REPORT TO COUNCIL SUBCOMMITTEE
SUBJECT
Title
Updates Following the Feb. 14, 2024 Subcommittee Meeting and Continued Discussion of Policy Suggestions for Subcommittee Consideration and Potential Subcommittee Recommendations to Council Regarding Council Policy 7.2.19 (Boards and Commissions)
Report
BACKGROUND
On November 14, 2023, the City Council held a joint study session with Board and Commission (B/C) Chairs and Vice Chairs. The purpose of the study session was to convene an annual discussion regarding B/C effectiveness, and to invite input from B/C members to the City Council.
The input during this annual round of discussion was substantial. The November meeting resulted in over a dozen suggested improvements or modifications for consideration (Attachments 2 and 3). Of those, 10 were administrative in nature and the majority of those have been implemented already or are in progress by staff. The remainder, 7 items, were policy-based and were referred to the Council Subcommittee on Boards and Commissions (Subcommittee) for consideration.
On February 14, 2024, the Council Subcommittee on Boards and Commissions provided comments on several operational changes (RTC No. 24-0106) made in response to the feedback received at the joint study session. Since the Subcommittee meeting, staff liaisons to Boards and Commissions have been advised of the interest in more detailed meeting minutes, including staff responses to questions and additional detail for controversial items that generate large amounts of public comment. The Guide to Parliamentary Procedure has been posted to the Board and Commission Member Resources page and staff plan to identify or develop additional parliamentary procedure guidance. Staff continue to monitor changes to the Ralph M. Brown Act that could support remote Board and Commission Member participation in meetings and will schedule a follow-up Brown Act training as time permits.
The Subcommittee also discussed several policy items. The Subcommittee was in agreement that two policy items be referred to the full City Council for consideration, as follows (RTC No. 24-302):
- Consider adding an item to each board/commission’s annual work plan to review and propose new supplemental questions for the board/commission application.
- Consider modifying this year’s Arts Commission work plan work plan to add dynamic, interactive and literary art forms.
These recommendations to the full City Council will be presented in a forthcoming Report to Council with any potential additional Subcommittee recommendations discussed from this report to the Subcommittee, outlined below.
The Subcommittee directed staff to prepare a report and return to the Subcommittee for additional discussion on the following topics:
- Consideration of a policy that would permit all boards and commissions to have member led presentations, so long as they fit in the work plan and do not require staff time to prepare;
- Consideration of a policy to allow the board/commission to take action to authorize the Chair to provide written communication related to a member led presentation to the City Council after member led presentations;
- Consideration of increasing the size of the Board of Library Trustees from five to seven;
- Consideration of increasing the Human Relations Commission from five to seven members; and
- Consideration of allowing board and commission members to communicate with members of the public via City-issued email addresses.
In addition, Subcommittee Member Mehlinger stated they would prepare Study Issue Sponsorship Forms on the following topics:
- Create a transportation commission or adjust the scope of an existing commission such as the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission or Sustainability Commission to include more transportation issues.
- Expand scope of Heritage Preservation Commission to include more community engagement and Sunnyvale history.
This report provides the Subcommittee an opportunity to further consider policy issues and potentially make additional recommendations regarding Council Policy 7.2.19 Boards and Commissions (Attachment 1) to the full City Council for consideration.
FISCAL IMPACT
Consideration of these policy issues by the Subcommittee is not anticipated to have a fiscal impact. Should the full City Council implement these policies, several of them may result in fiscal impacts. In particular, adding more members to existing Boards and Commissions, creating one or more new Boards or Commissions, or providing email accounts to Board/Commission Members would have an impact on existing staffing. Depending on the scale and scope of policy changes made, additional staffing resources and associated budget modifications may be required.
In addition to staffing resources, providing email accounts to Board/Commission Members would have a direct cost of approximately $20,000 annually for licensing, which would require a budget modification.
Changing the size of the Board of Library Trustees would require a charter amendment, which is estimated to have a cost of $136,926 for the November 2026 election, plus costs associated with public information and staff support for a charter amendment.
DISCUSSION
Since the February Subcommittee meeting, staff has coordinated with Board and Commission Liaisons and key staff involved in Boards and Commissions to prepare recommendations to the Subcommittee and Council regarding policy considerations. Approximately 37 City staff members regularly spend time staffing, supporting, or facilitating Sunnyvale’s 10 Boards and Commissions. The City Clerk’s team convenes this staff quarterly to ensure regular coordination. Implementing policy changes to Board and Commission practices requires significant effort and collaboration across work groups and departments. Staff recommendations outlined below reflect an effort to utilize existing staff resources to make Boards and Commissions as effective as possible at advising City Council on specific policy issues and providing a forum for broad community input. Broad expansion of the current role or scope of Boards and Commissions would require additional staff resources, as referenced below.
