CITY OF PACIFICA
COUNCIL AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT
6/26/2023
1 SUBJECT:
Disbanding of Current Library Advisory Committee membership, Resolution Amending the Library Advisory Committee, and Recruitment of the new Committee RECOMMENDED ACTION:
It is recommended that the City Council take the following actions:
1. Move to disband the current Library Advisory Committee membership; and
2. Move to adopt the attached resolution titled, “A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Pacifica Rescinding Resolution No. 02-2016 and Amending the Charter of the Library Advisory Committee”; and
3. Direct the City Clerk to begin the recruitment process for the community at-large Library Advisory Committee members.
STAFF CONTACT:
Sarah Coffey, City Clerk
(650) 738-7307
[email protected]
BACKGROUND:
Prior to the formation of the Library Advisory Committee, the City/Library Foundation Liaison Committee was an informal body consisting of City staff and key library stakeholders that met internally for project planning for the New Pacifica Library Project.
At the November 23, 2015 meeting the City Council directed staff to move forward with several actions toward constructing a new Pacifica Library including creation of a Library Advisory Committee (LAC). At the January 11, 2016 meeting of the City Council, Resolution No. 02-2016 (Attachment A) was adopted to create the Library Advisory Committee. Following the adoption of the Resolution, the City contacted the stakeholder groups identified in Exhibit A of Resolution No. 02-2016 to appoint representatives to the Library Advisory Committee and conducted a recruitment process for the at-large member positions, which were appointed to the Library Advisory Committee by the City Council at a regular meeting held on April 11, 2016. The Library Advisory Committee convened its first meeting on July 27, 2016 and met regularly on the second Wednesday of each month at 6:30 PM. The Library Advisory Committee was created as a City Committee subject to Ralph M. Brown Act requirements for open, public meetings to facilitate transparency in the Pacifica New Library Project planning and design.
The LAC serves in an advisory capacity to staff and their feedback assisted staff in making key recommendations to the City Council regarding the New Pacifica Library Project. As defined in Resolution No. 02-2016, the LAC duties involve the following:
1. Increase project transparency by holding meetings open to the community and in compliance with Brown Act requirements.
2. Assist City staff by providing feedback on various elements of the project such as Pacifica City Council 2
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project priorities, direction, and selection of professional consultants as needed.
3. Facilitate communication between the City and community in various ways including engaging in public outreach to solicit feedback and opinions on the Library project.
Most Committee members are appointed as representatives of other community stakeholder groups. As representatives of those groups, Committee members are expected to share information, gather feedback and to report back to the Library Advisory Committee and otherwise foster two-way communication.
The LAC is a 14-body committee with membership consisting of two categories:
1. Members who are selected by existing City committees and commissions, as well as community boards and organizations as identified in Resolution No. 02-2016. These members represent established stakeholder groups.
2. At-large community members that represent segments of the community, as listed below, whose opinions are important as the library project moves forward. These members are appointed by the City Council. The application for the LAC will ask that each person identify why they would be a good choice to represent the community segments listed below. The Council selects up to 5 individuals from the at-large community.
Appointed by City committees and
commissions; and community boards
and organizations (1 appointment each)
At-large Community members (up
to 5 Council appointments)
➢ Planning Commission ➢ Families with children
➢ Economic Development Committee ➢ Seniors
➢ Parks, Beaches, and Recreation Commission ➢ Sharp Park Area residents ➢ Pacifica Library Foundation ➢ Service Organizations
➢ Pacifica Friends of the Library ➢ Environmental Organizations ➢ Chamber of Commerce
➢ Pacifica School District
➢ Jefferson School District
➢ Citizens Bond Oversight Committee (future)
The LAC also has two City Council liaison members. Meetings were also attended by County Library JPA staff and City staff. Meetings are organized and facilitated by City staff and, when appropriate, attended by project design professionals and consultants.
LAC Membership Terms and General Committee Provisions:
➢ There are no set terms except that appointees shall be replaced if they are no longer representing or serving the designated community group. ➢ The LAC will meet once a month in the evenings on an established regular meeting date.
➢ No compensation is awarded to members for their services. ➢ Members shall be over 18 years of age.
➢ When the specific purpose for the Committee is accomplished, or no later than one year after the library opens, the Committee will be disbanded unless extended by action of the City Council.
➢ The Committee shall select one of its members to act as a Chair and another to act as Vice Chair on an annual cycle as of date of establishment. ➢ The Planning Department serves as secretary to the Committee.
