Joint Meeting - GUSD Board of Education & Gilroy City Council

001presentation. Um >> this meeting is being record this uh I am calling order. Uh this meeting is being recorded and broadcasted. Images and sounds may be captured of those attending the meeting. >> Testing. Good afternoon and welcome. My name is Cesar. I will be your interpreter from Spanish to English and vice versa this evening. We will start with the pledge of allegiance. Everyone please stand. >> Ready? Begin. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the flag for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> And next we will have a roll call. School board member roll call. Trusty Fak here. >> Trustee Nelson. >> Trustee Delbono. >> Trustee Kim >> here. Trustee Moreno >> here. >> Trusty Peno >> here. >> Trustee

002Y Baker >> here. >> City Council roll call. Mayor Bozo >> here. >> Council member Hilton >> here. >> Council member Klene >> here. >> Council member Fugati >> here. >> Council member Ramirez >> here. >> Are there any um public comments that do not pertain to the agenda? I don't see any here, but just giving you a last chance. Okay. Seeing none, we will move on to information items. We do have multiple public comments on item 2A. Uh we will start with uh Cindy Nunees and then Lauren Spatrico. Good evening everyone. My name is Cindy Cindy Nunes and I'm a parent of teens and a community community member living near the site where the tragic accident happened a couple of weeks ago on Charles Lux and Lopez Way. Two individuals lost their lives after

003walking their child to school and a teenager's life was changed forever. I couldn't stand by and do anything. Out of the love for my neighborhood, the community, and our kids, I started a petition advocating for enhanced pedestrian safety and received overwhelming support. I've also been serving as a volunteer crossing guard at the corner where the accident occurred and my friend Brenda has been helping me at the corner closest to the school when she is able. Tonight, I am respectfully asking for action in these three areas. First, I'm hoping for a formal volunteer crossing guard program for hectic mornings, potentially piloting at Lasanimas and then rolled out to other elementary schools with proper training and coordination. This feels like a quick and achievable win. I'm happy to help coordinate efforts locally to support the district, the

004city, and Gary PD. But what we need now are next steps, dates and accountability partners. Secondly, education and prevention, driver safety assemblies at the high schools and pedestrian safety education for junior highs and elementary schools. Another opportunity for a meaningful and timely impact. And then third, like I spoke at the city hall meeting recently for infrastructure and planning, upgrading Charles Lux and Lopez way to a four-way stop, clearly marked crosswalks on all all four corners with beacon lights. Beacon lights at crosswalks near schools and roundabouts and/or speed bumps leading into the school. School zone signage or painted roadway warnings on Charles Lux leading into Lasanimas. and consistent signage around all Gilray Unified Schools. I understand some changes take time, but others like crossing guard programs and safety assemblies can hopefully move more quickly. Tonight, I'm

005asking for clarity around this process, timeliness, and accountability. I will continue to support that corner where the accident occurred. Are we done? >> Yes, time's up. Okay. Thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you. >> Next up is one following Lauren will be Kathy. Good evening. For the past few weeks, I have been listening carefully to comments from city and district leadership. I'll be honest, what I have heard has been discouraging. Too often, the conversation has been framed around limitations with phrases like, "We can only do so much." Tonight, I'm here to remind you that there is a great deal that can be done both immediately and over the long term when safety is treated as a priority rather than an inevitability. A clear example of swift, effective action comes from this very

006site. When the new gymnastics facility opened across the parking lot, families began parking in GSD parking, often without realizing it. Within just two weeks of classes starting, the district repainted parking spaces and installed new signage. a problem was identified and solutions were implemented quickly. The that responsiveness matters and it shows what can be possible. There are several practical lowcost supports that could be put in place at schools in a very short amount of time. First, all school sites can develop and distribute clear maps and written instructions for drop off and pickup procedures in multiple languages. Proactive communication during orientations through emails, signage, and school websites helps set expectations for drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians before unsafe behavior occurs. Second, campuses should install clear multilingual signage identifying safety rules for scooters and bicycles as well as clearly

007marked entrances and exits for vehicles. At Los Anamas Elementary alone, we've seen multiple instance this year of parents and even district staff driving the wrong way. This exit, the exit to our drop off line was once clearly marked as oneway traffic with specific exception for buses and that visual guidance is now gone. Repainting like what was done here can immediately restore clarity and safety. Third, trained school staff should be present in parking lots on a semi-regular basis. Their role would not be punitive but preventative. >> I'm sorry. Could you wrap up please? Thank you. >> Okay. Next up is Kathy Brante and then Brenda Hog. Hello everyone. Good afternoon. My name is Kathy Bante and I am a parent of a student at Los Animos Elementary and fellow public educator from a neighboring district. I'm

008here to raise concern about student safety at school drop off and dismissal times districtwide, but for my purposes specifically at Las Animas, where a recent fatal incident occurred during morning drop off. Regardless of how this incident will be ultimately classified, what gives me uh pause is that it occurred during peak arrival time at a school with nearly 800 students when hundreds of pedestrians are predictably present Monday through Friday. Research and best practice in school safety and traffic engineering are clear. Measures such as staffed crossing guards, high visibility crosswalks, and active warning signals significantly reduce pedestrian risk in school zones. These are not extraordinary interventions we're asking of you. These are basic standard safety practices used throughout California. Although I recognize the district is facing enrollment decline and budget pressures from one public educator in a

009district from to another. I get it. But student safety is a core responsibility that we can no longer defer. I appreciate GPD's presence after the tragic event. And additionally, I am grateful for the Las Anima staff and volunteers stepping in and stepping up as interim crossing guards. But this is not sufficient. The woman at the Los Anamas intersection doesn't even have a whistle. We need something sustainable. Prolonged inaction by the district and city places our students, families, and staff at ongoing risk. I am asking the board to take concrete steps by formally collaborating with the city, setting a timeline for implementing safety improvements, and publicly reporting progress for transparency purposes. Safety planning should be proactive, not reactive. Thank you so much for your time. Have a good night. >> Uh, Brenda Hog is next and

010then Jennifer Law. Good evening everyone. I just I'm going to reiterate what I'm not just be redundant of what's already been said. I just want to say I am a I moved out from the Bay Area to Gilroy because I I'm a teacher in the Bay Area and I decide to relocate to Gilroy and I work for Gilroy Unified. I'm a substitute. So in between the times that I'm subbing four to five days a week, I'm also married. My husband's a police officer for sher the sheriff's department in Santa CL County and he's all about safety. I'm all about safety. I have I have a son and so I spend my time subbing and then I spend my time in the time frame that I'm not subbing. I'm helping Cindy with the crossing of of

011this tragedy that just happened. So I don't want to we want all the safety measures. We've it's already been said. So I don't want to keep repeating that. All I want to say is I just hope that you guys are hearing what we're saying about how we're feeling and I'll continue to help as long as needed until something gets in place. And I know it can't happen overnight and it can't happen in a matter of seconds. It needs to just eventually happen so that we don't have this again. And like I said, I enjoy I walk to Los Anonymous. I live right across the street and I sub at Los Anonymous all the time. And so therefore, I feel like I feel a little bit, you know, I've only lived in Gway two years, but

012in that time that I've lived here, I feel like this community is family. And that's one of the reasons why I moved out of the Bay Area to here. So, I just want to continue to keep that family unity in this community. I know it's growing, but um I I'm just hoping that we can all work together and not point fingers at anybody, but work together as a team and collaborate and come up with some ideas that we can all work together and make this a beneficial positive thing and keep everybody safe in our community. Well, >> thank you, Miss Jennifer Law, and then Miguel Leurt. My name is Jennifer Law and I'm the parent of three boys who attend Rod Kelly. Our home is 7 minutes door to gate walking from the school, so

013it's actually faster than driving and fewer cars in the lineup. Every day we cross Welburn at the crosswalk at Kerna along with 34 other people daily. In 2006, first grader Julio Gonzalez was killed in that same intersection walking to Rod Kelly with his older brother. To this day, it's a hot mess of Frogger dodging cars that refuse to wait for us after coming to a stop. It's daily for our crossing guard and worse on Mantelli with cars coming from literally 14 different directions in a one four-way stop. I'm here to advocate for safer crossing visibility, not just for Los Animosas and Rod Kelly, but all schools in the district. Yesterday, I drove around and observed every school in the district, including the middle schools and high schools. There are controlled stops with stop signs and

014lines on the ground, but nothing to warn drivers that the of these upcoming crosswalks. I noticed that most of the middle schools and high schools have the new RRFB rectangular flashing beacons. Um, which is what we're all ask what everybody was asking for. But upon doing research, I found that these can only be installed in the middle of a block and not in conjunction with the stop sign. Um, so I did a deep dive into the manual of uniform traffic control devices. um on the not on the state level. Um there are so many stipulations about the signage and the size and the shape and the color and the font and especially the placement. So maybe the city can shed some light on what kind of pedestrian crossings can also help drivers recognize school crossing

015zones in addition to stop signs. Some crossings are labeled nicely like by solar zono. Don't hit the trail hikers and bikers. But what about our school zones? As of now, they're simply distinguished by yellow painted crosswalks instead of the white ones everywhere else. I just learned that yellow means school. >> Thank you. Could you wrap up, please? >> Thank you, >> Miguel. And then Gina Lacata buddy. Good evening members of the district, city, and public. My name is Miguel Flecked. I'm here tonight wearing a few hats because safety doesn't live in just one lane. I'm on the student side council for Glen View Elementary. I serve on a council for the Gero Veterans of Foreign Wars and I'm on I'm part of a nonprofit that supports and serves veterans. These roles share the same core

016responsibility protecting people who rely on systems to do the right thing. A lot of is common sense, right? I'm here to talk about school zone intersections, specifically the need for all always stop control at intersections immediately adjacent to our schools or just in school zones. Period. I'll be clear. This is not about traffic calming. This is not about convenience. This is not about predictability right away. This is about preventing the incident we can't take back. At Glenville Elementary, we have young students, new drivers, distracted parents, obstructed views at random times, increased enrollment due to expanded programs. We have intersections where visibility is limited, and where rightway is assumed rather than clearly enforced. That combination is not theoretical, is dangerous. When you have two-way stops, uncontrolled approaches, you're asking for children to judge adult behavior or

017vice versa. You're asking parents to gamble on whether the next driver understands right away. That is not reasonable expectation in a school zone. An always stop removes ambiguity. It slows traffic uniformly. It forces eye contact. It creates consistency, something children can understand and rely on. From my work, I can tell you every preventable injury or loss is followed by the same sentence. Nothing changed until it was too late. We shouldn't need a tragic event or lawsuit to justify what is reasonable. As a student site council member, I am advocating for families. As a veteran advocate, I understand what it means when systems fail people. And as a community member, I'm asking you to be proactive before we're here for a very different reason. School zones deserve the highest standard of safety, not the minimum threshold.

018Please prioritize always stops at school zone intersections, not later, not after another study, not after an incident. Thanks for your time, everybody. >> Thank you everyone for the comments. We are on to our uh city and district staff presentation. >> Now you're not letting her talk. >> I'm sorry. Did you >> wrote you said her name? >> Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. Good evening everyone. My name is Gina. Um my husband and I moved out here 10 years ago and we have three children at the elementary, junior high, and high school schools. Um, I am here to just talk about an incident that I had with here with my daughter. I think um, we're all advocating for the same things, but I'm just here to share my story. About a year ago, um, I every

019day I drop my daughter off. I pull up to our very chaotic school zone at Los Animus and she uses the crosswalk. But after school, I choose not to drive into that area just because it's very crowded, too many cars, people are dashing in and out of the street with their children in hand, and um it's just very dangerous. So, I actually live in the area, but I pull my car up into the um it's Luchessa and Greenfield, and I park my car where I'm facing um facing the school, and I watch her use the crosswalk and meet me on the other side. Well, one day after school as I'm watching my daughter cross the street, um I can see her and basically it's two lanes, a little island, and then three lanes. One is

020a turning lane and two straightaway lanes. The car, she crosses the first two lanes, and then a big giant truck pulled up and said, "Come on, let's go." And she is running across. Well, the car pulled up next to that truck and hit the gas. And as she's running, it it almost hit her. It came within inches of running her over. Now, they couldn't see her because she is little and they couldn't see her on the other side of that truck. Now, if we had those flashing stop signs. >> Thank you. We need those flashing stop signs. Thank you. >> Okay, now we are on to item 2 A. City and district staff will provide information about traffic safety around school sites. >> Chief, you and I can tag team. Would you like to start

021and then I'll join? Sorry, they never make these things tall enough to reach back to me. Um, so you know, this is clearly a tragic incident and uh unfortunately not the first one that I've had to deal with in 42 years that I've been working for this city. I want to give a little bit of an update. You know, we get asked a lot, well, what's the status of the report? When are we going to know this? when are we going to know that? And uh you know these are very very complex cases. And so it's not really just a matter of showing up and taking some measurements and photographs and talking to people and writing it down and being done with it. And so with the technologies that we deal with today and the

022legal challenges that we deal with, a case like this involves multiple search warrants. It involves corners reports. It involves toxicology results that have to be sent out to outside laboratories and we can't we can't deem a report complete until all that stuff comes back in. And so we're waiting for all that stuff to come back in. And when it does come back in then we'll put it together as quickly as we can and we'll provide some additional information on this particular case. The city has committed uh to hiring an outside traffic engineering firm to come in and look at the intersections in this area around the school. Uh and one of the first things they're going to want, of course, is a copy of this report and the findings of that. And we will be

023sharing that with them as soon as we are are able to do so. And then as a result of that, they'll provide a report of, you know, what the existing conditions are and make recommendations if there's any additional uh safety measures that can be put in place there to enhance the safety around around the school. The other question that I get a lot is, you know, traffic enforcement. And so we do have a traffic enforcement unit. Uh we have three officers in the traffic enforcement unit and a supervisor. the supervisor does not get to spend a lot of time out in the field doing uh traffic enforcement because they've got a lot of other responsibilities besides just the traffic unit and you know we know we've got a lot of schools in Gilroy we've got

024a lot of private schools in Gilroy and then we've got a lot of other issues dealing with traffic in Gilroy as well but you know schools and they mentioned one of the incidences that happened in 2006 and I remember that incident well and I remember other incidents in from many years ago So, you know, school zones and parents coming in, and I don't think anybody here would disagree that it gets very chaotic because there's a lot of people coming and going uh around the school district. So, we we try to put officers out at the schools during those times, you know, during uh drop offs in the morning and during pickups in the afternoon, but because of the limited number of people we have, you have to divide those people by the number of schools.

