1 STAFF REPORT
DATE: February 14, 2023
TO: Justin Hess, City Manager
FROM: Joseph H. McDougall, City Attorney
Jill Vander Borght, Senior Assistant City Attorney
Jonathan Jones, Communications Manager, Public Information Office BY: Lyndsey Kramer, Administrative Analyst I, City Attorney’s Office
SUBJECT: Approval of a Professional Services Agreement to Hire a Public Relation s Firm to Assist with Districting Efforts
RECOMMENDATION
Approve and authorize the City Manager, or their designee, to:
1. Enter into a Professional Services Agreement (PSA) with a communications and public outreach firm, as recommended by staff , to structure the community outreach and engagement for districting; and
2. Approve a budget amendment to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022- 23 Adopted Budget appropriating up to $150,000 to retain a communications and public outreach firm; and
3. Execute any ancillary documents necessary to effectuate the implementation thereof.
BACKGROUND
On January 24, 2023, the City Council adopted a Resolution of Intent to Initiate a Transition to District Elections. Districting will require a n extensive amount of public education and community involvement throughout multiple public hearings and community meetings in an extremely short timeframe. Staff recommends hiring a communications and public outreach firm to develop a strategy and structure the community outreach and engagement efforts for districting.
CITY ATTORNEY’S
OFFICE
2 Staff solicited proposals from three Public Relations (PR) firms, all of which have either worked previously with the C ity or the City’s districting demographer, National Demographics Corporation, for a scope of services and overall project budget. The proposals and staff’s recommendation to hire the firm that provides the best scope and value for the City ’s needs will be presented to Council during the February 14, 2023 meeting.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This activity involves organizational and administrative activities of the government related to election procedures and eligibility requirements, and such internal procedural and eligibility changes have no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. As such, this action is not a “project” subject to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) 14 Cal. Code Regs § 15378.
FISCAL IMPACT
Staff is requesting City Council authority to amend the FY 2022-23 Adopted Budget by appropriating up to $150,000 from account number
001.ND000.30010.0000.00000.000000 (General Fund, Non- Departmental, Unassigned Fund Balance) to expenditure account number 001.ND01A.62085.0000.00000.000000 (General Fund, Non-Departmental, Other Professional Services). Funds will be used to hire a communications and public outreach firm to engage the public in the process to transition from at-large voting to by-district voting by establishing single-member districts for City Council elections.
CONCLUSION
The City Attorney recommends the Council approve and authorize the City Manager, or their designee, to enter into a PSA with a c ommunications and p ublic outreach firm to engage the public and maximize community engagement and participation in the districting process and approve a budget amendment to the FY 2022-23 Adopted Budget appropriating up to $150,000 in order to retain a consultant.
ATTACHMENTS
None.