STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: January 11, 2023
To: Honorable Mayor & City Council
From: Huma Ahmed, City Clerk
Subject: Proposal for City Council to Consider and Approve the Reorganization of the City Clerk’s Office; and an Appropriation of $277,400 for the Remainder of FY 2023/2024
Attachments: 1. Baker Tilley Organizational Assessment Report
2. LA Times Article: PRA Ballot Measure
INTRODUCTION
This report provides the City Council with a request for a proposed reorganization of the City Clerk’s Office. The department completed an organizational assessment which was conducted by management consultants, Baker Tilley. The assessment reviewed the structure of the City Clerk’s Office and examined office systems and staffing to identify opportunities for improving services.
New updates are also included in this staff report as additional needs were identified after the assessment report was completed. The City Council is requested to review and provide direction regarding the recommendations, which include budgetary considerations for the department. Staffing limitations are at a critical juncture and require timely action as key projects have expanded beyond the original scope and capacity of the City Clerk’s Office.
Staff has identified a phased approach to this process.
1. Phase 1: City Council consideration and approval of a proposed reorganization along with an updated budget for the department. Recruitment for new positions will require an appropriation to increase the department’s budget.
2. Phase 2: During the FY 2024/2025 budget process staff will present a request for a Capital Improvement Project (CIP) regarding an office redesign. This is to accommodate staffing and much needed archival space.
3. Phase 3: Staff will return as needed regarding recommendations for new technology to meet the operational needs of the office. This will be in coordination with the City’s Information Technology Department.
DISCUSSION
In 2022, the City Clerk’s Office hired Management Partners who later transitioned to Baker Tilley for an organization assessment of the department. While there have been minor Meeting Date: January 11, 2024
additions to the office and/or programs throughout the years, the department has not seen a major reorganization in recent history.
The department serves as the legislative archivist for the City. City ordinances, resolutions, agreements, public records, legislative advocate filings, commission recruitments, City Council Meetings, Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) filings, management of the Beverly Hills Municipal Code, and City elections are just some key projects that are managed and maintained by the City Clerk’s Office. The current City Clerk assumed the role in July 2019.
The City Clerk’s Office has been short-staffed since the pandemic. Temporary staff support has been provided inter-departmentally on a case-by-case basis or through staffing agencies. The pandemic was declared in March 2020 and all operations were immediately transferred online, later a hybrid in-person/virtual model was provided for almost three years during the emergency. The department adjusted with limited resources.
The assessment report focused on the overall operations of the department. Much has changed in the way of elections, public records and the processing of various operational projects. City Council has expressed that the department review its operations and consider opportunities for streamlining processes, implementing new technology and expanded public outreach on department projects. The City Clerk’s Office must meet the needs of an evolving and dynamic industry.
Structure and Staffing
Baker Tilly compared City Clerk operations in several peer cities with respect to budget, staffing, functions, or services provided, and performance measures. They collected publicly available data for five peer jurisdictions in Southern California to compare with the City Clerk Office’s operations in Beverly Hills. The peer jurisdictions, each of which are from Los Angeles County, include Culver City, Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, Torrance, and West Hollywood. Per the report, “the workload of the [City Clerk’s Office] CCO is substantial, especially when compared with the peer agencies.” In July 2019 when the current City Clerk assumed the role, the City Clerk’s Office employed six (6) full time personnel (inclusive of the City Clerk). During the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of a Citywide reduction in staffing, staff was reduced to five (5) staff members. One (1) position was transferred to Public Works for the newly established Customer Service group. This position had administrative duties which were then transitioned to the remaining City Clerk staff.
For Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-24, the City Clerk Department is allocated five full-time equivalent (FTE) positions, listed below. Per the assessment report, this is almost three fewer positions than the average found in peer cities.
City Clerk
Deputy City Clerk
Records/Archives Manager
Management Analyst
City Clerk Assistant
Since the end of the pandemic and with the attrition of key legacy staff and others, current staffing is comprised of four (4) full-time personnel (with one vacancy). Temporary staffing and support from other departments have been regularly requested as a result.
Meeting Date: January 11, 2024
New Updates
Since the assessment concluded in July 2023, the department has recognized additional areas for consideration. The report took almost one year to complete and post-Pandemic operational considerations have also been identified.
Public Records
The California Public Records Act (CPRA),also known as the “PRA” process, has already been highlighted in the assessment report. However, it is anticipated that in November 2024 there will be a measure on the ballot to expand the PRA process statewide. This has the potential to further impact the City’s already strained resources within the organization.
In particular, the new PRA measure if approved by voters, would shorten the timeline for completing requests (30 days) and also expand the retention policy for public agencies (5 years).
The law does not require the requestor to clarify or narrow their search; requests can be open-ended or ambiguous. The anticipated result is that thousands of pages of documents may be identified for each submittal. Fulfilling these requests takes time and labor hours.
With that in mind, it is the intent of the City Clerk’s Office to comply with CPRA laws and at the same time be proactive and prepared for the future.
Historically, the previous City Clerk identified this area as a challenge. As a result, a new position was established within the department for a Records/Archives Manager.
However, to meet the needs of extensive PRAs, the department’s labor hours have increased and CCO has needed significant support from the City Attorney’s Office. The complexity of current PRA requests have required staff to seek additional legal guidance from the City Attorney’s Office on a more frequent basis. The department is finding it difficult to meet the demands of the PRA process as currently staffed. In addition to the staffing recommendations, the City Clerk’s Office is requesting an additional appropriation to meet the needs of increasing PRA requests for the current fiscal year.
Elections
In March 2020 the election process within Los Angeles County was revamped. The voting experience is now a one-month process beginning with Vote by Mail ballots to all registered voters.
The City hosts a municipal election every two years. With the change in the election process, the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk now processes the ballot portion of the elections. The City Clerk’s Office manages all other aspects of the elections including Candidate Filings, development and mailing of a Voter Guide and ongoing outreach. Elections are no longer a one-day event, rather they are now a onemonth long experience. Vote by Mail begins earlier, along with 11-day and multiple 4-day vote centers within Beverly Hills.
Now anytime there is a statewide or countywide election, the City is required to offer its facilities to the public. The City has offered facilities and/or services for a total of six elections from March 2020 to March 2024.
The proposed reorganization includes the following for the City Clerk’s Office (total 8.5 FTEs) if approved by City Council:
City Clerk (budgeted)
Assistant City Clerk/Records Management Director
Meeting Date: January 11, 2024
Deputy City Clerk (budgeted)
Records/Archives Manager (budgeted)
City Clerk Specialist
Management Analyst (budgeted)
Public Records Coordinator
Executive Assistant (upgrade of a budgeted City Clerk Assistant) City Clerk Assistant (part-time)
The recommendations provided include feedback from the assessment report, but also highlight additional updates as appropriate:
Assistant City Clerk/Records Management Director (1 FTE, Salary Range:
$142,729 - $216,847): This is typically a second-in-command position. The Assistant City Clerk/Records Management Director position is typically differentiated from the Deputy City Clerk position in that the former is an executive management position and includes oversight of day-to-day office operations and administrative staff. This position is unique as the person will also be the Records Management Director for Citywide records.
