Cupertino City Watch: A Secret Backroom Deal To Move City Hall With No Oversight And Emergency Operations Center

Millions Are About To Be Wasted On An Old Building That’s Not Even Move-In Ready, And Earthquake Retrofitted

THE FACTS

Cupertino is currently deliberating upon the future of its City Hall. Under former Mayor Darcy Paul’s administration, Council recommended that City Hall be upgraded with a $7 million seismic retrofit. Meanwhile, developer-backed City Council members (Hung Wei, JR Fruen) have publicly advocated for spending up to $80 million for a brand new building.

According to the city’s website:

“In 2015, funds were allocated to a New City Hall project by Council, but funds and priority were ultimately moved to the 2019 Library Expansion Project in accordance with Council direction. City Council subsequently placed the City Hall project on hold, and then defunded the project in June 2021. The current "City Hall and Community Hall Improvements - Programing and Feasibility" project was initiated in Fiscal Year 2021-2022 with $500,000 approved to form the basis of a renovation strategy for the buildings. In June 2024, City Council of Cupertino moved to open negotiations to lease or acquire a new City Hall property.”

Cupertino is exploring leasing a Class B office building at 19400 Stevens Creek. It was built in 1979, and has 20,070 square feet and 75 surface parking spots. This building is not a turnkey property, and has sat on the market VACANT for years. The antiquated building has major deferred maintenance issues. The city plans to use the building for two years and then consider options.

The public has been given little visibility into this deal, with the City Manager and consultants are negotiating a deal behind closed doors. As of this blog post, the city has not provided closed session minutes of the negotiations and terms to even the council members nor the city clerk.

What are the motives behind buying new land for City Hall? Is this part of a larger plan to eventually relocate our City Hall elsewhere, such as Vallco, and turn our Civic Center land into more housing?

My Point of View (MyPOV)

Common Sense Solutions Abound, Yet Potential Undisclosed Motives Hang In The Background

The basis for any upgrade of the existing City Hall on Torre Avenue comes down to having a Zone 4 seismically designed City Hall and Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The current City Hall does not meet current seismic safety standards. The safety of our city employees in the midst of an earthquake is very important.

The emergency operations center (EOC) serves as a central command and control nexus that manages emergency response, emergency preparedness, and disaster management in times of crisis. EOC’s play a key role in coordination, policy making, information gathering, public information, operations, and visitor hosting.

First principles would start with finding a seismically safe home for both employees and the EOC that meets a Zone 4 requirement. The most cost-efficient solution could be to rent a building that’s seismically safe for the staff, and then set up a mobile EOC, as FEMA suggests, which could serve as primary and backup communications in times of crisis.

A common-sense proposal would be the retrofitting of the existing facility at a cost of $7 million including the EOC. Another option is the complete renovation of city hall, costing around $27.5 million. The most expensive solution is to spend at least $80 million for a total rebuild of a new city hall.

Original $7 Million Plan Would Include Key Emergency Operations Center and Address Earthquake Retrofit Needs Without Adding Too Much Debt Or Dependencies On Developers

In most scenarios when an entity seeks to buy or lease land, a plan is laid out. For Cupertino, this should be done at least with the City Council, and ideally with the public. In this case, if there is a plan, the plan has not been made evident. Should there be a secret plan or one discussed in a closed session, then this would be a Brown Act violation.

The lack of public discourse on leasing or buying a new building for City Hall is a significant decision. These types of large spending projects have massive impacts to future resident obligations in bonds, taxes, and even credits to large developers. These decisions should have public inpout.

Unfortunately, there has not been a public hearing and discussion about the merits or weaknesses of leasing, buying, and not retrofitting the existing structure. Residents have not been notified that their City Hall could be moving.

This blatant lack of transparency and accountability shows how little this majority council (not including Liang Chao and Kitty Moore) cares about fiscal responsibility and the future of the city’s finances.

When it comes to major decisions that have long-term tax consequences for years to come, we need council members that ask the tough questions, consider all the possibilities, and listen to our residents.

This majority council has shown “they don’t care.”

© 2024 R “Ray Wang For Cupertino City Council 2024