Santa Clara council appoints Kaushal Varshney to Historical and Landmarks Commission

The Santa Clara City Council voted 4-1 to appoint Kaushal Varshney to the Historical and Landmarks Commission for a full term ending June 30, 2029.

Varshney, who said during his interview that "I have been resident of Santa Clara for 25 years," told the council he has led local cultural activities, organized exhibitions in libraries and city hall, and taught presentations explaining the meaning of Diwali to young residents. He said he wants to help the city identify and preserve sites that are connected to specific people or events rather than designating entire neighborhoods historic.

Council members interviewed Varshney about what qualifies as historic. Varshney said the commission should prioritize properties tied to notable individuals or events and recommended tagging individual properties "so that those are anybody who wants to buy them, they know the fact that this is a historical preservation." Councilmember Hard y (who stated concerns during the vote) said she was "just a little uncomfortable" with appointing a single applicant when other recruitment rounds produced withdrawals and urged reopening the application period to allow comparison.

City staff told the council there had been four applications for the seat and three applicants withdrew, leaving Varshney as the only remaining interviewee. After the interview, a motion to appoint Varshney was made and seconded; the council recorded a final vote of 4 in favor and 1 opposed. The motion approved Varshney's appointment and his term will run through 06/30/2029.

The vote followed discussion about the council's prior practice: while the council has not adopted a written policy barring a person from serving on more than one commission, staff said the practice has generally been to appoint a person to no more than one commission. Varshney said he would withdraw his application for Parks and Recreation if appointed to the Historical and Landmarks Commission.

The appointment fills the commission seat but prompted at least one call among council members for the city to reopen recruitment in future cycles to expand candidate comparison.

Ending: The Historical and Landmarks Commission appointment is effective immediately; the appointee's term ends on June 30, 2029. The council moved on to Parks and Recreation interviews after the vote.