Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: REGULAR AGENDA (ACTION)
To: City Council
Subject: Council Assignments to CIRA for Calendar Year 2022 Date: January 25, 2022
Written by: Damien O'Bid, City Manager
Recommendation
It is recommended that the Council adopt a motion to switch the assigned California Intergovernmental Risk Authority (CIRA) Director and Alternate positions for calendar year 2022.
Background
The City Council reviews assignments to committees and commissions, upon which the Councilmembers serve, at the end of each calendar year. This is done each year concurrently with the City Council reorganization. The most recent update to City Council assignments occurred on December 14, 2021.
Analysis/Discussion
For the past several years, the City Council has assigned Councilmember Moore as the City’s primary representative to the California Intergovernmental Risk Authority (CIRA), formally the Redwood Empire Municipal Insurance Fund (REMIF). City Manager O’Bid has been the alternate. In practice, Councilmember Moore served on the REMIF Board of Directors and City Manager O’Bid served on the Executive Committee.
With the transition to CIRA this fiscal year, the CIRA Board elected a new Executive Committee, including City Manager O’Bid. However, CIRA staff recently contacted the City after they determined that the new CIRA by-laws don’t allow alternates to serve on the Executive Committee. The new CIRA bylaws state in part (emphasis added):
“C. The Executive Committee shall be composed of thirteen members including the President, Vice-President, Treasurer (if a Board Member), and Auditor/Controller, and nine (or ten, if necessary) other individuals, all of whom must be Directors and not alternates. Five of the nine shall be elected by the Board in even numbered years and four (or five, if necessary) shall be elected by the Board in odd numbered years. One each shall be elected by the Directors in each of three regions designated by the Board. One each shall be elected by the Directors in each of three size categories (small, medium, and large) designated by the Board. Three (or if necessary four) shall be elected at large. Executive Committee members may be re-elected without restriction. All nine shall be elected in the first election following adoption of these Bylaws, with either four or five being designated to serve an initial term of one year until the next election depending on whether the next year is odd or even. For the first two elections after these Bylaws become effective on July 1, 2021, at least five members of the Executive Committee shall be from former members of the Redwood Empire Municipal Insurance Fund. No Member shall be represented by more than one member on the Executive Committee.”
To correct this, there are a couple of options:
1. Switch the City Council designated appointees to City Manager O’Bid as primary and Councilmember Moore as alternate. Councilmember Moore can still serve as a full voting member of the CIRA Board under this option.
2. Keep the designed appointees the same (Councilmember Moore as primary and City Manager O’Bid as alternate). However, this would result in Cotati being removed from the Executive Committee for the upcoming annual meeting. The CIRA Board would also need to hold a new election for this seat, which may or may not go to Cotati.
It is recommended that the City Council switch the designated primary and alternates, as it would preserve our seat on the Executive Committee and not materially affect Councilmember Moore’s position as a full voting member of the CIRA Board.
Financial Considerations
None.
Environmental Issues
The action of assigning representatives and liaisons to various committees and commissions does not constitute a project as defined by California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines Section 15378; therefore, no further environmental review is required.