Item No. 13
Town of Atherton
CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT – REGULAR AGENDA
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
FROM: GEORGE RODERICKS, CITY MANAGER
DATE: JUNE 18, 2025
SUBJECT: CONSIDERATION OF CITY COUNCIL LIAISON POSITION FOR
THE ATHERTON DISASTER AND PREPAREDNESS TEAM
(ADAPT) BOARD
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Council discuss the possibility of a Mayoral appointment of a liaison (Primary and Alternate) to the Atherton Disaster and Preparedness Team (ADAPT) Board.
BACKGROUND
Council policy authorizes the Mayor to make liaison appointments (primary and alternate) to each of the Town Committees. In addition, the Mayor has the ability to appoint liaisons to the Holbrook Palmer Park Foundation and the Menlo Park Fire Protection District. The Mayor makes these appointments in January of each new calendar year.
At the June 4 Study Session, as a potential Future Agenda item, a member of the Council has asked that the Council consider appointment of a Council liaison to the ADAPT Board. The Council asked that staff place the item on the June 18 Agenda for discussion and direction.
In 2022, the City Council authorized the Mayor to appoint a City Council liaison to the ADAPT Board. Following appointment by the Mayor, the liaison began to attend the meetings of the Board.
However, subsequent to the appointment there was concern expressed by the ADAPT Board with respect to Council oversight via the liaison role. The Council then removed the liaison role and no further appointments were made.
ANALYSIS
As noted prior, there are City Council liaisons for all Town Committees. There are also Council liaisons to two external groups – the Holbrook Palmer Park Foundation and the Menlo Park Fire Protection District.
Consideration of Council Liaison to ADAPT Board
JUNE 18, 2025
COUNCIL POLICY FOR LIAISONS
Pursuant to Council Policy 4.3, it is the Liaison’s responsibility to:
”...attend each meeting of the committee to which he or she is assigned and to provide general guidance, as needed to the committee as it moves through its meeting agenda. The primary role of the Liaison is to ensure the committee’s compliance with the Brown Act and to provide information regarding City Council policy as it pertains to the work of the committee. It is not the role of the Liaison to advocate on behalf of or against items before the committee or to endorse positions or directions that the committee may be considering...”
The role of a liaison as described by City Council applies more specifically to Town Committees where the work of those committees must be consistent with Town and City Council Policy, the Committee is subject to the Brown Act, and recommendations from those Committees will often matriculate up to the City Council. The role of a liaison to outside groups is not specifically addressed by Council Policy; however, Section 5.13 does address assignment to Outside Committees, Agencies, and Organizations as Committee Liaisons. This provision states, in part:
”The Town is represented by individual Councilmembers on a wide variety of outside committees and organizations, such as the City/Councty Assocation of Governments (C/CAG) and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG)....In January of each year, the Mayor makes Councilmember assignments as he or she deems appropriate....” The policy section specifically references Boards or Groups upon which Councilmember appointees serve as Board Members and/or Voting Members on behalf of the Town. These include:
C/CAG, ABAG, League of Cities, Library JPA Governing Board, Peninsula Clean Energy, Commute.org, Airport Roundtable, CalMOD LPMG, and SMC Emergency Services Council.
Members serving on these boards or bodies vote on behalf of the Town and/or vote on behalf of the agency or body to which they are appointed.
Groups to which the Council has appointed liaisons that are not voting members or Board Members, e.g. Park Foundation and Fire District, are not specifically addressed within the Council policies but are generally expected to abide by the guidelines noted for Council Liaisons (Section
4.3). These liaisons provide input to the outside group as to current Council policy; but do not serve as voting members, do not direct or influence the work of the group, and do not assist with Brown Act compliance. As a non-legislative body, the Park Foundation is not subject to the Brown Act.
ADAPT ORGANIZATION AND ROLE
Like the Park Foundation, ADAPT is a separate, 501(c)3 resident led group. There were formed in 1999 as a proactive group of Atherton residents partnering with the Police Department to educate, community and aid fellow residents in preparing for major emergencies and natural disasters. They are independent from the Town and have their own governing Board.
However, different from the Park Foundation, the Town provides some general financial support for ADAPT via the Town’s budget (approved by the Council) as part of the Police Department’s Consideration of Council Liaison to ADAPT Board
JUNE 18, 2025
budget. These funds typically do not go directly to ADAPT; rather, they are spent on behalf of ADAPT in support of ADAPT’s mission and objectives. For example, the funds are spent on maintaining emergency supply trailers, assembly point supplies, publication materials, training programs, etc. In addition, staff provide support to ADAPT during regular meetings and training.
ADAPT personnel – to include their Board as ADAPT members – provide decentralized emergency education and response by Assembly Area via the Block Captain or Assembly Point Captain model. Their mission and programs are designed to assist residents in developing emergency plans and improving their overall readiness; creating and leading training exercises and disaster drills in the community; disseminating emergency preparedness materials and resources; and facilitating organization meetings with the Police Department, schools, Town officials, and Assembly Areas.
In the event of an emergency response situation, representatives from ADAPT “report up” via communication channels (HAM Radio or other means) on their Assembly Point status to the Town’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), where the EOC Incident Commander (typically the City Manager) will make decisions for organizational response to the emergency or disaster. Led by the Incident Commander, the EOC consists of five leadership sections: Incident Command (IC), Operations (Police, Fire, Public Works, EMS, Shelters, Schools, CERT), Planning Chief (Planning, Building, Resource Units), Logisitics (COMMs, Support, Medical, Ground Support) and Finance (Procurement, Cost, Time Unit). The City Council continues its role as the Policy Board and if/when the Incident Commander needs policy direction or action ratification, the IC will engage the Policy Board (Council). The City Council is not a part of the EOC. The size and roles within the EOC expand and contract based on the needs or nature of the emergency.
