1 STAFF REPORT
DATE: April 8, 2025
TO: Justin Hess, City Manager
FROM: Betsy McClinton, Management Services Director
BY: Alvaro Valdez, Assistant Management Services Director
SUBJECT: First Step Report Regarding Existing Voluntary Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy for City Council Members
RECOMMENDATION
1. Direct staff to discontinue the existing voluntary Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy for City Council Members; or
2. Direct staff to return with a second step report with proposed changes to the voluntary testing program; or
3. Note and file.
BACKGROUND
At the March 11, 2025, Council meeting, Council Member Rizzotti requested a first step report regarding the existing voluntary drug and alcohol testing policy for Council Members. Council Member Rizzotti also requested information on costs associated with the policy.
DISCUSSION
At the July 6, 2006, Council meeting, the Council adopted a City Council Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy (Attachment 1). The related staff report and attachments (Attachment 2) provide the legal analysis regarding why it is not permissible to require Council Member participation in random drug and alcohol testing. Every step in the process is voluntary for the Council Members, including whether to disclose that they were randomly selected, to submit to the testing, to disclose that they submitted to testing, and finally , to disclose the results.
MANAGEMENT
SERVICES
2 The policy provides that every three months, Management Services staff randomly selects two Council Members to participate in voluntary drug and alcohol testing. The two Council Members are randomly selected the morning of a Tuesday Council meeting. The Management Services Director calls the two selected Council Members prior to 10:00am to notify them that they have been randomly selected. The Council Members are provided information regarding the testing facility and procedure. If they choose to participat e in the testing, they must visit the testing facility that same day prior to the testing facility’s close of business. Council Members may not be selected to participate in the voluntary testing two testing periods in a row.
The test administered is a ten-panel drug test and an alcohol breathalyzer. The ten-panel drug test includes Amphetamine, Barbiturates, Benzodiazepines, Cocaine, Marijuana, MDMA/MDA, Methadone, Methamphetamine, Opiates, and Phencyclidine (PCP). The test results are sent directly to the Council Members.
Management Services staff provide the randomly selected Council Members with a memo that may be used to disclose any, or all, of the following: 1) that they were randomly selected; 2) that they submitted to the testing; and/or 3) the results (Attachment 3). If the Council Members choose to disclose any or all of these items , they must complete the appropriate portions of the memo and provide it to the City Clerk’s Office, where it is kept on file. Only the portions of the process that the Council Members el ect to disclose are made available to the public for inspection at the City Clerk’s Office . All disclosures are voluntary.
Only the Management Services staff involved in making the random selection and paying the testing vendor, and the Council administrative support staff, are aware of which Council Members are selected for testing, unless and until the Council Member s themselves choose to disclose any portion of the process.
The resources required to manage and implement a voluntary testing policy, such as administrative time, staff coordination, and costs associated with the testing process, are disproportionate to the minimal participation and lack of tangible results. T he voluntary nature of the program diminishes its effectiveness, as it allows individuals to opt out, rendering the initiative more symbolic than a meaningful measure of accountability.
Ultimately, it is performance and ethical conduct in office that should be the focus of public trust, rather than private, personal choices. Therefore, staff recommends eliminating the voluntary Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy for City Council members.
The records destruction schedule for any Council Member disclosures is five years.
3 ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This activity has no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment, and as such, is not a “project” subject to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Cal. Code Regs § 15378.
FISCAL IMPACT
The cost for the voluntary Council Member drug and alcohol testing program is $137 per test. Assuming all selected Council Members choose to participate in the program when selected, the annual cost to the City is $1,096.
CONCLUSION
Staff recommends that Council direct staff to discontinue the voluntary testing program.
Alternately, Council may consider directing staff to return with a second step report with proposed changes to the voluntary testing program or note and file the report, which would continue the voluntary testing program in its current form.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 – City Council Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy Attachment 2 – July 6, 2006, Staff Report and Attachments Attachment 3 – Template Voluntary Drug Testing Memo for Voluntary Disclosure of Results