Good afternoon. I'd like to call this meeting to order. That means. Council members may I have your Please. Calling this meeting to order if you're able, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I'm going to do the pledge first. I pledge allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Just had to keep you all on your toes. And I know you're trying to keep me on my toes. Okay. Now, Toni, will you take the roll? Yeah. Kamei here. Campos present. Tordillos here. Cohen here. Ortiz present. Mulcahy. Doan here. Candelas. Casey. Foley here. Mahan. You have a quorum. Great. Thank you. Today's invocation will be provided by Tina Tuan of the Tzu Chi Foundation and Council member Cohen. Please tell us more. Thank you, Vice mayor. The Chukchi Foundation is an international Buddhist humanitarian organization whose mission is to relieve suffering of those in need while creating a better world through compassion, love, and hope. The global nonprofit was founded by Dharma Master Cheng Yen in Taiwan, a nun who set out to provide compassion based relief through charity medicine education and humanistic culture. The organization you, the American organization sushi USA, was established in California in 1989. They now have 63 offices and facilities throughout the US, with volunteers working to make a difference and respond to disasters in their community. The northwest region of Suu Kyi USA is located on Oakland Road in District four. Joining us today are Northwest Region CEO Chi Jian Huang, PR director Rebecca Yang, media and media director. Rene Liu, deputy Executive Director Tina Tuan will provide today's invocation. Thank you. Council Member Cohen for your kind invitation and that great introduction. Good afternoon. And all the council members. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Tina Tuan and I represent the TCG Foundation. The strengths of our city is not only measured by innovation and growth but by how it cares for those who are most in need. TCG means compassion and relief in Chinese. We are an international humanitarian organization. Rooted in Buddhist principles. Our story began 60 years ago with 30 members who saved $0.50 a day into a coin bank like this, day by day, coin by coin, compassion become a daily habit. And that little change has become a global movement today. TCG has over 10 million supporters across 136 countries in the world, serving people in all regions and all backgrounds. Here in the Bay area. Our home is in San Jose on 25, 53 2355 Oakland Road. We have volunteers living and serving in all ten districts in San Jose twice a month. Our medical volunteers operate the mobile dental clinic, which you're seeing on the slide, providing free medical and dental services for those in need. This service offers both essential support and a sense of dignity. In times of natural disasters. From the devastating campfire in 2018 to the CCU lightning fires in 2020 to the floods in Pajaro Rivers in 2023, our volunteer responded with care and urgency, offering not only financial assistance. But also comfort and hope. So this is a picture of our distribution when we are working with the wildfire survivors. As the City Council meets here today. The decisions being made here will shape the future of every one of us here in San Jose. So I want to offer this reflection. May our work be guided not only by data and policy, but also by compassion and wisdom. May we continue building a city where every resident feels seen, value and supported. May we all remember that small acts of kindness can create an. Can create an impact far beyond what we can imagine. As our founder, Dharma Master Sheng Yen reminded us, when we put our hearts together, nothing is impossible. Last but not least, I would like to invite everyone of you to visit our office in San Jose to see how firsthand compassion is put into action. Thank you. Next, I'd like to invite Council Member Doan to join me at the podium as we recognize and proclaim April as Displaced Vietnamese American Heritage Month. Good afternoon. This month carry a deep meaning for many of our Vietnamese communities. It is a time to honor the individual and family who were forced to flee Vietnam in search of safety, stability and new beginning. Their journey were marked by hardship, loss and uncertainty, yet defined by extraordinary courage, resilience, and unwavering hope for better future. I'd like to clarify something. Displays Vietnamese American Heritage Month and Black April are distinct and separate. Black April is a solemn day of commemoration. It's remembered the loss of lives, the fall of a nation, and the profound tragedy experienced by the Vietnamese people under communism. It is a time for remembrance and reflection. But as moments like September 11th or Pearl Harbor are deeply painful. Chapter in American history, they do not define the entirety of American story in the same way. Black April is a critical part of our history, but it's the. It does not define the full Vietnamese American experience. Displays Vietnamese American Heritage Month reflect the full journey of the Vietnamese. American community. It's. Include remembrance such as Black April, but it does not end there. It's also honor what came after. It's told the story of rebuilding perseverance and achievement. It recognized how those who lost everything came to this country, worked tirelessly and become proud, contributing Americans. This month is about entirety of that experience, from lost to resilient to success. This proclamation also matters because too often there is a lack of understanding of what Vietnamese community endure and what it took to rebuild. That history should not be overlooked or misunderstood. It deserved to be recognized clearly and respectfully. Here in San Jose. We are proud to be home to one of the largest and most vibrant Vietnamese American community in the nation. Vietnamese Americans have made invaluable contribution to the cultural richness, economic vitality, and civic life of our city. From small businesses to public service. Their impact is deeply woven into the fabric of San Jose. This month offer an opportunity not only to reflect on the hardship of displacement, but also to recognize the strength and determination it took to rebuild and thrive. It is a statement to resilience, to family, and to the enduring pursuit of freedom and opportunity. San Jose stands proudly with the Vietnamese American community, and we honor both remembrance and resilience, each in their proper place and recognize the lasting contribution that continue to shape our city. This is for all of us. For those who came before us, for those alive today, and those who will come after us. I am a proud Vietnamese American to wear the yellow flag alongside red, white and blue. It is my honor to proclaim the month of April as displaced Vietnamese American Heritage Month, and the Vice Mayor will present a commendation. Next, I'd like to invite down Council Member Ortiz to the podium as we recognize and proclaim April as Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Month. All right. And I'd like to invite our friends from the Cambodian community. Please join us. Thank you so much. Vice mayor. In 2023, when I first took office, I had the opportunity right here in this very chamber to share an important chapter of Cambodian history that is not widely known in our society or around the world. And over the past four years, my office has organized an annual Cambodian flag raising ceremony to recognize the contributions of the Cambodian community in our city and country, as well as, of course, their strength and resilience. In early 1975, the Khmer Rouge ended all Westernization in a bid to create a totalitarian society. They separated the educated and talented Cambodian citizens from their families and executed many of them, leading to one of the most devastating genocides in our world history. By the end of 1979, the Khmer Rouge regime was overthrown, bringing an end to the darkest four years in Cambodian history, during which more than 2 million innocent lives were lost due to torture, starvation and execution. More than 140,000 Cambodian refugees were admitted to the United States, and California is home to the largest Cambodian diaspora community. Since then, Cambodians in San Jose have established businesses, pursued higher education and are raising new generations. Determined to succeed without being hindered by the past. Last Friday, my office held the third annual Cambodian flag raising ceremony right here in front of City Hall, along with the grand celebration of Cambodian New Year that filled the rotunda. We also have an opportunity to acknowledge and honor the lives lost during the genocide, as well as the past, present and future contributions of those who have survived. Till today. Alongside the Vice Mayor and my colleagues on the San Jose City Council, I proclaim that the Cambodian people will not be defined by the unimaginable atrocities of war and genocide, and we will designate April 14th to 17th as Cambodian Genocide Remembrance Week. And at this point, I would like to ask Miss Nancy Cao, who is a huge contributor to all of our Cambodian events and flag raising ceremonies, to please receive the proclamation on behalf of the Cambodian community. But first, to say a few words. Good afternoon. My name is Nancy Q, and on behalf of the Cambodian American community of San Jose and across the state, thank you, Councilmember Peter Ortiz and the entire Council for commemorating the 51st anniversary of the Cambodian genocide that took the lives of more than 2 million people from 1974 to 1979. Today marks the first day of Cambodian New Year. Last Friday, we hosted our third annual Cambodian flag raising celebrating Cambodian Heritage Month and recognized that was recognized by the City of San Jose. As our community celebrates the New Year with wishes of good health, prosperity, and