney Stump stated that her notes reflected that Rail, Retail, Climate, and Cubberley would follow the Brown Act. She said it was a question for Council how the term ad hoc would be used. If it was to be used to signal an intention to treat the body as temporary, either likely to conclude at the end of one year or something that may be revisited, Council could use the term for that purpose. Mayor Lauing understood that the substance of the motion was that those four committees would be Brown Acted committees. City Manager Shikada stated that the question of standing may relate to the description in the Procedures and Protocols Handbook and the Municipal Code. He asked if staff needed to come back with a revision to the Procedures and Protocols Handbook. City Attorney Stump suggested that not be addressed at this meeting. There may need to be some procedures and protocols amendments. If a Municipal Code amendment should be needed, staff would bring it on consent. MOTION: Mayor Lauing moved, seconded by Councilmember Reckdahl to form the following Brown Act Committee bodies: • Climate Action and Sustainability • Retail – (Anticipated to meet every other month) • Rail – (Anticipated to meet every other month) • Cubberley City Manager Shikada was assuming S/CAP would be retitled to conform to the climate action priorities currently stated. He voiced that perhaps there could be some follow-up on that. Councilmember Burt was concerned that it would be March before any of the committees met. City Manager Shikada stated that they could schedule committee meetings at the discretion of the Council. If Council wanted to get the committees started as soon as members were identified, then Staff would go ahead and schedule them. Staff may need guidance from Council on how to structure the first agendas. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 27 of 27 Sp. City Council Meeting Summary Minutes: 01/25/2025 Vice Mayor Veenker asked what the process would be for suggesting another committee. City Manager Shikada defaulted to the Colleagues’ Memo as a suggestion. With presentation of the item on the 24th, it may be broad enough to discuss that. City Attorney Stump confirmed that. Mayor Lauing noted that in addition to Retail and Rail meeting every other month that the Chair would call a meeting if something should come up. He stated that he was taking a close look and doing some probing of liaison group assignments to ensure that there would be a functional role. He wanted input from the organization to determine what they want. He added that it may be a second phase of assignments. MOTION PASSED: 7-0 7. Next Steps City Manager Shikada stated that the next step would be the February 24 Council item. Mayor Lauing thanked the organizers of the area, the lunches, etc., staff, the City Clerk’s office, and the public. Vice Mayor Veenker wanted to thank senior staff. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 3:02 p.m.