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➢ Two members of the City Council are appointed as liaisons to the Committee. ➢ The Committee shall hold open meetings subject to the Brown Act and shall abide by the rules set out in the Commission and Committee Handbook as amended from time to time.
➢ The Council may remove at any time by majority vote any committee member.
Following the November 2016 bond measure, which failed to meet the two-thirds super-majority voter threshold, for funding of library construction costs, the LAC continued its work and accomplished key milestones in the Pacifica Libraries Project as summarized below:
PAST LIBRARY PROJECT KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS WITH LAC INPUT:
➢ January 2018: Library Advisory Committee’s Pacifica Libraries Opportunities Summary Report presented to City Council; City Council selects preferred twobranch System Strategy consisting of 1 Large Branch (Sharp Park) + 1 Small Branch (Sanchez) and discusses Site Options for the libraries; Council direction to begin conceptual design of a new library at the Sharp Park location ➢ September 2018: City Council directs staff to pursue Sanchez Library Open Access Model and conduct community outreach regarding community programming operational model in partnership with the Parks, Beaches & Recreation Department for the Sanchez Branch Library
➢ February 2019: City Council Study Session on conceptual design options for Sharp Park and Sanchez Libraries as developed by the LAC and Group 4 Architecture as informed by extensive community outreach
➢ May 2019: City Council accepted Library Project Conceptual Design Report, received voter survey results and directed City Manager and LAC to conduct additional citizen outreach and test a possible 2020 bond measure. ➢ September 2019: Mailers sent to Pacifica residents with information about New Pacifica Library Project
➢ September / October 2019: With assistance from consultant from BergDavis for citizen outreach and communications, updated New Pacifica Library Project FAQs for posting to dedicated Pacifica Library Project website; tabled community events to provide information regarding the New Pacifica Library Project, including conceptual designs for the New Sharp Park and Renovated Sanchez Libraries.
DISCUSSION:
At its regular meetings held on March 27, 2023 and April 10, 2023, the City Council discussed and approved a process for reviewing charters for Council-appointed Commissions and Committees and provided for a timeline for the review of charters beginning with the Open Space & Parkland Advisory Committee and the Library Advisory Committee. Below is a discussion detailing staff review of the Library Advisory Committee purpose, charter and membership and recommended amendments to the Library Advisory Committee.
The Library Advisory Committee last met on January 8, 2020, prior to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and has not convened a meeting since that date. When meeting in-person, the membership structure of the current composition of the LAC presented challenges with achieving a quorum to hold the regular public meetings on numerous occasions. Un-filled positions from key stakeholder groups such as the Pacifica Chamber of Commerce and the Citizens Bond Oversight Committee (which would be formed following successful passage of a bond measure for funding for the construction of a new library), as well as meeting date conflicts with school district representatives and occasional absences by other members resulted in cancellation of numerous meetings due to lack of quorum.
When initially created, it was specified that the Library Advisory Committee would be disbanded Pacifica City Council 4
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when the specific purpose for the Library Advisory Committee is accomplished, or no later than one year after the library opens, unless extended by action of the City Council. The City Council placed a measure on the ballot for the November 8, 2016 General Municipal Election for a general obligation bond measure for the purpose of the construction of a new public library. The 2016 bond measure received majority voter support, but failed to pass with the required 2/3 vote threshold. As such, the Library Advisory Committee has been in existence with no specified membership term expirations since July 2016 and has existed beyond its anticipated duration had the bond measure passed in 2016. The initial provisions of the LAC stated, “There are no set terms except that appointees shall be replaced if they are no longer representing or serving the designated community group.”
Due to the length of time since the LAC last convened and past quorum and stakeholder representation challenges, the City Manager recommends the current LAC be disbanded and a full recruitment conducted to appoint membership under a new structure and provisions for the LAC that support the City Council’s current libraries project goals, as discussed more below.
Those current / past members who wish to resume activity with the LAC will be invited to reapply. The regular meeting date and time will be established once the LAC has been appointed and the initial meeting convened to include discussion about logistical matters.
Recommendations for New LAC
In the recently adopted 2023-2030 Pacifica Strategic Plan, the City Council identified the Strategy to “Pursue planning and financing for the Library projects” as part of the Goal to “Improve and steward City infrastructure, streets and facilities.” In addition, since 2020, the City has continued work related to the Library projects, with the City Council identified scope of work as:
Continue to inform the community about the advantages of a New Sharp Park Library & Renovated Sanchez Library to gain support for a future bond measure to fund construction of the project. Apply for grant opportunities as feasible.
