The Los Gatos Town Council held its first meeting, closing out summer break, this past Tuesday, Aug. 5. In the two hour convening, among other things, Council members discussed local events that happened during the recess, debated the impact of federal funding cuts and considered the challenge of a development.
Prior to the meeting’s start at 7:30pm, Council members held a study session to discuss revisions to Code of Conduct policies for Council members and commissioners.
Since June 17, the date of the first study session following significant outcry over an initial draft many Town officials said was too restrictive, several changes have been made.
The Codes of Conduct govern how officials must act in the case of public disruptions during meetings and the right to express personal opinions to the public.
“This is a significant departure from our current code of conduct,” said Mayor Matthew Hudes. “I am very glad to see that the Town has a code of conduct. There are municipalities that do not, and they pay the price for that.”
Enforcing weed rules
The first public hearing of the night concerned the 2025 Weed Abatement Program.
“I cannot emphasize enough that the Town of Los Gatos takes wildfire risks very seriously,” said Councilmember Mary Badame. “I find it difficult to remove any properties from the list.”
In expressing more of a strict line on the policy, Badame cited the Gifford Fire, the San Luis Obispo-area fire which torched around 72,000 acres within the first five days.
After discussion, Council agreed to remove 14329 Mulberry Dr. from the delinquent list.
That’s because the Santa Clara County Consumer and Environmental Protection Agency had suggested this change due to discussions with the property owner.
Single-family-home project prevails
The more contentious of the two public hearings was Item 18: an appeal of a single-family development planned to take place at 45 Reservoir Rd.
Earlier this summer, the planning commission voted 5-1 to approve the project.
A party wanted to overturn approved construction plans, citing potential impacts to the environment and the character of the neighborhood.
“We previously communicated our concerns about the proposed development plans,” said appellant Mary Vidovich. “The 45 Reservoir Rd. lot currently proposed required multiple exceptions.”
Council members highlighted compliance efforts made by the developer, after the project was remanded to the Planning Commission—such as setting the building back further from the property line.
“I feel that responding thoughtfully to the changes that we’ve asked for is a reasonable expectation for us to ask of the applicant,” said Vice Mayor Rob Moore. “I generally believe that there have been thoughtful changes done to this application which makes me inclined to deny the appeal.”
In the end, the appeal was denied unanimously.
‘This bill constitutes the most significant cuts in our nation’s history to Medicaid and food assistance’
—Vice Mayor Rob Moore
Federal funding cuts
The last item discussed concerned Donald Trump Administration policies and their anticipated impacts on Los Gatos.
To account for federal funding cuts authorized by the recently-passed “Big Beautiful Bill,” Santa Clara County supervisors unanimously voted Thursday to place a tax hike proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot.
And just two days before at Council, Mayor Hudes seemingly downplayed the potential effects of the Trump Admin slashing of the social safety net on Town-controlled business.
“Much of the funding that is being cut off through these federal programs is heavily administered by the County and State,” he said. “The direct funding of those services is not within the Town budget, but those are our residents.”
Hudes urged Council to work more closely with other levels of government to understand the true scope of the changes.
“I’m looking for ways to go beyond…this agenda item…to more closely work with the County and the State in understanding the impact,” he said. “In the vacuum of the Los Gatos budget and the services that we provide, we’re going to be quite limited.”
The mayor noted that “Los Gatos is a net funder of these programs through property taxes.”
Meanwhile, Vice Mayor Moore played-up the extent to which Los Gatans—particularly poorer residents—will be hurt by the cuts.
“What I think is important for us, in Los Gatos, to think about, is that this bill constitutes the most significant cuts in our nation’s history to Medicaid and food assistance since those programs were created,” said Moore. “We know there are Los Gatans who rely on those programs to access their healthcare and food.”
He said a billion dollars being erased from County’s $13-million budget will have drastic impacts on healthcare, considering 400,000 Santa Clara County residents rely on Medicaid.
Final note
Frequent Netflix critic Rob Moore—who has long lambasted a lack of community investment from the world’s largest streamer—reported that he recently met with one of the company’s government affairs officials.
He did not say whether Netflix suggested any new corporate social responsibility projects or not.
However, a few months back the global giant did sponsor a Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Nestldown, a special events venue in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