City Clerk Specialist (1 FTE, Salary Range: $87,795 - $108,763): Based on the workload identified, the assessment advised for a City Clerk Specialist position. Public Records Coordinator (1 FTE, Salary Range: $74,748 - $92,604): This is a new position, which was not identified in the assessment report and will be for public records requests with the support of the existing Records/Archives Manager position and the new Assistant City Clerk/Records Management Director. Executive Assistant Upgrade (Salary Range: $77,155 - $95,260): The City Clerk’s Office is the only department in the City without an Executive Assistant position. The request is to upgrade the City Clerk Assistant position to an Executive Assistant similar to other Citywide departments.
City Clerk Assistant (0.5 FTE, Salary Range: $69,974 – $86,365): This person would be part-time and would provide support on special projects and office overflow as needed, on a project-by-project basis.
FISCAL IMPACT
Below is a breakdown of the annual personnel costs for the requested positions ($577,000) as well as the appropriation requested from the Policy, Administration, and Legal (PAL) Fund to fund these positions for the remainder of the current fiscal year 2023- 24 ($157,400). If approved, the positions will also be incorporated into the FY 2024-25 proposed budget. Staff recommends the addition of 3.5 FTEs and 1 FTE upgrade.
Staff is also requesting a one-time appropriation of $120,000 for PRA related City Attorney services. The total requested appropriation to the City Clerk’s budget for the remainder of FY 2023/2024 is $277,400.
Meeting Date: January 11, 2024
Position
Estimated
Annual
Salary
Estimated
Annual
Benefits
Estimated
Annual
Compensation
Costs
Appropriation
Request for
Remainder of
FY 2023-24
New Position (1.0 FTE) –
Assistant City Clerk/Records
Management Director
(Executive: Band A)
$180,000 $78,200 $258,200* $64,500
New Position (1.0 FTE) – City
Clerk Specialist (Confidential) $91,600 $45,600 $137,200 $34,300 New Position (1.0 FTE) –
Public Records Coordinator
(MEA)
$78,000 $43,700 $121,700 $30,400
Upgrade City Clerk Assistant
to Executive Assistant $5,400 $3,200 $8,600** $4,100
New Position (0.5 FTE) for a
City Clerk Assistant (regular
part-time)
$36,500 $14,800 $51,300 $24,100
Total for Personnel Request $391,500 $185,500 $577,000 $157,400 City Attorney PRA Services $120,000
TOTAL BUDGET REQUEST $277,400
*Calculations for the Assistant City Clerk are based on a mid-point base salary, plus benefits. **Costs for the upgrade of the City Clerk Assistant to Executive Assistant represent the increase needed to fund the upgrade of the existing budgeted position.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends City Council direct staff on the request with the recommendations identified in the staff report, including requests for appropriations to increase the City Clerk’s budget.
Huma Ahmed,
City Clerk
Approved By
Attachment 1
1730 MADISON ROAD • CINCINNATI, OHIO 45206 • 513 861 5400 • BAKERTILLY.COM 267 E CAMPBELL AVENUE, SUITE 200 • CAMPBELL, CALIFORNIA 95008 • 408 385 3400 18500 VON KARMAN AVENUE, 10TH FLOOR, • IRVINE, CALIFORNIA 92612 • 949 222 2999 To: Ms. Huma Ahmed, City Clerk
City of Beverly Hills
From: Jay Trevino, Director
Donna Peter, Special Advisor
Shauna Clark, Special Advisor
Ashley Garcia, Consulting Manager
Subject: Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Date: July 14, 2023
Executive Summary
The City of Beverly Hills engaged Management Partners (now Baker Tilly) to conduct an organization assessment of its City Clerk’s Office (CCO). In addition to reviewing the organization structure, this assessment examined the systems and staffing to identify opportunities for improving CCO services to the organization and community.
We conducted numerous interviews, including the Mayor and City Council members, the city manager and assistant city manager, staff in the City Clerk’s Office, and representatives of multiple operating departments to gather input and suggestions for how the office could improve its operations. Our team also conducted a high‐level comparison of the CCO with city clerk operations in five similar cities.
Baker Tilly observed that the City Clerk’s Office has a highly complex workload and in some cases this workload is greater or more complicated than found in other cities. The complexity of this work strains existing resources because CCO staffing is limited and there are key vacancies. Examples of the complex workload in Beverly Hills are outlined below.
Preparing packets, staffing, and coordinating City Council study sessions. These study sessions are in addition to the regular formal meetings, which are conducted two times a month. This amounts to a greater number of meetings than typically found in other communities. For instance, this can require the CCO to prepare four separate packets per month. Registering legislative advocates. This can be labor intensive because it requires staff to conduct research on each advocate and work with both the applicant, city prosecutor, and Sunshine Task Force members.
Managing public comments in the post‐Covid era. Comments may be submitted by telephone, text, and email before or during study sessions. While this is a challenge in many cities, it is particularly challenging in Beverly Hills given the limited staffing and key vacancies, and because it requires staff to use multiple technology platforms in real time during City Council meetings.
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 2 Publishing legal ads more extensively than required.1 Providing annual support for various elections. This is typically a biennial responsibility in most cities. Since 2020, Beverly Hills has hosted elections‐related activities such as city elections, county elections, and referendum elections. The CCO has also been responsible for processing referendum petitions.
Providing staff support to various ad hoc and standing committees such as the Newspaper Ad Hoc Committee, the Election Ad Hoc Committee, and the Sunshine Task Force.
Beverly Hills’ budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022‐23 authorized five full‐time equivalent (FTE) positions, which is three FTE fewer positions than the average found in the peer cities. This report recommends adding 2.5 FTE to strengthen the CCO’s capacity to serve the City Council, departments, and members of the public.
The most common concern we heard during the interviews involved agenda management problems.
Managing the agenda‐preparation process for public meetings is a challenge in many cities, including Beverly Hills. Most cities use various software tools to make the process more efficient. Interviews with staff made it clear that the software tools used in Beverly Hills need to be upgraded. The timeframes and deadlines for the agenda process should also be revisited because the current process often results in late packet deliveries to the City Council. Staff in the CCO and other departments must often work late to complete agenda reports that are added after established deadlines.
Management of public records has become a major challenge for agencies nationwide for several reasons, including the growth in the number of public records. For instance, the California Public Records Act broadened the definition of records to include media held on private devices, CCTV camera feed, audio records including voicemails, and documents held by consultants and contractors. This growth in records is compounded when agencies continue to amass superfluous records (e.g., duplicate files) and when they maintain obsolete records that should have been eliminated.
Records management is decentralized in Beverly Hills. It is a core responsibility for the CCO for various reasons rooted in state law, and for the Information Technology Department (IT) to provide support necessary to meet legal requirements. Because the records management process is decentralized, the CCO and IT staff must rely on other departments to manage their respective records. To be effective, this model requires regular coordination between the departments, sufficient staff, and the technology necessary to manage the City’s records.