happiness. We must also remember the innocent lives lost 51 years ago, on April 17th, 1974 was marked as year zero. It became one of Cambodia's darkest periods. Silence enveloped the entire nation. Phnom Penh, the capital, turned to a shadow of itself, the schools becoming chambers of execution, the rice fields transforming to mass burials for hundreds and thousands. A dictator declared himself king, massacred at will with no consequences or threat, driven only by the thirst of power, freedom of speech justice fair election, human rights, religion, education and language, and democracy no longer exists. Cambodia has become a country that threatens democracy and freedom, a country where escaped or suffering are the options. Thousands fled to neighboring countries, only to be forced up Ghost Mountain and slaughtered. My mother lost her parents cousins aunts uncles neighbors and my oldest brother. With immense heartache, she was forced to leave his lifeless body behind, covered only by leaves, days and nights spent seeking what was thought to be refuge along the border, only to face assault and attempted. Despite this, my mother and many survivors are testaments to hope, resilience, strength and courage. Thousands of refugees have resettled in the United States, where they have made significant contribution to the shaping of our vibrant culture and society. I want to remind us that we must not normalize the death of one being okay. We must not turn a blind eye to the innocent lives suffering. We must not allow silencing of our voice to be normal. We must not ignore the reality that people are innocently persecuted, harassed, assaulted for the freedom of speech. We must condemn all acts of violence against another nation. Sovereignty as they can serve as a tool leading to genocide. To my brothers and sisters, Mother Nature, Cambodia, Lanhee Chen to me, along with countless others, my hearts, thoughts and prayers are with you. Even a single innocent life lost is too many. Genocide is never justified. Taking one life is already an atrocity. Once again, thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Peter Ortiz and the Council's for presenting a proclamation recognizing April Cambodian genocide. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Finally, would Council Member Campos please join me at the podium as we recognize the Creekside School. Good afternoon. Today I am proud to uplift the phenomenal work being done at Creekside School, which serves students with the Autism spectrum disorder throughout San Jose. We are joined by Principal Katie Shepherd and Executive Director Megan Cooper, as well as members of the Board of Directors and several site leaders here with us today. It is through their dedication that dozens of students each year thrive in a specialized learning environment that is tailored to their unique needs. Here at Creekside, students are provided with career preparation and vocational training. Students are prepared for independent living after high school, and they also learn emotional and sensory regulation. These are all essential tools that help our students grow inside and outside of the classroom. As a former educator and champion for our youngest learners, I understand this work deeply, and I know that every student has a diverse set of needs, and each requires specific support. For 20 years, the Creekside School has filled an unmet need in our community where they create a safe and harmonious place to learn. We appreciate their commitment to our students and their families, and we thank them for providing supportive, high quality special education in our community. On behalf of the City Council and Council member, Mulcahy was who is unfortunately and sadly unable to join us today. I am so proud to commend Creekside School for their service to students in San Jose, and I would now like to invite Executive Director Megan Cooper to the podium to share a few remarks. Good afternoon everyone. Thank you, mayor and council members. I'm Megan Cooper. I'm the executive director of the Creekside School, and I just wanted to share that. It is serendipitous that we are being honored in the month of April. It is. Autism Acceptance month used to be awareness. We've moved on to acceptance. And it's also our 20th year of operation. And so we're extremely proud to be here together to represent all of the work that we've achieved. We started with just two students 20 years ago, and it came out of an act of the most selfless love, and that is the love of parents. There was not a place for students with profound autism that served their children's needs. And so Creekside came to fill that niche, profound autism actually represents a quarter of the autism incidences that you see, but you're often not hearing about profound autism or seeing it within your communities because they do require a high level of specialized care. And at Creekside, we not only ensure that they have that very specialized educational and therapeutic care, but we also understand that parents that have children with profound autism are really in a caregiver crisis. And so we make sure to also ensure that they have the supports they need so we can support the whole child and that they really feel safe when their child is at school. It's a home away from home for them. Four out of our. Oh, I'm sorry, we've had five graduates and four out of those five graduates so far have not found successful placement outside of school. So when they leave Creekside, there is no adult programing that can meet those same needs. And so we are very excited to be launching an adult day program so we can continue to offer them a lifelong place of belonging. To tell you a little bit more about our school program and what we're being recognized for today, I want to introduce Katie Shepherd, our principal. Thank you. Thank you so much to the city of San Jose and everybody here today. We want to say thank you on behalf of the students and the families who trust us with what matters most. Creekside is first and foremost a place of belonging. Our students, young people living with profound autism deserve a school where they are fully known and genuinely valued. We work hard every day to make sure that when a student walks through those doors, they feel safe and at home and accepted. What makes this possible is our team, our teachers, paraprofessionals, behavior analysts, speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, mental health professionals, and more. They don't just work side by side together, they work together. Our transdisciplinary approach means that every discipline informs each decision to create this whole child's plan. The successes that we celebrate look different at our school than other schools. A student asking for what they need for the first time, a family feeling truly supported, a young adult stepping towards independence. Those are our milestones. We believe that every student, regardless of the complexity of their needs, deserves high quality education and support. So we would like to thank everybody. We definitely want to invite you to our celebrate at our Better Together event, which is a benefit show on April 26th. It's where we're going to bring together inclusion, community and fun to celebrate the community of profound autism that we have and the larger community that they live in. So thank you so much. And we're very grateful as we keep going on with our mission. This is the. This is the. Okay. Now moving on to the regular agenda under orders of the day. I don't believe we have any changes to the orders of the day. Do we have a report out of closed session? Mayor and Councilman closed session to. Excuse me. The council met in closed session to discuss the items listed on the agenda. There's nothing to report out at this time. Okay. Thank you. Moving on to the consent calendar. Are there any items that the council wishes to pull from consent? I don't believe I heard from anyone. If not, do we have any members of the public who wish to speak? Brian Darby. Okay. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on the consent calendar. I thought some of the stuff that was written was very interesting. I appreciate the fact that we're given a second chance to see some of the. I never really noticed that before. I should have paid more attention that we're given a second chance to actually see an item gets approved, and then it goes on the consent calendar, some of them, and we get another chance to talk about it. So I appreciate that. That's that openness I was asking about. Thank you. Back to council. Okay. Seeing no hands raised. Move approval of the consent calendar. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Let's vote. Motion passes unanimously with those present. Okay. Next we will go to the Land Use Consent Calendar, which is item 10.1. Do we have any members of the public who wish to speak on that? Yes. Oh, I have the applicant, but he's available for questions, so I'm not going to on 10.1. Okay. Yep. It's consent. So unless someone pulls it. Okay. Very good. Do then back to council. Does any members of council wish to speak? Council member Kamei. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Move approval of the consent item. Second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. No, I see no other hands raised. Let's vote. Motion passes unanimously. Okay, now we are going to move around a little bit on the agenda. We're going to adjourn as the city Council and convene the meeting as the joint city of San Jose City Council and San Jose Housing Authority. And I will refer you to item one of our agenda, which is in the back of the agenda. We will hear this item in conjunction with 8.1. We will vote these two separate items. One as the joint meeting. Then we will adjourn and then we'll come back and vote on the Arena Hotel. As the council. So with that. Can I go back. To you? This is highlighted in yellow. I forgot the city manager so I have to go back to her. I'm so sorry. And you're sitting right next to me. Okay, so thank you. Yes. Thank you. Eric Sullivan, director of housing for the city of San Jose. I have a very brief presentation here regarding our partnership with the Santa Clara County Housing Authority. And on the two items, one is related to the annual Mtw plan submittal. And then two is just an update on upcoming project. So first is I'll give a quick history here. Overall, through our partnership with Santa Clara County Housing Authority on the Moving to Work plan. This is a quick recap of some of the key elements of the plan. One is overall, the Santa Clara County Housing Authority invest primarily through project based vouchers into affordable housing developments within the city. You'll see as totaled up here, over 2300 units have been leased within the city, representing support provided to over 11,000 tenant based voucher families with over 350 million total invested in the past year. And within the city limits. As the Santa Clara County Housing Authority provides support to the entire county, there are 21 affordable housing communities within the city of San Jose. Secondly overall the partnership continues to remain strong as well as expanding some investments. As you can see, we are committed to executing on the work we've already done around the Pavilion Homekey project, which adds to our overall shelter capacity within the city. Some additional developments at Bella Reno and Recon, and then some newer developments that are underway at Hawthorne and Trillium, which are two projects that the housing authority recently got underway as council approved funding for these initiatives. In addition to some of the work we do on permanent housing, we're also expanding investments with Arena Hotel. This is the second item that'll come before council after this one, which is approving that partnership with the Housing Authority to approve the investment of $6.4 million into Arena hotel shelter operations. That builds on the work that's already being done at the Pacific Motor Inn for the three year commitment of just $5.1 million. So bringing alternative revenue sources into our overall shelter system. And that is a quick overview of these two items. Thank you. Thank you. Eric, before I go to council or I guess I need to go to the members of the public first, is there anyone who wish to speak on this item? Yes. I can't read the handwriting. It starts with a G, and I think the last name starts with an S, but I can't read the handwriting. And then Brian come on down. I want to acknowledge the hard work for everybody on the the vouchers. And I just wish we had more. And I know that there's going to be more of a challenge on that. As far as the federal government. So making every dollar count also the whole person. And I think that's some way that includes bus passes for people so that people have a way to get around the county. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Yeah. My name is. Sorry about the handwriting. It's like engineering and handwriting, but my name is Gerben. I live in San Jose and I'm a former foster youth myself. I entered the foster care at a young age due to instability at home in another state, and I spent several years navigating that system like many others, when I aged out, I faced a lot of uncertainty coming up and showing up at a lot of San Jose City Hall Council meetings, sometimes with no success. But I am happy to say that I'm strongly here to encourage you to approve the 2027 Move to Work plan, as adopted by the Santa Clara County Housing Authority. I think the provisions in this plan, especially the focus on working with the community partners to identify the best practices and better supports for transition age youth are official, and I think the flexibility to move beyond the traditional waiting list and create more direct, direct pathways for young people will be able to be very helpful and also necessary just considering we have different students in different cases. We have students that are in community college. We have students that are in four year schools. We have students that are trying to work are in trades. So I think these approaches allow for faster, more effective housing placements and ensure that youth exiting foster care are not falling through the. And it's also important that the commitment is clearly outlined in the plan, which it is. And that's because it holds all of us accountable to this goal and that no young person should exit without a safe place to live. And thank you again for your time and your commitment to the plan. Thank you. Thank you. Council. Thank you. Before I go to council, the council colleagues for any comments. I would like to say some thank yous on behalf of the Mayor and Council member, Mulcahy, who are both traveling today, and that is first to Princeton. Prince, executive director and Angie Garcia Nguyen deputy executive director of the Santa Clara County Housing Authority, for their partnership. This is a model that strengthens interim housing and provides a clear path to a permanent home for our most vulnerable residents. Also, thank you to Eric Sullivan, the housing Director, for driving successful partnerships and to the Alameda Business Association for ongoing engagement and support. And finally, we hope the on site operator for supporting clients on their journey to stable housing. I want to thank you all for your participation and to the success of all of these programs. With that, Council member Campos. Thank you, vice Mayor. And I also want to begin my remarks by thanking staff and the housing authority's Moving to work plan. These essential programs are meaningful as they increase the number of affordable units in our high cost area. And I'm particularly interested in activity. 2020 6-2, the direct rental assistance pilot. I think that it is an effective approach at supporting and empowering tenants. And according to the Housing Authority's report, 40% of voucher holders fail to successfully use their vouchers, which is why this alternative approach is important, as the report states, direct assistance can help get around barriers that prevent tenants from successfully using rental vouchers, and we should be staying up to date on HUD's approval status, as well as the outcome data that comes with that program. And so with that, I have just three questions on this item. The moving to work activity 2022 has been around for years now and commits housing vouchers for interim uses. This activity is referenced in item 8.1, which is using project based vouchers for interim units at Arena Hotel. Does this reduce the number of project based vouchers that are available to support the construction of new, permanent, affordable units? So thank you, Council Member, for the question. So first, the types of vouchers that are being used at both the interim housing sites at Arena Pacific Motor Inn are part of local discretion. So it's not taking out of the total pool of project based vouchers used for development purposes as a separate fund within the housing authority, based on local needs and preferences. And that's what's partially outlined within the Mtw plan. Okay. And while there is no fixed length of stay anticipated for Arena Hotel, the intent is to apply vouchers to permanent housing units that are under construction or become vacant. So do we have an estimated timeline for how long interim housing residents will typically stay? So at the Pacific Motor Inn, which is the current model that the motel will replicate, the Pacific Motor Inn tenants there tend to stay approximately six months as they are quickly cycle through into a permanent housing solution. Thank you for that. And my last question is, given the city's direct investment in interim housing at Arena Hotel, I'm interested in the extent to which these units are occupied by residents experiencing homelessness, specifically in San Jose. And though I appreciate that the housing authority takes a county wide view on providing services, I'm. Question. My question is, will the housing Authority collect intake data to demonstrate where the interim housing tenants previously resided? Yes, that's part of our standard reporting requirements and our partnership between the San Jose Housing Authority and the Santa Clara County Housing Authority is collect that data on unit utilization, both in our interim sites and in our permanent supportive housing sites. And what's their transition. So we'll be collecting that demographic data. Thank you. I appreciate those responses. And with that, I will move this item. Second. Great. Thank you so much. Seeing no other hands, let's vote. This is on item one. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. We will now adjourn as the joint meeting of the San Jose City Council and the San Jose Housing Authority, and reconvene as the San Jose City Council, we will be discussing item 8.1. We've already heard public comment on both of these, so I will move to Council for any discussion or emotion. Don't be shy. Okay. We have a motion and a second on 8.1. Let's vote. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Next is the report from the city manager, Jennifer Maguire. Do you have something for us? Thank you, vice mayor. I do not have a report for you today. After all that. After all that, you are so funny. We needed to do it. For the record, thank you so much. Sorry about that. Next time I'll have a report for you next week. That is hysterical. Okay, moving to item 3.3. Approval of the issuance of the tax exempt multifamily housing revenue bonds. Do we have a presentation? No. Presentation. Do we have any members of the public who wish to speak? Brian. Agenda item. I'm not sure who does the. I just wanted to bring. We really need to thank the people that help us with our bonds, because we would not have been able to build a lot of the stuff that we're building without them finding a way to get the financing. So I think they again, need to be acknowledged as some of the unsung heroes. So if they were here, I would thank them. Thank you. Back to council. Great seeing. No hands raised. Is there a motion? Move. Approval. Second. Okay. Seeing no discussion. Let's vote. Motion passes unanimously. Okay. Next item is item 5.1. Transportation policy priorities for Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Local investment plan related to Senate Bill 63 revenue measure. And I see we have a presentation on this one. Welcome. Yes. Vice mayor and Council. John Russo, Director of Transportation. We do have guests from VTA here, and we do have a presentation with me today is Greg Richardson and Sam Sargeant. And they're going to cover part of the presentation. Jessica Zheng deputy Director, Department of Transportation. And I will cover the part that responds to the item before the council today. So, Greg, do you have a clicker right there? Do I have a clicker? Okay, I have a clicker. Good afternoon, Vice Mayor to the council and to the city administration. Thanks for this opportunity to present for Sam and me. This is part of what we're considering to be our VTA spring tour to introduce this draft investment plan related to the proposed regional transportation revenue measure. As part of it, is to gain some insight and solicit some feedback from the various cities and community groups directly impacted by the by the revenue measure. And this afternoon, we'll provide a little background, some framework for the draft and and again, solicit your feedback. AM I clear? There it is. Okay. I trust each of you is aware of the role that VTA plays in the region. But just in case, this slide provides just a little snapshot reflecting our responsibilities in transit, congestion management and as a funding partner. Suffice it to say that we see VTA as role as connecting people to the things that are most important to them jobs. Medical needs, school, and then family and community. Beyond the connection piece, VTA also helps create the significance of transit can be seen in that first statement, courtesy of research done by our industry's association, Apta, or the American Public Transportation Association. For every dollar invested in transit, there is $5 in economic impact. Jobs are created through the many projects led by VTA, including Bart. Silicon Valley, phase two, the rail projects, highway projects and. When each of these is complete, it then also will connect people to jobs throughout the Bay area. VTA also leads in the development of affordable and market housing utilizing our inventory of property, delivering new homes and new opportunities to residents, and that economic impact is felt by the small businesses where contracting opportunities are available across Vta's range of projects. The city of San Jose sees and experiences a great deal of transit options provided by VTA, as shown here on this slide. The city and VTA have partnered and collaborated on many projects over the years to improve transportation opportunities for the residents. And at the bottom of this slide, you'll see we're providing specific reference to the more recent utilization of 2016 measure B funds, with a heavy emphasis on improvements to local streets and roads. And in this slide here provides just a brief summary of the fiscal impacts our fiscal elements of the regional measure SB 63, specific to Santa Clara County. The regional measure is designed as a citizens initiative requiring a 50% plus one vote for approval through our board, inclusive of several individuals here on the dais, VTA was able to ensure a full return to source component, with the measure ensuring that over 84% of sales tax generated in Santa Clara County is returned to the county through VTA. The 84% return is after our contribution of 5.25% to MTC for transit transformation initiatives and administration costs, and our obligation to help fund Caltrain. Capped at 10.38%. Using this. The. Using the measures base year of fiscal year 2031. This means that approximately $264 million annually will come to the county through VTA to support transit in the region. And it's at this point here. I'll turn it over to Sam to take you the rest of the way. Thank you. Thank you very much, Greg. Sam Sargeant, Sam Sargeant, I serve as the director of Strategy and Transformation for VTA. So SB 63 was the legislation that gave us this potential regional measure here in November. And under SB 63, regional measure funds may be used for, and I quote, public transit expenses and roadway repavement projects on roads served by fixed route transit. I think that this is really important to call out as we go around and educate our community members, as we speak with and solicit feedback from our city councils and the Board of Supervisors, as well as community based organizations because this is different than some of the other sales tax measures that you've seen here in Santa Clara County, which are a little bit broader, and get that broad mission of VTA, it could be express lanes, bike ped, etc. Well, this is very transit specific, although you can see here that there is the opportunity for roadway repaving on corridors where we have either VTA busses or light rail. Now the local investment plan principles. So we've been going through a journey with our board. We have the second workshop with our board actually this Friday of thinking through some of the principles behind how we would use these funds going forward and, frankly, how we should think about funding generally going forward for VTA. How do we stay focused primarily on outcomes? And so we've identified three primary outcomes here, the first of which is growing ridership, increasing productivity and enhancing the customer experience, which includes safety, security and cleanliness. If we are investing money, we want to drive at least one of these outcomes, if not more. And delivering all of the above in a financially sustainable way. We've also organized our discussions with the board during these workshops into three strategic areas. So foundational, which is how does VTA leverage its experience and data to drive our decision making reimagine, which is how does VTA modernize its business models so that we can operate more effectively, more product have increased productivity and generally improved the delivery of our core transit services. And then transform, which is how do we adopt new technologies and form strategic partnerships, whether it's with our public sector partners or the private sector, to future proof the VTA transit system? I'll move quickly to these slides before handing it off to my City of San Jose colleagues. But as we've gone out and asked for feedback from cities and we've gotten through half of our city council so far this week, and we'll continue soliciting feedback from hopefully the rest of them in the county, as well as the Board of Supervisors. But again, this is an invitation for input. And so we'd like to put a couple of example investments out there in each of the categories. Bus corridor improvements, station upgrades, increasing transit services and transit capital improvements under reimagine. How do we fund our visionary network to get more of our routes from 30 minutes down to 15 minutes or better, as well as speed improvements to enable the visionary network things like transit signal, priority fare programs for seniors and students, and safety and security enhancements. And then under transformation, things that are one step beyond innovative customer experience projects, advanced vehicle technologies, including light rail fleet replacement and then station redevelopments. As you can see on the bottom right here with our successful Tod program. And then at the end of the day, or at least in the coming weeks or months, will be bringing it all together. And what you'll ultimately see go to the VTA board in June will be something that hopefully pops a little bit more than this, but it would be a local investment plan that has these categories or sort of programs of projects, the percentage of revenues to be applied to each, the primary outcomes that every investment drives, and then KPIs for each project, because we can't manage what we can't measure. And we want to make sure that if something is going well, that we hopefully can double down on that. And if something is not going so well, we know how to correct and keep moving forward, and we'll continue our engagement in the coming weeks, not only, again, with more of our city councils, with the Board of Supervisors, with the VTA board, with dozens of community based organizations and the public, we have our Future of Transportation workshop this Friday. And then ultimately we'll get to June 4th, which will be the board meeting where the VTA board will take action on the local investment plan. And with that, I will hand it over to my friend Jessica. All right. Thank you so much, Sam. Jessica, deputy director in the San Jose Department of Transportation. So this is just a summary of what Greg reviewed in terms of the full return to source of the funding generated in Santa Clara County, so that you can see it now, what you've seen in the staff memorandum is that at this point in the process, city staff are here to highlight a few potential city priorities. And with your feedback and pending your approval, today, we will work with VTA to advance those to the extent possible through the VTA board. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to John who will go through these priorities. Thank you Jessica. And I also want to mention we have Rick Scott, Assistant Director, Department of Transportation, in case there's questions on pavement and Ramsis Madu, in case we have some questions on some of the transit priorities we're going to talk about, as both Greg, Sam and Jess talked about, what we're here today is actually to provide feedback and input to the board of directors at VTA for their consideration of how to craft the local investment plan. And that's what we're going to talk about, the three priorities that staff is going to recommend to the council. That would then be forwarded to VTA for their consideration. Priority number one roadway maintenance. Very important to us. This is our visionary network. We like to maintain our pavement at a high degree. We will be losing our measure T funds coming over the next year or two. So we're looking for some way to actually fill that gap for our major streets and roads. And what we're suggesting is that up to 20% of the funds that Jessica was referring to actually go into that category of. Foundation, which has the local road improvements in it. We're we actually have probably the most transit miles that VTA busses and light rail transport on within the city. Those busses do cause quite a bit of wear and tear on that pavement. They are heavy. So with the opportunity to use these funds to actually make sure that the busses and the patrons that are riding those get a nice, smooth and up to date and first class ride. We would like to recommend that at least 20% of those discretionary funds go into that bucket for VTA to consider. There's still a lot of work to do to actually determine how that would be distributed and worked through, but that would be something that we would would be working with VTA staff on the other cities to develop that. The second priority area would be the transit supportive capital, and council knows that we've got a number of very important capital transit projects in the city. Number one Diridon station. So we'd love to have some of these funds be able to support that work that is ongoing, as well as connections to that between Diridon and the airport. With the airport connector and a number of other capital projects, whether it be Caltrain, electrification to Gilroy, which we are all planning to get. There's a number of stations along that route also that need upgrading. The modernization of the zero emission fleet and the conversion of the next generation light rail. Also very important aspects that VTA is considering right now that these funds could go a long ways in supporting that. So we're recommending 30% of those funds go into that category that Sam had talked about. And then the last one, and it's really important to VTA, which is a transit service and rider experience because we all want it to be better than it is today. And actually modern and futuristic and actually very innovative and effective. And so that ridership hopefully follows that innovation and effectiveness. And we're looking in support VTA in that effort. There's still a lot of work of what that visionary network is going to look like and how it's going to operate and function, but no matter what they're going to need some more funding to make that really top first class system for San Jose and Santa Clara County. That would be a recommendation of 50%. And obviously, that's the highest amount of those three categories, and we support that as well. So we're recommending those three categories and percentages will be forwarded to VTA for their consideration. And that that concludes that part of it. I want to make one last piece and pitch, which is as just went through the list of the different breakdowns of where the funds go. We don't want to lose sight that there's a portion of this that goes to MTC for regional distribution, and that funding would come back to ultimately would come back to the county of Santa Clara and then to San Jose. And there is a number of things that we'd love to see that fund and actually help us with improving our transit signal priority is one of those. And that's something that VTA is very interested in seeing other cities get to where we are a little ahead of the pack on that, but that is at least one thing that we'd like to see. So we don't want to lose sight of the fact that MTC will be distributing portions of the sales tax generated in Santa Clara County, how they're going to do that, and how much would come back to Santa Clara County and San Jose. With that, I'm going to wrap up for questions and we are here. The whole team is here. If there's any questions on any of this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much for the presentation from our visitors from VTA and from the city. I've heard this presentation a few times as a director for VTA, and the return to source was a huge component of actually the board deciding to approve moving forward and being part of the regional measure. So I'm I'm really glad to see that. And then I'm hoping that we get to see the return to source, return to source when it comes to the city of, of San Jose, also, the transit signal priority is really important. I know Ramses is very fond of our priority transit first priority program that we established a few years ago. And now the VTA is taking it on, and we need to encourage all of our surrounding cities to make sure they have that that as well. And then, of course, the pavement component, making sure all of our streets are paved after the after we exhaust the funds that we're using from measure T and other sources. So that that's great. I know there are several colleagues who would like to speak, but let's go to members of the public first. I have two cards. Vincent, Mar and Brian. Come on down. I would like to thank you. The members from VTA, they provided a service for people with disabilities access. I think it's called now. And so it it's very helpful. The program I ran was part of wouldn't have been able to run without that. And the other thing I really think it's important you're talking about return to source. The source is us for. I mean, eventually the people. And one of the people that doesn't seem to have this source is people who are unhoused and just access to bus passes. I called around trying to find out, and it was hard to find out where you get it, you know, and if you're going to remove people and I understand why that needs to be done, just having access to that would be a very basic return to source. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Good afternoon. Members of the San Jose City Council. My name is Vincent Mar. I'm here on behalf of sideways. We are one of the partners of the San Jose Connector Project, which is the private sector side of the public private partnership. Our consortium was selected by the city to develop, design, build and operate an automated transit network system to connect the San Jose, Diridon station and the San Jose airport. I just want to take this opportunity to thank the staff from the San Jose City Department of Transportation, as well as all the airport staff, for partnering with us on this project. In 2000, voters approved measure A for transit funding and the Dearden Airport Connector was among the one of the most popular projects in that measure, according to voter polls. Our request is that the innovative transit projects like the San Jose Connector Project are made eligible for funding through the regional measure. These local funds can be leveraged for state and federal dollars, which will be necessary to bring this important transit project to those in the community who need it most. And for the voters who asked for it. Thanks for your time and consideration. Back to council. Thank you. Thank you for the members of the public who came to speak on this issue. Going first to Council Member Campos. Thank you, Vice Mayor. I'd like to start off by thanking our phenomenal Dot team for their partnership with the VTA and our community throughout this process. A special thanks to Jessica Zink, Ramsey's director Risto and Ali, and David Tran for their tireless advocacy on behalf of the City of San Jose. We know that this regional measure has been years in the making, and if voters approve this investment, it has the potential to save our regional transit network. We have heard about the severe fiscal cliff that our partners at Bart and Caltrain are facing. Considering the significant local investment that we are making here in San Jose to establish Dearden as a major hub for Caltrain, Bart and high speed rail, their survival is crucial for our local transportation priorities, and in Santa Clara County, we also have the unique opportunity to reimagine how we're delivering transit to our community. Because if this measure passes, we must spend the next 14 years making our system fast, reliable and safe. In my experience, when I'm talking with residents about why they choose a car over public transit, it usually comes down to two things transit isn't fast enough and they don't feel safe. And I'm going to focus on the second point, because this is uplifted further by our youth commission. Safety has to be at the center of everything that we do. It isn't just safety on the bus or the train, it's safety at the station. It's making sure there's enough visibility. It's safety on the way to the transit hub. It's safe for walking or biking to that station. And for those who can't park and ride, it is crucial that we are making that last mile safer and better connected. And so with that, my question is around the 20% that's requested under the pavement bucket. Can we use those dollars to add complete streets or active transportation elements as part of our repaving efforts? I'm sorry. I thought that was going to be directed toward Jess for a second, but so can you just repeat? Yeah. So part of that 20% is what they were suggesting. So the question is around the 20% under the pavement bucket. And the question is if we can use those dollars to add complete streets or activation elements of active transportation elements as part of the repaving efforts? I'm going to offer that I don't know if we know the specifics well enough at this point that those would would be able to maybe what. We're