CC 06-09-2022 Item No. 38 Budget_Late Written Communications (updated 6-13-22)From:Jean Bedord
To:City Clerk
Subject:City Council Agenda Item #38 Budget City Public comment June 7 continued to June 9, 2022
Date:Thursday, June 9, 2022 10:48:42 PM
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Good evening, Mayor Paul and council members,
Please include in the public record:
My name is Jean Bedord and I am a long time Cupertino resident. This item is a voluminous
document, and I commend the staff for producing it. Finance is very short-staffed and they’ve
little time to make extensive changes. Time is running out to get an operational budget – June
30 is only 3 weeks away and there’s a lot of work that needs to be done.
At the May 19 meeting, council added two brand-new positions at the very last minute which
meant reworking the entire budget document for this meeting. Those new positions are (1) An
Assistant City Manager for $386.988 K to oversee legislative issues and advocacy, do
outreach to communities, and to engage with affordable housing developers and (2) A
Legislative Aide for $183,365. These two positions will cost the city over $570 thousand.
I object to these new positions for several reasons:
First, there has been no public vetting of these job descriptions. It seems these two, yes, two
positions are being added for the benefit of council, NOT residents.
Secondly, do other cities of Cupertino’s size have two dedicated positions to support
legislative activities? I have not seen any comparisons to other West Valley cities. Small
cities are most effective when working through cities associations, not lone ranger tactics.
Shouldn’t Cupertino be working with Sunnyvale, Saratoga and Los Gatos? These are council
roles, NOT staff.
Thirdly, there is already a Legislative Review Committee which does not seem to be
particularly effective in influencing state legislation. Staff, regardless of whether they are
consultants or city staff, are NOT advocates for the city. Advocacy is the job of the city
council. So why should the city spend over half a million dollars to hire staff to do
council’s job?
These positions are a waste of taxpayer money – please reconsider and remove from the
budget.
Thank you.
Warm regards,
Jean Bedord
From:Rhoda Fry
To:City Council; Cupertino City Manager"s Office; City Clerk
Subject:June 9 City Council Item #38
Date:Thursday, June 9, 2022 5:56:22 PM
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June 9 City Council Item #38
Dear City Council,
Please explain #38 2 A,
a. Approve appropriations of $500,000 in the Capital Improvement Program Capital Projects Fund
for the Blackberry Farms Pools Splash Pad project”
I thought this item had been removed from the budget.
Regarding #38 2 L,
l. Approve appropriations of $23,600 in the Blackberry Farm Enterprise Fund for the Blackberry Farm
Golf Renovation / Alternative Use Study project
I don’t think that money should be taken out of the golf enterprise fund on this one. It doesn’t really
have anything to do with the golf course. And when people look at the Golf Enterprise Fund, it will
make it look like the golf course is making less money than it actually is and that could give a false
impression.
From:Rhoda Fry
To:City Council; Cupertino City Manager"s Office; City Clerk
Subject:June 9 City Council Public Comment or Postponements- not sure which
Date:Thursday, June 9, 2022 6:27:27 PM
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June 9 City Council Public Comment or Postponements- not sure which
Dear City Council,
While we should finalize the operational budget this evening #38(1), please let’s not rush to get
Priority Ranking #14 and CIP #38(2) decided. I think that it is important to do due diligence here.
Perhaps tonight’s agenda can be prioritized accordingly.
Respectfully,
Rhoda Fry
From:Liang Chao
To:City Clerk
Subject:Written Communication Shared: Roles and Responsibility of Assistant/Deputy City Manager for planning,
community engagement and strategic priorities
Date:Friday, June 10, 2022 5:29:53 PM
Here is the email to City Manager which I shared at the 6/9 Council meeting.
Please include it in the meeting record as materials distributed at the public meeting.
From: Liang Chao <LiangChao@cupertino.org>
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2022 10:56 PM
To: Darcy Paul
Subject: Roles and Responsibility of Assistant/Deputy City Manager for planning, community
engagement and strategic priorities
Here is what I wrote up for the Assistant/Deputy City Manager.
These are areas of gaps in our services . What do you think?
=====
Roles and Responsibility of Assistant/Deputy City Manager for planning, community engagement and
strategic priorities:
1. Take leadership in city wide and regional strategic planning
2. Take leadership in strategic community engagement for community and development
projects and other strategic city projects
3. Take leadership in strategic partnership with service providers, such as Habitat for Humanity,
Project Sentinel, Bay Area Housing Authority and other potential recipients of CDBG grants,
and affordable housing developers in order to make progress
4. Take leadership in strategic communications with the community and news organizations
(serving the function of CIO)
5. Take leadership in strategic partnership with the County and other agencies who provide
social services and supportive services to fill in the gap in Cupertino.
Impact of such a position would have:
If we had such a person in charge, the CEP He committee won’t still have no community
engagement plan after 4 meetings.
If we had such a position, we won’t have made no progress or have given no update to
Council on potential partnership with Habitat Humanity or Bay Area Housing Authority on
special needs housing since 2019.
If we had such a position, we won’t still have no positive relationship with news media or have
no plan to counter continued mis-portrayal of Cupertino, resulting in misperception by the
legislators and the HCD. Such misperception could have legal consequences as Cupertino is
singled out for target unfairly.
If we had such a position, we would have better collaboration with the County and leverage
the existing programs provided by the County on the Plan to End Homeless or the Homeless
Jobs Program.
Liang
Liang Chao
Vice Mayor
City Council
LiangChao@cupertino.org
408-777-3192