Beverly Hills adopted Records Retention Schedules for each department, but our review suggests the departments have not devoted sufficient staff and resources to managing their records. As a result, the City’s collection or database of records is growing increasingly unwieldy, and this makes it difficult and more time consuming when researching important records or when compiling records related to a public records request or subpoena.
1Beverly Hills has three local newspapers of general circulation. California Public Contracts Code §20169 requires that annually, where there is more than one newspaper of general circulation, the City Council shall invite bids and contract for the publication of legal notices. However, we understand the City Council prefers to publish matters in multiple publications. This approach to publishing notices and ads is more complex than typically found in other communities.
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 3 Cities typically use a records management system (RMS), which is software designed to assist with compiling, indexing, storing, and searching public records. Based on our interviews with staff, the software (ApplicationXtender) used in Beverly Hills is not meeting the City’s needs.
This report provides 10 recommendations to address the various issues we examined during the assessment of the City Clerk’s Office. A list of the recommendations is provided in Attachment A. The remainder of this report is organized into the following five sections:
Setting the Context,
Review of Background Information,
Peer Agency Comparison,
Observations and Recommendations, and
Conclusion.
Setting the Context
Role of the city clerk in California
The duties of city clerks are outlined in California Government Code §40801 et. seq. Still, clerks may have additional responsibilities as prescribed by local ordinance or city charter. In fact, the City Clerk’s Association of California (https://www.californiacityclerks.org/) estimates there are more than 1,000 state and federal statutes, regulations, and policies that city clerks must navigate. These laws and policies are found in various codes.
Because of the breadth and depth of knowledge required of city clerks, the City Clerk’s Association of California runs an educational institute affiliated with the University of California at Riverside. First‐level graduates receive Certified Municipal Clerk (CMC) status and post‐graduates can take additional courses to become a Master Municipal Clerk (MMC). The Beverly Hills City Clerk has earned the CMC credential.
Elections
Section 320 of the California Elections Code designates each city clerk as the elections official for their city. Elections in Beverly Hills are consolidated with Los Angeles County for the voting portion, which is only one part of the election process. Other election‐related duties required of the CCO include providing various types of candidate support including preparing local election handbooks, pre‐ qualifying candidates, issuing, receiving, and validating nomination papers, issuing, reviewing, filing, and posting FPPC reports during and after the election period, and answering a multitude of questions from candidates and their representatives. Other CCO responsibilities include translating and publishing notices, assembling, translating, and proofing sample ballots and voter pamphlets; overseeing the adoption of resolutions and ordinances necessary to conduct the election and answering questions from the public. Unlike many cities, Beverly Hills has a primary and run‐off election for candidates. Therefore, parts of the above process are duplicated for general elections.
The CCO must also manage ballot measures. Generally, ballot measures are submitted by the City Council and voted on during a scheduled election. There are also voter‐initiated ballot measures. These Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 4 tend to be rare in most cities, yet Beverly Hills has two referenda currently under consideration. These voter‐initiated measures are labor intensive.
The CCO is responsible for overseeing the petitions, and the signature count, to “qualify” measures for the ballot. The CCO must also arrange for arguments and rebuttal arguments and several notices. If the City Council places a measure on a special election ballot, there is a chance that Los Angeles County will not conduct an off‐cycle election. This could leave the CCO in a difficult situation because it would be hard to find independent elections experts to assist the City.
Beverly Hills City Hall is a designated vote center in Los Angeles County. This requires CCO staff to be present for a period of up to 14 calendar days during elections. Vote center responsibilities apply to federal, state, and local elections. As a result, the CCO is responsible for participating in vote centers each year2 and in some instances twice a year.
The election‐related responsibilities for the CCO are more complex than typically found in other cities, given the annual vote center duties, bi‐annual candidate elections during even‐numbered years, and other unscheduled ballot measures that may trigger the need for a special election. This complexity makes CCO operations difficult during normal times, and especially so with limited staff support or when there are staff absences and vacancies.
Budget and organization structure
The Beverly Hills General Fund operating budget for FY 2022‐23 is $293 million with an authorized 810 full‐time equivalent (FTE) positions. The City Clerk’s Office budget for FY 2022‐23 is $2,258,356, which represents about 0.8% of the General Fund. The budget authorizes five FTE for the CCO. These positions are shown in the organization chart in Figure 1.
2Los Angeles County has school district elections in odd‐numbered years, and statewide and federal elections in even‐numbered years. Since Beverly Hills’ elections are consolidated with those in Los Angeles County, there can be a primary and a general election during even‐numbered years. The CCO does not process Beverly Hills Unified School District elections, but it is obligated to provide vote centers in the City.
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 5 Figure 1. Existing Functional Organization Chart, City Clerk’s Office Document Review
Baker Tilly reviewed a variety of data and background information to analyze the operations of the City Clerk’s Office, including:
Goals and performance measures for functions in the City Clerk’s Office; Administrative policies and procedures, including records management, retention and Public Records Act request procedures;
Agenda management information;
Communications within the office and with other City departments; Classification specifications for city clerk, deputy city clerk, city clerk assistant, records and archives manager, management analyst, and assistant city clerk; List of city commissions, committees and other city‐related groups; Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 6 Workload data;
Technology systems in use; and
General Fund and Capital Improvement budgets for FY 2021‐22 and FY 2022‐23.
Interviews
To gather information and perspectives about the City Clerk’s Office, Baker Tilly interviewed current and former staff members from across the City organization as well as the Mayor and City Council, as listed in Table 1. The interviews were designed to assess how City Clerk’s Office services are perceived by City leaders and key staff in other parts of the organization, as well as to understand the CCO’s strengths and challenges.
List of Positions Interviewed
Position Titles
Assistant City Manager Director of Community Development Chief Information Officer Director of Human Resources
City Attorney Director of Public Works
City Clerk Executive Assistant (2) ‐ Public Works
City Clerk Assistant Former Interim City Clerk
Mayor and City Councilmembers (5) Management Analyst ‐ CCO City Manager Records Manager
Interview Themes
The interviews helped to inform our assessment of the CCO’s organization structure, staffing, and the functions and services it provides. Baker Tilly has summarized the interview comments into the major themes below. The comments underlying these themes were provided by City leaders and key staff in the organization.
Staffing and training are inadequate. The City Clerk’s Office is a small organizational unit.
Therefore, vacancies or absences can quickly result in a backlog of work and an inability to provide adequate service levels. Staff reported that they need additional records management training and certifications, such as a Certified Records Manager to perform assigned work. Workload is unsustainable with current resources and technology. The workload related to City Council meeting support, staff supervision, records management, and ongoing elections exceeds staff capacity. Staff members report that this results in frustration, low morale, and turnover.
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 7 The primary focus of the CCO is on the Mayor and City Council. Councilmembers acknowledge staff’s help in meeting their needs. Maintaining good relationships and a high level of trust with elected officials is staff’s primary goal, according to CCO staff. Other departments report that CCO staff members are supportive and responsive, and they communicate well. Individuals interviewed from the departments appreciate the CCO’s attention to detail in reviewing agenda items, though this is at times frustrating to departments given tight deadlines for completing agenda reports.