025And so every week a traffic officer will be given a particular school and then they go out to that school and they try to be out there for both the drop off and for the pickup in that afternoon and they'll work that week at that school and then the next week they get assigned a different school and we kind of rotate the those assignments around to provide that that enforcement aspect and we certainly will continue to do that. I you know I've worked with a lot of different uh things over the years and one of the ones that was mentioned in some of the emails that we got was safe routes to schools you know and I was involved in that and they have the six E but I'll I'll talk the three E which

026is education which I think nobody's going to disagree with uh engineering and enforcement. And so that's uh that's the plan from the police department side and the city side for the engineering piece of it. >> Thanks Chief. Um so um obviously all of us are deeply affected by this tragedy that hit our community two weeks ago. Um I just wanted to share a little bit about the crossing guard program that several of you have mentioned. The district and uh GPD had a partnership where we had a crossing guard program. GPD provided training many many years ago. This is probably when my kids went to school and those of you that have had kids in the district a long time ago. uh several years ago and you know in talking with everybody else nobody seems to

027remember the exact year but it probably was as a result of budget impacts uh that program went away. Safe routes to school also in all the documents that we have been able to track down was in 2018. So when COVID happened, um all of this kind of went by the wayside. Uh safe routes to school also lost a lot of funding. So the program never really fully came back to Gilroy Unified uh since this incident. One of and I've spoken with several members in the community. I've responded like many members here probably have responded to several emails. Um my big belief is anytime we put a member of the community whether they are an employee or a volunteer they have to be trained. It does not make sense. Every life is precious. And just because

028these two wonderful ladies I know they wear their orange vests and a stop sign and I've spoken to you and I I shared with you I said I worry about you Lauren. I see you every morning and I worry about you when I when you're out there and my biggest concern is safety. Every person that we employ employroy unified receives training for the work that they do. So when we are going to ask somebody to be out on the street, it is our responsibility collectively to make sure they're properly trained and they have the right tools. So Chief uh Smithy and I have been talking about this. um he has done some research and we're going to see how we're going to bring safe routes to school back to the community so that they can

029provide the appropriate training because it's not just about putting an adult in the middle of the street. Um we everybody has a shared responsibility. Those of you that get my newsletter see me saying this over and over and over again. We all need to do our part. We do need to slow down. It's okay to be 5 minutes late to school. You know, if your child says, "I was stuck in traffic with my parents." I'm sure no teacher or administrator or office staff will say doesn't matter. We care. So, uh the the speeding issue, all everything that was mentioned earlier, we are considering all of those, the city and the district. Uh but in the meantime, we are chief and I are looking at how we can bring back the safe routes. What do we

030need to do immediately to provide some training? The other thing you need to realize is um and we've talked to our HR folks also. It is very hard to find crossing guards. Keep in mind we are asking people to u spend an hour in the morning and spend an hour in the afternoon. Uh even though the district has uh on several occasions posted that position, it's not very frequently that we find a lot of people that have interest in that position. So our intent is to find the people who are interested and then also make sure that they have the appropriate training where they are safe when they're in the middle of the street. So we'll be working closely together uh in the next few weeks. Um and we I also wanted to share I

031know it was mentioned about the training our high schools many years ago also the sheriff's department used to come out and train the high school students about traffic safety. So, our staff has already reached out and we are looking at some dates that they can come out and talk to our uh high school students. So, all of these things are in motion. I know sometimes we want things to happen now today. Uh I I want to assure you that we are doing our part. We're working in partnership with with the city to make sure all of these things are in place as soon as possible. So, uh again, I assure you the crossing guards actually the position is posted. Anybody that would like to apply for a position, please apply. It's on Edjoin. Uh I

032encourage you to apply and I'll be working with Chief to make sure that u we have the appropriate training for everybody that >> is there a way to incorporate teachers within their day. >> So I'm sorry there's there's there's not a conversation. >> I won't be able to respond. That's just how board meetings work. >> Yeah. So, >> um, board and city council, are there any questions or comments? >> So, I know several people in the in the public, uh, and our community, they want to ask questions. The way these meetings work, the board meetings and council meetings, uh, we are not going to engage in a discussion about this, which is why we have those cards at the beginning of the meeting. So any public comments that you want to make uh we can

033you know share whatever information we we have but this is not a forum where you can have an open dialogue with the community. So my apologies but again all of us you have our emails any ideas that you have any conversations that you have please share your ideas please share your thought. Um, our goal always is to improve. Um, we all want the best for our students and our families and our community members and all of you being here shows that all of us care. So, this is really important. Please feel free to email us later. Um, I apologize again if I cannot respond to the questions some people are asking right now. Uh, but send us emails and I I know we all respond to emails that we receive. So, thank you. >> Question.

034Thank you very much. Um hopefully I see the people with their hands up too. Hopefully um some of the dialogue that you hear from us right now will hopefully we'll be asking or talking about the same things that you guys are after. So thank you for the public speakers. Um Cindy and Brenda, Miguel, you guys are all talking. I I love the fact that you guys um are talking about not just one school, you're talking about citywide. And I think that's super important that whatever we get out of this meeting and subsequent studies that need to come following up conversations. I do like the idea of your suggestion about you know are there some um staged responses and and and that's what we have to um ask our staff here to do today is can

035we can we approach this in staged responses so that we can we can all see progress. And I do really like the idea and I hope we can have a little conversation here today about the idea of volunteer crossing guards. I know it's not easy. It still takes resources from the city of Guroy or the or the school districts. We that's what our staffs are going to have to figure out and come back and recommend to these boards. But I really do love the idea of the of a crossing guard program for the entire city, private schools, public schools, all schools. And um again, it's not in it's not it doesn't mean that it's free just because people are volunteering, right? There's training, there's coordination, there's materials that we need to do that correctly. So

036I I'm hope I hope that we can have a little conversation here today about that. And u and I know what people are going to say, getting volunteers are hard, but until we can't, I think we can. So u I hope we can go down that path today and ask for that. >> Yeah. That's >> okay. >> I had a question for Chief. Um, is the engineering firm restricted to just do a study for the Losonmous area or all schools? At this point, it's only being contracted for the area where the accident occurred around Los Angeles. So, is there a plan maybe to expand that or that's going to be discussed at a future council meeting? >> I think it's warranted. It's crazy everywhere. If if if there is an interest for Jung, I'm the

037interim city administrator. If there is a desire, I think um we can certainly take that into consideration, but uh it would have to be evaluated amongst other factors as well. I think our immediate priority at um is to address the Los Angeles site. Yeah. Um, I want to thank everybody for coming and especially those that spoke. Um, um, I I appreciate your commitment to this issue. Um, one thing I I just want to emphasize and it was touched on u by the police chief and a couple other comments is the educational piece and those are very lowcost both in terms of working with our high schools because we know they I'm a driver too and I was freaking out when she started driving. Um, she's a good driver for the most part. The other thing

038is even pedestrian uh um awareness um teaching our kids you know to not be buried in their phones. Um, in fact, today coming to this meeting, I work at a local college and I almost hit one of my students because why she had come out. It was a big park. I work at Deansza and if you know Danza at that large parking lot, she had come behind a a van that I didn't see. Thankfully, I was only going 5 miles an hour. She had her head buried in her phone and the whole time she didn't even look up once. So, if um we could work together, I think those are lowcost things. if we can purchase some even digital boards, those electric boards, electronic boards, excuse me. Um the ones um I I see for

039like DUI, could we not do some uh awareness, some educational uh pieces around distracted driving? We all know that that is a major problem now and why we have laws that you can't be on your phone. Uh even if you're at a stoplight, you're not supposed to be looking at your phone, right? So, so I think those are collaborative things that we could do between the city and and perhaps the schools and and educating our children how to be good pedestrian uh um um what are the responsibilities uh when you're crossing the street and then working with um uh our high schoolers who are learning how to drive and not to be distractive drivers. And that is, you know, something that we all need to practice more. Um, I too want to thank everyone for

040showing up tonight and expressing um their concern, their ideas, and um and being engaged in problem solvers together in this community. Thinking about it just makes me want to get choked up. Um felt sick that day. Felt really sick as a community member. Ah, so what I loved tonight was um hearing such great ideas about what was possible, some of the really lowhanging fruit things that we can do um and also some of the things that the city is talking about. I really appreciate that getting your expertise out there to give us um great ideas that we could um implement together as a team, as a community. I want to also um if you've ever watched any of our board meetings, I I advocate for safety a lot. School safety is an issue that's always

041been really important to me, especially prevention. And I heard prevention today. Um, and I want to um just be reminded that we have school safety teams and school safety plans at every single school that these ideas and these discussions can really live in those documents that would be unique to every single school so that the the needs are being addressed, discussed, and then they raise up right to the district and then um get supported at the school sites. just want to be um someone who's advocating for those living documents to really come alive so that we can implement our prevention ideas so that we don't have to have discussions like this um that really are just so devastating to um all of us in the community. Um I also love the idea of the partnerships.

042I want to include our public health department in these in these conversations, right? they really have great resources and um ability to support us in these efforts. Um and I also just want to um continue having discussions about what we can do and what is possible um in our community to ensure that um our children um our neighbors are safe. Um it's an ongoing effort. It never stops. Um, but we have the opportunity to work together to make sure that we can um we can make Gily a safer place. So, I just really appreciate everybody's comments today. I'm my wheels are turning. I'm really thinking and I appreciate um the comments. I also want to thank everybody who's here tonight and expressed your concerns. We share them. Trust us, we share them. Um, as an

043advocate for students, it disappoints me that we focus on education of high school drivers only. No one's talking about adults. We the school board don't have can't don't don't have tentacles into the um into the community to in any way educate adults on driving that falls unfortunately it falls to the city and it's about um far more adult drivers when those of you who talked about all the other elementary school ISS issues. Those aren't teenage drivers that are causing those issues at elementary schools and only teenage drivers that are causing the issues at elementary schools drop off and pickup. We have an issue with adult drivers in this city and your kids, my kids were are um at risk if you will and we need to address that. Um that's the first thing. safe schools.

044We had safe school routes in 2018. Those of you who live in Gilway know our community has changed a lot in eight years dramatically. Think of Los Angeles school eight years ago. So things have changed from safe routes. I was part of that. It was a grant through public health through the county. The grant dried up. Safe schools dried up and then we had CO. So big changes in our community. Um, I hope that we can do something along those lines, but it takes everybody. Remember, our number one issue is to educate your children. And when we have safety issues, that's part of it. But we need to share the responsibility for for safety of our kids and our community. And that includes you as adults. Those weren't kids in that um tragic accident. So,

045we all take have a a part in that. Um, and Mayor Bozo, as I love volunteers, how many of you have been in volunteer groups and then what happens? Life happens. Your kid gets sick on Monday and you can't be there. Mom and dad come out unexpectedly to visit you and hey, I can't make it on Friday because I have family coming in. I love volunteers, but you are volunteers. There's a reason you're not an employee because employee means you need to be there every day. I want those crossing guards to be employees, not volunteers. And volunteers, you really put yourself at risk as an employee than the district or the city. and other school districts. The cities are the ones that pay for crossing guards, not school districts. And we can come up with

046some, I'm sure, be creative, come up with some kind of um program and an alliance and a collaboration between the two. But employees are what we need. And how many of you want to work one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon? That's the real tough part. So, um it's it's an issue, but it's not impossible because we've had them in the past. So, we can do it, but we have to work creatively. >> Thank you. >> Um thank you. So, uh I too was a part of that um safe rout um program and one of the things one of the ease that I want us to all remember too is the encouragement part. Um, and one of the things that that each of our school sites I want the public and

047everybody else to know they can take home today is that if you go to any of the elementary schools websites and you go to our school and you scroll all the way to the bottom, there is a title that says safe routes to school. And one of the things that public health, our partners public health did is they created um a walking a walking map. Basically suggested routes. It's got a bunch of encouragement, bunch of uh safety tips and stuff on there, but it also shows where all your crosswalks are. You know, how long it takes to walk. One of the parents talked about how she chooses to walk because it's quicker. Um so, this is one of those things that you as advocates can go home, print it up, and start handing it out

048yourself. Um let us figure out the relationship, you know, moving forward and how we can get this more implemented. But that's something that you all can do um right now. So, I wanted to make sure that that got out there. Um, also I want to be able I want to read really quick um, one of the actions that we're taking right now. Um, Trusty Nelson talked about u what we're doing citywide. So the city um, right now is currently receiving bids to develop a comprehensive roadway safety action plan which will create a framework for the city to systematically analyze and identify traffic safety situ utilizing data driven best practices. local agency partnership and collaboration stakeholder community feedback. A local roadway safety plan is a requirement for the city to apply for highway safety improvement program.

