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• Town's utility wires. However, since the Town as a whole isn't supportive of such a large project at this time, he encouraged Council to support the Subcommittee's recommendation for a "pilot project" matching 20A funds and launch an education campaign that is appropriately crafted to explain the project and its value to the demographic of residents opposed to undergrounding. Councilmember Fenwick commended Councilmember Warshawsky and the Subcommittee for their efforts on this project. He explained that the Town's residents' opinion on the subject have been consistent over the past five years. He concurred with the Subcommittee's recommendation that a "pilot project" be undertaken. Fenwick suggested that a visible street should be considered for the location of the project, possibly Fremont Road or El Monte Road. Mayor Pro Tem O'Malley thanked the Subcommittee and expressed his appreciation for the work they had done. He would like to see the City Council move forward with undergrounding and recommended that a street (stretch of road) that is a hub for power that serves large numbers of homes and has experienced power outages be selected for a "pilot project." Councilmember Kerr suggested that the poles in front of Town Hall be considered as the pilot area. He suggested that safety issues for bicyclists and pedestrians be incorporated into the criteria for determining the pilot street area. Undergrounding of utility poles would permit expansion of pathways and make safety improvements and perhaps use • pathway and VTA funds. Mayor Cheng thanked the Subcommittee for their very informative presentation and report. OPENED PUBLIC COMMENT Donald McCauley, Ravensbury Avenue, addressed Council. He believed the estimates from R.W.Beck were too low and the undergrounding of utilities would be more costly. McCauley noted that it was his opinion that there were many outstanding issues and questions that were not answered or examined in the report. Jim Abraham, Undergrounding Subcommittee, explained that they have listened to Mr. McCauley's concerns but feel confident that the estimates from Beck are accurate. CLOSED PUBLIC COMMENT MOTION SECONDED AND CARRIED: Moved by Warshawsky, seconded by Kerr and passed by the following roll call vote to direct the Utility Undergrounding Subcommittee to move forward with a pilot project applying the available 20A funds to underground an area of Town that addresses safety and/or power outages. Further, to direct the Committee to investigate scenarios for applying Town money via matching funds to this effort and to present the fmdings to the City Council at a later date. 3 Special City Council Meeting Minutes May 6,2004