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City of Mountain View
Minutes
Council Neighborhoods Committee
1. CALL TO ORDER
At 6:34 p.m., on Thursday, December 12, 2024, Mayor Showalter called the meeting to order.
2. ROLL CALL
Present- Mayor Showalter, Councilmember Ramirez, and Councilmember Ramos.
3. APPROVE MINUTES
3.1 Approve Council Neighborhoods Committee meeting minutes of October 10, 2024
Motion to approve meeting minutes of October 10, 2024.
Motion- M/S Ramirez/Ramos – Carried 3-0 – To approve the Council Neighborhood Committee Meeting Minutes of the October 12, 2024 meeting as submitted.
4. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC
None
5. NEW BUSINESS
5.1 2024 Council Neighborhoods Committee Program and 2025-26 Neighborhood Grant Program Guidelines
Housing Specialist Anna Reynoso presented a PowerPoint summary to review the 2024 Council Neighborhoods Committee Program and the 2025-26 Neighborhood Grant Program Guidelines.
Councilmember Ramirez asked about the boundaries submitted to the City and for clarification on the elimination of the new group bonus. Also asked about the staff proposal of the pilot program to allow groups with overlapping boundaries. Understandably, the pilot program would take into consideration groups that historically may not have been served due to barriers such as language or culture.
Councilmember Ramirez asked if staff had considered other types of criteria that would achieve a substantially similar goal or if there is criteria established to participate in the pilot program. Also asked if several groups apply for the pilot program how groups be ranked?
Affordable Housing Manager, Julie Barnard and Housing Specialist II, Anna Reynoso responded there are currently “loose” boundaries, and application submissions do not require a map.
Affordable Housing Manager, Julie Barnard responded the new groups would have a set-aside amount and
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there is no criteria to participate in the pilot program. The intent is that $7,500 would be enough to cover what staff anticipates would be any new groups applying next year.
Councilmember Ramos asked about the funding of the legacy and new groups.
Affordable Housing Manager, Julie Barnard confirmed the legacy groups will be funded next year from the $50,000 budget and the new groups would be funded from the $7,500.
Councilmember Ramos would like to encourage groups to stay active for a long time and asked: Can we figure out how to align our neighborhood group work with other City programs such as CERT? How can we have more stabilized neighborhood groups run by volunteers? How do we help them build the connections we want them to have? Concern was expressed regarding overlapping boundaries and defining established boundaries. What would happen to the new groups after the one-year pilot program?
Deputy City Manager, Kimberly Thomas responded the pilot program is one year and will be assessed the following year at which time it will be evaluated to determine its success and impact.
Councilmember Ramos asked: Can the cost of inflation be considered for the group's grants? Are we tracking the activities that the groups are using grant funds for? What are the events that are giving the neighborhoods the most for their award amount and what are the grant-funded programs that truly create stronger neighborhood bonds and encourage people to meet each other?
Staff responded a CPI escalator could be considered, and the grantees answer questions on the reimbursement requests about the impact of the event and how many people attended.
Councilmember Ramos asked if we keep track of the financials for the neighborhood groups, specifically regarding any additional funding they may have from other sources.
Housing Specialist II, Anna Reynoso responded it is not part of the CNC grant application.
Mayor Showalter asked if we had criteria for what we ask of the neighborhood associations?
Housing Specialist II, Anna Reynoso responded we do not have a criteria which tells the neighborhood groups what we would like them to do.
Mayor Showalter recommended groups invite City Staff to their events to share information with the public.
Also recommended we think about what we would like to encourage from the groups. In addition, it was recommended it be disclosed somewhere that the grant funds are not designed to cover the full costs of all events, rather it should be an incentive for communities to get together and help with some costs but not all of it.
Grace from Gemello Neighborhood Association expressed how it would be great for the neighborhood grant program to have some calculations built in for inflation and to have communication with other CNC grantee groups. It was mentioned a matrix listing all grantee's events would be helpful.
Paula Perez from Grupo Embajadores de Mountain View expressed gratitude for the grant funds. Defining boundaries was difficult for their group as they do events throughout the City of Mountain View. Support for the pilot program was expressed.
Mayor Showalter and Councilmember Ramos spoke on communication within all of the groups. They recommended groups attend and exchange ideas and best practices at the annual networking reception.
Mayor Showalter recommended the City look into a secure mechanism for the groups to share contact lists with each other and Councilmember Ramos recommended a grant report to be written and obtained from the groups at the end of the grant period.
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Mayor Showalter spoke to boundaries and encouraged groups to mark a general area on the map where the majority of their group members currently reside. Groups have the ability to invite residents from other areas.
Affordable Housing Manager, Julie Barnard responded the neighborhood meetings could be one place for the groups to share that type of information. The groups can report to the community and committees at one time.
Grantees can also be invited to the final committee meeting of the year to report back.
Councilmember Ramos commented on groups with overlapping boundaries being allowed and how can communication and coordination among those groups be facilitated to inform groups of each other’s existence.
Deputy City Manager, Kimberly Thomas responded the new groups would have the option to overlap boundaries. The legacy groups can extend their boundary areas. These are self-made boundaries, not required by the City.
Councilmember Ramirez supports most of the staff recommendations and understands the intent. No group is entitled to funds every year, there is a process in place to review the grantees and approve who will be funded.
It is important, especially with the pilot program, that there be some geographic criteria. If overlap is going to be allowed, grant applicants need to be very clear about what they are trying to achieve, how they are overcoming barriers to participation, or what specific objective they are trying to achieve to justify investing more CNC funding within an area that has already been established and historically received funding.
The committee reviewed the proposed modifications staff presented
1. Clarify the applicant must specify a specific geographic boundary and may not be Citywide or general group not tied to a specific location within Mountain View.
Consensus: yes, specific boundaries are necessary.
2. Committee direction on April 17, 2024 meeting determines special-interest groups are not eligible applicants for the Grant Program
Consensus: yes, this is correct.
3. The overlapping geographic boundaries be allowed and establishing an additional $7,500 set aside pilot budget to support the formation of new groups
Consensus: yes, agreed. The grant application should have a space where groups indicate what it is they are trying to achieve, how they are overcoming barriers to participation, or what specific objective they are trying to achieve to justify investing more CNC funding within an area that has already been established and historically received funding. Also, alert an existing group when a new group has come to the surface.
4. Eliminate the bonus for new groups in light of the pilot approach mentioned before.
Consensus: Yes.
Motion- M/S Ramirez/Ramos – Carried 3-0 To approve staff recommendations with a modification to recommendation #3 to include at staff’s discretion changes to the application that would require applicants to indicate if they are a new group or legacy group. If they are a new group that overlaps boundaries to include information about which needs are you not being served by an existing group now.
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Council Neighborhoods Committee Minutes February 22, 2024
6. COMMITTEE/STAFF COMMENTS, QUESTIONS, COMMITTEE REPORTS
None
7. ADJOURNMENT
At 7:57 p.m. on Thursday, December 12, 2024, Mayor Showalter adjourned the meeting.