049The city was selected to receive this grant funding um in order to develop the L LRSP and we approved that LA we approved that in July of 2024. Um so I want that you know I could go on and on but um you know that the the city is doing something that's that's um uh citywide and that's where that'll come in. The last thing I want to offer is that I know I know we can't do a whole lot of back and forth, but I'll I'll throw it out because I'll be there, too. This Saturday there is a coffee with the mayor. Um, it's 1 hour. It's at 9:30 at city hall that is a free form back and forth. Sometimes he has items, but I'll be there and I know that bunch of us

050will pivot based on the on the motion um that happens down there. So, if you want some back and forth, I'd encourage you to come there. Thank you. So, I'd also like to thank everyone um for for talking. I just want to let you know you you're being heard, okay? And um it doesn't sometimes seem from that side that things are happening. I can assure you, I've been on the phone with the mayor. I've been on the phone with the superintendent. We've been talking back and forth. you see that you know the superintendent and the chief things are happening we want immediate I get it um but we really really really all of us collectively here want to make sure it's done right and that it's done so that as you've heard from everyone talk

051that it's done so that everyone is kept safe the children as well as um any any type of crossing guard staff or volunteer member. So, and and I can tell you um in talking with with people, you know, I'm a grandma of school age kids. When I heard this, man, it it it gutted me because it hits really really close to home. It hits close to home to every one of us here. So um while it seems like you know it's taking time please understand that this is a priority to all of us and we will keep moving this forward but I also want to say I had to you know after that gut punch I had to look myself in the mirror and ask myself a really hard question and I did some self-reflection

052and it's Oh, it's a good opportunity for me to say, "Slow it down, Kelly." Okay, you can, as Dr. Mucci said, be 5 minutes late to that meeting. And I think it's an opportunity for all of us that get behind the wheel of a car because I've heard everyone that came up talked about how chaotic it is. I don't have school age kids anymore, but I drive by these schools during school hours. I avoid them if I remember ahead of time, right? Because they are, you know, we don't have buses anymore. It's it's all about walking and driving and pickup and it is chaotic. But we all need to look in the mirror and say, you know, am I doing my part to make sure that that I keep this community safe? And I know

053I'm I'm asking that question. So I, you know, I offer that out to all of us to ask that same question as well. Yes. >> Sure. >> Um I just wanted to echo Trusty Nelson's um um question about why are we just doing traffic a traffic engineering study just around Los Alamus? Yes, there was a tragedy there, but we have so many other schools um within our district that I feel deserve um a second look at. >> I also um after dropping off my kid to school today, went on a different journey because I had an errand to run before work and there was a crossing guard on Wellelburn and Kern and that I don't know if he was a volunteer or if he was being paid. I may or maybe I should know this.

054I don't. But uh on the four the intersection of the four streets, there was one man there who everyone was being very very um courtesy um >> courteous to. But he was just on one side of that intersection. And when we look at crossing guards and I'm looking at my kids schools, both of my kids schools, my head just kind of explodes of all the different intersections that we would have to that I would love to modify. Um I would love to I mean when my older kid rides her bike to high school every day and I make her text me every day because I want to make sure she got there safe. >> Um so this hit this unfortunately hit home. I think I hope that we can make some um improvements for our

055community. >> Thank you. Um I might be one of the few who have a unique experience of using crosswalks uh nearly every day. Um I live uh across um Ren um a lot. I did it for nine years. walked from my house to a roleplay with my three children. Um, and it has a fantastic crosswalk with a flashing light, but it's not enough. Uh, I'm not the tiniest guy and I have myself had many runins with distracted drivers and there is no there is nothing that the city of Gilroy can do or the GSD can do to stop what happens inside that person's vehicle. Uh, when I've had close calls, I didn't blame the city of Gil or GSD. I blamed the driver. My hope once again, like most of us here, if nothing else

056comes of this um right away, the thing that we can change tomorrow is the way we parents drive to school. I have three kids that get dropped off. One at Brownell and two at Gary High. I watch every illegal action that takes place. Double park, triple park, U-turn, triple U-turn, back to where you started. I don't get it. um drivers. It's like we lose our minds. Parents lose their minds. And if you want change tomorrow, it'll be how everyone approaches the area around schools. And I would encourage all of us like everyone that sit here today, uh personal responsibility. Um yes, let's work on signs. Let's work on painting the right ins and outs and all those things. We can do those things. But let's start with what happens when we get behind the wheel

057and we understand that 5 minutes may not be may feel like um my life is falling apart if I'm five minutes late, but what happens if you you do make a mistake and there is a tragedy? You pray for that five minutes back. And I hope that we can all decide tomorrow to make our pickup and drop offs better. >> Sure. Um I'd like to see see if we can get a consensus from both of our um organizations here. Go ahead. >> Uh >> it's okay. >> Okay. >> Want me to stop? >> Yes. Go ahead. Um I'd like to see if I can get a consensus from both um organizations. So um uh before I ask us to go in that direction and we can still add on to that as much as we

058want. So um echo what trustee Peno said if we need to look if we want our um two organizations Groy staff and Gary Unified staff to go back and look at what what would be for an employee paid for crossing guard program. Great. I believe that we should also go back and look at an all volunteer program. That would be great for both of us to look at what the differences are. What goes into the work and what goes into the cost of having a volunteer system and a nonvolunteer system. Right? I don't have the same sentiment as trustee Peno does about the volunteer system. Right? We have organizations in Gilway Festival 40 years uninterrupted all volunteer organization right through a horrible situation. Right. Pop Warner football 50 years in Gilroy all volunteer organization right

059little league 70 years in Gilroy all volunteer organization Rotary just celebrated a hundred straight years all volunteer organization Gilroy does volunteer very well so we need to keep that in mind if we're going to be looking at a program in this community we need to have both options on the table so I know there's going to be some other comments I hope we start going in a direction now that both of our organizations can start asking our staff get a consensus to have our staffs go back and look into that. We're not going to decide that tonight, but go back and start looking into some of these early wins that this community is asking for. >> I'd like to also say thanks to everyone who's came here tonight. Your concerns about what's going on in

060your school, um I share with you those concerns, too. I live in a school zone uh a roleplay. I've lived there for 25 years. And I petitioned the city at one point to put speed bumps on Third Street like at Santa Teresa just because uh the the flashing red light at Miller Avenue puts thoughts in people's brains that they need to gun they need to gun it going, you know, west on Third Street and they're going right into a school zone. And I've seen it happen over and over again. had a friend hit uh who was a school teacher, retired school teacher was hit at Third in Miller on a Saturday morning because the sun was too bright and the person didn't see her. So, I've seen that uh and I see it every day.

061It's tough for my wife because it's tough to pull out of your driveway when you live in a school zone, especially at, you know, 7:45 to 8:00. And people just, you know, I share that people just need to take the moment and and and calm calm themselves down and get their kid to school safely. And part of that is driving that vehicle and being aware of your surroundings and where people are. And I appreciate um Gil PD and what they do and helping to mitigate that. Um they do a great job with that. And again, like everyone, we're spread thin and can can only do so much. But um I think both sides of us, we're looking for those solutions. And and I I like the mayor, I do believe in the volunteerism that we

062have in this city is really second to none. We've established that with, you know, we we do that really well. So, I look forward to staff looking at that and seeing what we come up with. Thanks. >> I actually wasn't going to speak because I didn't want to like lose it a little bit because this thing really did affect me quite a bit. And um it is so sad that we have to get to a point like this to really take notice of something that is going to take an aggregate of many different things to improve the situation. It's signs are great and crossing guards are great, but the examination of our own personal habits. Um, not just uh I mean look inward uh to ourselves. I'll call myself the the old man for a

063second up here and remembering back to the times when I went to school and I went to school. There weren't uh there wasn't buses that were taking you to school either. And there was walks and bike rides and everything else that we had to do in a city. I grew up in Los Angeles area, so there's a lot of cars and a lot of other things. Um, but some of the other things we did was we carpooled. When I look around the city now, it it amazes me how many people will hop in their car, even in this neighborhood that we're talking about, cuz I lived there for a short time when I was out of my house for some time. I lived right around the corner from this. And it amazed me when I

064would see the neighbor pull out of the driveway and drive, you know, two blocks over to the school to drop, you know, to drop their kid off. And every car that's out there on the street is more traffic and more uh chaos and more things that can go wrong. So, you know, if you can carpool, if you can take a couple of kids with you, no matter where it is, I used to ride with a friend down the street from me and we would trade off with my mom. All of these things together, I think, are the aggregate that we have to start thinking about how do we how do we look at this in a more holistic way uh to provide, you know, that safety, the safe routes thing. We can't protect every single

065crosswalk through Gilroy to get to a school. Um, but if we can have safe routes or if we can paint the arrows on the sidewalk itself, this is the way you go. So, it always goes through that crosswalk. These are various things. And I also think that um this is a volunteer type thing. We have a lot of caring people. When I grew up and everything, people volunteered to do the crosswalk work and they did show up. Many times they're retired people that want to give back to the community and they are there and they feel very um dedicated to it. They're not going to all of a sudden have something in their life that they're then going to miss out on a day because dog on it they're going to tell somebody else to

066please take the place for me because this is a responsibility that I take seriously. So I just believe that we can pull all of these things together um and and the ones we can do now we do now. The ones that are going to take time for us to do and to put in place when we learn more we do them. Um, and you know, if we have to find funding for this or for that, we work to find out how we can do it. Um, but don't look, in my opinion, do not look to um to a panel of people to fix a problem that the community themselves al together with that panel of people can do. So, thank you. Given that we can't monitor every single intersection because it's everywhere, not just at

067the schools, story is crazy. Is it prohibitive to have cameras to capture the people who are not following the rules? Because it's it's everywhere in town. I've noticed it's become worse and worse. Or way a stop sign is now a recommendation. Dustin, I'm very very careful driving in Gil right now. I don't remember it that was this bad before, but it is now possibility or is that too expensive? >> Correct. Yeah, if if the ask is to evaluate, you know, again, it all comes with, you know, elements to be considered. If that is an ask, we could certainly um take a look at and add it to the list of options to evaluate. Yeah. >> Yes. Trusty Dono, >> I just have a um a request, I guess, as we move forward um and when

068we think of how we provide crossing guards in in spaces that we not have a fixed mindset around that that idea that, you know, not we don't necessarily have to try to hire someone for an hour in the morning or in the hour in the afternoon. How do we if we're prioritizing safety, how can we utilize our existing resources and shift those resources to meet safety needs, right? And then because I was going to call out one school in particular where I know they do that very well, but how do we utilize, right, everyone that's in our our team to ensure that we're shifting and utilizing our resources to meet the needs. So, um I I believe we're already doing that, but I just wanted to close this uh discussion out. So, it so it

069sounds as if that there's interest between our two bodies to gain additional information on how we can collaborate to make the surrounding areas of our school safer. And so each of our this the superintendent as well as city administrator will direct their staff to um find solutions and then we'll respectively come back to our individual council meetings as well as board meetings to provide recommendations. Is that is that good? Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Now we are on to item 2B. Gilroy Unified School District enrollment update and impacts on GOD budget and our um assistant superintendent and CBO Albero Messi will provide an update. >> Come on, Chief. >> I always say they make them too tall for me. Good evening board. Good evening, superintendent. Good evening, council members and mayor. It's

070a pleasure being here uh with you tonight. Um I'll update um us on our enrollment and because our enrollment is tied to our average daily attendance which is obviously how we get funded in public schools. Um but as as I like to start is just to give you a overview of the population changes in California because that will inevitably lead to the school age children population. So this is just noting that California had astronomical growth back in the 50s and 60s. Although California will continue to grow, that growth is at a much much slower pace. So the next decade is ranging between four to 3% and expected to uh decline well into the two or first uh single digits. This is a key slide for us because we track school age children. And so what

071this is effectively saying is um the percentage decline uh in school age children all the way to 2031. And you'll see this makes a lot of sense with our updated demographic enrollment projections all the way to 2031. Um in a nutshell, it says uh school age children is expected to decline throughout major uh California by 523,000 students. Uh and then with selected counties uh being Santa Clara right around 16% um again it will be exactly wrong but approximately right. Right. It's the trend of decline that we're anticipating. Uh notably the enrollment forecast effectively takes two approaches. Um one enrollment forecast or one set of numbers is used for budgetary and staffing purposes. So it's a little bit more conservative and the other one is used for facilities. So we call it that moderate uh approach

072effectively looking at the new um dwellings and occupancy and anticipating those to come online faster and generate students at a faster approach. Um and I want to really thank the city and the city staff and our partners there in the planning commission I mean in the planning um department because they really work well with other demographers. They call right around summertime and then we gather as much information as available right because this is always changing and then this is the plot of the re residential development research um that the city has shared with us. Uh and then we go forward in ter terms of looking at the anticipated dwellings when those dwellings are going to come online. This is by calendar year. So that says that this year we anticipate 127 in total to come

073online. And you'll notice that past uh 2031, that's a calendar year. There's zeros. That just means there's so uncertain at that point. We're not going to count anything on that. And that obviously influences the long-term range projections obviously. Uh so that's why we look at 0 to 5 differently than we look at you know 5 to 10 years out. Um but in total this says 1,231 uh dwellings are expected at this point in time. We always look at this uh every January. Uh so we will look again at this data every January along with our enrollment projections and obviously the the project name is there. Um I think there's 15 in total. A mix of single family dwellings, multif family housing, uh etc. Um and this is the two uh trajectory. Basically, a moderate uh

074approach is more aggressive, anticipating those dwellings to come online a little bit faster, but again, we use the conservative approach uh for uh budgeting staffing. I know the city and city planning um department always ask me for this data, so I I'd like to share that ahead of time. Um, basically the top uh row says a single family detached home. So like a home like mine, we'll need two of those to generate a TK12 GUSD student. So it's not by grade. It's basically two homes. Single family detach will yield one GUSD student. We just don't know what grade level. That specific data we break down later, but basically two new homes will yield one student. And for an apartment complex, multif family units, uh, effectively three of those will yield one TK12 uh, student. And

075that has been really good data, really reliable for a long, long time. Um, and this is unfortunately I like to flip the annual and the aggregate, you know, reverse, but the the aggregate is basically adding it's an additive. So there's 521 units total I mean units students generated from that,231 dwellings expected um and then it breaks it down u by by calendar year and this is really the the the key slide is what are we anticipating in Gil unified the enrollment projections to be naturally the California is declining as we see the population shifts and changes um that um you've heard many many and probably have heard of many school districts closing schools. We ourselves closed the school back in 2016. Um but the short term these projections uh the next five years look to

076be really stable hovering around 10,000 enrollment. Um so we have already discussed this with our governing board earlier uh in January and we have determined that for the next year there will be no school closures in Gilroy. And if you look at the next five years, uh because we're staying above 10,000, hovering around that range, um unless this data changes again next January, uh we don't anticipate or would not anticipate to close a school within that 5-year term. And please note, we do note that it takes two years to close a school. So, we're always looking ahead and ahead and ahead and reevaluating. That's why this process is so critical to get done annually. But for the next five years, enrollment um generation is generated enrollment and attendance I think it's more important actually than

077enrollment. Attendance I want to say it again attendance for us right now is more important than enrollment. Enrollment is going to be stable during the next 5 years. Our attendance has to improve. um our attendance dropped from 93 94% the um in the past has been as high as 95 and this year we're hovering around 92%. So a 1% change in average daily attendance for us is a million dollars of ongoing revenue. Um but for us it's more important to have that student learning because when they're not at school they're not learning. And so we've got to get that attendance up because attendance leads to better student achievement, better engaged students. Um, and it's just a byproduct that that having them there will also yield more finances, more resources to support our students. Um, any

078questions? Informational item. >> All right. Thank you. Okay, now we're on to item 2C, community development activities. Uh the community development director will provide a summary of community development activities within the city. >> Good evening, mayor, council members, and uh members of the school district board and members of community. Uh my name is Sharon community development director for the city of Gilroy and tonight we'll do some highlight of the development projects in the city. um similar to last year. So for residential development projects, uh last year um more uh track homes were completed in the Glen Loma Ranch area. And there was also a project that's um just east of the golf course uh golf course north of uh Hecker Pass Highway where 72 single family homes were completed and uh several projects have been

079under construction actually near the city hall. Um there are 19 uh single family homes. They are almost completed and another project's getting started on Royal Way. This is just east of Gilroy High School. 45 units of duets and town homes. Um the permit is ready to be issued. So they'll be starting on that project pretty soon. And on a Monterey Road, a 94 unit affordable apartment project uh is going to be getting started this year, too. The permit is ready to be issued. And uh uh as you can see of uh the list of projects under review, it's a mixture of single family homes uh as well as town homes and multif family projects. And the trend we're seeing over the next several years is that we'll be seeing I think more um multif family

080projects getting built, you know, over single families. And you're kind of seeing that in other cities, too, as cities start to get build out. And here's some highlight of the commercial industrial projects that have completed this last year. Uh you can see a variety of projects that um have opened to the public. Uh we got an ital new Italian restaurant in downtown, a new convenience store and gas station at 10th and Chestnut. That's Circle K. An Intuitive Surgical that's in the industrial area on Cameron Boulevard. Um it's a new logistics warehouse for a medical tech company. U they are a pioneer of robotic assisted surgery and that's bring some jobs here to Gilroy. They just got their occupancy in January. Floor and Decor um that's pretty close by here that opened in April last year.