Subcommittee Recommendations to City Council
- Consider adding an item to each board/commission’s annual work plan to review and propose new supplemental questions for the board/commission application.
Staff propose updating this recommendation to a one-time or as-needed review instead of an annual review. If more specificity were desired, Council could suggest that Boards and Commissions review interview questions no less than every five years, for example. Annual review is not likely needed, particularly given that most Board and Commission members serve staggered four-year terms. The supplemental questions for each Board or Commission are intended to assist Councilmembers in evaluating applicants for Boards/Commissions. The current questions were developed and approved by the City Council following recommendations from this Council Subcommittee. Adding this an additional work plan item each year for every Board or Commission could impact a Board or Commission’s ability to accomplish its other work plan items.
- Consider modifying this year’s Arts Commission work plan to add dynamic, interactive and literary art forms.
In order to prepare appropriate options for the full Council at a future meeting, it would be helpful to staff if the Subcommittee could further articulate what types of work plan items are of interest to add to the Arts Commission work plan, and if there are any items the Subcommittee would like Council to consider removing from the Arts Commission work plan to accommodate additional scope. In addition to the work plan, the Arts Commission annually reviews several public art projects (artwork for utility boxes, design and artwork for Sunnyvale Suns, etc.), Civic Center artwork and AIPD (Art in Private Development) projects.
Policy Items Returning to the Subcommittee
- Consideration of a policy that would permit all boards and commissions to have member led presentations, so long as they fit in the work plan and do not require staff time to prepare.
Under current policy, proposals for member led presentations may be made to the staff liaison, who may schedule such presentations as long as they are in alignment with the body’s work plan and do not inhibit the body’s ability to complete Council directed work plan items (Council Policy 7.2.19 1.A.1 and 2.F.2).
Also under current policy, each B/C Chair is responsible for ensuring “that items on the agenda are in alignment with the City Council approved work plan. Should the chair and the staff liaison disagree regarding the agenda, the City Manager shall have final authority subject to appeal to the City Council” (Council Policy 7.2.19 2.F.2).
Currently, member led presentations are most common for the Sustainability Commission, with most member led presentations included in the Sustainability Commission’s Council approved annual work plan. Meeting duration has been impacted by recent member led presentations, which does have nominal cost impacts and may be a consideration for some volunteers who prefer not to have consistently lengthy meetings.
Given that current policy and practice permit this practice as time allows, staff does not recommend a policy modification.
- Consideration of a policy to allow the board/commission to take action to authorize the Chair to provide written communication related to a member led presentation to the City Council after member led presentations.
Presentation items are typically informational in nature and do not provide an opportunity for a Board or Commission to take action on the presentation topic. Authorizing the Chair to provide written communication to Council is not permitted for presentation-like items. City Council is made aware of any member led presentations through the publication of Board/Commission agendas and meeting minutes. In addition, B/C members may always initiate communication on their own behalf with the City Council, and could do so following a member led presentation individually if desired. For items where a B/C does take action and provide policy input, that input is summarized by staff in the subsequent Report to Council.
Given that member led presentations would be informational in nature and therefore do not allow action under Brown Act, staff does not recommend a policy change on this item.
- Consideration of increasing the size of the Board of Library Trustees from five to seven members.
An increase in the number of members for the Board of Library Trustees would require an amendment to the City Charter. Should Council decide to convene a Charter Review Committee on other topics in 2025, the topic of increasing the size of the Board of Library Trustees could be referred to the Charter Review Committee for consideration, with Council ultimately deciding whether to place the item on a future ballot for voters.
Prior to embarking on a potential charter amendment, there are a few considerations for the Subcommittee and Council. First, Council is evaluating a general obligation bond measure to potentially place on the November 2024 ballot and may wish to defer a charter amendment until after that election. Second, the Board of Library Trustees does not typically receive a large number of applicants, so consistently finding seven volunteers could be a potential challenge. Third, increasing the number of members for the Board of Library Trustees would have an impact on staff’s capacity to communicate with and support each Commissioner.