The agenda management process should be improved. Staff from the various departments appreciate the electronic folder system used for agenda management but as noted above, are frustrated that minor formatting errors on agenda reports are sent back for corrections. CCO staff also note that the organization’s agenda management is plagued by missed deadlines and this requires City Clerk’s Office staff to complete and assemble agenda packets after hours. This can also result in late packets being provided to the Mayor and Council The records management process is untenable, and it is getting worse. The City has seen a significant increase in the volume of new records, and the number of public records requests.
The Information Technology Department acquired ApplicationXtender software for organizing the records database. However, the customer departments indicated they often use workarounds (e.g., it is sometimes faster to respond to records requests by keeping copies of their own records and bypassing the database and other departments). Staff in the CCO and in the various departments do not have faith in the current records management approach and believe many technical changes and improvements are necessary. This has led to many files not being processed properly and/or too many files within the system that could be removed due to retention scheduling requirements.
The state mandate to retain certain hardcopy records has resulted in space and staffing challenges. The City Clerk’s Office is required by state law to retain certain archival and permanent records, yet the CCO lacks the space and staff capacity to do this efficiently and in a manner that protects the records. There is a need for a secure, fire‐proof space for historic records, some of which date back to 1914.
The expansion of electronic records retention has not improved efficiency. IT responds quickly and provides a high level of service to departments. Unfortunately, many departments find it easier to send records to IT to be digitized rather than spending time to index and manage records, which would enable the City to remove and destroy superfluous documents. As a result, the volume of documents in the database continues to grow and this makes it harder for staff to conduct research and respond to public records requests in a timely manner.
Additionally, staff explained that keeping extraneous records in the various departments also makes it harder to ensure that documents being produced (e.g., for a subpoena) include all available records on a particular topic. Interviewees indicated that ApplicationXtender lacks the array of features common in other software applications that were developed solely for records management.
Existing technology is not well utilized. Interviewees reported that former city clerks had abandoned at least three agenda management software packages. As a result, some staff in the organization have the impression that the prior CCO staff was resistant to new technology.
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 8 The process of hybrid public comments during meetings presents workload challenges.
Interviewees indicated that managing emailed and live public comments in a hybrid meeting environment is labor‐intensive, time consuming and inefficient due to the use of multiple in‐ house technology platforms.
The contract management process needs to be streamlined. While the contract management process is decentralized, the City Clerk’s Office is the gatekeeper. This can be frustrating for staff in other departments, who believe the process is too complicated and that it should be streamlined.
Peer Agency Comparison
Baker Tilly compared city clerk operations in several peer cities with respect to budget, staffing, functions, or services provided, and performance measures. Our team collected publicly available data for five peer jurisdictions in Southern California to compare with the CCO operations in Beverly Hills. As Table 2 shows, the peer jurisdictions, each of which from Los Angeles County, include Culver City, Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, Torrance, and West Hollywood.
The table shows the general fund and department budget for the city clerk’s offices in each peer agency.
The CCO’s budget in Beverly Hills appears to be well‐resourced on a dollar‐to‐dollar basis, but it is below the median as a percentage of general fund budget. The Beverly Hills CCO also has three FTE fewer positions than the peer median.
Comparison of Population, Budget, and Staffing in City Clerks Offices City
Total
Population General Fund Budget
City Clerk’s Office
Budget
Department
Budget as a
Percentage of
General Fund FTE
Beverly Hills 32,265 $ 293,000,000 $ 2,258,356 0.77% 5.00 Culver City 40,135 $ 127,198,342 $ 801,292 0.62% 3.88 Manhattan Beach 34,902 $ 77,698,292 $ 950,814 1.22% 3.00 Santa Monica 93,076 $ 351,700,000 $ 3,443,361 0.98% 8.00 Torrance 147,067 $ 221,697,989 $ 1,433,526 0.65% 8.00 West Hollywood 35,399 $ 110,899,847 $ 4,535,737 4.09% 9.75 Peer Average 70,1161 $ 127,198,342 $ 1,192,1702 0.82%2 8.002 1 Mean population of the five peer cities, excluding Beverly Hills 2 West Hollywood was excluded from these median calculations because its Administrative Services Department budget also includes the human resources and risk management functions.
Staffing
As mentioned previously, Beverly Hills has lower staffing levels than the peer cities. However, Baker Tilly also compared the position classifications authorized in the peer cities, as shown in Table 3. Multiple peer cities have allocated mid‐manager positions (assistant city clerk or deputy city clerk) and a greater number of administrative support positions than in Beverly Hills.
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 9 Allocation of Positions in City Clerk Offices in Peer Cities City
City Clerk’s
Office FTE Position Titles
Beverly Hills 5.00 City Clerk
Deputy City Clerk
Management Analyst
City Clerk Assistant
Records and Archives Manager
Culver City 3.88 City Clerk
Deputy City Clerk
City Clerk Specialist
Administrative Clerk (0.88 FTE)
Manhattan Beach 3.00 City Clerk
Assistant City Clerk
Deputy City Clerk
Santa Monica1 8.00 Director of Records and Elections (City Clerk) Assistant Director of Records and Elections (Assistant City Clerk) Deputy City Clerk
Administrative Analyst ‐ Records and Elections
Records Management Coordinator
Staff Assistant III (3.0 FTE)
Support Services Supervisor
Mail Courier
Reprographic Specialist II
Support Services Lead
Torrance 8.00 City Clerk
Deputy City Clerk III
Deputy City Clerk II
Deputy City Clerk I (2.0 FTE)
Records Management Specialist
Office Assistant (2.0 FTE)
West Hollywood2 9.75 City Clerk
Risk Management Officer
Senior Administrative Analyst
Assistant City Clerk
Records Management Officer
Senior Administrative Specialist
Administrative Specialist IV (2.0 FTE)
Deputy City Clerk
Administrative Specialist I (0.75 FTE)
Peer Median 8.0
1 Records and Election Services Administration is the formal department name in Santa Monica. The department also includes the support services function. 2
The city clerk function is part of the Administrative Services Department. The department also includes risk management.
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 10 Inventory and Comparison of Functions
As mentioned above, we prepared an inventory and comparison of city clerk functions in the peer cities to provide an overview of the services provided and differentiate the duties of each position classification. This analysis was conducted by compiling the essential duties of the position classifications allocated to the city clerk function in the various cities, including:
City clerk,
Assistant city clerk,
Deputy city clerk,
Records‐related positions,
Management analyst, and
Administrative support positions.
Although Beverly Hills has an assistant city clerk classification that is not currently funded, we included the position in the comparison.
Position: City Clerk
As Table 4 shows, most of the duties performed by the city clerk in Beverly Hills are well‐aligned with duties performed by the same position in the peer cities. This includes office oversight, records management, agenda management, budget preparation, and election officer responsibilities.