081Um Santa Clara Family Health Plan, that's a medical office and resource center. They also just got their occupancy uh in January. they're preparing to open. And um for the rest of the list, you can see we have some coffee and tea shops and a variety of restaurants. And um I also want to share a new acqua new acronym I just learned recently that's become my new favorite acronym that's AYCE, all you can eat. It's a new buffet restaurant. Uh that's where the former Fresh Choice is at just u at the north end of the um the outlet center there. Um they got their occupancy in January as well. They're preparing to open. So um watch out for that. And uh last but not least, just next door here, this gymnastic studio just opened uh end

082of last toward the end of last year. And uh under construction of the projects, you can see we have more restaurants uh different, you know, variety of food, a food court, a Portuguese restaurant, and burgers. But don't worry, after you enjoy all that delicious food, uh there's a new gym where you can go work out and burn off your calories and energy and also a new indoor recreational facility. Um and we also have some more, you know, new um the the following five are all new construction. There's a new car wash, you know, data center that's nearby here, um near Kaiser, uh that's starting construction and some, you know, storage facilities as well as a warehouse. Um and under review, under review, you know, some of them are under a planning application stage and some

083are in the building permit uh review stage. Um but there's a new gas station convenience store. um and more uh industrial buildings that's coming online as well. Um so this is just a highlight you know it's not all the projects uh but I do want to take this opportunity to thank our team members in community development that includes planning building um fire prevention but also the public works department you know engineering team for assisting all the development um partners and all the applicants to make these projects a reality. So, thank you. >> Are there any questions? Yes, Trustee Delono. >> Thank you for your update. I really appreciate I love seeing everything that's coming into town and just the updates from last year to this year. There's been so much. Um, and just a shout

084out to the Santa Clair County Health Plan. It's so exciting to have them open now and just thinking of all the supports and services that are going to exist in our community make me happy. Um, just want to also let the city know that I have foodie friends who live in Selenas who drive specifically to Gilroy to eat. They love eating in Gilroy. So, keep up the good work bringing in uh more restaurants. Um, but I also want to just go back to um you you shared with us the um the developments that are coming into Gilroy. We had actually talked about that at our last board meeting and I was concerned about pedestrian safety crossing Monterey Road. um had a conversation with um council member Hilton who shared with me that measures that are

085already put into place to ensure pedestrian safety. But I'm thinking in light of our conversation today if there can be maybe a little bit more emphasis or extra eyes on making sure that all of our new developments are um having all of the measures for pedestrian safety in place so we don't have to go back but we're already we're we're building them with that that that in place. I think it's just an opportunity to just reflect and ensure that we're doing that moving forward. But thank you for your presentation. >> So um yeah, I did share with you a little bit about the development review and that process sometimes um happens behind us on the on the dis right. Um, but I know that there's staff, I know Albero, I used to work with you

086when I was on bike and ped to ensure that your voice from the school district was heard on all developments, but as you see around us, we've got a new community development director, a new superintendent. So, like like the story is sort of themed tonight is that sometimes those relationships need to get codified. You need to meet that other person and ensure it. Um but I would hope that our technical advisory committee which is made up of everybody that Sharon just named that GUSD um normally is a part of that and and those I look for those in development reviews um when they come before us about you know what's what are the concerns of GUSD what are the concerns of safe process school what are things that you see in here that that we

087don't um see in here those are important things to to get captured in there and I know I usually end up asking for it but you know at the same time If if if we all forget about it and it takes the public to call it out, like just call it out. It's like the see, you know, see something, say something. Yeah. >> So, I have a very important question. This is coming from my 14year-old son. It's been rumored that raising canes is coming to Gil. Is that true or not? Can you please put that to rest? >> Yes, possibly. Yeah, we do have an application, but it's in a very early stage. So, you know, usually during the highlight, we try to share projects that are, you know, have further down the road that

088we're pretty certain that will happen. >> So, if you have a teenager, you probably uh you can thank uh my son for that question. So, my question then is because we've seen a lot of, you know, Morgan Hill being our neighbors, we see a lot of kind of the same kinds of restaurants coming. So, I'm just curious in terms of how uh businesses are selected. Are we talking to our neighbors? because we got the Chick-fil-A, now they got Chick-fil-A, they got Canes, now we're getting Canes. So, you know, there's not a whole lot of stuff down here. So, I'm just curious like what is the process? And very quickly, I I'm sure it's a much a longer drawn process. But my other question is I I've been seeing things on uh social media about data

089centers and people are really um very concerned about that. So, I don't know if you can speak to that as well. Um yes and to your first question um you know we have applicants that you know will approach the city and sometimes it could be pretty preliminary and sometimes they will you know submit a formal applications and that's where we'll work with the applicant and look at what kind of uses you know what their proposals um you know could achieve and and look at regular you know regulations as well and work with applicants um but I think you know our restaurants here are better we've got the all you can eat Okay. Uh and as for the data center, we actually um for know several of these um more visible larger projects, we have a

090project web page on our website and the data center has very very thorough information. you know, we've um posted just you know, really this is over the last two years already posted all of the technical studies for the data center and also recently we created a fact sheet that's extracted you know all the technical information. So uh we welcome the community to go visit our project website and learn more about the data center. >> I just want to help out one bit here because I was encouraged by my f fellow council member here. Um there's a lot of people in in Gilroy who are always asking questions like do we need another Starbucks? Uh do we need uh you know this? Do we need that? Uh why are we bringing a raising canes if they've

091got one in Morgan Hill? And I can assure you uh that companies such as that are not going to do it unless there's demand. Okay? So the city itself doesn't get involved in the business of saying, "Hey, can we go get another one of these restaurants or one of these places?" is the city basically creates an environment that will be accepting and hopefully encouraging to have lots of businesses come here. And if there's a big enough market for whatever the the goods or the services are that are there, they're going to put it here. And if there's if eight Starbucks aren't enough to feed Gilroy, they'll be a ninth one because it's all about the what the market's going to demand. So that's that's about the amount of role that we have as a city

092is just making the environment as uh accepting and easy to get through the process as possible. >> Um I did have a couple of questions um around intuitive s uh surgical. Um you had mentioned it's a warehouse. Do you know how many people that warehouse will employ? Um yes based on the um information we have um they have mentioned approximately 100 plus on-site employees um doing office assembly testing and warehouse type of work. One thing I can add to that one too since you asked is whenever you have large businesses like that that come into a particular area, they're a magnet not just for other businesses that are uh that are supporting in the community, but their supply chain as well. So what often will happen is is that there are other industrial buildings in

093and around that area and those companies go, "Hey, why don't you put your warehouse and have your 36 people over here as well to help with it?" And pretty soon you have a whole nice industrial area with manufacturing and warehousing and all of that. And we can hope for that with this with this one that just dropped right into our lap there. >> And if I can also maybe kind of add back on to, you know, what council member Fagasi stated earlier. Um, one another thing, you know, city staff has tried to also uh encourage more development to come to Gilroy is by trying to streamline our processes. You know, uh, we work really well with applicants. We collaborate very closely with the applicants to make the uh process very efficient, you know, very effective

094and we respond very quickly, you know. Um so those are all ways we try to encourage different kinds of development to come here and you know um as council member just stated, you know, as one developer, you know, starts setting up and that's going to encourage more development, more growth in the surrounding areas and therefore, you know, just expanding the city's economic development growth. I would I would like to just add that um the other thing that we have going for us is um a wonderful new person that is joining our team. She joined yesterday Monday. Okay. Um our new economic development director who will be um looking at creating a strategic plan and who what businesses do we want to reach out to and encourage to come. So, um, it's it's the seed that

095has been planted and, um, it'll be fun to watch that blossom in the next couple of years. So, >> um, yeah, I just wanted I'm super excited that you thank you for opening that position. Um, I think that Gilroy is a really a great place for employers to come and work. Um, and this is an area I think that the city and the school district can really collaborate on is workforce development, right? Because we want the the jobs, you know, the these employee employers that are coming in, I we would love them to hire our residents, right? And then we would love to train and educate our students so that they stay in the community, right? Right now there's not really enough um livable wage jobs for them to stay in the community. So they

096go elsewhere and we want them to come and live and work here. So I would like to request that when you're doing this strategic plan and you know if you're you're going to have like a a task force or whatever, please include GU USD staff. please because we want like our biggest, you know, we'll probably talk about it later, but we just completed our strategic plan and the number one thing that came up over and over between, you know, the board, the community, parents is uh uh career technical pathways, >> right? So, we want to get our students ready for the future and we want to match it with this what the city is bringing in. So please include us is all my ask is now we are on to item 2D. Uh our school

097resource officer program um city and district staff will provide an update regarding the SRO program. Good evening, Gilroy Unified President Fiak, Vice President Nelson, trustees, and Dr. Munchie. Good evening, Mayor Bozo and city council members. This evening, Captain Powell and I will be presenting on our school resource officer program as anformational item. As part of the presentation, we'll review the purpose of the Gilroy Unified model in partnership with our school resource officers. We will also present the annual survey responses from parents, students, and staff regarding school climate and SRO's. This presentation will provide the survey results as well as data on suspensions and expulsions, our current systems for prevention and intervention for behavior, and some testimonials from staff and students about our district's SRO program. Gilroy Unified has partnered with the city of Gilroy to

098establish a strong program with our school resource officers to further promote a safe school environment. Taken directly from theou between Gilroy Unified and the city of Gilroy. This slide presents the six primary purposes for having SRO services on Gilroy school campuses. This agreement emphasizes the importance of developing positive relationships with students, staff, and the community. Our SRO's work with our school administrators and staff to maintain a safe and secure campus to promote community. While our officers support GUSD staff in securing and transporting prohibited confiscated items that may end up on our school campuses, we also appreciate the support of our school resource officers in diverting youth away from the criminal justice system through restorative practices and supporting our counselors and social workers in their work to connect youth with mental health behavior services. Each year

099since the 2122 school year, we have surveyed our students, families, and staff members about school resource officers through our LCAP survey. Here you can see the number of respondents each year. I will present on the following slides the responses to the two SRO specific questions from the LCAP survey. Those questions are one, am I comfortable with having an SRO at school? And having a school resource officer or SRO in my school made our students feel safe. For the first question of I'm comfortable with having an SRO at school, you can see how staff have responded with consistent responses agreeing with the statement. Again this year, 93% of the staff agree or strongly agree with the statement compared to 93% last year and 90% the year before. For the same statement, you can see here how

100students have responded. 86% of fifth graders, slightly down from 90% the year prior, agree or strongly agree, while 92% of secondary students agree or strongly agree with the statement, which is up from 89% the year prior. Generally speaking, the data demonstrates strong student support of having SRO's at school. This year, 93% of parents and guardians indicated they agree strong they agree or strongly agree, demonstrating consistent support among parents and guardians for SRO's on our school campuses. The last two years show that more parents or guardians strongly agree with the statement than in January of 2024. Now moving to the second SRO specific LCAP question which stated having a school resource officer in my school made our students feel safe. You can see how staff responded. The data reflects that 82% of staff agree or strongly

101agree with the statement consistent with last year and 77% the year prior to that. Historically, we have seen steady growth in staff support from 62% in the 2122 school year all the way up to 82% now. Here are the student survey results from the same question. 89% of elementary and 86% of secondary agreeing or strongly agreeing compared to similar numbers in the past. Again, from the historical perspective, we have seen an increase in students agreeing or strongly agreeing with this statement where only 61% of students agreed or strongly agree with the statement when we first surveyed them in the spring of 2021. And here are the parent and guardian survey responses for the same question. This year, 88% of parents or guardians agreed or strongly agreed with the statement compared to 85% last year and

10280% before that. The next few slides um show data on discipline districtwide. As you can see, we have decreased this year with our overall incidents resulting in suspensions at our secondary sites as compared to previous years. When comparing disciplinary data through January of each year, our schools continue to seek alternatives to suspension and provide counseling through our social workers and therapists thanks to the wellness centers which also positively address discipline issues at the site. And I'd like to invite Captain Powell to share some key insights from this data regarding juvenile citations. >> Thank you. Good evening everyone. Our SRO program is increasingly about prevention, not enforcement. This slide shows juvenile arrests by school resource officers over the past three years and the trend is very clear. We've gone from 78 arrests in 2324 to 37

103arrests in 2425, a 48% reduction and 11 in 2526, an additional 30% reduction. That decline is intentional. It reflects a shift toward early intervention, problem solving, and keeping students in school whenever possible. During the same period, 2526, there are over 1300 calls for service at our schools. That tells us arrests are the exception, not the norm. Most incidents are resolved through counseling, mediation, school discipline, or referral services rather than the justice system. Back to you, Sony. >> One element that has strengthened Gilroy Unifi's approach to school safety has been the collaboration with and professional development of our school resource officers. Our site administrators, campus supervisors, teachers, counselors, academic coordinators, and community- based mental health partners provide onampus supervision, restorative practices, prevention, and education to our students to promote a positive school climate. Our school resource

104officers contribute to these efforts as well, partnering with all of these personnel on site to ensure students feel safe at school. Captain Powell may wish to add more regarding the specific training of our SRO's. >> Thank you. These officers are not just police officers in schools. They are specifically trained in youth engagement, crisis response, and relationship building. Officer Odell has 12 years of law enforcement experience and officer Helms has over seven. K9 Maui is the only rookie on the team and he's into his second year at the school. Most importantly, both officers have over 1,300 hours of advanced specialized training key to working in school environments. This training ensures officers respond with judgment, patience, and empathy, not just authority. Their role is to support students and staff, not replace school discipline or counseling. Most of

105the SRO program happens outside of enforcement in relationship presence and prevention. This slide shows what SRO's actually do dayto-day. They've participated in 65 school communic uh community presentations. They've been involved in a 182 counseling and support focused interactions. There have been over 72,000 positive interactions with students and over 17,000 positive interactions with staff. The level enga that level engagement doesn't happen without trust. SROS also handle real police work when needed over 1300 calls for service at our schools. But when you look at those numbers next to the volume of positive engagement, it shows enforcement is a very small part of the overall program. The SRO program is about visibility, approachability, and early problem solving. Those relationships are often pre um excuse me, those relationships are often what prevent situations from escalating in the first place.

