EAST PALO ALTO
CITY COUNCIL
STAFF REPORT
DATE: April 18, 2023
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Melvin E. Gaines, City Manager
BY: Humza Javed, Public Works Director
SUBJECT: Second Amended Restated Joint Powers Authority Agreement for the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority
Recommendation
Adopt a resolution:
1. Ratify the Second Amended and Restated Joint Powers Agreement for the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority; and
2. Authorize the Mayor to execute the Agreement on behalf of the City of East Palo Alto Alignment with City Council Strategic Plan
This recommendation is primarily aligned with:
Promote Public Health and Safety
Background
On or around May 18, 1999, the City of East Palo Alto (“City”) entered into an agreement with other member agencies, including the City of Menlo Park, the City of Palo Alto, the Santa Clara Valley Water District, and the San Mateo Flood Control District (“Member Entities”)to create the San Francisquito Creek Joint Power Authority (“SFCJPA”).
On or around January 1, 2020, one of the SFCJPA’s original five member agencies was officially reconstituted. The new San Mateo County Flood and Sea Level Rise Resiliency District (commonly referred to as OneShoreline) assumed the revenues and responsibilities of its San Mateo County Flood Control District predecessor. In 2020, the first Amended and Restated Joint Powers Agreement contained updates reflecting this change. However, there remained outstanding issues requiring additional updates that were left for a later time.
Aside from matters related to the newly constituted OneShoreline representation on the SFCJPA’s board, the SFCJPA Agreement had not been updated or revised since it was approved almost twenty-four years ago. Since then, there have been updates to laws, guidelines, and standards and changes in or clarifications of the SFCJPA’s practices.
Over the past two years, technical, policy and legal staff from each member agency have reviewed drafts and have provided multiple rounds of analysis, edits, and comments. The Second Amended and Restated Joint Powers Agreement before you represents the language agreed to by the technical, policy, and legal staff engaged in this process from all SFCJPA member agencies.
While the SFCJPA itself is not a signatory agency to this Agreement, and as such the SFCJPA Board is not required to take an action to complete the required amendments, on March 23, 2023, the SFCJPA Board approved the draft Second Amended and Restated Joint Powers Agreement and recommended sending it to the governing bodies of all member agencies for approval.
The Second Amended and Restated SFCJPA agreement is included as Attachment 2.
Analysis
Revisions in the recommended Second Amended and Restated SFCJPA Members Agreement include:
· Reconciliation of original document text to reflect actual practice (for example: hiring of JPA staff, and board roles).
· Clarification of SFCJPA authority for and decision-making process regarding land acquisition.
· Clarification of OneShoreline representation on the SFCJPA Board to prevent duplicative representation from one member organization.
· Clarification of SFCJPA scope regarding shoreline projects and watershed stewardship. · Modernization and simplification of language for clarity. · Addition of now-standard clauses common to local government agreements. · Format reconciliation.
Fiscal Impact
There is no immediate or direct financial impact with the approval of the Agreement.
Public Notice
The public was provided notice by making the agenda and report available on the City’s website and on a bulletin board located at City Hall: 2415 University Avenue, East Palo Alto.
Environmental
The proposed action does not constitute a “project” with the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines sections 15378(b)(4) and (5) in that it is a governmental fiscal, organizational or administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect changes in the environment.
Attachments
1. Resolution
2. Agreement