City of Sunnyvale  
Meeting Minutes  
Charter Review Committee  
Thursday, September 4, 2025  
5:00 PM  
Online and Redwood Conference Room,  
City Hall, 456 W. Olive Ave., Sunnyvale,  
CA 94086  
CALL TO ORDER  
Chair Larsson called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m.  
SALUTE TO THE FLAG  
Chair Larsson led the salute to the United States flag.  
ROLL CALL  
Present: 9 - Chair Gustav Larsson  
Vice Chair Kristel Wickham  
Member Galen Kim Davis  
Member David Newswanger  
Member Timothy Oey  
Member Ken Olevson  
Member Martin Pyne  
Member Gail Rubino  
Member Barry Vickrey  
Absent: 1 - Member Kathryn Filley  
Member Filley’s absence is excused.  
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS  
Steve Scandalis presented historical information related to Sunnyvale City Council  
vacancies between 1913 and 2025.  
CONSENT CALENDAR  
Member Pyne moved and Vice Chair Wickham seconded the motion to approve  
agenda item 1.A as submitted. The motion carried by the following vote:  
Yes: 7 - Chair Larsson  
Vice Chair Wickham  
Member Newswanger  
Member Oey  
Member Olevson  
Member Pyne  
Member Rubino  
No: 0  
Absent: 1 - Member Filley  
Abstain: 2 - Member Davis  
Member Vickrey  
1.A  
25-0638  
Approve the Charter Review Committee Meeting Minutes of  
August 7, 2025  
Approve the Charter Review Committee Minutes of August 7, 2025 as submitted.  
PUBLIC HEARING/GENERAL BUSINESS  
2
25-0875  
Discussion and Possible Action on Survey to Gather  
Community Feedback on Potential Charter Amendments  
Related to Council Vacancies, Council and Mayor  
Compensation, Alternative Public Works Delivery Methods,  
and City Manager Claim Settlement Authority  
Deputy City Manager Connie Verceles provided the staff report.  
Committee Members provided comments or questions related to the survey:  
- Comment in support of including demographic questions related to the individual’s  
voter status and if they participated in the last election.  
- Question about including a chart by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban  
Development on Santa Clara County income limit to help orient people on salary  
expectations in the area.  
- Comment that “median earnings” and “median income” are each referenced in  
question 2C, and that they should match.  
- Comment related to question 2G, it is believed that Sunnyvale’s minimum wage is  
tied to the inflation rate.  
- Comment in support of replacing question 5C with an alternative question.  
- Comment that the chart by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban  
Development on income may be confusing.  
- Comments in support of including a guide or background information on the  
issues being presented.  
- Suggestions related to formatting or language for questions 2D, 2F, 2G and 3  
were provided.  
- Comment that it is unclear who the survey target audience will be; therefore, an  
“other” response option should be included in question 5A.  
- Suggestion for the survey to include two questions: “What benefits are most  
important to you?” and “What concerns do you have?" and that the questions are  
related to the design-build and settlement authority limit issues.  
- Suggestion that Section 1 (filling vacancies) include information related to the cost  
associated with holding a special election.  
- Comments in support of eliminating yes/no responses and instead using  
responses that explain the choices.  
- Comments in support of scheduling a special Charter Review Committee meeting  
for September 25.  
Staff provided comments and answers:  
- Comment that a question about voter status can be included in the survey, should  
the Committee choose.  
- Comment that staff need to familiarize themselves with the chart to determine if it  
should be included in the survey.  
- Comment that Sunnyvale’s minimum wage has a cap of 5% and there has been a  
year when the inflation rate was higher than 5%.  
- Comment that the survey is one data set for the Committee to utilize in making  
their final recommendation to the City Council.  
Member Pyne left the meeting at 6:30 p.m.  
Public Hearing opened at 6:32 p.m.  
Zach Kaufman communicated concern with offering a sizable salary because it  
may attract career politicians and spoke towards question 2.F.  
Steve Scandalis shared support for including background information for issues  
being presented and proposed revisions to survey sections 1, 2, 3 and 4.  
Public Hearing closed at 6:38 p.m.  