106When you look at all of these slides together, they show a program that prioritizes safety, prevention, and student well-being while remaining prepared to respond to serious issues as they arise. And we've also included some testimonials from our staff for your review, but you can also see over and over in these statements, and I'll go through them a little slowly, um, the appreciation of our SRO's leadership in running pro-social activities, contributing to the positive school climate, and of course the appreciation of Maui, who seems like he's taking a little nap right now. And finally, we wanted to include the historical cost of the um SRO program and it is split here between the city of Gilroy and Gilroy Unified. Thank you. >> If I may just add, thank you so much, Captain Powell and um Miss

107Flores. What the data that you just saw in this presentation, this is just about the work that they do during the day. I can tell you I personally have had several conversations with them uh late in the night, first thing in the morning, on weekends, on their days off. uh we my core team and I uh we have a group chat oftentimes um where we are uh communicating with each other sharing information um they will be the first responders u most of the time uh unless they cannot be uh they have often been the first ones first thing in the morning where they will go to a family's home to uh make sure that for whatever the reason might but they're the first ones to respond. So, I just I just want to share that

108this is not just the work that they do during the day. There's a lot of work that happens behind the scenes and during off hours and and I have to say um the trust that we have in them, it's just tremendous. Uh I invite them frequently to my principal meetings. I meet with my uh principles every month and our other staff members meet with them. We have a three- four hour meeting and they come and talk about trends. they talk about uh how they can support. Uh so these are all the things that are happening behind the scenes. We look at them as part of our core team. Uh we invite them to events. They're often there at our games late nights. So uh I I just want to thank both of them especially Maui

109as well now that he's a member of the team. But this really is a tremendous resource. The only time our SRO's um again like I said we have them on speed dial. They both have my phone number. We always call them first. And the only time we have to call the non-emergency number is if both of them are tied up. I want to remind everybody we have 14 schools, two comprehensive high schools. The work is tremendous. So they don't sit and wait for a call. They they are proactive and they're often involved in doing some proactive work. And the only time they're not at a site is because they're already engaged in some work. And that's when we call the non-emer emergency number. And and I have to say PD has been extremely supportive. The

110the response time is great. Uh we we really appreciate the partnership as a school district. So we could not do this work without you. Thank you. >> I want to say first of all, thank you to you guys and the service that you provide to the community. I think it is um super important. I think that one of the reasons you hear someone like myself talk about economic development and these things so much is because I would love nothing more that than to improve the program or extend the program. Um that said, you know, there are pieces of data I would like to have more out of this. um you know specifically the number of calls of service and and knowing how much we're getting and and and if parents and the residents can know

111you know are we overall having less calls of service or what kinds of calls of service are they you know knives on campus calls of service or just a fight or whatever it happens to be and then is there you know are we preventing recidivism also are we having some of the same people right it's great that we didn't take them to, you know, to juvenile hall, but are we also having, you know, some and maybe we're not or whatever, but it it it was the begging question that I happen to have there. Um and then the third thing and this might be for um for the school board or uh for the superintendent is more around is there any concern because at least when I looked at the data I had an immediate concern

112that between parents and especially staff you know some of those numbers were you know approaching 20% that either didn't agree or strongly disagreed with you know the program or the results of the program or the need for the program or what have you. And to me that's kind of concerning. I would think this would be something that would be in the 90% range, not in the, you know, 82% approval range. Anyway, that's that's my feedback on that. And anything you could provide, that's great. >> Sort of following up, add a comment following up on what the superintendent there's there's some synergies that come out of a program like this. And here's one that I witnessed. I did a a ride along with um one of the officers about a year ago and it was a

113former SRO, Andrew Lopez. I shared the story with them and um he pulled over a group of young guys. You know, it was a Saturday night and um he he went up and dealt with him and came back and uh it turned out to be a great interaction with these young boys that were driving around doing a couple things wrong. It's because he knew him from back when they were in high school. So they're building these relationships with kids that they're running into three, four, five, six years down the road. But um for that reason, I really support this program. Just one reason why >> I too thank you for the presentation and appreciate the work that you're doing in our district. I know we've had conversations outside of um meetings like this. I really

114appreciate um the effort that everyone puts in. Um I do have a specific request and doesn't have to be honored tonight, but maybe later. Um I'm very familiar with restorative practices, part of the initial group in 2017 in our district that launched restorative practices here um with coaching and school district schools in our district that were implementing um quite deeply. And so when it's listed on there that restorative practices are part of the work that you do, I would like to know specifically what that looks like. So like at Gilbert High School, what does it look like when you're utilizing restorative practices there or at any of the schools? and that can be later shared later. I would just love to know specifics around what that looks like. Thank you. >> Um I did want

115to address um council his question. Um, I have to say that yes, while like 20% seems like uh not why not 100, you're never going to get 100 just because of the makeup of our community and you historically, you know, underrepresented communities distrust police, right? Um, but the fact that we have the number that we have is really amazing. I mean this when we this last year when we renewed our um SRO contract it was the very first year that we actually had students come and praise the SRO. We've never had that before and that's due to the work of um all of the prevention work and and again that was the uh that's what I appreciate about the collaboration piece where before I think it was what the seven or eight things that SRO's

116are supposed to be doing the prevention we never had that prior to COVID right um because we didn't think about it and we had roomfuls of kids and and parents complaining about the SRO's um prior to that after COVID when we came went back on campus it was an opportunity for both of us to talk about what do we want our SRO to do and so we we see the results now >> I was specific about staff though mostly yeah that >> I understand the community >> yeah but I mean we can always improve uh and I think we're trying to do that you know bit by bit every year but I I definitely appreciate in fact um I mean I I'm and I'm sure along with u council member Hilton postcoid we were this

117you know like one of the sole no votes for the SRO's because I don't think the SRO program that we were doing was appropriate for schools but now we are because really SRO are supposed to be prevention it's really about building um building that trust and the relationships with the kids and I appreciate the fact that you allow our superintendent to do the interviews as well um just to make sure that the SRO's are a good fit for our schools. So, thank you very much for the partnership. Thank you very much for all the work that the both of you do. Um and I think your the uptick was about Maui, though. >> And I have to add Maui is such a perfect um addition to the team. I I don't know if any of

118you have ever actually watched Maui. uh in action. Uh I have seen Maui I've seen the response students have to Maui. Maui automatically uh gravitates towards students that we know we know uh may be having some struggles and we know that and to see Maui lean in little physically lean in towards those students is just amazing. So clearly he he's a well-trained um very intuitive dog. um that that many of our students uh benefit just being around him and staff sometimes. You know, we recently had an unfortunate inst incident at one of our campuses and um Dustin came over with Maui and our staff needed some time and appreciated having him on campus. So, it's not just the students, it's our adults as well. So, yeah. Thank you. >> Yes. Um, so I'm just thinking

119about um, Council Member Leasi's um, comment. So I'm curious because I'm wondering what you're you're also saying it would be great to see the staff comments be 100% right 100% comfortable with the um, school community resource officers. And I was just thinking, you know, this is our staff, right? People who are employed within the district. I'm wondering if there's just a way to add a follow-up question if the if it was um they're not comfortable. What would it take to be comfortable with the SRO so we could at least get that information as feedback to improve? >> Um I'd like to step in here. Maybe there was a misunderstanding, but the question of I am comfortable with having an SRO at school. The staff response was 93% agree or strongly agree. And the staff response

120regarding having a school resource officer in my school made our students feel safe. It's the teacher's perception of how students feel about having an SRO. So, I just wanted to make that distinction. And here we have um 88% of teachers or staff agreeing or strongly agreeing. So, the comfort is there. 93% agreeing or strongly agreeing. Yes, it's not 100% but correct. It seems like it in that situation. they might be perceiving that maybe it makes some students feel nervous but again I can't speak to that. >> Other comments or questions. >> Now we're are on to item 2E Gilroy Unified School District and City of Gilroy joint use agreement. Uh Mr. Aldor Mesa our CBO will final report on our joint use agreements. >> Good evening again board. Good evening, superintendent. Uh, good evening, council

121members and mayor. Um, I our organization has a rich history um well well before Gilroy Unified was unified uh back in the 50s and 60s and 70s. So, um the focus of this presentation is on existing joint use agreements that we have obviously with our longstanding partners, the city of Gilroy. Um, so broadly I want to talk about the Civic Center Act and you'll see in a moment why that's really relevant and important to both entities and to the me to the public as well. And I want to also make a distinction of what's a school bond because we have heavily California has heavily relied on general obligation bonds to fund facilities, public school facilities. Uh, and that's important to make that distinction between a school bond and a city uh bond. uh and then

122finally we'll review the existing joint use agreements that we have and then at the end I just have a a couple of examples of recent uh capital improvements. And so what is civic uh center act and I think the members of the public some might be familiar with this but just for our collective benefit the purpose is it declares school facilities and grounds as civic centers right so available for community when not needed for school programs. Um there are obviously permitted uses so nothing unlawful non-discriminary purposes. uh and we're able to run uh youth and uh recreational programs, public meetings, uh using them as polling places, etc. And it's under all under the authority of the governing board um where we have um a set of uh fees to recover costs such as utilities, program

123costs, um capital uh costs, etc. Uh and there's some exemptions of course with limitations. Um, I have a whole uh list here that I won't get into, but essentially it's restrictions. Uh, basically you want to use the facilities for allowable uh uses, no alcohol, etc. Things that would obviously be illegal on school premises. Um, and obviously any such of school use facilities, the use of it should be um limited uh and subject to those things. Uh, and this is where I really want to spend a little bit of time um explaining why this is so important to us. Um, the state of California funds Gilbert Unified a total of 333,000 annually to fund facilities annually for 14 schools uh including all other related facilities, district office, maintenance yard, operations, etc. $333,000 annually. Um, what did

124it cost to build South Valley? Um, 90 million. What did it cost to build Bronnell? Um, rebuild modernize substantially Bronnell 70 million. U and, and that's why this is so important to note the key distinctions. Uh, so the school bond um, the purposes of a school bond, you know, broadly is obviously to build, modernize, repair classrooms, gyms, cafeteria, safety upgrades, technology, etc. Whereas as you know the city bond will focus on citywide infrastructures, roads, parks, libraries, police, fire stations, utilities etc. Um and one of the key elements also is the border threshold unlike public schools we have and taken the Prop 55 approach uh basically lowering the border threshold to a simple majority to be able to pass uh and levy these taxes. So our threshold is 55%. So, as long as we have over

12555% general obligation bond placed on the ballot, a school bond is successful. That would not be the case with the city. Uh, typically it would be a super majority, 66.67%. uh one of the key distinctions and obviously since we rely so heavily on general obligation bonds and our taxpayers which we are incredibly grateful for this happens to be the exact language from measure E um that voters passed on June 7th, 2016. Um and you can see the margin there. Thank you to those 7,748 voters that supported our general obligation bond. But because this is so specific, I I wanted to read it and put it out there. Um, this is right from the ballot and it's it's a question because it legally needs to be a question. Uh, an exact uh word count um that's

126run by legal counsel. And so it reads like a run-on sentence, but it says, "To improve the quality of local school facilities, renovate or replace leaky roofs, improve student access to computers and modern technology, renovate plumbing and sewer systems, make health and safety security improvements, upgrade science lab and classrooms throughout the district, and construct a new elementary school. Shall, here's the question. Gil Unified School District issue 170 million bonds at legal rates with an independent citizens oversight committee. No money used for administrative salaries and all funds locally. That was the question we posed. Now, I want to remind us at that point we thought the district was growing and we were going to build an elementary on Club Drive. Uh at that point um thank goodness right before the board um authorized the construction of

127that new elementary school, we received the demographic enrollment projections in that December and we halted that project and then priority two became priority one that was Brownell and then priority three became priority two which was the build of South Valley along with a multitude projects that total over $600 million between measure E and measure P because we also leveraged the bonds to match etc. with our local uh revenues etc. But that's the key and specific question on the ballot. And then on to the existing joint use agreements that we have. Again, we have a rich history of partnership. Um as an example, the previous example, it's a stellar example of our agencies working together u successfully. But I focus on the existing agreements. Didn't go back to the 50s and 60s because for one reason