Functional Responsibilities of City Clerk Positions in the Peer Cities Functional Responsibilities
Beverly
Hills Culver City
Manhattan
Beach
Santa
Monica1 Torrance
West
Hollywood
Agenda management X X X X X X
Bid Opening X X X
Budget preparation X X X X
Contracts X X X X X
Council‐appointed Commissions and
Committees X X X X X X
Office oversight X X X X X X
Elections Officer/FPPC Elections
Filings X X X X X
Municipal code codification X X X X X X
Notary Public X X
Records Custodian/management X X X X X X
1The city clerk‐equivalent position in Santa Monica also oversees operation of the city’s mail room and print shop.
Position: Assistant City Clerk
Table 5 compares the assistant city clerk role, which is typically a second‐in‐command position. Four of the five peer cities have this type of position. The assistant city clerk position is typically differentiated Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 11 from the deputy city clerk position in that the former is a management position and includes oversight of day‐to‐day office operations and administrative staff.
As noted above, certain responsibilities of the assistant city clerk overlap with the deputy city clerk responsibilities related to agenda preparation and reviewing contracts, agreements, and claims. Where an agency has both positions, an overlap of functions is appropriate because these positions should provide a level of cross‐training and backup.
Functional Responsibility of Assistant City Clerk Positions in the Peer Cities Functional
Responsibilities Beverly Hills Culver City
Manhattan
Beach
Santa
Monica Torrance1
West
Hollywood
Agenda preparation
assistance
No
comparable
position2
No
comparable
position
X X X X
Compliance tracking X X X X
Correspondence and
report preparation X X X X
Day‐to‐day department
operations X X X
Elections support X X X X
Meeting coordination X X X
Notary Public X X X
Oversees administrative
staff X X X
Records support X3 X X X
Reviews contracts,
agreements, and claims X X X
1The equivalent position in Torrance is deputy city clerk III. 2A salary range has been established for assistant city clerk in Beverly Hills, but there is no existing job description. 3The assistant city clerk in Manhattan Beach is responsible for public records requests and records management. These duties are assigned to other positions in the four peer cities.
Position: Deputy City Clerk
All five peer cities have at least one deputy city clerk. Table 6 shows that the deputy city clerk is typically responsible for records support, elections support, agenda preparation assistance, meeting coordination, notary services, and compliance tracking, such as support with AB 1234 ethics training and Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) filings. The duties performed by this position in the peer cities are well‐aligned with the duties performed by Beverly Hills’ deputy city clerk position.
Functional Responsibilities of Deputy City Clerk Positions in the Peer Cities Functional Responsibilities
Beverly
Hills
Culver
City
Manhattan
Beach
Santa
Monica Torrance1
West
Hollywood
Agenda preparation
assistance X X X X X X
Bid Opening X X
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 12 Functional Responsibilities
Beverly
Hills
Culver
City
Manhattan
Beach
Santa
Monica Torrance1
West
Hollywood
Council‐appointed
Commissions and
Committees X X X
Compliance tracking X X X X X X
Correspondence and report
preparation X X X X X X
Elections support X X X X X X
Meeting coordination X X X X X
Notary Public X X X X X
Processes claims X X X X
Records support X X X X X X
1 The equivalent positions in Torrance are deputy city clerk I and deputy city clerk II. The deputy city clerk II positions oversee legislative and election management and the citywide records management section.
Position: Records and Archives Manager
Beverly Hills has a records and archives manager position. As shown in Table 7, three of the peer cities also have some type of records position in their table of organization. However, in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills this is only a management‐level position. Many of the functions performed by this position in Beverly Hills are performed at a coordinator or assistant level in the other cities. Santa Monica and Torrance also have lower‐level support positions allocated to the records function.
Functional Responsibilities of Records Positions in the Peer Cities Functional Responsibilities
Beverly
Hills Culver City
Manhattan
Beach
Santa
Monica1 Torrance2
West
Hollywood3
Assists with bid openings X No
comparable
position
No
comparable
position
Assists with records
requests and retrieval X X X X
Implements comprehensive
records management
system X X X X
Maintains document
imaging software programs X X X X
Coordination of records
retention and destruction X X X X
Process legal claims,
subpoenas, summons, and
appeals X X
1The equivalent position in Santa Monica is records management coordinator. 2The equivalent position in Torrance is records management specialist. 3The equivalent position in West Hollywood is records management officer.
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 13 Position: Management Analyst
Table 8 shows the scope of the management analyst role assigned to the city clerk’s offices in the peer cities. Only Santa Monica and West Hollywood have such positions in their city clerk offices.
Management analyst is a common, generalist position in local government organizations. This type of position is typically responsible for department‐specific duties. For example, in a city clerk function, a management analyst might be assigned duties related to elections, legislative research and analysis, Brown Act compliance, financial disclosure, and the Public Records Act. Our review showed the duties performed by this position in Beverly Hills are well‐aligned with the two other cities that have such a position.
Functional Responsibilities of Management Analyst in the Peer Cities Functional Responsibilities
Beverly
Hills Culver City
Manhattan
Beach
Santa
Monica1 Torrance
West
Hollywood2
Administrative and
technical support to
department director X
No
comparable
position
No
comparable
position X
No
comparable
position X
Assist with department
operations X X X
Budget and contract
administration X X X
Liaison to other
departments and the public X X X
Policies and procedures
evaluation X X X
Research and analysis,
report preparation and
presentations X X X
Special projects
management X X X
Staff support to City
commissions and
committees X X X
1 The equivalent position in Santa Monica is administrative analyst (for records and elections). 2The equivalent position in West Hollywood is senior administrative analyst.
Position: City Clerk Assistant
Table 9 shows the city clerk assistant position is responsible for clerical support, receptionist duties, and document routing. Four of the five peer cities have similar administrative support roles, which range in title but perform similar duties. In fact, as discussed previously, most of the comparison cities have multiple administrative support positions allocated to the city clerk function.
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 14 Functional Responsibilities of Administrative Support Positions in the Peer Cities Functional Responsibilities
Beverly
Hills
Culver
City1
Manhattan
Beach
Santa
Monica2 Torrance3
West
Hollywood4
Clerical support X X No
comparable
position
X X X
Document routing, filing, and
retrieval X X X X X
Receptionist duties X X X X X
Assist with elections X X X X X
Scheduling, correspondence,
and mail X X X X X
1 The equivalent position in Culver City is city clerk specialist and administrative clerk, which is part‐time. 2 The equivalent position in Santa Monica is staff assistant III (3.0 FTE). 3 The equivalent position in Torrance is office assistant (2.0 FTE). 4 The equivalent positions in West Hollywood are senior administrative specialist, administrative specialist IV (2.0 FTE), and administrative specialist I, which is part‐time.
Performance Measures
Using performance measures is an important way to summarize the work of a department or office, manage its workload, and report on key outcomes. The peer city websites do not provide information about city clerk performance measures.
Baker Tilly’s team compiled a list of best practices for using performance data in a city clerk function.
These can involve three types of performance measures, as described below. Efficiency measures compare inputs and outputs e.g., amount of work produced compared with the cost or staffing required to produce it.
Effectiveness measures assess how well an organization delivers services. These measures look at outcomes and may include feedback from internal and external customers. Workload measures focus on the amount of work produced. Analyzing this type data can help monitor fluctuations in workload. Workload measures do not assess how efficiently or effectively work is performed (which are addressed through effectiveness and efficiency measures).