Staff recommends keeping the Board of Library Trustees at its current size unless an identified need arises to pursue a charter amendment to ask voters to consider the change. If a charter amendment were pursued, staff would recommend removing the number of members from the Charter to allow that operational item to change as the City’s needs and volunteer interest evolve over time.
- Consideration of increasing the size of the Human Relations Commission from five to seven members.
An increase in the size of the Human Relations Commission (HRC) could be accomplished through an update to Council Policy; it would not require a charter amendment. The City has received numerous applications for the Human Relations Commission and Council would likely be able to identify two additional applicants to appoint. While the current composition of the Human Relations Commission has recently experienced some challenges achieving a quorum for meetings, that is not anticipated to continue into the future and would not necessarily be alleviated by increasing the size (as four members would need to be present instead of three to achieve quorum so both new members would need to be present at every meeting to avoid the same challenge). The more compelling reason to increase the size of the HRC would be to broaden community representation on the Committee.
Increasing the number of members for the Human Relations Commission would have an impact on staff’s capacity to communicate with and support Commissioners.
Staff makes no recommendation on this item. If the Subcommittee and Council decide to increase the size of the HRC, guidance regarding any particular expanded areas of representation would be relevant.
- Consideration of allowing board and commission members to communicate with members of the public via City-issued email addresses.
The prohibition on Board and Commission Members directly responding to emails from the public stems from the Council Policy prohibition against Board/Commission Members representing their board or commission outside of public meetings.
The current practice of using a Board/Commission AnswerPoint to receive public comments which are then forwarded to the members helps ensure that all members receive the same communications and information from the public. This also helps ensure the City has ready-access to these communications to respond to requests for public records.
Staff looked into the idea of providing City issued and supported email accounts for the current 60 Board and Commission Members. It is estimated to require 60-70 hours of staff support from the Information Technology Department for setup and user support annually along with approximately $20,000 annually for email accounts and related archiving and information security licensing.
In addition, creating individual City-issued email accounts would require significant additional time spent responding to public records act requests for each individual account, which would have a notable staffing impact.
Staff recommends maintaining the AnswerPoint email system given the current Council Policy regarding representation and the current level of funding and staff support for Boards and Commissions. Should the Subcommittee and Council decide to grant B/C members City-issued email addresses, staff would recommend clarifying the Council Policy on representation (e.g., changing or requiring clarifying language in outgoing emails), and staff would return to Council with required budget modifications.
Study Issue Sponsorship Forms
The Subcommittee may review and make comments on Study Issue Sponsorship Forms presented by Subcommittee Member Mehlinger during the meeting.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Council meeting agenda on the City's official-notice bulletin board at City Hall, at the Sunnyvale Public Library and in the Department of Public Safety Lobby. In addition, the agenda and this report are available at the NOVA Workforce Services reception desk located on the first floor of City Hall at 456 W. Olive Avenue (during normal business hours), and on the City's website.
ALTERNATIVES
1. Recommend changes to Council Policy 7.2.19 Boards and Commissions to the City Council, and outline such changes.
2. Other direction as provided by the City Council Subcommittee.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Staff makes no overarching recommendation. Staff’s recommendations regarding individual policy considerations are outlined in the report, which is developed to facilitate a conversation for the public hearing and for consideration and possible action by the City Council Subcommittee.
Levine Act
LEVINE ACT
The Levine Act (Gov. Code Section 84308) prohibits city officials from participating in certain decisions regarding licenses, permits, and other entitlements for use if the official has received a campaign contribution of more than $250 from a party, participant, or agent of a party or participant in the previous 12 months. The Levine Act is intended to prevent financial influence on decisions that affect specific, identifiable persons or participants. For more information see the Fair Political Practices Commission website: www.fppc.ca.gov/learn/pay-to-play-limits-and-prohibitions.html
A check or “Y” in the checklist below indicates that the action being considered falls under a Levine Act category or exemption:
SUBJECT TO THE LEVINE ACT
___ Land development entitlements
___ Other permit, license, or entitlement for use
___ Contract or franchise
EXEMPT FROM THE LEVINE ACT
___ Competitively bid contract
___ Labor or personal employment contract
_x_ General policy and legislative actions
Staff
Prepared by: David Carnahan, City Clerk
Reviewed by: Sarah Johnson-Rios, Assistant City Manager
Approved by: Kent Steffens, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. Council Policy 7.2.19 Boards and Commissions
2. Operational Changes Initiated by Staff Following the November 14, 2024 Joint Meeting
3. Policy Ideas Identified at the November 14, 2024 Joint Meeting