going to need to do is actually go back and check to see the eligibility that's actually written into SB 63. It's not entirely clear that those are eligible yet, but that is something we're going to have to all the cities are asking the same sort of thing. What is eligible if if funding goes into local street network, what are they going to be the eligible categories of improvements that are that would meet the SB 63 language. So I think it's probably a little bit undetermined right now. We have to clear that up. But if I could offer, I think the focus will always be on the transit. Well, for for us, it's going to be on that transit component. The safety reliability of the individuals. And so that's the primary focus. So if the ability is there for that to be utilized with these funds within that the the local streets type work that we'll figure out a way to do that. But, but we need to make sure that it's eligible within the SB 63 itself. Thank you for that answer. I know that maintaining our roadways is costly and that we have to find these dollars somewhere, but to the best of our ability, we should be pairing roadway maintenance with changes to our built environment. That's how we promote public transit. I'll share one example. In my district, which Monterey Highway runs along. And so right outside of Edenvale and the one Branham Lane life moves. There's a bus stop, and that bus stop has no bus shelter. It has very little sidewalk. And I have seen people waiting on the Caltrain train tracks to get some shade as they wait for the bus. So when people are having to wait in these circumstances, it doesn't make writing public transit the number one option. And I'm sure that there are examples like that throughout the city and the county. So I just wanted to highlight one really key element of looking at how we're repaving, but also matching that with the needs of creating that last mile connectivity that our, our riders really are asking for. My second question is regarding safety at our transit hubs, specifically light rail stations. Has the agency explored adding turnstiles or other infrastructure to collect fees and fares? Sorry. The concept of fare gates is continuing to be a conversation that occurs. The difficulty that we have is really being such an open system and trying to close it completely to the point where it can be something that can be utilized throughout the entire system. So I'm not going to say it's completely off the table, but it's something that's a little more difficult for us to manage than it is for the likes of like a Bart, which has a much more closed system and easier for them to manage that. But but we'll look at any other ways possible for us to manage that that component as best we can. Thank you for that response. Those were all my questions. And I just want to uplift this last piece about how we're promoting ridership, because, you know, there's definitely a correlation that our youth, especially when I've attended Silicon Valley Youth climate action meetings, and they're demonstrating that they they're aware that single use vehicle trips are causing huge amounts of pollutants, greenhouse gases in our environment. And they want to be riding public transit. And so I just want to close out with some advocacy on behalf of our youth. I'm thrilled that on page 17 of the presentation, we're seeing the staff recommendation, including youth passes. And I want to expand on our vision for transit equity. I strongly encourage us to work together and think about how we could potentially provide transit passes that are free or extremely affordable to youth under the age of 18, because we have opportunities throughout the city that our youth need to be able to access. And public transit can be that great equalizer that helps get our youth from, you know, district two. District nine to downtown to to to smart pass pilot has demonstrated great success from our community colleges and getting more ridership there. And the Fremont Union High School District, along with VTA, has recently secured smart passes for all of the students in their high school district. And so I'm inspired by how we could potentially champion a similar initiative in our city. We need to recognize that economic mobility has a lot of components and public transit that is free, that is reliable, that is accessible is definitely one of those vehicles that helps uplift the economy of our residents. And so I just want us to really think about the future that this could bring us. If it does move, if it is approved by the voters. And with that, I will move to approve the five signature memo and thank my colleagues for their partnership on this second. Thank you. Thank you. We have a motion and a second council member Ortiz. Thank you so much, vice Mayor. I want to thank staff really for a really thoughtful memo. It's clear a lot of work went into aligning our city's priorities with Vta's broader framework, and I appreciate that. Focus on improving service, wider experience and long term sustainability. I also want to express my support for the memorandum brought forward by Council Member Campos alongside Vice Mayor Foley, Council Member Cohen, Council Member Candelas and myself. For me, what's most important here is what this means for East San Jose. We are the most transit reliant area in the county and as a result, we should also be among the areas that see the greatest benefit from this investment. When we invest in transit in district five, we're not just improving a system, we're directly impacting people's ability to go to work, get to school and access important resources like grocery stores, community centers childcare investments like these have the potential to further accelerate the progress we want to see in East San Jose, with the largest portion of VTA riders coming from our area, these dollars can go further, supporting more active activity along our corridors, strengthening our small business community and making our neighborhoods more connected and economically resilient. This is also about long term economic growth. When we invest in transit, when we invest in transit communities that rely on it the most, we're investing in workforce access. Local small businesses having access to customers and workforce and overall vitality of those communities. So I just want to thank staff for bringing this forward, and I'm proud to support both the staff recommendation and the memorandum we worked on together to ensure these investments truly, truly deliver for our residents. One thing I just would continue like to like to mention, and it's something I don't see in this document, is Vta's responsibility to address impacts to surrounding communities during transportation construction. There has been and continues to be great impacts in district five due to the Eabc project. My experience as a resident and organizer during the BRT construction and now as a Council member during the Eabc project, have been at best unsatisfactory. And you know, I'm. Now 'm forced to. Unfortunately, CC former Mayor Lopez just to receive a response from VTA staff. We have a lack of communication when responding to my constituents and even responding to my office. This is unacceptable, and I won't stop raising this until my constituents get their support. We finally got support for our small businesses after many of them had to sell along the Capital Expressway corridor, but it took half a year to to be able to prove to VTA that district five residents were worth this type of funding. And now we have construction going on late at night, overnight, during times in which people are supposed to be sleeping. It's hot in district five. They're not able to close their windows because of the heat, and there's not proper dust mitigation. There's requirement for the contractor to put water on the construction sites to reduce dust. That is not happening. Also, just just to be honest with you, VTA continues to cancel our public meetings. And Lupita, who's leading some of the PR work, the community relations work, she's not open to feedback and she's not open to communications. I've had tried to have public conversations with her. She's not doing a good job. I would like to ask that she never be assigned to work in my district. I don't want to see her in my in my area. She does not she doesn't do right by my constituents, and she doesn't do right by me as as a council member. And so, you know, a lot of these resources are going to these funding. They're going to have to be voted on. Good. Good luck getting votes from district five residents. Good luck because they're unhappy with VTA. And many times that that unhappiness extends to the city of San Jose. I have to practically yell and cc everybody and the VTA board to get updates, and that's not acceptable. And so I feel like my district's being respected. I'm going to continue to raise that. Thank you. Thank you, Council member. Council member Cohen. thank you, and I appreciate the buckets of investment that have been brought forward. Obviously, there's a lot of detail under those that we'll figure out as we move forward, move on. Just to highlight one obviously electrification of the line south of here on Caltrain. Probably not going to happen in the way that we envision. But since Caltrain is investing in the battery electric units, the hybrid trains, which will allow us to have continual continuous service from San Francisco to Gilroy without having to actually electrify the up line. So there will probably be some need for additional investment in that service and that expansion. I did want to raise one item that I know is on the list of many things, but to me, the efficiency of service north of downtown into North San Jose and then around through, you know, eventually over to east side, through down capital takes twice as long to get from North San Jose to City Hall than it does to drive from North San Jose to City Hall. It