City Manager

Incoming Heat Wave
Below is a message from PG&E

The weather forecasts show significant, multi-day heat through the Labor Day weekend, which might trigger substantial unplanned, heat-related outages territory-wide.
 
Fair and dry weather is expected with low clouds near the coast and slightly warmer inland temperatures. More robust warming by about 5-10 degrees is anticipated in the next few days with highs in the 103-108F range in the California interior. Temperatures will peak over the Labor Day Weekend as a very strong ridge of high pressure builds, with widespread triple-digit heat expected immediately inland from the coast. Daytime highs in the 108-110F range or warmer are possible in the Central Valley during this time, with 90s to low 100s in coastal valleys.
 
The National Weather Service has issued multiple Excessive Heat Watches and Warnings.
 
You can visit www.pge.com/weather for updated information. As well as PGE Emergency Site - PSPS 7-Day Forecast is also helpful.
 
The heat along the coast is expected to subside next Tuesday Sept 6, but hot conditions will continue in the interior through at least the latter part of next week. While Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) events are not expected for now, Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS) technology is active on circuits in high fire threat areas.
 
Click here to review a letter from PG&E on ways to conserve energy during this heat wave.

Cooling Centers
Extremely hot weather can result in heatstroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, sunburn, heat rash, and in some instances death. Please take safety measures to stay safe and lend a helping hand to family, friends, and neighbors. If you know of a vulnerable person without air conditioning, such as an elderly or infirm neighbor or someone with a drug or alcohol disorder or severe mental illness, please help them get to an air-conditioned space between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. If you see someone on the street who may be having a life-threatening reaction to the heat, please call 911. Thank you for doing your part to keep people safe during a heat crisis.  Santa Clara County Cooling Centers are open today until Wednesday, September 7th, or as conditions persist. A list of cooling centers in the County can be found HERE.

Battery Backup Energy Storage System (BESS)
The Town has an agreement with Syserco Energy Solutions for the design and build of this project at Town Hall. Please see the hyperlink below for weekly updates on the project.

Weekly Updates

City Manager Out of the Office
The City Manager will be out of the office on September 5th for Labor Day and then attending the California League of Cities annual conference in Long Beach September 8-9.  He will be returning to the office September 13th.  

Legacy Giving Ad Hoc Committee Meeting - September 1 at 1pm
This week the Ad Hoc Committee met to discuss the next steps in establishing a donation fund for the Town. The Committee completed its initial research and will be having a short discussion at the upcoming City Council meeting to share their findings on how to move forward.
 
Broadband Community Meeting – Scheduled for October 5, 2022
The Town has engaged with a Broadband Consultant, Government Technology Group, LLC, to complete a Strategic Broadband Feasibility Study for Los Altos Hills. One part of their study includes a community meeting to listen to the residents of the Town and discuss their current internet connectivity and their thoughts on how the Town can help in identifying options and project's that can improve the availability of fiber internet. The meeting will be held in a hybrid format – on zoom and in-person at Town Hall – on October 5^th at 6:00pm. Residents will be receiving a postcard in the mail soon with more information about this event.
 
Meeting with the New Fire Chief
Town management staff had an introductory meeting this week with the new Fire Chief of the Santa Clara County Fire Department, Suwanna Kerdkaew. The Town and the Fire Department reaffirmed their commitment to helping residents plan for development and mitigate fire dangers in the community. We discussed the upcoming fire code adoption, as well as fire truck egress and ingress requirements. We agreed their needs to be additional communication in this area. 

Stanford Development 
The County is updating the Stanford Community Plan which is part of their General Plan and works like a “mini general plan” for Stanford. To stay informed and provide feedback residents can reach out to County Supervisors, participate in study session meetings with the County Planning Commission, engage with the HLUET Committee, or contact County Planning staff (See list of dates and contacts below). Specific email address to provide feedback are listed below as well.

Public Works 

Personnel

Assistant Engineer:  Candidate were interviewed and we have identified an individual. We anticipate a start date of 9/12/22

Engineering

Page Mill Road Tree Survey – Consultant updated that report may take until end of August currently in discussion with consultant to receive an updated date.

CIP Projects

Matadero Creek Erosion – Based on the letter sent to the Water Board from the Mayor on July 19, 2022, the Town is working on a mitigation and monitoring plan. Staff is working with the consultant to prepare the plan and expect to have a draft next week. 

East Sunset Drive roadway widening – Project COMPLETE!

2022 Pavement Rehabilitation and Drainage Improvement Project - City Council awarded a contract to Interstate Grading & Paving, Inc. on August 18 regular City Council meeting.  A pre-construction meeting will be held on 9/6/2022.

