DATE: April 16, 2024
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Assistant City Manager
SUBJECT: Review of Roles of Commissions and Task Forces
RECOMMENDATION
That Council receives a presentation and overview of the roles of Hayward Commissions and Task Force and provides feedback.
SUMMARY
The City Council appoints members to Council Appointed Bodies, which include five Commissions and the Keep Hayward Clean and Green Task Force (KHCGTF). The City of Hayward runs an annual recruitment process for Commissions and Task Forces, whose members are appointed by the City Council. In 2023, the recruitment process began in May and concluded in August. The Council has expressed a desire to review the roles and responsibilities of each Commission before the 2024 recruitment period to ensure that they are aligned with Council’s priorities for the coming fiscal year. This report provides general information about the Commissions and Task Forces. At the April 16, 2024 work session, staff is seeking feedback from Council on their vision for the role of these bodies and if Council would like to see any amendments to the 2024 recruitment process or any other policies or procedures related to Commissions and Task Forces. Staff also recommends that the Council form an ad hoc committee to further discuss the issues raised in this report and to make recommendations back to the full Council.
BACKGROUND
There are currently five active Commissions and one active Task Force. The below description of each of these bodies is what is currently listed on the City’s website:
Community Services – The Community Services Commission (CSC) advises the City Council on the most effective means of allocating available resources for community services (serving as the HUD-required community participation body for the CDBG funds Community Agency Funding Process); reviews and studies the problems and needs of the community programs and develops effective support needed to secure additional resources either through private channels or through the City or other instruments of the government; and works together with other governmental agencies in keeping abreast of new and current developments in the field of social services to maximize the beneficial impact of social programs on the City. This commission has seventeen (17) members.
Keep Hayward Clean and Green Task Force - The Keep Hayward Clean and Green Task Force (KHCGTF) was formed by the City Council to help address issues impacting community appearance. Its mission is to preserve the environment and enhance the visual appearance of the City of Hayward through the joint efforts of individuals, volunteer groups, businesses, and municipal resources. This task force has twenty (20) members.
Library Commission - The Library Commission advises the Hayward City Council on library policies including hours of service, fines and fees, library programs, capital improvements, Federal and State legislation affecting libraries, parking for library users, special services to persons with disabilities, cooperation with neighboring libraries, improvements in service, publicity and promotion, location of service outlets, equipment needs, policies governing the use of the meeting room, bilingual library programs, cooperation with other community agencies, and more. This commission has nine (9) members.
Planning Commission - The Planning Commission conducts public hearings and makes decisions on use permits, variances, site plan and architectural reviews, and related planning and zoning actions for residential, commercial, and industrial development, and subdivisions of land. The Commission also makes recommendations related to planning regulations, design review policies, development of parks and open space, and the General Plan. This commission has seven (7) members.
Personnel Commission - The Personnel Commission is responsible for the adoption and modification of new and existing job descriptions for the Hayward city government. The Commission also reviews the City's employment lists and the City's Affirmative Action Plan. The Commission may hold hearings for employee grievances or complaints and for appeals to disciplinary action. The Commission issues an advisory decision to the City Manager in such matters. This commission has seven (7) members.
Youth Commission (this is a partnership between the City, HARD, and HUSD) - The Hayward Youth Commission (HYC) advises the Mayor and City Council, and the elected boards of the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District (HARD) and Hayward Unified School District (HUSD) about issues that affect young people in the Hayward community; members may also work on a number of projects and activities throughout the year, e.g., identifying youth needs, organizing youth speak-outs and conferences, etc. The Youth Commission has thirty-two (32) members.