hasn't been a very compelling argument to get on the train. So that's the signal priority and things that we're talking about in North San Jose are really important. We know that, fortunately, because of separation and other reasons, the line south is pretty efficient and is one of the better utilized parts of the line. But until we have something some similar and equivalent in North San Jose, we're not going to see the usage that we want. And the and driving people onto transit. So I definitely want to keep focused on that. Along with the idea of grade separation at some of the intersections. And some of these resources could potentially be invested in helping us reach our grade separation goals at Montague and Trimble and maybe some other intersections in North San Jose. So I just want to elevate that. I also want to appreciate the comments from Councilmember Campos. I have been having conversations with. Some of the folks at VTA already about transit passes for youth. I've been talking to many of the youth in my district who have been asking for it. I know that the model that's been done at Fremont Unified or Fremont Union High School District in Sunnyvale is a little different in that they're paying for passes and and services being adjusted in order to be used for for getting people to school. My vision is that we don't we're not necessarily talking about using it to and from school unless it's already coincides with existing lines or existing routes, but that we should be encouraging students to use transit at other times of day, or to get to after school activities, or to get to jobs, or come downtown. And to me, building that ridership habit. Many students seem to want to have it, but without passes, they're not utilizing it as much would be great. The other thing is that, you know, there's times of day where the busses are not utilized, but they're running and getting people on the bus, to me seems to be just as important a goal objective as Farebox revenue return. Given that. People feel more comfortable riding when there's more people on the people don't ride. But if we were to give students passes and get more students on the bus, we could actually help solve that problem as well. So if there's some need for some investment through this money, that would be great. Although I do believe that it's that these are kind of separate conversations, and providing bus passes for students should be something we can do either way. But I just wanted to elevate that point as well. And, and also ensure, Councilmember Campos, that I'm definitely having those conversations as a board member at VTA. So thank you. Thank you. I agree that bus passes are important. Whether we use these funds or other funds, we should be prioritizing access for our students. Council member Kamei. Thank you so much. Just to follow up on that, I think one of the things that happens when, as a youth, you sort of get accustomed to using the busses, you tend to as an adult, also use the busses. So I think that, you know, sort of bringing on the next generation of transit riders, it's really a good investment. So I just want to put that out there so that we can think about ways in which we can certainly support our youth and really provide access. Because I think that if you've never been on a bus and you've always been driven by your parents, you never think about, oh, you know, what is it like out there? Right? And sometimes it could be a nice adventure. So I think, I think that that is something that we should think about promoting. But my point was really thinking more broadly, I appreciate the, the plan to move forward and having these policy priorities. But I also think that we have to be a little bit broader to Councilmember Ortiz's point in terms of how our community sees a transit. And I think that's going to be really important. Santa Clara County has always been very, very progressive in terms of supporting transit, in terms of putting their money out there to support transit. Now that we're a little bit more strained, it's a little bit more difficult. And so, you know, as this thing sort of moves forward, I'm going to look to how we let the community know the benefits. Right. And certainly some of these outline these priorities, outline what it would go to. But I also think that it's also the sentiment that people feel, you know, about transit and, and, you know, to some of my colleague's point on easy access and, you know, just being able to get from point A to point B in a timely manner. So as, as we move forward with this, that's what I'm going to be looking for. And I think that if we are also seen as leaders to advocate for this, I think that community sentiment also needs to sort of kind of be uplifted. Thank you for the presentation. Thank you for thank you for all of the comments from my colleagues. As a director. I will take them into consideration, particularly as we go forward with our study session on Friday and others before it comes to us for a vote in the allocation in June. Also, I'd like to thank Greg and Sam for being here from VTA and Jessica and John Ramses and Rick for being here for the presentation. Motion passes unanimously. Okay, next we come to actually the final item on our agenda, which is item 6.1, Master Consultant agreement with Brown and Caldwell. Do we have a presentation? I see Jeff coming down. We must. Good afternoon. Vice Mayor and Council Jeff Provenzano, director of the Environmental Services Department. With me is Mariana Chavez Vasquez, general manager of the regional wastewater facility. And Kapil Verma, deputy director of our capital improvement program at the regional wastewater facility. Today, we have a very rousing presentation on master consultant agreements especially pertaining to this particular topic, which is an owner advisor service. We do many master consultant agreements for different programs, but this one is a bit unique. We thought this presentation might be interesting to council to see how it how it works and the importance and the value that it brings to San Jose and our ratepayers and our capital improvement program. So with that, I'll pass it over to Mariana to begin. Thank you Jeff. So we're very happy to be here today. We are bringing you one of the major projects that we're going to have at the WEF in the next ten years. The project that we are initiating today by getting the owner advisor is one of the essential projects in the facility in the next ten years to comply with the new regulations that we have for discharge into the San Francisco Bay. We had mentioned this in the past. The water board has given us new, more stringent nutrient regulations, not only to San Jose but to all the facilities discharging into the San Francisco Bay. So the the project that we're bringing today is one of the projects will help us address that. The project will also be our fifth large Design-build project. This is becoming the method of choice for us to deliver projects that the R.w.f will talk about. Some of the advantages of that, but we are seeing increased benefits for the city, how we manage the projects, and how we minimize the risk and exposure to the city. As mentioned, these are owner advisor services and will walk us through the process that we follow to to secure these services. Good afternoon. Vermont CIP Deputy Director. Thanks for having us. I really appreciated our conversation last month when we had the opportunity to present the status of our CIP program, if you recall. And more importantly, I think to help Council really understand some of the specifics of what comprises over $1.6 billion worth of investment over the next decade. One of the projects, as Mariana alluded to, is the Aeration Improvements Project. And that's what I'm here to highlight today. I'll delve into some of the technical details, and that's what Jeff was referring to as rousing presentation. But, you know, I wanted to highlight that what we're doing today and what we're coming to council for is the award of a master consultant agreement for Owners Advisor Services, and that's to a consultant by the name of Brown and Caldwell. Want to go. Back? Okay. Just to get everyone oriented. It's a photograph of our secondary treatment process. The main infrastructure that makes it up includes aeration basins. And that's where process air is added to feed the bugs that break down our waste to reduce and ammonia. Our secondary clarifiers are the circular tanks where activated sludge settles and is effectively sent either to waste in the digestion process or return to the process itself. Try not to get too focused on the wording here. We've previously operated the series in this this process in series. We now offer it in parallel, but this is a picture of our BNR two process which is about half of our secondary process itself. And as a reminder, this project really serves two primary objectives. The first objective is asset restoration. Rehabilitation, which most of our program is about. And then as Mariana mentioned, we need to upgrade the process to account for more stringent watershed permit requirements that are right in front of us. Not sure how the photographs are showing up on your screen, but just to kind of review a little bit about the first objective or asset restoration, we like to think a picture paints a thousand words. Some of the close ups here are of structural and mechanical, mechanical deterioration of a lot of the infrastructure preventative preventative maintenance can only accomplish so much on an annual basis. And all of these components are in need of repair. Just some more photos of the existing infrastructure. I would like this to take this opportunity to note that, you know, we're not only concerned with operational reliability, as we know that the treatment plant has to operate 24/7 to meet our permit. But we're also concerned about the safety of our staffing at the facility itself. All