MONTE SERENO CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING
7:00 p.m.
Spetember 2, 2025
MEETING CALLED TO ORDER
At approximately 7:01 p.m., Mayor Craig called the meeting to order.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Council lead the Pledge of Allegiance.
ROLL CALL
Present – Chambers: Councilmember Shannon, Councilmember Mekechuk, Vice Mayor Allan and Mayor Craig
Present – Remote: None
Absent: None
Staff: City Clerk Gonzalez-Langarica, City Manager Perkins and City Attorney Powell
Staff – Remote: None
ORDERS OF THE DAY
Mayor Craig requested Item #3 to be postponed for a meeting in October.
MOTION: Motion by Vice Mayor Allan to move Item #3 to be postponed for a meeting in October. Seconded by Councilmember Shannon.
VOTE: Motion passed. (4-0-0)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Staff were complimented on the Annual City Picnic by the Council.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
None.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
None.
CONSENT CALENDAR (TO BE ACTED UPON BY A SINGLE MOTION)
1. Approve the Minutes of the August 19, 2025 Regular City Council Meeting
Docusign Envelope ID: 194F53AE-B955-4A91-993A-0FB8CF0C6165
2. Approve Warrant List Dated August 27, 2025 in the Amount $288,269.98 Mayor Craig opened the Consent Calendar for Public Comment. With no one wishing to speak, Mayor Craig closed Public Comment.
MOTION: Motion by Councilmember Mekechuk to approve Item #1 on the Consent Calendar. Seconded by Councilmember Shannon.
VOTE: Motion passed. (4-0-0)
MOTION: Motion by Vice Mayor Allan to approve Item #2 on the Consent Calendar.
Seconded by Councilmember Shannon.
VOTE: Motion passed. (3-0-1 Abstain: Mekechuk)
PUBLIC HEARING
None.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
3. Update on the City Council Adopted Goal to Increase Civic Engagement and Provide any Direction to Staff
Item was postponed for a future meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
4. Consideration of a Letter of Opposition to SB 707 (Durazo) Open Meetings: Meeting and Teleconference Requirements
City Manager Perkins provided a staff report.
Discussion ensued.
Mayor Craig opened the item for Public Comment. With no one wishing to speak, Mayor Craig closed Public Comment.
MOTION: Motion by Vice Mayor Allan to authorize the Mayor to send the letter of opposition to SB 707 (Durazo) to the appropriate legislators. Seconded by Councilmember Mekechuk.
VOTE: Motion passed. (4-0-0)
5. Receive the Informational Update from the Improving Finance Controls and Reporting Ad Hoc Committee
Councilmember Mekechuk provided a PowerPoint presentation to the Council.
Councilmember Shannon provided additional information.
Discussion ensued.
Mayor Craig opened the item for Public Comment. With no one wishing to speak, Mayor Craig closed Public Comment.
No action required. Informational only.
COMMITTEE/COMMISSION REPORTS
Vice Mayor Allan reported that there is an upcoming meeting for the Silicon Valley Animal Control Authority but had nothing else to report.
Docusign Envelope ID: 194F53AE-B955-4A91-993A-0FB8CF0C6165 Councilmember Shannon reported she attended a meeting with the Santa Clara Valley Water Commission. After a short meeting, they went to the Anderson Dam for a tour. Councilmember Shannon shared that the dam is being completely rebuilt as a seismic retrofit project and is scheduled to be completed in 2033. The Anderson Reservoir is the largest reservoir and has been drained for a few years and will not be filled again until after 2033.
Councilmember Mekechuk reported that the West Valley Stormwater Authority and the West Valley Solid Waste Management Authority Board are scheduled to have a meeting this Thursday in the Monte Sereno Chambers. Silicon Valley Clean Energy Authority has a scheduled meeting next week.
Lastly, Councilmember Mekechuk shared he attended a meeting with the Santa Clara County Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission last week. Councilmember Mekechuk shared he believes there is an opportunity to work across agencies and get household hazardous waste out of residents’ garages, sheds and homes in Monte Sereno through the silos across the government.
Mayor Craig reported he attended the West Valley Mayors & Managers meeting last week. There was discussion about the impact that reductions in federal money coming into Santa Clara County is going to affect the cities. There was also discussion on how they are going to implement a 5/8 cent tax across the county to make up for some of that deficit. There is anticipation of a $1.5 billion impact, but this tax is only going to bring in about $300 million. Lastly, the Mayor shared that he, the Vice Mayor and the City Manager attended a meeting online with Caltrans. It’s still unknown who will give the stamp of approval to help with tree removal off Highway 9.
COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS
Councilmember Shannon commented that last weekend she and the Mayor attended one of the series hikes with Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga at San Vicente Park.
Mayor Craig shared that at the hike with Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga, he learned that the woman who owned the land they were hiking on was María Zacarías Bernal de Berryessa. This woman owned land all the way into the Almaden Quicksilver Hills. The Mayor shared there are still a couple of more hikes and extended the invitation for those interested in attending one.
Vice Mayor Allan commented that his number one project as a councilmember will be getting the appropriate contact at the governor’s office to see about tree removal off Highway 9.