Town Hall Existing Space Renovation – The Town has received two bids for the Town Hall renovation project.  The scope includes replacing existing carpet, repainting interior walls, and converting our shared copy and storage area into a new finance office to add three workstations to replace the four that will be lost when we convert the Phase 2 Town Hall addition to a conference room for the staff and community.  The award of this contract will be on the agenda of the September City Council meeting.

Corp Yard Site Improvements – Silicon Valley Paving, Inc. (SVP) mobilized onsite on Monday, August 29, 2022, and began construction on the same day.  During the first week, the contractor established horizontal and vertical control, rough graded the site, and excavated two basins.  Subsequently, the contractor built the lumber formwork and installed rebars for concrete curbs around the basins.  The first concrete pour is scheduled on Friday, September 2.  The entire construction is expected to take two weeks and should complete on September 12 or 13.  Upon completion, the site will be able to contain surface runoffs onsite and improve site drainage during the next wet season. 

EVSE Town Hall – Three Powerflex charging stations with four chargers were activated on August 26, 2022.  With the two existing ChargePoint chargers, there are six EV chargers total at the Town Hall.  The EV chargers, Parks & Rec building, Town Hall Building, and Council Chamber now draw electricity from the electrical room, and they are powered by renewable energy produced by solar panels during the day. Onboarding for staff will occur on next week.

Prop 68 contract award and schedule – The Town received the third round of review comments from a Plan Checker on August 19, 2022, with four comments.  The Town responded to the comments on August 29, 2022.

Adobe Creek Sanitary Sewer Study – Engineering has scheduled a Team meeting with Freyer & Laureta, Inc. on September 2, 2022, to finalize the Basis of Design Report.  Engineering has also received a cost proposal for topographic survey to conduct a feasibility study for a new sewer bypass to improve sewer flow and reduce the chance of blockage and eliminate capacity deficiencies identified in the Wastewater Collection System Master Plan (March 2018) for the Adobe Creek Sanitary Sewer network.

Sewer root foaming 2022 – Duke’s has completed root foaming on almost all of the 46,525 linear feet, except three sewer main segment.  Root foaming will stunt the growth of protruding roots at sewer joints for at least two years and reduce the risk of sanitary sewer overflows.

Purissima Park and Westwind Community Barn Water Wells – Staff has selected Cal Engineering & Geology, Inc. to perform a desktop study and prepare a geologist report of the subsurface conditions at these two locations.  Findings from this report will be used to develop an improvement plan to replace the existing water well at the Westwind Community Barn and drill a new water well at the Purissima Park.

Tree Assessment Survey
The tree assessment scope has been compiled, as well as a list of potential arborists. Looking to reach out to some arborists in order to determine capacity and availability.

Pathway Projects

2022-23 Pathway Projects – No change.

Summer Hill Pathway- City Council awarded a contract to Lea & Braze, Engineers for design services at the August 18 City Council meeting. Staff sent contract agreement to Lea & Braze via email on 8/26/2022.

Edgerton Path – Staff has reviewed and approved a preliminary pathway alignment proposed by a consultant.  Staff has also provided review comments to improve pathway design.

Fremont to Redwood Grove Pathway – The Town of LAH and City of LA are still in discussion with the help of Certified Access Specialists to help us determine how, if possible, we can build and maintain a connector trail. 

Page Mill Road Crosswalk at Foothills Park – Staff received one proposal for design services and waiting for additional proposal.

South Fork Lane to Natoma Oaks Subdivision off road path – Giuliani & Kull surveyor will mark the easement boundary with wooden stake between 9/8 and 9/15/2022.

Barley Hill Road to I-280 off road path – Giuliani & Kull surveyor will mark the easement boundary with wooden stake between 9/8 and 9/15/2022.

Permits Issued:

• Encroachment Permits: 1
• Sewer Permits: 2

Maintenance Crew
After hours or weekend callouts
Number of Requests: 0

Fallen trees/major limbs down
Number of Requests: 2

 
PW Maintenance Crew

1. Repair path on Elena rd. Remove broken concrete and replaced with new path base material
2. ROW brushing and raising trees on streets to be resurfaced by engineering
3. Repair gates and remove weeds, repair mounds, infields, and batters’ boxes at Purissima Park for Fall Ball start
4. Locate manholes for WB Sanitation
5. Water fountain repair at West Wind Barn
6. Friday, trash pickup, turf mowing, and riding arena dragging at Purissima Park, DG pathway on W Fremont Rd repair

Community Services

Town of Los Altos Hills and Los Altos Hills County Fire District collaborating at the CAPIO Conference learning innovative public information messaging, diversity, equity, inclusion, and community engagement.