EAST PALO ALTO
CITY COUNCIL
STAFF REPORT
DATE: December 15, 2022
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Patrick Heisinger, Interim City Manager
BY: Maurice Baker, Acting Community Services Manager
SUBJECT: Implementation of Online Reservation and Calendar System Recommendation
By motion:
1. Accept staff report on the new park and facility reservation system for City residents;
2. Provide direction to staff regarding options for linking outside community events to the City’s calendar; and
3. Direct staff to return to City Council with further recommendations for optimal utilization of the City’s virtual calendar.
Alignment with City Council Strategic Plan
This recommendation is primarily aligned with:
Priority No. 3: Increase Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency Priority No. 4: Improve Public Facilities and Infrastructure Priority No. 5: Improve Communication and Enhance Community Engagement Background
The City’s Community Services Division is charged with coordinating several City-sponsored events, managing the public’s use of City parks, athletic fields, and other facilities, and coordinating with other stakeholders on non-City sponsored events. For the past several months, staff has focused on developing strategies to ensure equitable access to City facilities for all residents. Staff also researched how other jurisdictions utilize their respective City calendar system to provide comprehensive communication regarding all events.
The purpose of this staff report is to: 1) update the City Council on the online reservation system that will allow individuals and groups to reserve City parks and facilities; and 2) to obtain direction from the City Council regarding the best methods for utilizing the City’s calendar system to ensure that residents and other stakeholders are well informed of events happening in and around the City.
Analysis
Online Reservation System - CivicRec
The City hosts several events for community members and outside organizations throughout our parks and facilities system. Using the current, antiquated process, staff receives requests for park and facility rentals through phone calls, emails, and paper-only applications. This process leaves residents and interested parties without a clear vision of availability. Staff has plans to improve this process both internally and, most importantly, externally for our community.
Staff is committed to providing more equity and communication on how best to reserve facilities and parks. Working with CivicRec to implement an online reservation system, similar to that which has been implemented by surrounding cities, staff intend to make the process of reserving public facilities and parks more efficient and transparent. While not all large-scale community events are hosted on City property, the online reservation system will also allow links to external facilities that website users may view on the calendar.
The use of CivicRec will save hundreds of hours of staff time annually by allowing customers to independently reserve space, pay for their reservation, and manage the reservation online.
CivicRec will also have a built-in calendar that will allow users to know which parks, fields, or spaces are already booked for a given date, which is another self-service option that will save staff and resident time.
The City’s Online Calendar
Currently, the City website is used as the primary calendar to notify the public of upcoming public meetings, City-sponsored events, and other events happening in the City. For the past several months, staff has received feedback from the community, City Councilmembers, and other stakeholders indicating that the City may be able to improve the use of its calendar to better inform the public about events happening in and around the City.
Staff has done some initial research of various policies and considerations utilized by other jurisdictions when managing their community calendars. As shown in Table 1 below, four jurisdictions were initially contacted. These jurisdictions do not have clear policies governing the content of what is published on their City calendar. Rather, these jurisdictions do have approved website policies that provide guidance on the best utilization and management of their website, on which the calendar is hosted.
TABLE 1
ONLINE CALENDAR - PEER JURISDICTION REVIEW
City Website
Policy
Calendar/Link
Policy
Comments
Sunnyvale Yes Yes Information only service. Not meant to provide exhaustive list of all events in
city.
Menlo Park Yes Yes The city may reshare items of
community interest on social media
channels or via the weekly digest
eNewsletter.
Foster City Yes Yes In general, promoting non-City
sanctioned events is limited to
government agencies, community
wide organizations and City
sponsored events.
Mountain View Yes Yes No link to non-City sponsored or
sanctioned events may be created
from mountainview.gov with the prior
written approval of the City.
Staff hope to obtain direction from City Council and return in early 2023 with recommendations for the City’s online calendar. In preparation for this discussion, staff have prepared the following questions for consideration:
1. Is the City Council interested in using the City’s calendar to publicize both Citysponsored and non-City-sponsored meetings and events? Are there any related considerations or requirements to this determination?
2. If an event operator has not obtained the required permits or City approvals, should the event be allowed on the City’s calendar?
3. Should the City’s calendar provide information on events that may not be held within the City’s boundaries, but which may be of interest to East Palo Alto residents? If so, are there any limiting considerations?
4. Do City Council members wish to provide any general feedback or perspectives regarding preferred, or prohibited, content for the City’s calendar? EastPaloAltoCalendar.com
Eastpaloaltocalendar.com is a comprehensive calendar, developed by a group of community members, that shows events which may both occur in and around East Palo Alto and hold interest for residents. Staff recently met with the residents responsible for Eastpaloaltocalendar.com and committed to providing information on City events to ensure that the City’s calendar and Eastpaloaltocalendar.com mirror one another. This effort will require discipline to ensure that both entities are communicating regularly and coordinating on which events to publicize.
Staff greatly appreciates the efforts of the community to create a comprehensive calendar for community events; staff wonders whether a single, collaboratively-created community calendar would be most beneficial.
Fiscal Impact
No fiscal impact with the current action
Public Notice
There is adequate funding in the approved budget to pursue implementation of this system.
Environmental
The action being considered by the City Council is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because it is not a “project” pursuant to 15378(b)(4) because it is a fiscal activity which does not involve any commitment to any specific project which may result in a potentially significant impact on the environment.