From: Max Reinhardt
To: x-City Clerk"s Office
Cc: City Council
Subject: Item for Public Comment 9/23/25 Regular Meeting - Item 6 Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2025 6:42:05 PM
Dear Honorable Mayor & Councilmembers,
I am deeply concerned with the process of providing 'Certificates of Compliance' by the City Staff inside of Belmont. It's a process which seems to be longer, more expensive, less well defined and most alarmingly inconsistent with other municipalities locally and statewide.
I personally have a certificate of compliance application which is now over 9 months in process. I've heard from numerous other of my clients and owners who seem to be at similarly long if not longer timeframes. In addition, I have heard other speakers come to the Council with similar complaints over the past few years, some having complained that the timeframes are around or over 2 years.
I hope that the Council can encourage staff to provide the public with a sense of what to expect, the timeframes that would be associated with them and examine how to become more efficient with processing them. Furthermore & much more importantly, I believe it is the job of council at this point to genuinely ask why the position of the City Attorney seems to be inconsistent with that of other municipalities locally and elsewhere (I can provide a list). I believe it may be prudent to have the COC review process handled by an outside agency that could help ensure it's done in the most timely fashion possible and that the process of evaluation is done consistent with the prevailing standards and law.
Regards,
Max Reinhardt