Attachment B contains a examples of performance measures from which the City Clerk’s Office could collect data to manage its operations.
Observations and Recommendations
This section provides Baker Tilly’s analysis and recommendations for improvements in the City Clerk’s Office. It is organized into the following sections that address three major issues. Structure and Staffing in the City Clerk’s Office
Management of Agenda Packets
Management of Records, Agendas, and Contracts/Agreements Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 15 Structure and Staffing in the City Clerk’s Office
The City Clerk’s Office in Beverly Hills is a small organizational unit consisting of the five positions shown in Figure 1, and as discussed in the preceding sections. The city clerk is appointed by and reports to the City Council. As is common in most cities, a great deal of the city clerk’s time is devoted to the City Council. Those duties can draw attention away from the day‐to‐day operations of the office.
Need for second‐in‐command position. The workload and pace of the CCO warrants having a second‐in‐ command position such as an assistant city clerk. This position would improve service levels by helping to manage the workload and day‐to‐day operations, as well as temporarily assuming the duties of the city clerk if needed. Having a reliable assistant city clerk will enable the city clerk to focus on strategic leadership of the office.
This type of second‐in‐command position is common in other cities, as shown in the peer comparison, and adding such a position is warranted in Beverly Hills. During interviews we consistently heard that the current staffing is not sufficient to provide the level of service the City Council, organization, and community have come to expect. For example, as discussed previously, the volume of work handled by the CCO is substantial and the office also handles a wider range of duties than typically found in other cities.
It is essential that the individual selected for this position has experience in a similar organization. This should include supervising employees, developing work plans, managing day‐to‐day operations, making public presentations, budgeting, and planning. The individual must also be adept at using the various types of technology systems in city clerk offices, including agenda management and records management software.
Recommendation 1. Create a job classification for assistant city clerk.
Recommendation 2. Allocate 1.0 FTE assistant city clerk position to the City Clerk’s Office.
Improve administrative support. Additional administrative support is needed in the CCO. During interviews we heard about a frequent lack of staff to assist members of the public at the counter.
Additional administrative support could assist the CCO with tasks such as scheduling, coordinating office activities, tracking correspondence and communications, assisting with invoices and purchase orders, supporting the budget preparation process, administering office policies and procedures, and providing back up when other staff members are out of the office is also lacking.
Some of these administrative duties are handled ineffectively at present, may be missed altogether, or become the responsibility of the city clerk. This can divert her attention from providing strategic direction for the office and focusing on the Mayor and City Council and other departments. We note that other departments in Beverly Hills have at least one executive assistant position. The addition of an executive assistant in the City Clerk’s Office would provide more support to staff and customers and it would relieve the city clerk from the distractions of administrative work that can be performed more efficiently by others.
Recommendation 3. Allocate 1.0 FTE executive assistant position to the City Clerk’s Office.
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 16 Improve records management skills, abilities, and training for staff. Records management is one of the CCO’s primary challenges. As discussed later in this report, effective records management will require changing certain City practices, upgrading the software to ensure records are protected and can be searched efficiently, and ensuring the organization has staff who possess the expertise and experience to meet these needs.
We note that the job classification for records and archives manager requires certification by the Institute of Certified Records Managers (ICRM), and we agree this is an important qualification for the position given the magnitude of records management challenges in Beverly Hills. Having a certified records manager (CRM) would ensure this function is being managed in accordance with best practices.
We understand the incumbent in the position does not have the CRM certification.
The City’s records management challenges are increasing in terms of the complexity of records the City possesses and is acquiring, and the volume of public records requests it receives. Having staff with the skills, abilities, and training to meet these demands is essential.
We believe the City should conduct a classification review and take whatever follow up actions may be indicated.
Recommendation 4. Conduct a review of the records and archives manager classification.
Strengthen capacity for city clerk work and create a career ladder for CCO staff. As discussed earlier, the workload of the CCO is substantial, especially when compared with the peer agencies. Yet it has fewer staff and less resources.
With the addition of the executive assistant, some of the administrative duties listed in the city clerk assistant classification could be transferred to the previously recommended executive assistant position.
This would enable the CCO to refocus the duties of the city clerk assistant classification to provide more capacity for technical city clerk duties, including providing support to the Mayor and City Council, other departments, and members of the public. Retitling the city clerk assistant classification to city clerk specialist and expanding the budgeted allocation from 1.0 FTE to 1.5 FTE would enable the CCO to add part‐time staff to cover vacancies and to address the overflow of work as needed.
The deputy city clerk position should be retained and report to the assistant city clerk. Doing so would provide a clearer career ladder in the CCO while minimizing the number of new positions. These and the other recommended organization structure changes are illustrated in Figure 2.
Recommendation 5. Reclassify the vacant city clerk assistant to city clerk specialist.
Recommendation 6. Allocate 1.5 FTE city clerk specialist positions (increase of 0.5 FTE) to the City Clerk’s Office.
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 17 Figure 2. Proposed Functional Organization Chart for the City Clerk’s Office City Clerk
(7.5 FTE proposed)
Assistant City Clerk
(proposed new position)
1.0 FTE
Functions
Brown Act compliance
Day-to-day operations
Elections coordination
Meeting coordination
Oversight of administrative staff
Register legislative advocates
Review contracts, agreements and
claims
Technology liaison
Functions
Document imaging
Oversee records management
system
Notary Public
Process claims
Records requests and retrieval
Records retention
Support for City Council meetings
Records and Archives
Manager
1.0 FTE
Management Analyst
1.0 FTE
Functions
Budget and contract
administration
Liaison to other departments
Policy evaluation
Register legislative advocates
Research and analysis
Special projects Functions
Administration
Municipal Elections
Public Meetings and Hearings
Public Records Requests
Records Management
Deputy City Clerk
1.0 FTE
City Clerk Specialist (retitle
from City Clerk Assistant)
1.5 FTE
Functions
Agenda preparation
Council-appointed commissions
and committees
Compliance tracking
Elections support
Meeting coordination
Notary Public
Functions
Agenda preparation support
Commissions and committees
support
Document routing
Elections support
Meeting coordination support
Executive Assistant
(proposed new position)
1.0 FTE
Functions
Administrative support
Budget support
City Clerk calendar and
scheduling
Commission support
Filing
Front counter receptionist duties
Invoice and purchase order
support
Policies and procedures
Management of Agenda Packets
Baker Tilly team members heard more comments and concerns about the agenda management process in Beverly Hills than about any other single topic. Preparing the agendas, reports, and various documents for meetings of elected and appointed bodies are essential but often invisible steps in the legislative process. Information in agenda packets help elected and appointed bodies conduct public business and they help the public understand an agency’s work and decision‐making.
Managing the agenda process is complicated because it often involves many departments, numerous policy and/or business matters, and is shaped by various laws. For example, California’s Ralph M. Brown Act requires an agency to upload an agenda and packet to a city's website or another publicly accessible electronic portal at least 72 hours before each regular meeting.