Official Powers and Duties
The City Charter specifically calls out roles for the Planning Commission and Personnel “Board” found at the link below. It does not mention any other Boards or Commissions. https://library.municode.com/ca/hayward/codes/charter?nodeId=CIHACH_ARTIXAPBOCO The Municipal Code calls out roles for the Planning Commission, Personnel Commission, Library Commission, and Community Services Commission, found at the link below. It does not mention the KHCGTF or Youth Commission. https://library.municode.com/ca/hayward/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=HAYWARD_MUNICIPAL_CODE_CH2GOAD_ART3BOCO The Keep Hayward Clean and Green Taskforce was created in 2007 by former Mayor Michael Sweeney. The Youth Commission has been operating for several decades and is a partnership governed by an agreement between the City, the Hayward Unified School District, and the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District.
Mission Statements and Bylaws
The City does not have a standard template for commission bylaws. Several of the appointed bodies have created their own mission statements (Attachment II) and two, the KHCGTF and Community Services Commission, have created bylaws (Attachments III and Attachment IV, respectively).
The Library Commission doesn’t have bylaws, but they have created a Hayward Library Commission Best Practices document (Attachment V) to outline commissioner expectations, duties, and roles.
Recruitment and Appointments
Youth Commission
The City Clerk’s Office oversees the Hayward Youth Commission recruitment. The recruitment period for the Youth Commission began March 22, 2024 and closes on May 30, 2024. Applicants must be between 13 and 20 years old and live within City limits or within boundaries of the Hayward Unified School District. Applications are screened by the City Clerk’s Office and interviewed by a panel of elected officials from the City, HUSD, and HARD. Youth Commissioners are scheduled to be appointed on June 18, 2024. Appointment terms are generally two years unless we have unexpired terms to fill.
Other Appointed Bodies
The City Clerk’s Office oversees the annual recruitment process for open Commission and KHCGTF seats. Appointment terms are generally for four years unless there are unexpired terms to fill. Because of this, not every Commission has open seats every year. Applicants must live within incorporated Hayward and not be serving as a member of any other board or commission or hold any paid office or employment in the City of Hayward organization.
The opportunity to apply for openings is advertised in the spring, along with a list a vacancies. In order to inform community members of this opportunity, the office of the City Clerk already coordinated sending information via inserts in water bills as well as excise tax bills. The published list of appointees whose terms end in 2024 can be found here but does not include changes after January 1, 2024After the City Clerk’s Office screens the applications for minimum qualifications, the City Council identifies applicants to move to the interview process. If an applicant receives at least three preliminary points through Council scoring, they are invited to interview. Applicants for the Commissions interview directly with Council and applicants who select the KHCGTF as their first choice of service, interview with a subcommittee of Task Force members. The KHCGTF subcommittee recommends the list for the Council’s consideration. Interviews with the Council are currently scheduled for August 27, 2024 and appointments scheduled for September 17, 2024.
DISCUSSION
Based on Council discussions over the past two years as well as staff and Commission experiences, there are a number of issues that have been identified that could help clarify the roles of the City’s boards and commissions and to help ensure that the boards and commissions are operating in alignment with Council priorities. These issues are generally outlined in the discussion below. Staff would recommend that the Council form an ad hoc committee to further discuss each of these items and to bring recommendations back to the full Council at a future meeting. The ad hoc committee could also propose edits and revisions to the Council’s Appointed Officials handbook. A specific discussion of each item by Council this evening would not be necessary if the ad hoc committee is formed. Council members could provide more general feedback that would advise the work of the ad hoc committee.
The one item that is more time sensitive is the discussion on membership size of boards and commissions. The Council does not need to make a formal decision on reducing any board/commission sizes this evening. However, if there is a general desire to move in this direction, staff would recommend that Council provide guidance for the City Clerk to pause the recruitment process for members of the CSC and KHCGTF while the ad hoc committee forms recommendations about this issue.
