CITY OF PACIFICA
COUNCIL AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT
9/12/2022
1 SUBJECT:
Updates to the City Council Rules and Code of Ethics
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Adopt updates to the City Council Rules and Code of Ethics as recommended by the Councilappointed two Councilmember Ad Hoc Subcommittee, the City Manager, City Attorney, and City Clerk.
STAFF CONTACT:
Kevin Woodhouse, City Manager
650-738-7409
[email protected]
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION:
As part of the City’s ongoing goal for continuous improvement in its policies and procedures for its conduct of business, it is a best practice to periodically review and consider updates to important policies and procedures. Dating back to Fiscal Year 2019-20, the City Council had identified this practice as a City Council Priority, which stated “Miscellaneous administrative policy updates: Continue to prioritize and update Council and administrative policies.” Numerous various policies and procedures have been gradually updated, such as the Streetlight Banners Policy, the Flag Policy, the Lands Acknowledgment Statement Policy, and the City Five Year Capital Improvement Program Policy, to name a few. On January 10, 2022, the City Council appointed a two-Councilmember ad hoc subcommittee, to consist of Mayor Pro tem Bigstyck and Councilmember O’Neill, to work with the City Manager, City Attorney, and City Clerk, in the review of the City Council Rules and Code of Ethics, and to develop recommendations for updating this important policy document.
The City Council Rules and Code of Ethics (Attachment A) is an important policy that has not been reviewed and updated since 2014. As summarized in its Introduction, this policy is important to establishing the standards for the roles, responsibilities and expectations of the governing board and staff in the operation of the organization, promoting communication, understanding, and trust in these roles, responsibilities and expectations, and helping to make City Council meetings as productive as possible.
The City Council Rules and Code of Ethics covers a broad range of topics, including:
• Operation of City Council Meetings
• Order of the Agenda
• Council Communications
• Councilmember and Public Decorum
• City Council Relationship with City Staff
Since the January appointment of the Council ad hoc subcommittee, the subcommittee and staff have reviewed the old policy and met twice to refine and finalize recommendations for updating the policy. Attachment A shows recommended updates to the policy, in track-changes format Pacifica City Council 2
September 12, 2022
from the old 2014 policy. A summary of the recommended updates follows:
• Formatting and Clarification Updates: Minor miscellaneous changes throughout the policy are recommended to improve organization and readability of the policy, and to clarify wording as necessary. A Table of Contents will be added once the document is finalized;
• Clarification re: Current Council Meeting Practices: In some instances, minor details about meetings vary between current practices that have evolved since 2014 and what is written in the policy. For example, “Special Presentations” have been heard before the Consent Calendar, not after. The section on “Public Hearings - Appeals” has been revised to reflect the typical procedure in current use with respect to time allotted to applicants and appellants for presentations and rebuttals. These types of differences between current practice and what the policy states are noted, with a corresponding recommendation for Council consideration;
• Consistency with State Law: Some laws about public meetings have changed since 2014. While the City has complied with such changes, such as how the agendas and staff reports are printed and made available for public review, there are some details in the policy that need to be updated consistent with state law, or removed from the policy to not be duplicative of state law;
In Section 11, Administrative Matters, the ad hoc committee and staff are recommending an important change to paragraph #3 about how items become agendized for City Council consideration. Currently, with only seven days’ notice prior to a City Council meeting, a Councilmember can request the City Manager agendize an item. Since Council agendas/packets are typically posted 5 days prior to a Council meeting, the seven-day timeline does not allow sufficient time for staff research and report preparation. In addition, the policy does not specify rules related to how a majority of City Council should be required to direct significant staff resources to the preparation of agenda reports. In response to these concerns, the ad hoc committee and staff are recommending an update to the policy, which is also consistent with how the City Manager and Councilmembers have managed late-breaking but important Council agenda items in recent years. This practice creates flexibility in the timeline, and specifies that agenda items that are potentially controversial amongst Councilmembers, or would require more that one hour of research and preparation by staff, must initially be agendized to receive support from a majority of Council before staff resources are spent on analyzing the issue and preparing the staff report for Council consideration.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION:
The City Council could decide to not undertake this update work at this time.
RELATION TO CITY COUNCIL GOALS AND WORK PLAN:
Reviewing and updating the City Council Rules and Code of Ethics supports achievement of all of the Council Goals.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with this recommendation ORIGINATED BY:
Pacifica City Council 3
September 12, 2022
City Manager's Office
ATTACHMENT LIST:
Attachment A: City Council Rules and Code of Ethics - Recommended Updates shown in Tracked Changes (PDF)
Attachment B: City Council Rules and Code of Ethics - Clean Version Incorporating Recommended Updates (PDF)