Timeframes for the agenda process
Comments about the timing for preparing and distribution of agenda packets in Beverly Hills were heard repeatedly. When packets are late, there is less time for decision‐makers and others to review the material, which can require review during weekends and can compete with reviewers’ other obligations.
Other timing concerns include:
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 18 Deadlines are ignored for last‐minute changes and additions even when items are not time sensitive and could be continued to a future agenda.
City Council members add items to agendas beyond city‐established deadlines, which can require staff from the CCO and other departments to work late to complete agenda packets. Agenda packets are voluminous, especially those involving development projects, which makes compiling the packets more difficult.
Completing agenda packets often requires staff to work late on Fridays. After agenda packets are completed staff from the CCO must take them to the print shop for duplication rather than transmit them electronically. CCO staff must stand by until the duplication is complete to ensure packets are properly compiled. Agenda packets are delivered to the Mayor and City Council. Then the documents are uploaded to Granicus for access by members of the public.
The agenda packet preparation steps outlined above are usually repeated for each City Council meeting, study session, or other official business meeting supported by the CCO.
Need for agenda management software
As noted previously, managing the preparation of staff reports was a major concern raised during our interviews. An electronic folder process has improved the interdepartmental aspects of report preparation by eliminating a great deal of paper. The City would see even greater benefits from implementing modern agenda management software. We understand the organization is considering such a change. It should be noted that agenda software may assist in the printing and compilation of reports, but the software will not address the problems that ensue when reports are late, or when items are added to the agenda late in the process.
Agenda management software can provide version control, which enhances the ability to track changes and meet deadlines. Most agenda management software will also streamline the routing of documents to departments for changes or final approval. It can allow department staff to upload images in their native formats, accept documents in multiple formats [e.g., PowerPoint, portable document format (PDF), or Word], and convert them back and forth.
Agenda management software can move an item and supporting documents from one meeting to another without having to cut and paste. For example, a Planning Commission recommendation and all supporting materials can be sent to a City Council agenda with one touch. Most agenda management software applications use templates that automatically populate agendas based on the city’s format and make it easier to read the agenda packet on a tablet or other mobile device. Some agenda management software systems can integrate with Laserfiche (RMS software), Granicus (meeting software), Google docs, OneDrive, SharePoint, Box, Dropbox, and similar applications.
New agenda management software could also provide integration with Granicus, which would resolve the problem in Beverly Hills of uploading the agenda to Granicus one item at a time. Instead, an entire packet would transfer into Granicus with one touch. Many types of agenda management software have a full‐text search view that enables readers to find past items using a date, key word, or text string.
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 19 Agenda management software enables online readers to annotate items and make “post‐it” notes in advance of the meeting. These features can make reading an agenda packet on a tablet easier than the City’s current Legistar application which, together with better annotation and “post‐it” note enhancements, could enable the City to modernize practices for agenda packet distribution.
As discussed in the next section of this report, if the City had a modern records management system (RMS) such as Laserfiche, the agenda management software would also index and populate the application with all meeting materials. This would eliminate the need to upload these materials one page at a time.
In our experience, agenda management software is often bundled with other applications used in managing public meetings. These additional applications can streamline the preparation of meeting minutes by using a city‐approved format based on the agenda. This can enable staff to create minutes directly from the agenda and populate minute actions in real time. This type of software typically has a projection feature that can enable staff to project an agenda item (e.g., map, rendering) onto monitors/screens in the meeting room or through Granicus for the audience to view.
Recommendation 7. Establish a strategic priority to procure and implement a modern agenda management system.
Options for distributing agenda packets
An increasing number of California cities transmit their agenda packets electronically. Whether or how to change these practices in Beverly Hills is at the discretion of the City Council. If changes were made, the parts of the agenda management process pertaining to duplication and delivery of the materials could be streamlined. Options for consideration include the following:
1. All Electronic. Provide the packets electronically so the Mayor and Council can review the information on their tablets. This would relieve the print shop of involvement in the process.
2. Hybrid. Distribute the agenda (not the packet) in hard copy. Include links to the packet next to each agenda item. Read attachments online (this online information is available now).
3. Attachment limit. Print the agenda along with each attachment that has less than ten pages.
Include links to remaining attachments.
4. Electronic/hard copy. Meet the 72‐hour deadline by sending electronic copies of the agenda to the Mayor and Council and for posting on Fridays. Print hard copies on Monday for distribution to any Council member who requests one.
Management of Records
As discussed previously, we heard more concerns about the agenda management process in Beverly Hills than about any other topic. We agree that improving the agenda process would offer many benefits and efficiencies. However, our review concluded that records management is an extremely pressing problem now and will become more so in the future.
State law designates city clerks as the archivists for legislative actions. This includes all information related to the deliberative process such as agendas, staff reports and supporting data, resolutions, ordinances, minutes, commission recommendations, public comments, and recordings. The California Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 20 Public Records Act (CPRA) assigns city clerks as recipients of public records requests and by extension, the responsibility to produce those documents.
Unfortunately, many organizations create records faster than they can manage them. City halls and offsite storage areas are becoming overrun with boxes of paper. These problems are evident in Beverly Hills according to the interviews, especially given the substantial growth in public records and public records requests. The increase in public records requests is not unique to Beverly Hills3 . In one
prominent example, Transparent California routinely requests records of approved and actual earned wages, including overtime, of every public employee and official in California.
The types of discoverable records have also expanded. Pursuant to the California Supreme Court decision, City of San José v. Superior Court (2017), every database and non‐exempt electronic file can become subject to disclosure (e.g., emails, Google documents, SharePoint documents, geographic information systems, council meeting agendas and videos, building and planning data, payroll records on a city’s financial system, calendars, and election filings). Moreover, voicemails and emails created on personal mobile phones and computers, and even metadata from the devices can be subject to discovery in public records requests and legal proceedings.
Decentralized records management
In many cities, the city clerk is responsible for records management and working with departments to organize and archive records. In Beverly Hills, the records management responsibility has been assigned to IT with assistance from the City Clerk’s Office in fulfilling public records requests. Beverly Hills has a decentralized approach to records management, meaning that each department is responsible for its respective records. We also understand that the City Council has adopted Records Retention Schedules pertaining to each department.
Long before the adoption of the City’s schedules for records retention/destruction, the Information Technology Department began imaging or digitizing City records. This has resulted in a substantial database. We understand the database can be useful in finding certain documents like emails. However, many of the files are not indexed, and this can make finding particular records difficult. This problem is growing as the database of records continues to expand.
Whether a city uses a centralized or decentralized approach to records management is less important than ensuring records management is an ongoing priority. Records management cannot be done solely by staff in an IT department or a city clerk’s office. Effective records management requires all departments to perform inventories, create indexes, and routinely destroy records identified in the adopted records retention schedules. Without this commitment, the organization will continue to amass paper and electronic records that can, ironically, complicate work and stymie efforts to be transparent because of the complexity and time it takes to find requested records. Beverly Hills staff acknowledged these types of problems during our interviews.
3 According to the Peers in Public Records Index from the first quarter of 2021 public records requests in cities, counties, and states increased by 35% in the preceding year, and the average time agencies spent processing the requests increased by 286% in the same period.