Bylaws
In October of 2023, the City Council’s Appointed Officials Handbook was updated to require Council review and approval of all appointed body bylaws and bylaw amendments. Additionally, language was added to the handbook to avoid having appointed bodies duplicate efforts. The referenced handbook section now reads as follows:
“Council’s appointed officials may adopt bylaws which are not inconsistent with the City Charter, or other policies that may be established by the Council. Bylaws and bylaw amendments must be reviewed by the Council via a Consent item. Council-appointed members should not oversee subject matter already overseen by other commissions, task forces, or committees. Bylaws must be filed with the City Clerk.” There are two Commissions with bylaws – the CSC and the KHCGTF. These are included as Attachment III and IV. Staff is seeking feedback from Council on these existing bylaws. Based on Council’s feedback, staff will either:
Return to Council with a consent item to approve the existing language, or Work with the appointed body to make edits based on Council’s feedback.
Role and Activities
In addition to reviewing the formal bylaws, Council requested this work session to better understand how each of the appointed bodies supports Council priorities, both through official tasks as well as through less formal practices and procedures that have evolved over time. In particular, Council expressed interest in the activities of the CSC and KHCGTF.
All Appointed Bodies
Currently, staff is not always clear on Council’s priorities for their assigned appointed body. Staff is seeking feedback from Council on the following two recommendations for FY25, which could be used for all appointed bodies.
Encourage all appointed bodies to undertake a strategic planning process to refine their mission and activities with Council feedback, similar to the process that the Personnel Commission began in 2023. This would require one-time budget requests for consultant assistance, since there is not existing staff capacity to design and lead these processes.
Create a more formal annual process for Council to communicate their priorities for the coming year to appointed bodies. This could be part of the annual Strategic Roadmap process, or part of the annual recruitment and appointment process.
Community Services Commission
The primary function of the CSC is to make funding recommendations to Council for the City's Community Agency Funding Process. Since 2020, the CSC has increasingly discussed and prepared policy recommendations to Council regarding racial equity and public safety in the City of Hayward. These activities are summarized in Attachment VI. Over the past several months, Council has expressed a desire to refine the role and activities of the CSC to be more closely assigned with its primary function.
Staff is presenting the following options for Council’s consideration to focus the CSC’s role:
Amend the bylaws of the CSC to limit their activities to solely cover the Community Agency Funding Process.
Formally align the CSC’s funding priorities with Council’s strategic goals for that year. In other words, if Council is working to make progress on a specific issue, request that the CSC tailor their funding recommendations to that goal.
Remove arts and music funding from the funding process to allow the CSC to focus their efforts on CDBG eligible programs and social services. In this case, arts and music funding would be realigned based on Council’s feedback at the November Work Session on a public art fee.
Keep Hayward Clean & Green Taskforce
The KHCGTF was established in 2007 to foster community engagement around neighborhood cleanliness, public blight, and upkeep. The Task Force was initially conceived as a thirty-member task force with a temporary scope, primarily to organize monthly cleanups around the community. The number of members was reduced to twenty in recent years in an attempt to streamline discussions.
KHCG's focus has evolved over the years. The monthly meetings have been moving away from a mission focused solely on organizing community cleanup events to a desire to encompass other efforts like addressing sustainability issues. Staff is presenting the following options for Council’s consideration to focus the KHCGTF’s role:
Amend the bylaws of the KHCGTF to limit their activities to solely organizing community cleanups.
Wind down KHCGTF activities and eventually retire the task force, in line with its original temporary designation.
If KHCGTF is to continue and not be limited to community cleanups, provide direct reaffirmation of its existence and clear and concise directives for its future mission.
Frequency and Purpose of Meetings
As Council provides feedback on the role and activities of Council-Appointed Bodies, staff is also suggesting that Council review the frequency of meetings and number of members on each body. The meeting frequency is shown in the table below.
Council Appointed Body
Meeting Frequency
Community Services Commission
Monthly
KHCG Task Force
Monthly
Library Commission
Monthly
Personnel Commission
Quarterly
Planning Commission
Twice a month
Youth Commission
Monthly from Sept - May
If Council directs staff to explore more focused roles for the CSC or KHCGTF, staff recommends also considering limiting the meeting frequency of those bodies to match their role. For example, if the role of the CSC is focused on the annual funding process, it may not make sense for that body to meet after the funding recommendations are complete. Similarly, if the role of the KHCGTF is focused on quarterly cleanup events, they may not need to meet monthly.
