Council Meeting - December 19, 2024

Below is a summary of the agenda and (when available) minutes of the City Council Meeting on the above date. While the summary is believed to be accurate, that is not guaranteed. The current City Council meeting agenda and detailed agenda packet can be found on the Town's website.

Agenda Highlights

6. CONSENT CALENDAR (A consent calendar is a means of handling a number of routine matters with one motion and vote, and no discussion. These items can be removed from the group and considered separately at the request of a Council Member or a member of the public.)

This month there are several items of note on the consent calendar:

A. Approval of the Special City Council Meeting Minutes - November 20, 2024
B. Approval of Regular City Council Meeting Minutes - November 21, 2024 (Staff: A. Miller)
C. Resolution Authorizing Deposit and Withdrawal from the Local Agency Investment Fund in the State Treasury (Staff: T. Leung)
D. Resolution Accepting the Town of Los Altos Hills Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2024 (Staff: T. Leung)
E. Receive and Accept the Annual Report on Development Impact Fees in Compliance with AB1600 for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2023 (Staff: T. Leung)
F. Receive and Accept the Annual Report on Development Impact Fees in Compliance with AB1600 for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2024 (Staff: T. Leung)
G. Resolution Authorizing the Write-Off of Uncollectible Deposits Aged Over Three Years (Staff: T. Leung)
H. Resolution Granting the Request for Extension of the Expiration Dates for Building Permits at 26759 Shady Oaks Ct. (Staff: J. Bradford)
I. Resolution Approving Amendment No. 1 to the Upper Ravensbury Avenue Sanitary Sewer Reimbursement Agreement between the Town of Los Altos Hills and Dave Jessen (Staff: D. Liang)
J. Resolution Approving a Treated Sewer Effluent Transfer Agreement between the Town of Los Altos Hills and the City of Palo Alto (Staff: W. Kim)

NOTES ON ITEMS ON THE CONSENT CALENDAR

ITEM 6D. Resolution Accepting the Town of Los Altos Hills Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2024

The ACFR was not included in the Council Packet. It is still undergoing changes and subject to additional review. FIC reviewed the draft document with the Auditor at its meeting on Monday and provided comments and is awaiting completion of some outstanding matters and a revised final version. Conditional approval was provided subject to correction.

ITEM 6E. Receive and Accept the Annual Report on Development Impact Fees in Compliance with AB1600 for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2023

The Town imposes development impact fees for Pathways, Park and Recreation, and Drainage.
Under California's Mitigation Fee Act (Government Code §§ 66000-66025), commonly known as AB 1600, local agencies imposing development impact fees are required to prepare an annual report detailing the collection and use of these fees. This report must be made available to the public within 180 days after the end of the fiscal year. However, due to staffing turnover, last year's report was not completed. To maintain transparency, the 2023 report is now being provided alongside the 2024 report.

ITEM 6G. Resolution Authorizing the Write-Off of Uncollectible Deposits Aged Over Three Years

Background: The Town requires deposits for various activities, including planning, building, and engineering permitting. Some receivables related to these deposits have remained outstanding due to non-payment or abandonment by the original depositor. The Finance Department has conducted a review of outstanding receivables and identified those that are over three years old and meet the criteria for being written off. Staff states, “Writing off these uncollectible receivables will result in an adjustment to the Town’s accounts receivable but will not impact the Town’s General Fund, as the amounts were never recognized as revenue.”

Staff recommends: Authorizing the write-off of uncollectible receivables aged three years or older that the Town has been unable to collect, in accordance with the Town’s financial policies.

This is an(other) example of poor fiscal management of the Town’s permitting and financial matters. Further investigation is required to determine how these transactions arose, what and whether sufficient effort was made to collect them, and whether additional disclosure of the parties who have failed to pay should be made. Council would be prudent to not write-off $66,130.90 at this time, refer the matter to the FIC and await their input before taking action on this.