MOTION: Committee Member Oey moved and Committee Member Davis  
seconded the motion to amend the survey as follows:  
- Remove question 2E;  
- Replace the demographic questions with two questions: “Are you a registered  
voter in Sunnyvale?” and “Did you vote in the November 2024 election?”; and  
- Add information to Section 1 that compares the cost and voter turnout for a  
general election versus a special election.  
FRIENDLY AMENDMENT: Member Newswanger offered a friendly amendment to  
revise the response options to question 1A to:  
- “Should the Charter allow vacancies to be filled through special elections with  
higher cost, lower turnout, and shorter vacancy”; and  
- “Should the Charter allow vacancies to be filled through general elections with  
lower cost, higher turnout, and longer vacancy.”  
Members Oey and Davis accepted the friendly amendment.  
FRIENDLY AMENDMENT: Member Davis offered a friendly amendment to direct  
staff to change all “yes/no” questions as they exist. Member Oey clarified that if the  
friendly amendment requests staff to replace “yes/no” with responses that state  
what the choice/response means. Member Davis confirmed Member Oey's  
clarification. Member Oey accepted the friendly amendment.  
FRIENDLY AMENDMENT: Member Newswanger offered a friendly amendment to  
add a question (1C) to read “Should the appointment that fills a vacancy be limited  
to 10 months?” Member Oey declined to accept the friendly amendment.  
The motion as amended carried with the following vote:  
Yes: 8 - Chair Larsson  
Vice Chair Wickham  
Member Davis  
Member Newswanger  
Member Oey  
Member Olevson  
Member Rubino  
Member Vickrey  
No: 0  
Absent: 2 - Member Filley  
Member Pyne  
MOTION: Committee Member Vickrey moved and Committee Member Oey  
seconded the motion to schedule a Charter Review Committee meeting for  
Thursday, September 25, 2025.  
The motion carried with the following vote:  
Yes: 8 - Chair Larsson  
Vice Chair Wickham  
Member Davis  
Member Newswanger  
Member Oey  
Member Olevson  
Member Rubino  
Member Vickrey  
No: 0  
Absent: 2 - Member Filley  
Member Pyne  
MOTION: Committee Member Newswanger moved and Committee Member Oey  
seconded the motion to add a question (1.C) with responses to read “Long  
appointments can affect benefit costs for the City” and options: “Appointments  
should be limited to 10 months to limit costs ” and “Appointments should be for the  
duration of the vacancy to minimize the inefficiency of turnover.”  
FRIENDLY AMENDMENT: Member Davis offered a friendly amendment to revise  
the question to “What is an acceptable limit to the length of a council appointment?”  
with a fill-in option for response. Member Newswanger declined to accept the  
friendly amendment.  
The motion failed with the following vote:  
Yes: 0  
No: 8 - Chair Larsson  
Vice Chair Wickham  
Member Davis  
Member Newswanger  
Member Oey  
Member Olevson  
Member Rubino  
Member Vickrey  
Absent: 2 - Member Filley  
Member Pyne  
Committee Members provided additional comments related to the survey:  
- Comment in support of removing question 4B from the survey.  
- Comment in support of revising question 4A to read “Which of the following  
methods do you support for public works projects” and suggestions for responses  
were provided.  
- Comment in support of removing question 4A from the survey.  
- Comment in support of keeping questions 4A and 4B in the survey.  
Chair Larsson polled members on removing questions 4A and 4B from the survey.  
The questions will not be included in the survey.  
Public Hearing opened at 7:53 p.m.  
Steve Scandalis shared support for keeping either question 4A or 4B in the survey  
and encouraged the Committee to consider adding question 1C in the survey.  
Public Hearing closed at 7:56 p.m.  
NON-AGENDA ITEMS AND COMMENTS  
-Committee Member Comments  
Member Newswanger confirmed that members may submit additional survey  
comments to staff.  
-Staff Comments  
Deputy City Manager Connie Verceles announced that the Charter Review  
Committee (CRC) will meet at 6 p.m. on September 25 and that the CRC meeting  
on October 2 will be canceled.  
ADJOURNMENT  
Chair Larsson adjourned the meeting at 8:00 p.m.