03 Attachment 1 - Public CommentMadam Mayor, Council members and Senior Staff;
Regarding the April 20, 2021 Council Meeting agenda item 3 to approve minutes of the April 6 Town
Council meeting, please note the following corrections to be made to the minutes first:
Public Comment - Item #13 “Lee Fagot - Requested the Town allocate all the funds for the rent relief
for non-profits listed in the staff report and additional senior services.” See the corrections, in red, to
the above sentence, and which corrections, based on the audio recording of my 3 minutes and the
answer to Council member’s question, which also indicates my intended message to the council.
Item 13 – Lee Fagot Requested the Town allocate all the remaining unallocated funds from the staff
proposal, approximately $2 Million, for the full rent relief in Town owned property for non-profits listed
in the staff report and to provide additional funding for additional senior services and the needed
maintenance/repairs to the Adult Rec Center building.
Further, my letter, shown as an attachment in the attached email below, sent to the Council prior to the
April 6 meeting, was NOT included in that meeting's Agenda’s support documents. See below and as
attached to this email, demonstrating consistency with my verbal comments, as noted above with
corrections in red.
Thank you,
Lee Fagot
ATTACHMENT 1
March 6, 2021 Council meeting.
Item 13 - Provide Direction for the Potential Uses of the American Rescue Plan Act Funds
Earmarked for Los Gatos
Madam Mayor and Council members
The Grant the Town received, $5.7M, is being reapportioned tonight in the proposal you are
considering, Item 13, at a rate that only allocates a bit more than $3.7 M to various, and I agree,
worthy projects, leaving about $2m surplus. These “surplus” funds can be used for other
economic recovery needs now. Lets allocate all the funds for the purposes they were intended
– to keep the Town’s commitment to the various organizations that provide critical services to
all our citizens, including many non-profits. And, in particular, lets target one of the most
vulnerable constituents in our Town - our Senior citizens.
• Some additional data: at least 1/3 of our Town’s population will be 65 or older by
early 2023 according to the Housing Element. These are folks who have been a
strong part of our community for years, perhaps generations, and importantly,
who have helped make our community the enjoyable place we all share.
• A “well-managed” Town should provide recreation and senior services to the full
community; And, NOTABLY different from Los Gatos, most senior services are actually
FUNDED by municipal governments for those citizens, whom they represent and they
serve!
• LGS Adult Recreation acts as a gateway to provide valuable resources to these, our more
vulnerable senior community members, collaborating with other non-profits to do so.
• It’s impossible now during COVID challenges to provide robust services when LGS Adult
Rec cannot afford their current Staff salaries; and Seniors who do participate in many of
the social programs make donations to help cover some of the operating costs, but
operating costs are beyond the current revenue model.
• Ceasing lease payments to the Town for the E Main St. Adult Recreation Center facility
provides much of the cost savings necessary to move forward to reinstall Staff FTEs
during this critical time and provide the additional services identified as now necessary
for our senior citizens.
• The community deserves an upgraded and more inclusive Senior Community Center and
this should be part of the Town’s 20-year General Plan, or sooner! They provide many
services that are unduplicated by any other Town partner.
• Specifically, the facility needs to have its infrastructure updated to meet code
and safety requirements. Currently, the facility is run down and in need of
maintenance and refurbishment.
• Many of the rooms can be repurposed so as to engage more adults for more
inclusive programs. Paying the rent noted in the past to the Town precludes the
LGS Recreation from making such investments in YOUR building. Please provide
the ongoing funding to help the Rec make such changes. Invest in YOUR
building.
• The Town’s commitment to an age-friendly initiative requires the Town government to
be more VESTED in partnerships with those providing the services. This is an excellent
opportunity to leverage such resources for best outcomes with these federal funds.
Also, I assume the Mayor is recusing herself from this vote due to the conflict of being the
CEO of CASSY, which will receive additional (and needed, I might add), funding, as part of
this initiative.
Thank you, and keep up the good work.
Lee Fagot
To Mayor and Town Council
April 20, 2021 Town Council Meeting,
From: Lee Quintana
April 19, 2021
Mayor, I request Item #3 be pulled from the April 20,2021 consent calendar. I ask that the minutes be
amended to accurately reflect my comments.- i.e I did not support the Consultant Work Plan going back
to the Policy Committee.
Minutes of Item 10 April 6, 2021 Town Council state:
“Lee Quintana - Commented that the item should go back to the Policy Committee rather than involving
an independent committee and that she raised her hand before public comment was closed on Item #9
and she was disappointed that she was not able to speak.”
I ask the Council to please amend the minutes (Item#3) of the April 6, 2021 Town Council Meeting to
show that I was saying the direct opposite, that I did not think that the work program should go back to
the Policy Committee. Below is the transcript I made from the video recording of the meeting.
“AT the last Policy Committee Meeting there was public comment on public participation or regarding
public participation in matters concerning the JEDI. That (imput) is not reflected in the current staff
report. What bothers me about this particular item is that a… it again goes back to the policy committee
rather than involving an independent committee or…. This is hard for me because part of what I was
going to say in the last hearing (on Item#9 Policy Committee Resolution - added for clarity), which I did
raise my hand as the Mayor was saying are there any other people who wanted to speak, and
apparently I don’t move fast enough so… I see these two items as connected because there was a strong
presence at the last Policy Committee meeting with the public and the Chamber of Commerce were
asking to be able to participate in these areas. “
“I am not opposed at all to hiring a consultant. I think the RFP is a little thin but I do think the idea is
good. But I do think that given that the public would like to participate in these things and that the
current draft of the General Plan (2040) in its implementation section asks for a committee to address
this issue. Those are my comments at this time.”
Thank you for your consideration.
From: Amy Nishide
Sent: Sunday, April 18, 2021 2:51 PM
To: Laurel Prevetti <LPrevetti@losgatosca.gov>; Marico Sayoc <MSayoc@losgatosca.gov>; Council
<Council@losgatosca.gov>
Cc: Rabbi Melanie Aron
Subject: April 6th meeting minutes change needed!
Dear Council, It's imperative, in my opinion, that the minutes capture Rabbi Melanie's sentiment in
response to verbal comment that "false equivalencies" to the Holocaust are not okay, negate or minimize the devastating suffering of those murdered, and they are not true. I plan to pull the minutes from consent to have this added, FYI. Thank you for your attention,
Amy Nishide