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 21 Need for new records management software
As mentioned earlier, Beverly Hills uses ApplicationXtender software to manage public records. Our interviews with staff indicated that the software lacks many of the features needed to find and manage public records. As a result, during interviews some individuals explained that they resort to workarounds such as keeping duplicate records in their offices. Workarounds like this may address an immediate need, but can present significant problems related to security, version control, and other records retention/destruction policies.
While the City needs an improved records management system, it first needs to reestablish the importance and priority for records management in each department. The role of IT and the CCO is to lead and support the organization’s records management policies, but they do not control most public records, which are produced in departments. We believe the City has appropriate records retention schedules, though we understand that some or all departments may not be compliance.
Recommendation 8. Convene a meeting of department representatives to identify compliance gaps and address impediments for complying with the City’s records retention schedules.
Recommendation 9. Establish a strategic priority to procure and implement a modern records management system to replace the current the City’s records management software.
Storage of Paper Records
Baker Tilly was asked to provide an outline of best practices for storage of records. This is provided in Attachment C.
State law requires city clerks to preserve and maintain public records, including certain records that may predate a city’s incorporation. This often results in a substantial volume of records in older communities.
For instance, Beverly Hills’ vault for permanent records is full. Moreover, there are water pipes above the ceiling that may threaten the records below.
The magnitude and importance of the City’s paper records are a vulnerability that should be addressed.
In some instances, these records can be digitized, and the originals can be destroyed. However, the problems with inadequate storage rooms and facilities for archival records should be addressed as a top priority (see Attachment C).
Recommendation 10. Convene a meeting of key department representatives to discuss the records facility challenges and appoint a committee to identify solutions and develop recommendations for consideration by the City Council and city manager.
Conclusion
The City Clerk’s Office has undergone several staffing changes in previous years and has key vacancies now. These present opportunities to reshape the CCO to better meet the needs of the City Council, the Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 22 departments, and members of the public. There are also significant challenges in the organization pertaining to the agenda packet process and the management of public records. Addressing these challenges would improve efficiencies for public meetings, and for finding, managing, and protecting public records.
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 23 Attachment A – List of Recommendations
Recommendation 1. Create a job classification for assistant city clerk.
Recommendation 2. Allocate 1.0 FTE assistant city clerk position to the City Clerk’s Office.
Recommendation 3. Allocate 1.0 FTE executive assistant position to the City Clerk’s Office.
Recommendation 4. Conduct a review of the records and archives manager classification.
Recommendation 5. Reclassify the vacant city clerk assistant to city clerk specialist.
Recommendation 6. Allocate 1.5 FTE city clerk specialist positions (increase of .5 FTE) to the City Clerk’s Office.
Recommendation 7. Establish a strategic priority to procure and implement a modern agenda management system.
Recommendation 8. Convene a meeting of department representatives to identify compliance gaps and address impediments for complying with the City’s records retention schedules.
Recommendation 9. Establish a strategic priority to procure and implement a modern records management system to replace the current the City’s records management software.
Recommendation 10. Convene a meeting of key department representatives to discuss the records facility challenges and appoint a committee to identify solutions and develop recommendations for consideration by the City Council and city manager.
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 24 Attachment B – Examples of Performance Measures
Performance Measures
EFFECTIVENESS MEASURES
Percent of City Council agenda packets distributed at least “X” days prior to meeting Percent of regular Council minutes produced within “X” days of meeting Percent of Fair Political Practices Commission documents filed prior to deadline Percent of public records request responses provided within 10 days Percent of contracts released within “X” working days of receipt and compliance check1 Percent of Council adopted resolutions processed within “X” days of adoption1 Percent of Council adopted ordinances processed within “X” days of adoption1 Percent of contracts or agreements processed and executed within “X” days of receipt and compliance check1 Percent of customers rating customer service experience with the City Clerk’s Office as good or excellent Percent of phone call messages returned within “X” business hours1 Percent of emails receiving an initial response within “X” business hours1 Percent of emails to general email inboxes responded to within “X” business hours1
EFFICIENCY MEASURES
Number of in‐person customers served per FTE
Average cost to document and track legislative actions per Council meeting Average cost to research legislative advocates
WORKLOAD MEASURES
Number of City Council meetings and study sessions staffed Number of Board/Commission/Community meetings staffed
Number of eComments and/or public comments submitted to the City Council prior to meetings Number of resolutions finalized, processed, and codified Number of ordinances finalized, processed, and codified Number of proclamations processed
Number of agenda packets prepared and distributed
Number of agenda items prepared and distributed
Number of regular City Council minutes prepared and distributed Number of legal claims, subpoenas, summons, and appeals accepted Number of legislative advocates for which CCO research is required Number of ads placed in legal publications
Number of public records requests fulfilled
Number of records scanned
Number of records destroyed
Number of documents notarized
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 25 Performance Measures
Number of oaths of office administered
Number of covenants filed with Los Angeles County
Number of Form 700 Statements of Economic Interests filings received and processed Number of campaign‐related filings received, reviewed, and notified Number of applications for boards and commissions received, processed, and filed Number of Board and Commission members onboarded
Number of in‐person customers served
Number of emails answered
Number of phone calls answered
1 The number of hours or days should be determined based on the City’s expectations for service levels.
Organization Assessment of the City Clerk’s Office Page 26 Attachment C – Best Practices for Records Storage Facilities Baker Tilly’s experience from working with many cities is that organizations need three types of storage facilities, at a minimum, as outlined below.
1. Public records library for archival records
Secure records room with a public counter, historic pictures and maps on the walls, display cases containing historic documents such as incorporation papers and proclamations of interest, computers, and long tables for use by the public and other departments. This public records library should be staffed by individuals who are knowledgeable about the CPRA and handling public records. The staffing recommendations earlier in this report would ensure that Beverly Hills has these staff resources.
2. Temporary records storage room divided into functional areas Secure area where files are more recent (less than five years old) with the records kept in boxes arranged in a high‐density filing system. These records should be accessible to staff who handle CPRA requests, but the facility should be managed by the records and archives manager with a focus on keeping the records up to date and planning for the City’s long‐ term records management needs.
The room should have an intake area for new records boxes and a separate space for obsolete documents being prepared for destruction.
The high‐density files would be divided between discoverable and not discoverable. For example, records that are not discoverable include payroll and personnel documents. These documents should be maintained in the temporary file room because they become eligible for destruction after a few years.
3. Long‐term storage for permanent records (off‐site)
This area should have high‐density files for permanent records that are required by state law to be retained in perpetuity. For example, many land‐use records and every public works project (even for infrastructure that was rebuilt) must be retained permanently. It is common that these permanent records are not accessed regularly. For this reason, offsite storage is more efficient in terms of space and records management operations.
Another benefit of this practice is that is segregates permanent records from other records which will become obsolete and be destroyed pursuant to the City’s records retention plans.
City leaders should also consider having a records management expert assist with developing its records storage strategy by estimating the volume of records that need permanent storage, designing the records facilities, and developing high‐density file systems for the various types of records.
Attachment 2