of the operations maintenance staff need to walk around this infrastructure, put their hands on it, and it needs to be a safe environment for them. Okay, I'll do my best to get through this pretty quickly and try and keep it super simple, but I think it's really important to understand the biological process. I wanted to give you an idea here with this slide about what we have in mind to address our objective. Number two, which was the more stringent requirements of the watershed permit. The top half of the slide represents how we currently run our aeration process. It's known as a four stage step feed, biological nutrient removal process, and it's designed to remove and ammonia. Some denitrification does occur, but not enough to meet our upcoming total inorganic nitrogen limits. And that's where the second half of the slide comes in. The bottom half represents some process process improvements that we could do. It's not set in stone. We've done some previous studies on it, and we think that it's our safest bet right now to achieve a simultaneous nitrification denitrification process and remove enough ammonia, nitrate and nitrite to meet our new tin limits in the future, which is going to be super important for us. It does include some supplemental carbon additions and operates at a lower dissolved oxygen level. And what's interesting about that, that results in lower energy needs required for the process as a whole. So just an overview. Again. In summary, the project itself will consist of the scope zone shown here. The process upgrades and modifications, some structural repairs and a new carbon feed storage facility. I do want to note that at the moment, a preliminary planning level construction estimate for the project is roughly $240 million. I will also take this opportunity to note that that that is the largest capital program in the history of our program, that we'll have to date. Okay. A lot of information on this slide, but I just wanted to remind everyone that this project is being delivered using design Build. Again, one of the items that Mariana mentioned earlier, why that's important. This is our fifth design build delivery project that we're implementing. And as such, in the early stages of the project where we're at, we're currently procuring our owner's advisor, Brown and Caldwell. It is industry standard to procure an owner's advisor, not an engineer of record, but an owner's advisor to help walk us through the project. Their scope of services is in the top half of the slide, and some of their early activities following contract execution will be the development of a project definition report, where they really help the city navigate through the possibilities of the project's help build some boundaries and constraints so that we can go out and procure a design builder, which will, in effect, be our engineer of record and our constructor to help build a project for us. This contract with Brown and Caldwell is anticipated to take us through the year 2034, so it's not a short term contract. It's almost eight years in duration for this phase of the project. Okay, just a snapshot of the anticipated scope of services. A typical project management building a project definition report for us, some SQL and permitting support, helping us to procure the design builder. And then once we get the design builder and start the initial 60% design, helping us through that, as well as developing a guaranteed maximum price with the design builder, then the project moves into construction which is the bulk of their services from a dollar amount. Engineering services during that phase, and then construction management oversight following completion, substantial completion of the project. We typically go through a 12 month performance evaluation where they will provide some engineering support, a few items that I'd like to highlight for council. Yes, the 18.9 million we recognize that is a large dollar amount. However, I would like to emphasize that it is a not to exceed contract and staff will be negotiating multiple service orders along the timeline of the project, with cost effective delivery in mind. So we have several multiple phases, and we effectively are looking at this as a savings account for the city that we'll be drawing down from the bulk of the dollar amount, as I mentioned, is in construction. So this is not an engineer of record contract for us. They do provide a significant amount of service there. You know, we like to perform some benchmarking studies as now we're ten years deep into the program and this being our fifth design build. And you know, we've we've researched that industry standard ranges for, oh, contracts are roughly 5 to 12.5% of the construction cost value of a project. So the city and the R.w.f CIP are roughly on the lower end of the range for industry standard. For this kind of contract. And that's pretty consistent with the five or I guess, the four previous contacts that we've had to, to date. Just a final note on Brown and Caldwell. You know, they've been a partner to the city for several years and several projects. And we certainly have the utmost confidence that they are well suited to help us navigate through this complex and really exciting project for us. And that's the end of the presentation. And take questions. We're open for questions. Wonderful. Thank you very much. Let's go to members of the public for any comments. Brian Darby. Outside of the ceremonial. Events that happened, this is probably the most important thing you'll do because this is the future. If we don't have proper sewage, you get cholera. It really. And people do. If you look around the world and you look at the history of those things. So that's a very small amount of money to pay for building a next generation way of dealing with our waste. Thank you. Back to council. Thank you. Council member Kamei. Thank you so much for the presentation and thank you so much for the briefing. I always get a lot of information from the briefing, so I really appreciate it. I want to thank Brian for his comments. You know, it's one of those things where when you don't have any issues, don't have any trouble, everybody is all happy. But the minute that something happens with the system, you're in a lot of trouble. So I just want to thank you for looking sort of on the on the long side and, and keeping things safe for us. I mean, I look at that corroded pipe and I think, oh my gosh, this looks terrible. But but you're right. A picture does show a thousand words. And I, and I'm glad that we're able to move forward on this. And with that, I'd like to move approval and support of the a master Consultant agreement. Okay, great. We have a motion and a second. Thank you, Council Member Cohen. Well, I was going to just thank you for the continual work of keeping this facility running and doing all the important CIP that's needed and was happy to second the motion. I think we all appreciate all of the work you're doing, even though we probably don't see you very often. But I do appreciate the briefing that you had with me. I think it was last week. I'm sitting here thinking, I've seen this presentation very recently. I can't remember where, but thank you so much and thank you for all that you do out of the wastewater treatment plant out in district four. I think with that, let's vote. Motion passes unanimously. So concludes our regular agenda. We now move to Open Forum. Brian. John and Pachuco, come on down. You do not have to call speak in the order that you're called. Thank you. This is a 250th year of the celebration of our Declaration of Independence. And one of those was we hold these truths to be self-evident. Do we? I would really like to know that. Why are we here? Two people are resigned from the House of Representatives because of abuse. They apparently did or have committed, confessed to. And we had one person that was sat at this dais that did the same thing. Did anybody know about that? The investigation is over. In this particular situation, and I'm merely asking that question, do we hold these truths and are they self- evident? I would ask us to think about that seriously. People are wondering why the the public has this negative output, negative view. That's because of what happens. Apparently, one of these representatives. This was a known situation for over a decade, and to the women of our community, as the gentleman or not, a gentleman jury's still out on that one. As a male. I'm sorry. Thank you. Next speaker. Hello. I'm Pachuco, obviously. I think I talked to most of you guys, emailed you guys a few years back, had the same agenda I do now. I think when I first came, my mam decided to cut the mic off. The second time I came around, you know, I went up to, I think all of you guys individually, some are new, you know, obviously Casey Campos, I don't remember Doan being here and Macaulay and Anthony, but with that being said I think my bullet point was when they said, I came down here to discuss how it was being homeless, and I think that it was more for them to get credibility for them trying to house people. But those homeless programs are, you know, it's a different story. They're horrible. But bullet point was, was that I told them, you know, Sam Liccardo framed me, you know, destroyed evidence, filed a motion to mislead the jury horse's witnesses, threaten them with fear, call my mom. A told me, you know, you illegals come to this country. You're lucky you're not deported now, Stefano heard everything and was right. There just being, quote unquote of the words of Sam Liccardo. And Stefano heard everything he said. And then the last time I came here, you know, he motioned to him to go get a memo and passed it out to all you guys before I even spoke. So it's what one person says to another today we're going to help you get exonerated. What he did was illegal. You know, this is the person we're going to have you contact