Topics like housing and police staffing dominated the discussion at Los Gatos Town Council meetings in 2024. Here’s a roundup of the year’s biggest decisions, actions and conversations..
New leadership
Council members Maria Ristow and Matthew Hudes were up for re-election In November and were the only two candidates to file the appropriate paperwork to run. As such, the council voted in August to cancel the election for their two seats and instead appoint Ristow and Hudes to the council, saving the town about $95,000 in election costs.
Hudes and Ristow were officially reappointed to the council in December, and Hudes was promoted from vice mayor to mayor at the same meeting. Council members nominated council member Rob Moore to serve as vice mayor, setting him up to take the top spot in 2026.
When longtime town manager Laurel Prevetti announced her plans to step down in March, the council, with the help of search firm Peckham & McKenney, selected Chris Constantin as her replacement. Constantin comes from a background in local government throughout California and grew up in San Jose along the border with Los Gatos.
Constantin began in his new role in November.
Studying the police
The town council in January approved a contract not to exceed $80,000 for the firm Meliora Public Safety Consulting to conduct an organizational study of the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department. After the firm surveyed, interviewed and met with members of the department and the community at large, Police Chief Jamie Field presented a report on their findings to the council in December.
Field commissioned the report ahead of the possibility of consolidating the department’s services at either its headquarters at the town’s civic center or the police operations center on Los Gatos Boulevard. The consulting firm’s recommendations included an endorsement of those plans and a commendation of the department’s “positive momentum.”
Field also presented a report to the council in August that identified the status of the department’s efforts to improve staffing. Though the department successfully hired officers to replace almost all nine who left in the first half of 2024, the number of sworn staff and officers continues to remain under the 39 positions that the department has budgeted for.
Housing element
Like other cities across the state this year, Los Gatos contended with its housing element, a roadmap for all housing to be built in town through 2031. Council’s approval of the document was delayed through February, but the town finally submitted it to state housing officials in March.
Discussions about the housing element stalled over a disagreement among council members over limitations on where small multi-unit housing could be developed.
State officials gave the town its stamp of approval by early May, and the town has since been tasked with implementing its housing element.
The town has continued to contend with several “builder’s remedy” project applications it received before it had an approved housing element. In the absence of a housing element, developers could propose projects of any size or height.
Finances
The town’s finances have been part of council discussions this year, whether it was balancing the town’s budget or directing funds to support local nonprofits.
Council in June approved a balanced budget of $59.6 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year, but staff have warned of a roughly $2 million deficit in years to come.
Council members over the summer began a discussion about putting a potential sales tax hike on the ballot in November in light of the forecast deficit, and some reasoned that doing so would be prudent because of concerns that another entity like the county might first implement a similar tax that would affect Los Gatos residents but wouldn’t directly go into the town’s coffers.
After spending several meetings and thousands of dollars on a consultant to draft a potential ballot measure, council members eventually voted in July against putting a measure on the ballot after finding out from town staff about new legislation that addressed concerns about similar taxes.
Council also made several decisions this year to redirect funds to support marginalized communities and local nonprofits. In March, council members voted to put $60,000 from the budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year towards support for the town’s unhoused population, including programs that provide showers and hotel rooms to homeless residents in the event of extreme weather.
They also in May redirected funds from a program that aimed to help Los Gatos’s downtown recover from the pandemic toward local nonprofits’ like West Valley Community Services and the Los Gatos Anti-Racism Coalition.
Policy changes
The town council approved a handful of policy changes in 2024 that will affect how residents see new housing in town, how commissioners participate in the town government and more.
In April council members voted to rescind the land use and community design elements of its general plan to avoid putting the matter to voters in the fall. The move came about two years after a handful of community members appealed those two elements. Council members planned to return to the discussion after the approval of the town’s housing element.
Later that month, the town council voted to relax requirements for story poles, which help residents assess the size and spread of proposed new developments in town. In October council began the process of repealing the all-electric requirement for new buildings after a federal ruling caused the city of Berkeley to do the same.
The council’s vote directs town staff to instead include a new requirement that appliances in new buildings cannot emit nitrogen oxide, or NOx. Town staff said there are currently no gas-powered appliances that do so, making it “an alternative approach to requiring building electrification.”
In November the council approved new restrictions on sidewalk vending, setting limited hours and guidelines on where vendors can operate in town. The move comes after legislation passed the state senate in 2018 that decriminalized sidewalk vending.
Inclusion commission
Other plans that town leaders made in 2024 hint at what’s to come in 2025. In April, the town’s newly formed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission outlined its plans, including a focus on establishing a presence at community events and putting together a calendar of “diverse gatherings” in town.
In September the council began working on plans to build a new public restroom in town, narrowing down possible locations and getting a cost estimate. That same month, they also authorized a landscape architecture firm to study whether artificial turf or real grass should replace the existing turf at Creekside Sports Park.
In the wake of the Nov. 5 presidential election, council discussed potentially agendizing a resolution proposed by Moore that would reaffirm the town’s commitment to supporting community members regardless of their identity after. The council failed to agendize the resolution.