128or another those have termed. Um, so these are the agreements that are still in play and this one will be in play for a long long time. Uh, that is not a typo. So this agreement is for the joint use agreement of Solar Sono Middle School. The gym entered into May 29, 2003 and it terms is for 99 years all the way to 21102. Um the city uh reimbursed uh GUSD about 3.3 million build a gym the parking lot and obviously has served uh it's it's its purpose and it's a great partnership as well. Uh basically Gilroy Unified uh has the gym during school hours and on weekdays um from 7:00 to 5:00 and on week nights and on weekends the city um has the program and runs it. We share the cost um and

129any capital improvements that we need to be made. We split it uh evenly uh on both parties. Christopher has two. So this is Christopher High School. Um of course everybody will be familiar with the aquatic center. Um the aquatic center is typically referred to as to the activity pool. Uh and then the competitive uh pool facilities what our students use. Um that was entered on May 2nd, 2012. The city provided about $4.3 million uh to the Freight the Land Acquisition and Construction. um that term also the agreement terms on December 31st 2061. So we have um a way a ways to go on this one as well. Uh the related cost obviously the city provides all janitorial for the restrooms and activity pool. Uh they manage that uh and the city's responsible for the administration

130and the lifeguards etc. Uh of the activity pool. Uh when we look at the gym, um the gym was entered uh this is the auxiliary gym uh in Christopher High School. Uh was entered in 2007 and this one expires in July of 31, 2027. So coming up um and the city max contribution was about 2.2 million. U this is a a state matching fund program from the state of California and then obviously we coordinate the use of that facility as well. the district is responsible for the care, maintenance, utilities, uh scheduling of the facility, etc. Um, and this one is actually the one that's getting a lot more use out of the four that we have. Um, is the Caesar Chavez, formerly the Moxa gym. This is right next to the Navigator School. It's their

131uh the gym during the day. Um, oddly enough though, this one originally uh was from a Murray Hayden program. Um, the charter school applied for this grant um through state parks and rank um grant and is awarded a $2 million grant. Um, and because the Moxa uh charter um ended um in 2006, I believe um then the city became a partner I believe in 2017 or 2018. uh basically substituting that um partner if you will community partner and so it's been another successful partnership and this one is getting uh most of the use um as is available to the community and the city reimbures um GUSD for 16,500 per year for utilities maintenance um and building is the responsibility of course the bailing envelope is of responsibility of GUSD the city is required to manage

132the gym during non-school hours and city staff is present whenever they have a a city program or event. Um just a summary of considerations and additional uses or if it should change. Uh these facilities were built for students were an institution that focuses on instruction. The primary focus is on instructions of course athletics and enrichment. Um all these facilities at one point or another have been touched and modernized through bond funds. um the cost of maintenance um adds additional increase in wear and tear on facilities. So the more you use, it's just like anything else, the faster it deteriorates, the faster you have to replace it. And we have to have a source of funding for that. That's why I mentioned a total of $333,000 annually uh is received from the state and then we

133have to uh find a solution ourselves. Um there's obviously legal and risk and liabilities and misuse or injuries that happen, exposure, etc. And there's also some equity concerns. Have a public use. Uh should not limit um obviously our student access. And this is just information that I had shared with board as well. Um because what is the insurance cost given the current risk profile that we have? And again I say that given the current risk profile it's a million. This is a little outdated. It's a million5 now. Uh AB28 uh sexual assault molestation claims even though GUSD does not have any. um we are part of a giant statewide pool and those claims are paid through everybody in that giant statewide pool and so that has cost us about half a million dollars on top

134of this as well. So even though we do not have one single one, we're part of that self uh big pool at the state level and everybody has to pay into that pool otherwise the pool goes bankrupt and then we don't have a self-reur of course. Um and this is an example of what I think many of us will remember in the community. The Gilroy pool did not look this fabulous. Um it did not have that little island in the middle, but that cost about $5.8 million. was constructed would measure E funds. Um what you see in the columns is that at one point or another we were trying to do um value engineering and for those not familiar with the term is scale down the budget uh to build it on the cheap. Um

135and we did did not build it on the cheap. Um we built it the correct way, the safe way. And that's why we had that island uh in the middle so that the kids who weren't um strong swimmers or learning how to swim can use the shallow end. And then of course the deeper pool is for water polo and and other activities. And this is 2015. Um we did a major uh facelift at the Gilroy High Stadium and and that is me next to Mr. Jim Bombachi way back in 2015. And so the picture can show you uh what it looked like uh before right in the picture. I mean it's a picture right? But uh I was on the dispatch in 2015 right before the renovations. uh in the top portion of the picture

136in 2016 right when it was done and you can see um just about 10 years later now it is 10 years later into 2026 we're not quite there to October but you can even see in the picture it's it's wear and tear uh with heavy use of course and and that takes time um and money um so that was just a summary of the existing joint use agreements that we have I do want to note um a couple of Um, one in particular will expire uh June 30, 20, 26 of this year. Questions? >> Uh, we do have one public comment, Mr. Andrew Brenton. All right. Thank you. Good evening. Uh, my name is Andrew Brenton. I'm a longtime resident. I've been here for 17 years. I've had four children through GUSD and I sit

137on the parks commission. Thank you very much. Um, for the record, um, because the parks commission itself as a body has not come to an agreement about this. My comments are my own as a citizen. Um, I'd like to take the minute and a half I have to connect the dots we have about the tragedy we had and the joint use agreement. So the uh the comments that we previously had were focused on the external environment around the schools, the the streets, the intersections, the crosswalks and I think that we should focus on the planning of the schools themselves. So in uh in recent uh changes there have been um fewer ingresses and egresses uh of the schools themselves and as a consequence the number of parents and students are being funneled in into denser

138in egresses and entrances and exits and I think the uh the result of that although is foreseeable and although you can't point to any one specific thing as being the consequ consequence. Obviously, the the cause of this was a driver. However, the aggregate result of design choices that were made by um persons uh on the board are I think are were foreseeable. Um, and other choices can be made and I would urge both the city and the and the school board to come together to find a more equitable solution for safer ingress and egress using shared spaces such as adjacent parks. Thank you. >> Um, Rozo, do you want to start? >> Sure. I have a couple questions for Mr. Mesa. one a little bit of a observation but thrown in with a slight question

139back to Christopher where there's joint use agreements one for the pool one for the gym >> yes >> I just thought it was interesting the dates are so far apart one one is terms in uh in 35 years the other one terms next year out of curiosity how did that happen >> I wasn't part of the signing oh >> sorry okay >> it was the agreed upon terms Okay. >> Yeah. >> So, that's something that we need to uh look into if we want to extend that. Um, getting back to your presentation, a question I have for you, I see um it's very well spelled out your interpretation of what the uses are of all the facilities for G for the school district. But what I keep hearing throughout the presentation is that there's always

140options for participation from the rest of the community. Is that is that safe to say? >> Yes. And thank you, mayor, for pointing that out. That's why I started with the Civic Center Act because whenever our um facilities are not in used, and they are heavily being used um when when they're available, so I'll I'll just get some statistics. So for for a total um of let me see utilizations. So I know we have our listed sites there where we have joint use agreements. So for the 2425 um fiscal year there were over close to,930 plus hours in just those facilities. So Christopher gym, South Valley gym and the Moxa gym being used through the city through Facilitron because that was available. But beyond that, there were another 2,000 hours across other facilities that are

141not within the joint use agreement that involved the high school, Rucker, South Valley, and then other facilities within Christopher, 2,000 hours. So, more than double that what we have allowed through the joint use agreement. And those things also have a direct cost, which I can't get into, but over $500,000 direct cost to us, but we're not charging the direct cost. We're substantially reducing that uh through a nonprofit, even lower than nonprofit rate sometimes as well. >> Great. I I appreciate the comments and I um I'm I'm glad that you that you're acknowledging what my question is is that there are opportunities and possibilities for cooperation between the community and Gira Unified School District. And we all acknowledge that there are costs oftentimes that comes with that. it. Um we'reware really aware of that. That would

142work that would work in both directions. >> Absolutely. >> Sometimes as well. So um you uh we are we appreciate the idea that we're here today not um why we can't cooperate, but today is about how we can cooperate. So I appreciate you acknowledging that. Um thank you very Thank you. And >> can I make a just quick comment to add on to what you were talking about? >> Ask her. >> Yeah, go ahead. Um so I am part of Gilroy Rotary um former president and um you you mentioned civic use as well and so we go on to we've had the last couple of years our um and you made reference in that packet that you sent to everybody um the Rotary Club. We went on to the um scheduling thing. I forget what

143you call >> facilitron and requested to use the facility for the pickle ball courts at South Valley and um you know paid the fee and used it. And so it's not just city programs that use the facilities but um other organizations within the city that have the opportunity as well. So um and we have taken advantage of that as well. >> Yes, Trusty Dublin, >> I have a clarifying question. Um I don't want to derail the conversation about how we move forward, but I'm just curious. I know that Gavlin College football plays football at Gilroy High School. Is that a joint use agreement or is that a rental? >> That's through Facilitron. And and so just to clarify for the members of the public, Facilitron is the system that we use to rent our facilities.

144>> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Uh thank you. So um you know, as as Alvaro said, the city and district entered into a shared US usage agreement as far back as 1971. I looked at it's all probably typewriter written, right? Um today they're separate agreements as outlined. Um the core to this agreement like many people have said tonight and still practice today is that each agency can use the other space when not in use. Um GUSD totally stepped up and we needed help when we were creating district um and district elections and at that time our city admin literally contacted the admin of GUSD and to say we need large space. We need space on two sides of town and and they stepped up and gave us those facilities. Um so I I you know

145I appreciate that. Neither has to pay rental fees. Um obviously except for the maintenance utility fees applies to all schools and city facilities. Um couple history history notes about the city before we f further discussion is that the city recently approved and funded the recreation assessment and parks and trail baster plan with direction to include the district. We want to increase the size of our recreational opportunities to the community. Increase the size of the recreation guide that we all receive in the mail and we've all seen it super reduced to a paper thin. We want to grow that back. that goes back to one of the economic development um director positions and why we have that why we decided to fund that. Um it's also in support of our parks and recreation commission which you

146heard from one of the commissioners tonight who are aligned with this direction and many of our initiatives that that um that that we that have begun have started at the commission level. Um, we have the opportunity today to continue this partnership and come to a mutually beneficial agreement for the community at large with in mind that both of our agencies want to remain fiscally strong while potentially placing future district and city facility bonds on the ballot for our voters all while balancing the district's declining enrollment and a growing overall u population in the city. And so I look forward to further discussion and like people have said, I would love to have the opportunity to kind of throw some throw some ideas out there, see if they can measure um or not. But the one

147question I I do have that um before we go into that is is uh um if Alro, if you could explain a little bit about the relationship that the middle schools have in their cross country programs um with with Christmas Park with the city facility. Um I'm almost sure that that probably went back to 1971 or before. I know people that grew up here played that 58, 1958 even. Um, but if you could talk about that relationship, um, I think it's important. Um, because I think right now is that our staffs have kind of sort of had this mutual agreement. Probably not staff that's not even in this room. Um, but somewhere we need to codify that, right? >> Yeah. So, my understanding and I I don't have a middle school anymore and I did

148not have a middle school that ran cross country, but I think it's a they used the Christmas Hill Park as a public park and they run and train and etc. in the mornings, I believe, in the afternoons, just like anywhere else. Um, that's the extent of my knowledge. I know that the 1971 agreement, um, there's two. There's one that talks specifically about 7.7 acres that term 18 years ago, and there's another one that's more broad, but that became moot when Prop 98 came into a place and completely revamped the tax code and how California public schools are funded. And basically, we don't collect, we don't pay taxes, we collect taxes. that 1971 agreement became moot because the entire funding mechanism for public schools changed in 1988. Um so I mean globally I think that's why

149I lifted the joint use agreements that are relevant that are active. Some are immediately coming in and expiring in 4 months. I do think that we have an opportunity to continue partnerships but we have to focus on the ones that are expiring or we will run the risk of those just expiring and then just you know facilitron will continue right well civic center will continue there's opportunities for anybody to rent a facilities tomorrow and have a private party they just have to have the private rate right and our facilities will have to have available so I would encourage us to look at those agreements that are expiring in the near future >> so I just want provide some context behind that. So, um it's a little different. I have a middle I have a recently

150graduated from middle school. So, our all of the middle schools have the cross country program that's at Christmas park. They they make the reservation through our recreation manager um to use the park and the entire region comes to us every single week. So, it's not just them practicing, it's they they hold their meets here. Like everybody in the region knows that Gilroy has the best prime park and they use that and there's thousands of people that we invite. There's thousands of people that you know the schools and the teams and everybody invites or whatever. Um and it's it's free of charge. No charge for parking. No charge for anything else. Um, so I just want to make sure that that not obviously not doing it tonight, but the direction back to at least to our

151staff is is we need to codify that relationship somewhere be before new board happens or new staff members happen and like that to make sure that that that gets put up on there. Thank you. >> Yes. uh Trusty Nelson and then >> Kellyust >> I don't know if this is Germaine because we're talking about the joint use agreement but at the uh board meeting that we had uh in January it was mentioned that our costs on Facilitron are lower compared to other districts. So even outside the joint use of facilities when the city uses our facilities, it's getting a deal which they wouldn't get otherwise. Am I correct in that? >> Yeah, absolutely. So um going back to again 2024, um if we were to charge the city for all the related usage, it'd be

152over $2.1 million direct charge. Obviously, we're not doing that. Um, so I mean there's various ways to look at the uses, direct cost, but even when we compare to other districts in the in the county. Um, just the averages and I'll just mention a couple because we can go on and on in different categories, but you know the the averages in Santa Clara. U, this is districts that charge for a nonprofit rate in Santa Clara. For a gym per hour, they charge $77 per hour. That's the average for a a large gym. to our where we just charge 35. So 77 to 35 for a library. Some districts in our county charge almost $26 per hour where we charge 15 uh for for youth. Uh multi-purpose room some districts charge and this is an average

153almost $43 where we charge 22. Uh and so these are the rates that um are comparable in some some of those facilities. Um, but there's no category that I've seen that Santa Clara averages are not substantially lower in Gilroy. So, we're always always cheaper and that's because we want our facilities to be available for the public. Uh, in some cases, they're three times more expensive somewhere else in our county. >> Two clarifying questions. First of all, we don't the city does not rent the facilities that we have joint uses for. Correct. Okay. I I thought maybe you were. Okay. Um the second question I have is, you know, uh several years ago, um Antonio Delbano closed. Did we have a joint use agreement at that site >> or Antonio Buo? No, we had we the

154district had um a joint use agreement with the county office of of education for that site and they were there for 5 years. >> Okay. >> Now, the county may have then subleasased to something to run with the city of Gilroy. Um but we our agreement was with the county office for 5 years. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah, I um I appreciate this conversation because I want to continue to have the conversation. And I like the idea of um starting where we have an immediate cut off maybe starting there and having the discussions and making it make sense for both entities. So because we are in a community and we all want to make sure that we are in a safe and healthy community, it benefits education to have safe and healthy um families.