During an emergency, ADAPT serves as a critical link to the community at large. ADAPTers are not CERT volunteers and as such, the Town does not use ADAPT as part of any field search and rescue or response. However, for small scale response and engagement, the Police Department has and will use ADAPTers to assist with community events, parking management, field support, shelter staffing, neighborhood alert and information, and windshield surveys (field reports to EOC). In these instances, Town staff direct the role of and are responsible for ADAPTers during an emergency response or community activity. ADAPTers are considered Emergency Service Workers during an emergency.
The Town sees the role of ADAPT most closely aligned with its core mission: helping residents prepare for emergencies. That is best facilitated through the dissemination of educational materials, training programs, and response drills that are designed to enhance the preparedness of one resident and expanding out to encompass a neighborhood. It is the neighbor-to-neighbor connection that builds neighborhood and ultimately community-wide preparedness.
ADAPT LEADERSHIP CHANGES
Over the past couple of years, ADAPT has gone through various Board transitions and has struggled to retain membership on the Board and participation in the larger community. While the overarching mission and goals of ADAPT have remained relatively consistent, the methodology for engagement with their membership and general philosophy of approach has shifted as the Board evolved and Board Presidents have changed. To assist in mitigating concerns of continuity, Consideration of Council Liaison to ADAPT Board
JUNE 18, 2025
staff was approached by a member of the Council interested in serving on the ADAPT Board. My response was that a member of the Council should not serve as a member of a non-profit agency to which the Town provides financial support and to some degree general oversight. While there is unlikely to be a legal conflict of interest, there is the perception of a conflict of interest. Because there is so much interaction by Department Head staff and junior staff with ADAPT and the ADAPT Board there are concerns related to oversight, management and authority (Councilmember to staff, staff to Councilmember). This is inherent in the understanding that a Councilmember is always a Councilmember regardless of any other role they may retain in the community and Councilmembers have a perceived level of authority within the organization. In the event of an emergency, Councilmembers serve as the Policy Board advising the Incident Commander and there would be a conflict or the potential for conflict if a Councilmember were also serving as a Board Member for an organization being directed via the EOC and staff.
Emergency response is the last place one wants there to be potential for leadership conflict.
In May, staff raised the possibility that the Town might be able to contract with the City of Menlo Park for a portion of the time of their full-time Emergency Preparedness Coordinator (8-10 hours a week). Having that onboard resource and expertise may greatly assist ADAPT with fulfilling its mission. Menlo Park has expresssed interest in the possibility and the potential is still being investigated at this time.
COUNCIL LIAISON
As noted, there is a history with the appointment of a Council liaison to an external agency like ADAPT. Such an appointment was made (and subsequently removed) to ADAPT in 2022. There are representatives present tonight from ADAPT that can address the Board’s expectations for Town engagement at all levels, to include engagement via a Council liaison. As the Council considers re-appointing a liaison to ADAPT, staff encourages the Council to discuss the differences between ADAPT as an organization and the Park Foundation as an organization (the closest analogous outside Board with a liaison), the role of the organization, the engagement level with the Town, and the role of a liaison.
As mentioned before, ADAPT is an important community resource. Alternatively or concurrently to a liaison as the Council may direct, the Council can direct that staff take a more active role with ADAPT. This could take the form of staff meeting with the ADAPT Board to discuss ways that the Town can enhance its support for ADAPT at the practical level. For example, the Town could assist ADAPT with upgrades to its website; provide advertising and recruitment support; and provide additional support for training, education and response drills. Following discussions with the Board, staff could return with an outline of potential solutions along with cost estimates related thereto. While the Town has traditionally provided support to ADAPT, it has been in the role of advisor, trainer and facilitator to ADAPT activities and events along with financial support for needs in support of their mission. What is being proposed here is a higher level of dedicated engagement and support from the Town; that will represent a greater financial commitment of staff time and resources.
If the Council deems it important that there be a member of the Council serving as a liaison to the ADAPT Board, it would traditionally fall to the Mayor to make such appointment (primary and Consideration of Council Liaison to ADAPT Board
JUNE 18, 2025
alternate) independent of Council action or concurrence. All that would be required of the Council tonight is consensus as to the role.
FISCAL IMPACT
None at this time.
GOAL ALIGNMENT
This Report and its contents are in alignment with the following Council Policy Goals:
• Goal B - Improve Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness
POLICY FOCUS
The policy considerations for the Council are related to the appointment of a liaison to an external Board to which the Town provides financial support and some general oversight; and the provision of additional staff support.
PUBLIC NOTICE
Public notification was achieved by posting the agenda, with this agenda item being listed, at least 72 hours prior to the meeting in print and electronically. Information about the project is also disseminated via the Town’s electronic News Flash and Atherton Online. There are approximately 1,200 subscribers to the Town’s electronic News Flash publications. Subscribers include residents as well as stakeholders –to include, but be not limited to, media outlets, school districts, Menlo Park Fire Protection District, service provides (water, power, and sewer), and regional elected officials.
COMMISSION/COMMITTEE FEEDBACK/REFERRAL
This item has not been before a Town Committee or Commission
ATTACHMENTS
1. COUNCILMEMBER HAWKINS-MANUELIAN COMMENTS