Number of Members
The table below shows the number of members and terms for each appointed body. Staff is specifically seeking feedback on the number of members on the CSC and KHCGTF, which are more than double the size of other bodies.
Studies on group decision making suggest five to seven is an optimal number for governance, but bodies can be effective with up to 12 members. Groups with more than 12 people can be useful for generating diverse ideas and perspectives, but tend to be less effective at making decisions and execution.
Staff appreciates that group effectiveness should be balanced with diverse community representation; however, coordinating 17-20 members has created challenges for staff over the past decade. Staff feels that the goals of the CSC and KHCGTF can be accomplished with fewer members and is seeking Council feedback on the option of capping the number of members on each body to 12. In this case, staff recommends pausing or slowing recruitment for the CSC and KHCGTF to get to that number over several years.
Council Appointed Body
Members
Term
Term Limit
Community Services Commission
17 4 years
2 KHCG Task Force
20 4 years
None
Library Commission
9 4 years
2 Personnel Commission
7 4 years
2 Planning Commission
7 4 years
2 Youth Commission
21 voting,
11 alternates
2 years
As long as eligible
Seeking Council Feedback
As mentioned above, staff would recommend that the Council form an ad hoc committee to further discuss each of these items and to bring recommendations back to the full Council at a future meeting. The ad hoc committee could also propose edits and revisions to the Council’s Appointed Officials handbook. A specific discussion of each item by Council this evening would not be necessary if the ad hoc committee is formed. Council members could provide more general feedback that would advise the work of the ad hoc committee.
The one item that is more time sensitive is the discussion on membership size of boards and commissions. The Council does not need to make a formal decision on reducing any board/commission sizes this evening. However, if there is a general desire to move in this direction, staff would recommend that Council provide guidance for the City Clerk to pause the recruitment process for members of the CSC and KHCGTF while the ad hoc committee forms recommendations about this issue.
Bylaws
Option to 1) agree with existing bylaws for CSC and KHCGTF or, 2) to provide feedback on desired revisions. Staff will work with the appointed body to make edits based on Council’s feedback.
Role and Activities
Option to encourage all appointed bodies to undertake a strategic planning process in FY25.
Option to create a more formal annual process for Council to communicate their priorities for the coming year to appointed bodies.
Options specific to the Community Services Commission:
Limit activities to solely cover the Community Agency Funding Process.
Formally align the CSC’s funding priorities with Council’s strategic goals for that year.
Remove arts and music funding from the funding process to allow the CSC to focus their efforts on CDBG eligible programs and social services.
Options specific to the Keep Hayward Clean & Green Task Force:
Limit their activities to solely organizing community cleanups.
Wind down KHCGTF activities and eventually retire the task force.
Provide direct reaffirmation of its existence and clear and concise directives for its future mission.
Frequency and Purpose of Meetings
Option to reduce meeting frequency to align with the role of the appointed body. If Council directs staff to explore this option, staff will work with their assigned appointed body to come up with a recommended frequency.
Number of Members
Option to cap members on each body to 12 (or another number) and slow the recruitment for CSC and KHCGTF to get to that number.
FISCAL IMPACT
There are no fiscal impacts associated with this report or work session.
NEXT STEPS
Based on Council direction from this work session, staff will work to form an ad hoc committee to discuss further changes needed. If Council’s feedback impacts the upcoming recruitment process for appointed bodies, staff will make immediate adjustments.
Prepared by: Mary Thomas, Assistant to the City Manager Kristoffer Bondoc, Executive Assistant
Amy Cole-Bloom, Community Services Manager
Todd Rullman, Maintenance Services Director
Recommended by: Regina Youngblood, Assistant City Manager Approved by:
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Kelly McAdoo, City Manager