155Um I do want to give a little bit more context too from the um city offerings in the past. Um, I did I was principal of Mount Madonna High School from 2009 to 2015 and I put in the application every year at the city for the graduation at Christmas Hill Park and um at no cost and the city also offered um when I was at the district office 2015 to 2018 the Willie house. So we um operated SARB out of the Willie house. who thought it was um a good way to model restorative practices in a way where we were in the community, families could walk to us and we held um Sarbon Circle. So that was at no cost and I think I had keys for a while. So thank you for that. That

156was fun. But um just some context of other ways that we use that at no cost. But I do um appreciate that we have to maintain financial responsibility for the district. But I'm really looking forward to ways that we can work together. Um my hope is I know you mentioned Facilitron. I know it's about cost and maintenance. Totally get it. But I hope that um our conversation today it doesn't focus on um how great Facilitron will be for the city of Gilroy. I understand facilitron if we have a one-off or two off anomaly. Oh, we have a dance or we have something we need to quick get it in and rent it. It totally makes sense. But I hope that we aren't that we aren't thinking this is going to be successful that the city

157of Gilway is going to be using facilitron on a normal basis. I hope that we can get past that and start talking about asking our staffs not tonight. We're not going to solve these questions tonight. Asking our staffs to go back maybe city of Gway making some presentations based on this wreck assessment that we have coming. How can this wreck assessment and this new potential funding that city of Gary is trying to find for this community, how would we be would we be able to propose to Gro Unified how to leverage some of their some of their assets as well to make it work for the entire community? That's what I'm looking for today. >> Uh I did have a question. you had mentioned that um in your in the wreck assessment that you're doing,

158you're you're including GOD properties. How are you doing that? >> I I'll I'll clarify that because I know the public works director is looking at me like, "Did you say that?" No. No. What what it is literally is that they will be going out into the community. Um and one of the things that we asked that we gave feedback to was that those things that Aubbero already talked about that we have the shared use, bring it up. like don't don't ignore that we have access to a pool, a gym, all that kind of stuff. And at the same time, we wanted to make sure that we have this cross um uh collaboration that continues to or if you see a use that you want from us, same thing. It goes back and forth. So we

159we basically we want your input like I would I would want this to have that consultant that's doing this actually come and present to your board, right? what what we're thinking about doing as a community um and to seek your feedback directly that way on a public level. It gives another opportunity for the members of the public to come but also at the same time our staff will be more than likely crossworking and stuff too. Hopefully that makes sense. >> Thank you for that clarification. And then >> too and then Mr. Alvare uh Mr. Mesa um there I believe it's there was an um amendment to the civic center code recently. It was it is it like 503 or something like that where we are now able to charge additional fees for the the basically

160the wear and tear where before it was only direct cost, right? So it expanded our direct cost um that we can oh the definition of direct cost. >> Yes. Basically the the cost to replace a facility like the the stadium, right? Like that that took $2 million. So now I can embed that in capital cost and come up with a square footage, turn it into an hourly rate based on utilization. So absolutely yes, we can include that in cost recovery. >> And are we planning on doing that? >> We are way overdue with a a rate evaluation for all our facilities. And that's something that um Mr. Aurelia Rodriguez and I have already started to work on. And that's why we know we're so far out of line. That's why I had the averages of

161other districts and what they're charging because that work has begun. Um, so yes, we're way overdue. I think the last rate set was in 2018 or something like that, if not even longer than that. It's been a while we're overdue. >> Okay. >> Yes. Um, thank you for bringing that up because my question about the um the rental um clarifying the rental from Gavin College at at our at the Gilbert High School football field. My wonder was, is it worth it? You know, based on the wear and tear. So then you're bringing this up that we can recover the cost for um wear and tear, if you will. That's that's hopeful moving forward. >> I think um I like I know that when we last had this uh report in our meeting, none of us

162said we're not interested. I think all of us said that we are interested for the benefit of the community. uh but we have yet to see a prop like we can't initiate anything right because the city has to come to us and say we want to use your facility you know these facilities for these reasons and then we can have um you know Mr. Mesa and his staff cost it out and then that's when the negotiation starts, right? So that's kind of where we're at is we're willing but we have yet to see anything. So we need to see something from the district to move forward. I, you know, I wonder somewhat how much we're arguing about how many angels fit on the end of pin, the head of a pin kind of thing on

163$22 here and there, but I get the whole thing, but it sounds to me kind of like uh now we're going to get into an exercise of let's ascertain on both sides how much we're really spending here and spending there and not just, you know, and then come to the negotiation and then okay, well, no, you really owe me $1,200. $ over here every year when it works out and I encourage everybody to look at this a little more again holistically like how is this going to benefit the entire community if there's real uh amounts of wear and tear etc etc then we figure out what that is and we work it out in the balance um one of the specific things I know that have been coming up for us in the city uh

164are two areas one is uh in pickle ball obviously has uh increased tremendously and uh the second one is with the swimming and whatnot. So, can you can you speak specifically to not the aggregate of utilization, but is there an opportunity? Is there actually, you know, room left in utilization in those in those facilities? >> Yeah, I'll ask Mr. Oelier Rodriguez to speak to the utilization of the Gilroy High School pool and Christopher High School because I think he's more familiar with um the utilization of both pools, >> specifically the pool at Gilroy is I mean the one that's most important. And then secondly, the pickle ball courts obviously uh that are also out. >> Mr. Rodriguez oversees and he's the first point of contact for all facility reservations and he's also a former SRO

165himself. >> Thanks. >> Um the the utilization of the Christopher pool is is really tight. Uh it's it's going from the start of the school day till about uh 8:00 PM 900 pm. Uh not only with us us using it but with the city using it and also outside groups using it till then. Uh it gets utilized five six days a week. When the summer program comes in, your city program comes in and it's utilized almost every day. Um at the Geroy pool we have uh more more leeway there. Uh I don't see a lot of rental uh requests at the Groy pool at the moment, at least for the last two years. Um most of the uh most of the uh requests come in from an outside group from San Jose uh off the

166top of my head uh for uh water polo and I think that's tied into the water polo program also at Gilroy High School and then Gilroy High School of course uses it for the bulk of the time. Um As far what was the other uh >> well specifically I mean is it >> pickle ball? >> Well before pickle ball on the Gilroy high school pool is it uh you know outside of school hours is it 80% utilized or 8% utilized outside of school hours? >> Outside of school hours outside of our programs I would say maybe 10% utilized. Okay. It's very little there's there's plenty of room there at the Gilroy High School. There's very little room at Christopher High School. >> Understood. Okay. And the pickle ball. >> Pickle ball. uh pickle ball we

167are about probably 95% um uh available. Um the biggest uh draw is the uh Rotary tournament. Um they they come in there and they've used it the last couple years. Other than that, we have not gotten much interest in uh in pickle ball. So, if I'm if I'm remembering, it sounds like the Moxa gym is the most urgent most most pressing uh right joint use agreement that needs to be addressed. Um I'm not sure if anybody goes to um the open gym at the Moxa gym on Saturdays. It is packed with our kids, which is wonderful. And I would love for that to continue and to have a, you know, a solid agreement in place so that we can make sure or continue to make sure that our students have really awesome pro-social opportunities on

168Saturday nights. >> Thank you, Trusty Delono. The Moxa gym was used for over 1,400 hours during 2425. It's already being used again this year, uh, roughly at a at a direct cost approximately $427,000 to our Gilroy Unified School District. So it is absolutely being utilized. >> So yeah, so I I think what I'm hearing um and I'm a relatively new res well been here about four or five years now. So we lived in Morgan Hill for about 12. Um I love that we have so my son actually swims for uh Gro Gator. So I used to be the Phil Pilatron person and really I was just talking to him right over here. So, but what I love about the the joint and and and I think um and and I know we're talking a lot

169about kind of the logistics. What I think is a miss though and I want to emphasize is that when we can have our community stay here to do all the recreational activities, it's awesome. Like my son who's ready to go to high school at Christopher next year, he already knows the pool at Christopher because he's there like five days. Well, four days. we give them Friday off, but we're literally there every single day. And so, um, so, you know, I think our kids and our families take pride, um, in in in our facilities. And if they don't have to travel, you know, even to Morgan Hill and they can just do it right here, I think that really benefits the community. And also, um, you know, I think, um, as a board member, I I

170do want to emphasize that, um, we do need to be in some kind of agreement. It can't be that the city comes to us and says we want to use this and we'll kind of work out the details later. And I'm not saying that that's what I heard tonight, but I do think it has to be a a true joint partnership uh moving forward. And so that you know, so if I'm going to Airbnb my place out, I'm not going to ask for payment 6 months down the line. I want payment in advance and I want to know that they're going to take care of my home while, you know, it's being rented. So I I just kind of throw that out as as a an example of of our working partnerships. So I hope

171that we can uh find um uh some agreement in in in some of these joint uh um facility usages because I have seen uh personally seen the benefits of our children utilizing um our facilities here in their town. Um so what I'm hearing is that um we are directing our prospective staff to go back immediate needs is looking at the existingus that need to be renewed. Um, and then, uh, my question is, it sounds like we're kind of waiting until you finish your parks and rep master plan, um, to open up any other facilities or or to start the discussion on other facilities. Is that correct? >> Well, I I think that I think that what the direction that I would like to offer this mutual beneficial agreement is to put everything out there. Now,

172we already talked about Gilray High pool, pickle ball, um those type of facilities. Um you know, I'd rather put that out there now for our staff to both staff's agencies to be able to hear that. Um because it is going to the all these things are going to be like parallel pass going at all at the same time. Um uh you know, there's there's a couple other items too that I wanted to bring up too is and the member of the public talked about it is the open fields that are next to El Rob, Rod Kelly, and Luigi. um you know, we want to see if there's a way that the city could utilize that as a community space um the same way that we use some of these other um uh facilities too with

173with keeping our kids here and our programs here. Um so that that's another thing that we want to try to see if we can come to an agreement with. Um and uh and more or less too, I just want besides those ones that are expiring, I want to make sure um immediately that we try to codify the cross country um you know, GSD and Christmas park city agreement. We got to we got to figure that out at some point rather than just keep keep going back and forth. >> Do you I've never rented park space, but do you charge the public to to rent your parks? >> Yes. But not not GUSD specifically. It's whatever it's the same relationship like if you need it, you got it. >> And I think that that that works

174probably for our staffers, right? Less confusion and stuff like that. But um uh codifying that like they did in 1971 or 58 might help all of us be right because we we changed positions and seats and stuff like that. So I think that you know even if we came to like use the basis of that 1971 agreement where really didn't go into any detail at all. It just says like we'll talk with each other. We'll come to a mutual agreement. If you guys want to try something at our facilities just bring it up. If we want to try something you bring it up. and then we just find a mutual way to to agree upon. I think that's better than than a lot of these um separate ones. >> Mr. Mason, can you clarify the

175terms of the 1971 agreement? I think you and I >> again the there were two the I think I referenced this earlier um superintendent sorry if I wasn't um clear but like >> there's two there was one that was very broad didn't set terms and and talked about the school district paying taxes or a share of a tax well we don't pay taxes we collect taxes now all that blew up in 1988 so I'm assuming because that's not an active agreement um that that's when it died because they realized we don't we don't pay taxes, we're funded through taxes and because the taxes don't fully fund our now local control funding formula, then the state needs to provide additional sources for us. So the whole parameters of that deal when moved in 1988 with Prop

17698. The other one had a set term and even though it began in 71, it was really uh effective in 75 all the way through 200 um 8 I believe. Uh and so for 30 33 years uh and it expired in 2008 I believe. So those things are no longer active and and that's why I said look we have a rich history going back to when it was Sanicedro and Rucker district and then before we and then we became unified in 1966. Uh so obviously there's a lot of history here but what we ought to focus on is joint use agreements that are actually um uh not expired. um those other ones for one reason or another either term because of explicit terms or there was a global law like Prop 98 in 1988 uh

177that just became moot because we just don't do those things anymore. We can't do those things. >> The 71 agreement from what I remember was not actually between GUSD and the city. It was when GUD was two or three different districts. >> That's right. >> And so I'm not sure what that agreement looks like anymore. that that one was before it became um Gilroy Unified in 1966. >> So I want to I want to provide another context a thing that we just went through with Valley Water very similar. We ended up figuring out that we had like 15 I don't I'm making it up like a dozen different agreements that were spread around the city for all this stuff and we're doing all this like good work. You'll hear some about it in city news.

178And what we realize is that like can we combine this? Like I get we have all of our separate funds and pockets and all that kind of stuff, but can we have one document that like the elected boards can see, staffers can see that really codify everything? And obviously these can still be their own separate deals, but at least it'll be listed solar gym Christopher High School Pool, that kind of stuff. And then you can go to that addendum, but um I I I wouldn't want to use any of that language they used in 71 either. I don't think any of us should. But I think that I think that we've said enough tonight and there's enough good positive things that are probably already written in there that you could draft we could draft up

179a real short version of a master agreement between the two with joint use and then start peeling off this stuff and then if as like I said before if there's extra things we want to do like pickle ball and um you know the cross country use at Christmas Hill Park those can obviously be its own category and maybe next year we'll see an increase for the So, so the direction is that we go to our respective staff. Um they do uh so or from our perspective we're waiting for the staff your staff to come and say we want a a joint use agreement for all of these facilities and then we will come you know cost it out and and figure out what we can do in in sharing some of those costs. >> Yeah.

