Due to the quick turnaround of press time, The Weekly focused on one key item from last night’s Santa Clara City Council meeting. We offer more in-depth coverage of other items discussed at the city council meeting in the coming days.

Capital improvements at Levi’s Stadium got the go-ahead from the Santa Clara City Council, with some constraints.

At its June 23 meeting, the Santa Clara City Council approved Levi’s Stadium’s capital expenditure plan. However, the plan didn’t completely align with the stadium manager’s recommendations for improvements. 

Instead of approving a five-year capital plan, in March, the stadium authority opted to approve one year’s worth of improvements. 

Kenn Lee, the stadium authority treasurer, said city employees were recommending roughly $6.7 million of the $9.1 million of improvements at the stadium, leaving two projects totaling nearly $2 million on the table.

He said the board’s set-aside for capital projects is running low and that it is “important to prioritize” which projects are most dire.

The real issue, Council Member Suds Jain said, is that the stadium authority failed to earmark enough money for capital improvements, only designating between $3 million and $4 million a year for capital improvements. 

“Somehow, in the original agreements, we just got it wrong,” Jain said.

The item grew divisive as council members drew lines in the sand.

Mayor Lisa Gillmor said the city should have conducted a needs assessment before coming to the council with its hand out. That assessment, she said, is essential for understanding what work needs to be done at the stadium.

She said that money was not “going to the right areas.”

Council Member Kevin Park said “no thought” had gone into the ongoing maintenance of Levi’s Stadium, adding that making a decision is difficult without relevant insight.

“I don’t know that anyone on this dais has experience managing a stadium,” he said.

Kevin Wang, a lawyer for the San Francisco 49ers, pushed back on the council’s characterization, saying a five-year plan is part of the lease.

“Trust is the basis of every relationship, and it is very clear that we have no trust, but our no trust is based on very little background or experience,” he said.

Council Member Albert Gonzalez said the city “has to move forward” despite uncertainty. 

“Have we underfunded the capital expenses for the stadium? Yeah. We have,” he said. “The more we delay this … it is going to cost us more money, at the end of the day.”

Amid disagreement, the council approved the plan in a 5-2 vote, with Gillmor and Council Member Kelly Cox dissenting.

Santa Clara City Council Consent Calendar Spending

The council approved the following spending in one motion via the consent calendar:

• Three purchase orders totaling $873,085 to Underground Republic Water Works, Inc., Core & Main, and Ferguson Enterprises for water main replacement materials amounts. 
• A five-year $9.6 million contract with Bear Electrical Solutions for traffic signal maintenance, repair and support.
• A $1.59 million agreement with Brown Reynolds Watford Architects for fire station design. 
• Two five-year agreements with Hinderliter, de Llamas & Associates: a $1.6 million agreement for sales, use and transaction tax recovery; a second $230,000 agreement for audit services for the city’s transient occupancy tax (TOT), tourism improvement district (TID) and community facilities district (CFD).
• A five-year $200,000 agreement with HdL Coren & Cone for property tax management.
• A $1.13 million agreement with Tucker Construction, Inc. for homeless encampment cleanup.
• A three-year $750,000 agreement with ASF Electric, Inc., Bear Electrical Solutions and Cupertino Electric, Inc. for on-call electrical maintenance and repair at Levi’s Stadium.
• A three-year $750,000 agreement with Devcon Construction, Inc., SC Builders, Inc. and Rudolph Commercial Interiors, Inc. for on-call as-needed repair, restoration and maintenance at Levi’s Stadium.
• A three-year $750,000 agreement with ACCO Engineered Systems, Inc., Mesa Energy Systems, Inc. and Silicon Valley Mechanical, Inc. for on-call as-needed mechanical and plumbing maintenance and repair at Levi’s Stadium.

The next regularly scheduled meeting is 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 30 in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 1500 Warburton Ave. in Santa Clara.

Members of the public can participate in the city council meetings on Zoom at https://santaclaraca.zoom.us/j/99706759306; Meeting ID: 997-0675-9306 or call 1 (669) 900-6833, via the City’s eComment (available during the meeting) or by email to PublicComment@santaclaraca.gov

Contact David Alexander at d.todd.alexander@gmail.com 

Previous Santa Clara City Council Posts:
Charter Changes Move Forward Despite Division
Council Approves Maintenance Costs, Utility Rates
Santa Clara Tackles Employment Gaps, Overhauls Performance Reviews 
City Establishes Special Event Zone, Bars ICE from World Cup