City Manager

Talk and Walk with the City Manager

Today I held the first monthly Talk and Walk event (see photo). This casual monthly opportunity is available for residents to ask questions and share ideas and includes a 30 minute virtual talk and an hour walk and talk. The next event will be held February 25th.

GreenWaste Quarterly Report
October-December 2021 report can be found here.

Building Smart Cities
Peter Pirnejad, has the distinct honor to sit on a think tank with a panel of civic leaders from around the world to inform a study titled, “Building a Future-Ready City.” The study is being commissioned by ThoughtLab, a leading researcher in the area of Smart Cities. The purpose of the study is to provide cities with an evidence-based roadmap for becoming a future-ready city and leader in climate action.

Automatic License Plate Reader

ALPR cameras have continued to be installed this week; 38 of the 40 locations have been installed and are in service. The 60-day trial period begins next week. Staff will provide City Council an update at their February meeting.

Held Meetings and Events
January 24: Parks and Recreation Committee Special Meeting 5:30-7pm
January 24: Pathways Committee 6:30-9:30pm
January 25: City Council Priority Setting 9-3pm
January 25: Community Relations Committee 7-9pm
January 27: COVID-19 Testing by Appointment 9:30-4pm 452 people were tested
January 28: Talk and Walk with the City Manager 10:30-Noon

Upcoming Meetings and Events
*Agendas will be posted a minimum of 72 hours in advance
February 1: Emergency Communications Committee 7-9pm
February 1: Youth Commission 7-8pm
February 2: Parks and Recreation Open House 5:30-6:15pm
February 3: Planning Commission 6pm
February 4: Artist Robert Schick's Walk and Talk Tour 3:30-4:30pm

For a complete list of and more information, visit www.losaltoshills.ca.gov/calendar

Planning and Building Department

Site Development / Fast Track Public Hearing
No Public Hearing was held this week.

Planning Commission Public Hearing
No Public Hearing was held this week.

Housing Element Update:

Staff had a productive meeting with Foothill College to discuss housing and Town’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation for the Housing Element 2023-2031.
Staff will be holding an online pop-up event via zoom to discuss the Housing Element Update process on February 10^th at 6 pm. The details are available on the Housing Element Update webpage.
The project team is working on the survey for the Housing Element Update that would be rolled out on February 1, 2022.

Member Agency Working Group
Areli Perez, Assistant Planner, attended the first Member Agency Working Group (MAWG) monthly meeting of 2022 hosted by Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) on Thursday, January 27. All member agencies provided an update on their respective agency’s goals. Furthermore, the meeting discussed upcoming data collection requests for Reach Codes on Evaluation, Measurement and Verification (EM&V), reach codes 2.0, and the NEM successor tariff.

Site Development Permits*
Applied: 9
Approved: 0

Building Permits*
Applied: 14
Issued: 11

Inspections*
Building: 61

Code Enforcement Cases*
Open: 2
Closed: 0

*January 21- January 27

Public Works Department

Personnel: Candidates for the Assistant Engineer position have been scheduled for a panel interview

CIP Projects

Town Hall Addition
Phase 1 is nearing completion revised final punch list to the contractor

East Sunset Drive Roadway Widening: four bids were received on January 26. The bid amounts range from $454,616 to $1,122,850.Picture below.

2021 Pavement Rehabilitation and Drainage Improvement Project
Robleda Road: the project is complete. Engineering will prepare and present a staff report for City Council’s acceptance at the February meeting.

Westwind Community Barn
CIP work started on 1/24/22 (photo above) and approved a change order for electric fencing power source. Album available here.

Studied and prepared the rough order of magnitude estimate for drilling a new water well. This project will be proposed for ARPA funds.

Private Development Projects
Natoma Oaks subdivision – met with a field inspector on Thursday, 1/28, to inspect the project

Encroachment Permits and Customer Requests
Encroachment Permits: 1
See Click Fix or customer calls: 0
Submittal received: 0

Sanitary Sewers

Helped with permit applications for 14381 Miranda Way and 25351 West Fremont Road.
Issued sewer lateral permits for 12500 Minorca Ct and 13480 Wildcrest Drive.

Pathway Projects

Active pathway projects update January 2022
Coordinated with the pathway committee on the status
Matadero Pathway - Site visit with Mike on Monday
Byrne Park Pathway – completed! Rehabilitation work, and residents were notified of the work completion (photos below). "There are many groups/people to thank who enabled the repair and restoration of this beautiful pathway segment. A big thanks to the Town’s Public Works/Maintenance Department for having such a ‘can do’ attitude and jumped on the restoration/repair of this pathway. Behind the scenes, a thank you to the Pathway Committee for identifying this path segment as in need of restoration to better serve the community, the Town’s Engineering/Public Works Department that worked with the homeowners and surveyors, the homeowners who agreed to alter their pathway easement for a new pathway easement, and finally the city council who approved the funds to repair/renovate the pathway.
This path is a beautiful route into the back of Byrne Park Preserve that had become difficult to use. Thanks to those previously mentioned, the path is much safer for people and horses; the path provides easier access to the Artimas Ginzton Pathway and the paths along Moody Rd." - Bob Elson

Stormwater Inspections
Ongoing site inspections, writing reports, updating spreadsheet

Maintenance Crew
After hours or weekend callouts: 0
Fallen trees/major limbs down: 0

Routine Maintenance performed at Town Hall, Purissima Park, Byrne Preserve, and Westwind Community Barn
Setup and take down for COVID-19 Testing

Finance and Human Resources Department

Received $154,025 in cash receipts and electronic funds transfer (EFT).
Payroll processed 35 checks with a liability of $88,976.
Conducted the first Quarterly All Staff Meeting. The City Manager reviewed the City Council goals. Nadine Levin, from MRG reviewed the Employee Survey results and Sarina Revillar shared the Proposed Employee Salary and Benefit Enhancements. Dave Tighe, discussed the communication assessment with the staff and the next steps.
Staff is collaborating with Portola Valley on IT Services. The IT Services contract with Redwood City expires on June 30, 2022.

The contracts that are expiring this year are:

Bayscape Landscape Management, expiration 7/1/22
Curtis Horticulture, expiration 9/30/22
City of Redwood City-IT Services, expiration 6/30/22

City Council approved the following contracts on 1/20/22:

WestBay Sanitary Sewer District expiration date of 7/31/27
Marsha Hovey LLC expiration date of 6/30/22

The following link provides the Town’s major contract list.

Parks and Recreation Department

Victoria Dye Equestrian
City Manager and staff met with VDE. A walkthrough is scheduled for next week.

Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Directors
Topic discussed included: Spring/Summer Special Events, COVID impacts, CPRS Conference, and trends.

Spring-Summer Activity Guide
The first proof of Spring-Summer Activity Guide was provided. Agreements were emailed to Independent Contractors. Activity Guides will arrive in residents mailboxes by March 1^st.

Pop-Up Photo Frame
The Town’s Pop-Up Photo Frame installed at Town Hall, has been decorated for Valentine’s Day. All are encouraged to visit the frame photo and share with the community. To learn more visit the link above. Sample photo above.

Pilot Manure Disposal Program
This program is now available for residents with backyard horses. The 2-yard bin is located on the south side of Purissima Park near the Town Riding Arena. To obtain a lock combo, please visit the hyperlink. Photos available here.

Sheriff's Weekly Report

Visit the link to view the Sheriff's weekly report.

Go Niners!
*masks were quickly removed for photo