180And in in the agreement like everybody said focus on the ones that are expiring right because that's that's critical. They're established there. Um and focusing on the cross country Christmas park before that season comes back up again. >> Okay. >> Any else? >> Right. >> Okay. >> Now we are on to uh GUSD news. >> Oh, I'm sorry. You know what? I'm not learning all the information. Sorry. are still here. >> I love these things. Oh man, you want to know something? >> He pulls up numbers. Very good. it up here some like rather than like continue. But yeah, >> good to meet you. Yeah. Yeah. >> Exactly. All right. >> Well, keep on there. Fire. >> Okay. Round up part time or Why bother? >> Okay. But those >> members what I've heard about

181guys who were in charge of all this You're always very >> cheap. Comes out. Once I owe you a struggling saying. Oh, okay. Yeah, we're good. It requires nobody on Thanks. Well done, sir. I did that on something. Hey, I think we're waiting for the superintendent to share GSD news. >> All right. Well, good great things are happening in Gilroy Unified and I am going to start with um the strategic plan that uh President Fak mentioned earlier. Uh last year the district engaged in in developing a strategic plan. Uh after several many many many years and decades uh nobody remembered when we did the last one. So we are very excited and this plan will include our mission vision. It'll confirm our values. It'll define the profile of a graduate and it'll also lay out

182our actions. Uh this plan will guide all our future goals and outcomes for our students. The other thing we just completed is a 10ear uh facilities master plan which was approved by the board a couple of meetings ago. Uh the board also approved hiring a consultant to conduct a survey on the viability of a bond later this year uh for the upcoming election. Uh something we're really proud of is that in the last two years, GUSD has opened seven wellness centers. All of our secondary schools, all four high schools, all three middle schools now are staffed with a full-time social worker or therapist. Uh Elliott Elementary also has a wellness center that's staffed. And all the other elementary schools, they share a a social worker or or a therapist. uh the afterchool program. This was

183something we added last year because we have students that stay um all elementary school, middle schools in Mount Madonna. Students have the opportunity to stay on school campuses till 6:00 and we added some wellness coaching positions uh which again will assist kids after school as well. Uh, another exciting thing that happened last year is at the beginning of last year, I know earlier in the meeting it was mentioned that when we closed ADB for 5 years, we leased the um facility to the county office of education and when the lease came up for renewal last year, uh we decided not to renew that lease. Uh instead we moved our Mount Madonna High School students and staff over to the new facility uh which is AD but now it's Mount Madonna High School. Very excited about

184that. I was just there earlier. Uh just uh having that facility for us for our students. Uh it it's amazing. This year in fact we will have our first graduation for that class at that campus itself. So very excited about that. Um the the school the program also we expanded the afterchool culinary arts program for students now because they have a full kitchen. Uh so uh chef Carlos uh he comes over there and he works with the students. It's a great program and we are very excited uh adding to our partnerships with um our partner uh community partners. We have a great relationship with Gavlin College and Mount Madonna students now have the opportunity to be dually enrolled. So we have several students starting this year that finish school at 1:30 and then head on

185straight to Gavlin College so that they can take some classes over there. Um we also have an understanding with them that every time a Mount Madonna student graduates we will kind of do a warm handoff where the counselors at both ends will talk to each other and make sure that the student is enrolled. uh at Gavlin College. So just a lot of great things happening for students over there. Uh GUSD last year also entered into an agreement with San Jose State University where all our graduates as long as they are on the 8th through G track and a 2.5 GPA, they are guaranteed admission to San Jose State University. So very excited for our high school students. Our graduation rates um are up from 24 to uh and they've gone up from 85% to 91.2%.

186Which is exciting. Also, our college and career readiness indicator was 39.7% in 24 uh 2024 and it is up to 50% now. So again, gradual uh increase in in our academic um achievement. uh San Jose State. Uh we already talked about that. The other thing we did last year is through Prop 28 funding, we have created a strategic arts plan to increase access to arts education for um all our students across the district from TK through 12th grade. Uh this this includes offering theater, music, visual arts and performing arts in the elementary schools, increasing arts electives in the middle schools and adding additional arts classes in the high schools. In fact, last year was the first time we added electives for all students uh in middle school. If you have uh had students in Gilroy

187Unified, we used to offer band and choir. Those were the only electives we offered to middle school students. But now all students have the opportunity to pick an elective. Uh our before and after school program that I mentioned earlier, we serve over 1,700 students TK through 8th grade and then also students at Mount Madonna in our afterchool u and before school program. Uh this is our expanded through our expanded learning opportunities u that the grant the funding that we received from the state. Uh something we added two years ago is we changed the summer program where there is now an academic piece and then the enrichment piece where in the past it used to be only an enrichment program over the summer but we added the academic piece just so that there's no learning loss

188during the summer. uh to improve our academic outcomes for our teachers. Uh our uh curriculum and instruction team uh they have been designing uh professional learning communities for our staff where our teachers can engage in dialogue and collaboration on how to have better outcomes for our students. So those are some of the exciting things we are doing aboard. Is there anything that I've missed? Please jump in. >> All right. Thank you. Did you have something? >> Are we doing this like when we have the um in the same um fashion when we do the board member reports or are we just adding >> No, it's it's more like um what the district is doing that could it you know could impact the city and the community. It's a It's a report. What they need to

189know about what the district is doing. >> Yeah. They don't need to know like we went to El Roé to see the the drama or anything like that, but just global scale. Did you have a report? >> No. >> Okay. So, now we are on to city news. >> Okay. I'm going to give a shot. Deliver this. Um, thank you. Thank you very much. Um, I'll I'll be looking for some support from our interim city administrator Harjo and Vice Mayor Hilton as well as any other council member as I go along here. Feel free to jump in if I if I miss out some uh cool details. So, first and foremost, um, something that has happened recently at the city of Gilway is we've hired hired a new city administrator, Matt Mley. Welcome, Matt. I

190wish there was another 75 people here when we had a chance to interview. >> Sorry. Sorry, man. I have a sense that there's thousands of people watching right now. So, >> um, Mr. >> Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Greg. >> Yeah. Um, but the first thing I would like to talk about is economic development. Uh, why the city established a new dedicated economic development department. And we did that because we're looking to bolster and enhance economic resiliency through a diversified tax base which directly affects the quality of life of our residents and strengthening the city's ability to provide essential services. The council sees economic development not only as a business as business retention, expansion, and attraction, but as creating a thriving environment where access and opportunity abound while preserving the character and values that make

191our community unique. So to demonstrate um the commitment to economic development that this council has uh made, we've also funded a new economic development director position which is filled by our new economic development director, Raisa De La Rosa. Thank you for being here this evening. Same sentiment. I wish there was more people here when we introduced you, but you will be getting to know the community very quickly. So thanks for coming tonight. Appreciate it. Um, Risa brings 25 years of public sector experience to the table. 20 years which are specifically in the economic development field. She spent 18 years with the city of Santa Rosa, establishing a growing program for its inception, eventually becoming the economic development division director. Her passion is helping communities thrive by delivering programs and projects which enhance economic development. Um,

192we have an economic development strategy update that she's going to be overseeing. Um and in prepar prep preparation for that the new economic development department uh the city commenced to update our 2019 community-based strate strategy and um as uh we get into that at the city of Gilroy led led by Raisa that she will be engaging with all of the stakeholders u in Gilroy including Gavalan and the private sector and the public uh nonprofit organization as well as Gilroy Unified School District. We want everyone's input to come up with a new economic development strategic plan. So, we're really looking forward to that. Um, other things that are happening in Gilroy, um, we, uh, to, for example, tobacco retailer permits. The city recently instituted a temporary citywide moratorum on issuing new tobacco retail permits and is

193going to revise the tobacco retailing ordinance to address operational requirements, locations, and related enforcement. Um, as of recently, um, there have been three smoke shops, uh, in Gilway that have been have been shut down. So, we're making some progress there. Um, capital improvement projects, new fire station on the west side. Um, design build contractors should be selected by the end of summer of 26 with a groundbreaking in uh, by the end of this year. That is the goal. Uh that may shift uh very slightly, but that'll be a 6600 foot state-of-the-art facility providing emergency response to the Glen Loma Ranch community on the west side of Gilroy. Uh more capital improvements, uh Lions Creek Trail project. I mentioned to you guys in our last meeting, this work includes a new crosswalk across the Santa Teresa

194Road at Day Road, signal improvement, and minor intersection adjustments. We are close to 90% design. construction timing is contingent on completion of state and federal CALR environmental processes, but that process is losing uh uh moving along, which means that there will be um an asphalt trail that will connect all the way from the church and fereral right by Antonio delono uh neighborhood all the way to the Tapestry Street Bridge right across the street from the entrance to Christopher High School. So that's coming soon. Additional um CIP uh capital improvement projects, Sanro Park healthy living enhancement work includes playground targeted for ages 5 to 12 and completion of a concrete loop trail, lighting and things like that. That project is hoping to be complete by 2027. This is all um grant money um with work done

195directly by electeds uh specifically council member Hilton who um helped secure $3 million from Zo Lofgrren's office to um get this project um headed in the way that it's heading. So, thank you very much for that. I'd like you to comment on that once I get through this. Um few more things, excuse me. Um we've talked a little bit about the recreational assessment. So this is again in review. The city has initiated a recreational assessment to uh conduct a comprehensive assessment of the recreation programs to receive recommendations and enhance its operational effectiveness and service offerings to all our residents with specific attention related to affordability for our residences. Um, and finally, uh, Gilroy Ice Center. I know we've been talking about that for quite some time. So, I want to update you on that. Little

196background on the Gilroy Ice Center, which is, uh, also known as the Sarks Ice. Uh, discussion to build an ice arena began in 2019 with a term sheet approved in 2022. Uh due to increase in estimated construction costs for the Giri Ice Center as presented to the city council in the June of 2025, there's a funding gap that exists. To address this funding gap, uh the council formed an ad hoc committee to evaluate the project's financial fe feasibility. And this ad hoc along with city staff and Sharks Sports and Entertainment Group are actively exploring solutions to close this funding grading gap to keep this project uh moving forward. So, uh, Council Member Hilton, could you could you elaborate a little bit more on some of those recreational? >> Yeah. So, real briefly, you talked about

197trying to, you know, boost our own um, you know, uh, sales tax and stuff here. uh annually um my office um has always gone after the unfunded projects in our CIPs um to go after regional, state and federal funding, basically known as earmarks. Um and this is a this is a direct way for those electeds that we all have a relationship with. Um uh that personal relationship to be able to pitch them the idea of the project that usually has environmentally cleared, which is those ones that that he just talked about. Um and basically to ask for appropriations and those appropriations annually get put through either with Congress or state um and uh you know Gilroyy's luckily been really successful even on the regional level um for getting funding for a lot of the stuff

198that affects both of our um the work that we do with like the late night gym. That was one thing that that the mayor was able to secure funding through um Sylvia Randis' office. So, you know, thank thank you to our our regional electeds and um you know, we look forward to keeping those relationships open. And I would say that if there's anything that the school district um identifies or maybe there's something that the both of us um you know, identify as something we both want to go after that we both know this city needs for um you know, pitch those pitch those ideas. um any one of us have have that relationship um and know that process with the with with our electeds and they love the fact of being able to give funds

199back into their district. Um so thank you. >> All right. Um I just have uh two two additional updates to just share. One is regarding the civ uh city civic center master plan. uh city embarked on a project to uh reinvision what the civic center uh looks like here in downtown which uh currently includes the Wheeler auditorium, the city hall, the uh existing library. So uh the city undertook a comprehensive uh basically outreach and community input effort last year uh conducted uh in the community several workshops and such. Uh we are now at a point where we have a draft master plan which uh will be made available to the community here in the next week or so. Um so we are uh excited to present that to the community as a master plan. Uh

200the other thing we're going to also be doing is uh we have prepared a environmental impact uh report that goes along with the master plan. So that will be made available to the community for uh for comment period and uh there is going to be a community meeting uh scheduled for the last week of February which will be communicated through our social media. So please take a look uh look out for that as well and uh we we do want the community to be proud and see the final results of all the effort all the hard work that this community actually um had a significant input on to see the final product come come uh come out. All that will all that say uh after the comment period the period we will be bringing before

201the city council for formal action to adopt the plan sometime this summer. Um the other thing I'll mention is again I think the mayor already mentioned you know we're super excited at the city as an organization to welcome our new leader Matt Mley. I'll put a plug in. We are hosting a uh open house uh for our communities. So, those that are watching us at home, uh, everyone here, uh, please join us at 5:00 on Monday, uh, to basically, uh, get to know Matt and have a little meet and greet. We'll have some, uh, light refreshments and such. U, again, we're super excited to have him on board and, uh, looking forward to accomplish a lot. That's all. >> Thank you. Um, Mayor Bos, I'm just curious. Do you have a a timeline for when

202the uh recreation study will be completed? >> A a year or less. >> Okay. So, this time next year maybe. >> Yeah. >> Thanks. I don't know if this is something you can answer, but um do you have an update on whether or not Groy um garlic festival is going to happen in the same form as it did last? Is that is that not your responsibility? I'm not clear. Okay. >> It's not okay. >> separate thing. Okay. Okay. >> Oh, you can tell me after. Okay. I'll follow up. The only thing I would like to suggest is that we had a really good robust conversation about joint use agreements that we never had before. And I think that both of our staff, whether it comes through our prospective boards um between then and then, um

203I think it'd be a great annual um update to talk about the successes, you know, call out things. I mean, if we didn't talk about it tonight, I mean, we have brand a lot of brand new staff. we might not have known that that summertime expiration was creeping up on us. Um, so that that would be my only suggestion is that we just at least keep that as a placeholder on this >> annual update. >> Yeah, an annual update. >> My suggestion would be is I really appreciated the informal time we had before we met and and just, you know, breaking bread with each other and eating. I like that. I don't know if that's something that can be done um when we have our I know we paid for the meals, so we do

204potluck. I don't care. I mean just just an opportunity to to meet just an opportunity to meet informally. >> Right. Right. Right. But I I do think that would help in developing our relationship and and our working relationships. So >> you could take us to that all you can eat buffet. How about that?