CITY MANAGER’S REPORT
City Manager Perkins shared that at the Annual City Picnic, there was an increase in residents’ attendance from last year. There was a total of 210 residents attending this year and last year it was 188. City Manager Perkins also shared that she received information from Silicon Valley Clean Energy today that the board meeting next week will be considering increasing the grant amount by an additional $38,000 to the already allocated amount of $16,000. If approved by the board next week there will be additional money for additional electrification work at City Hall. Lastly, City Manager Perkins, shared that there will be a representative from the County at the next Council meeting to give a presentation on information about expected budget cuts and the Sales Tax Ballot Measure. Residents will be notified, should they be interested in attending.
FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
6. A copy of the Tentative 2025 Council Meeting Calendar was included on the agenda.
Councilmember Mekechuk would like an agenda item on the Police Service Ad Hoc Committee for a meeting in October.
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ADJOURN
Councilmember Mekechuk requested that today’s meeting be closed in memory of Former Mayor of Cupertino Hung Wei. Former Mayor Wei was a big part of Silicon Valley Clean Energy and will be recognized at next week’s board meeting. A celebration of life for her will be held this week.
Mayor Craig adjourned the meeting in honor of Former Mayor of Cupertino Hung Wei at approximately 7:55 p.m.
Burton Craig, Mayor
ATTEST:
____________________________________
Gloisy Gonzalez-Langarica, City Clerk
Docusign Envelope ID: 194F53AE-B955-4A91-993A-0FB8CF0C6165 Ad Hoc Committee Update to City Council
Reminder – City Council Goal #3
Upcoming Policy Changes for City Council
Timeline to Going Live
Addressing Internal Control Weaknesses
Completing June 30, 2025 Audited Financial Statements Financial Systems Ad Hoc Committee – 09/02/25 1
#3 Goal for 2025/26
Implement a cloud-based, fully integrated financial reporting and human resource information system for government entities
– Improve financial reporting and human resources management at the City of Monte Sereno
– Utilize time reporting functionality for all personnel and support human resources requirements
– Address and resolve internal control weaknesses
– Develop, document and implement financial accounting policies and procedures with the new financial reporting system
– Convert and migrate minimal, yet sufficient, data across to the new financial reporting system and human resources information system Financial Systems Ad Hoc Committee – 09/02/25 2
Docusign Envelope ID: 194F53AE-B955-4A91-993A-0FB8CF0C6165 Examples of New/Updated/Revised Policies
Automated Payments
– Reduce (eliminate) small dollar value checks issued to utilities Warrant List
– What the Warrant List includes (and excludes)
Treasurer’s Report
– Address issues identified in previous City Council meeting Interfund Transfers
– Transfers across funds for expenditures
Financial Systems Ad Hoc Committee – 09/02/25 3
Reduce/Eliminate Small Dollar Value Checks to Utilities 4 The average value of all checks issued was
$9,250 and the average autopay amount
would have been $309, which is a relatively
low amount to be issuing physical checks for
In Fiscal 2024, using autopay for utility bills
could have replaced 74 checks, or 15% of the
total checks issued
Current State
• The City pays all utility bills with a physical check • Utility bills are all small dollar value, recurring and rarely, if ever, disputed
• All utilities have mature, autopay capabilities, which allows the utility to reduce their billing costs while making it easier and faster for their customers to pay utility bills • With the current policy, monthly utility bills not paid in July are then included in the August warrant list when
there are two months of billing paid (incurring late
payment charges)
Utilities
• PG&E (City Hall, Rose Avenue
Lighting District, Loma Serena
Lighting District)
• Comcast Communications
• Frontier Communications
• San Jose Water Company
Financial Systems Ad Hoc Committee – 09/02/25
Docusign Envelope ID: 194F53AE-B955-4A91-993A-0FB8CF0C6165 Go Live on Monday, September 15
5 September 2025
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 23456
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30
October 2025
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1234
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31
First Warrant List with
Tyler 10/02/25
Go Live
09/15/25
Financial Systems Ad Hoc Committee – 09/02/25
Addressing Internal Control Weaknesses
Many of the internal control weaknesses identified will be addressed (strengthened) by changing financial reporting processes, and implementing policies when implementing Tyler
An important priority for strengthening internal controls is to have a robust Fiscal 2026 budget to compare actual results with
– Then, of course, having robust financial reporting will enable budget-to-actual reporting each month
Timing – the goal is to have the monthly Treasurer’s Report available for City Council by the third Tuesday of each month for the prior month
– This is aggressive yet achievable
Financial Systems Ad Hoc Committee – 09/02/25 6
Docusign Envelope ID: 194F53AE-B955-4A91-993A-0FB8CF0C6165 Implementing Tyler’s Financial Reporting Software
7 Improve Financial
Reporting
Improve Transaction
Recording
Learn Tyler Software
and New Processes
Strengthen Internal
Controls
Increase Staff
Productivity
Financial Systems Ad Hoc Committee – 09/02/25
Issuing June 30, 2025 Audited Financial Statements
The June 30, 2024 Audited Financial Statements were issued on July 31, 2025 – A full 13 months after year end
Maze & Associates have scheduled their field work to start on December 8, 2025 – This is much faster than in prior years and is based on their staff availability and the City’s ability to prepare for the audit
Audited Financial Statements lose value as the time to issuance increases – Having Audited Financial Statements available allows decisions to be made with more confidence
The ultimate goal is for Maze to start their field work on the June 30, 2026 financial statements in September 2026
– This is aggressive yet achievable
Financial Systems Ad Hoc Committee – 09/02/25 8
Docusign Envelope ID: 194F53AE-B955-4A91-993A-0FB8CF0C6165