Item 6H. Resolution Granting the Request for Extension of the Expiration Dates for Building Permits at 26759 Shady Oaks Ct

This is one of many, many projects in Town that are still under construction many years after their permits have expired. This is similar to the ten projects that came before the Council last month. See comments from November’s Council Agenda Review ITEMS 8F, 8G, and 8H. The council needs to adopt a uniform policy. Deposits should be required now, not a year from now, in accordance with the ordinance. More examples of the Town’s poor management of the permitting process.

ITEM 6J. Resolution Approving a Treated Sewer Effluent Transfer Agreement between the Town of Los Altos Hills and the City of Palo Alto

Los Altos Hills sewer effluent flows through LA and PA to the regional treatment plant. Valley Water District wants to use the treated effluent for recycled water projects. By transferring the rights to PA, the Town could receive a proportionate share of the $1 million commitment, if Valley Water exercises its option to receive the effluent.

The other treatment plant partners signed the agreement in 2019. The Town chose not to participate at that time. While this arrangement may be beneficial to the Town, the town has a number of outstanding issues to resolve with LA and PA relating to the sewer agreements and this item should be a part of those broader discussions. The proposed agreement appears to retroactively require payments, Does this agreement cover effluent that flows through LA? Decision should be deferred until other more substantial sewer-related matters are addressed.

7. NEW BUSINESS

ITEM 7A. Consideration for Council Members and Staff International Travel to Participate in the ERAT Program for Advancement of AI In Government Operations

City Manager Pirnejad, in a seven-page proposal, is requesting permission to travel and accept a $5,000 grant from ICMA ERAT Program to partially fund the travel expenses associated with attending an ICMA sponsored training meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia from May 1-11, 2025, where the Town would share its expertise in the application of AI to municipal government. Mr. Pirnejad suggests the town send either two staff members or two staff and two council members. He estimates the cost at $1750 per participant.

The Town’s travel policy states, “Town travel should. be for business and training purposes that is of value to the Town and its residents.” It is unclear how this program is beneficial to the Town. While committees and members of the public are routinely told the staff is working at capacity and cannot address matters not on the Council Workplan, this item, not on the workplan, is proposed. In addition to the out-of-pocket expense there will be significant staff time lost to work on town projects. There are many more pressing matters that will greatly benefit the Town and its residents that should be considered before this matter is considered.

The first thing anyone is likely to do if they believe Los Altos Hills is a pioneer in AI, is to visit the town's website. That should put to rest any question of the town's technological prowess.

Letters to the Council on this subject can be found here and here.

ITEM 7B. Consideration To Agendize A Discussion Of The Town’s Public Safety Approach Regarding The Town’s ALPR System And Private Security Contracts

A special council meeting is proposed to address the approach and cost of providing public safety services in Town. How the Town should effectively configure the use of ALPR’s, private security patrols and County Sheriff services. While the current approach appears to have been very effective in reducing burglaries, program expense are putting pressure on the budget and costs are anticipated to increase.

The contract with the private security service expired last June and was not amended but the Town continued to use the service and pay outstanding bills. It states, “Staff wanted to bring this to the Council attention as soon as we realized the error but considering the Council had authorized the current service level and adopted the budget in June, Town staff continued to honor the expired permit until we could agendize a more comprehensive conversation about public safety with the Council.” The Town has had difficulty in administering contracts and the Council requested a master list be created to reduce the likelihood of these mistakes. The Master Contract list does not list the $600,000+ contract with the private security company.

11. SPECIAL ITEMS

A. Recognition of Mayor Stanley Mok Remarks from Mayor Mok

B. Council Member-Elect Rajiv Bhateja Oath of Office

C. City Council Reorganization

1. Election of New Mayor and administration of Oath of Office

2. Election of New Vice Mayor and administration of Oath of Office

There may be some controversy about these items. See the following items from recent issues of the Town Crier:

Question of next Los Altos Hills mayor and vice mayor to be answered Thursday

[Town Crier, Dec 18, 2024]

Tankha next up for Town Mayor

[Town Crier, Dec 11, 2024]

And some historical context:
Los Altos Hills changing-of-the-guard ceremony fraught with friction