Expand services at Sanchez Library through installation of a library vending machine.
With all of these efforts underway post-pandemic and looking forward to the potential for a future bond measure to fund construction of library projects, the City Manager recommends for Council consideration the following structure and provisions for the new LAC:
1. Size of Committee:
It is recommended that the new LAC consist of 7 members, similar to several other City Council advisory committees/commissions. Rather than have designated stakeholder group representation, the members are recommended to be at-large, with the expectation that their community engagement work would include engagement with key stakeholders, such as schools.
2. Duties:
The duties of the LAC as specified in its initial charter have been reviewed and found to still be largely relevant to the purpose of the Committee in light of the evolution of the New Pacifica Library Projects. Those duties include:
a. Increase project transparency by holding meetings open to the community and in compliance with Brown Act requirements.
b. Assist City staff by providing feedback on various elements of the project such as project priorities, direction, and selection of professional consultants as needed.
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c. Facilitate communication between the City and community in various ways including engaging in public outreach to solicit feedback and opinions on the Library project.
3. LAC Membership Terms and General Committee Provisions:
The following terms and provisions are recommended for the new LAC, largely similar to the previous LAC:
➢ The LAC will meet once a month in the evenings on an established regular meeting date.
➢ No compensation is awarded to members for their services. ➢ Members shall be over 18 years of age.
➢ When the specific purpose for the Committee is accomplished, or no later than one year after the library opens, the Committee will be disbanded unless extended by action of the City Council.
➢ The Committee shall select one of its members to act as a Chair and another to act as Vice Chair on an annual cycle in January of each year. ➢ The City staff liasion to the Committee serves as secretary to the Committee. ➢ Members of the Committee may serve concurrently on another City Committee or Commission.
➢ One member of the City Council is appointed as primary liaison to the Committee and a second member of the City Council may be appointed as an alternate liaison. (For consistency with other City committees and commissions serving in an advisory nature to the City Council, it is recommended that one City Council member is designated as liaison to the LAC and another Council member is designated as the alternate. The current structure of the LAC includes two Council members as liaisons to the committee.)
➢ The Committee shall hold open meetings subject to the Brown Act and shall abide by the rules set out in the Commission and Committee Handbook as amended from time to time.
➢ The Council may remove at any time by majority vote any committee member.
4. Length of Terms:
Unlike the previous LAC, it is necessary to specify term expirations for the committee members. It is recommended that terms be appointed to expire in a staggered structure, to appoint initially a portion of members to two-year terms and the remaining portion of members to four-year terms with term expirations occurring at the end of October, consistent with some other City committees. Some terms may not be served to completion if the purpose of the Committee is fulfilled prior to term expiration. If Council approves of the recommended 7-member composition, it is recommended that three members be initially appointed to two-year terms and four members be initially appointed for four-year terms.
Meetings of the LAC will be organized and facilitated by City staff and, when appropriate, attended by project design professionals and consultants and San Mateo County Library staff.
NEXT STEPS:
Specific next steps for the LAC and city staff include:
➢ Early July 2023: Recruitment for LAC
➢ August 2023: Appointment of members to LAC & convene meeting of LAC pending recruitment schedule
➢ Late summer/fall 2023: Construction and installation of Library Outpost Kiosk at Sanchez Branch Library as part of the Sanchez Library Open Access Model ➢ Fall 2023: Ribbon Cutting for Library Outpost Kiosk at Sanchez Branch Library Pacifica City Council 6
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➢ Resume community outreach and engagement with information regarding the Pacifica Libraries Project.
➢ Assess projected support for a possible bond measure in 2024 for funding for construction / renovation of Pacifica libraries
➢ Receive Update on City of Pacifica and San Mateo County Libraries’ application for California State Building Forward Library Infrastructure Program grants for the Sharp Park and Sanchez Libraries.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION:
The City Council may make modifications to the LAC duties, membership, terms, or general provisions as it deems appropriate.
RELATION TO CITY COUNCIL GOALS AND WORK PLAN:
In the recently adopted 2023-2030 Pacifica Strategic Plan, the City Council identified the Strategy to “Pursue planning and financing for the Library projects” as part of the Goal to “Improve and steward City infrastructure, streets and facilities.” FISCAL IMPACT:
The recommended action has no direct fiscal impact. Staff resources will be expended to manage the LAC meetings and agenda items.
ORIGINATED BY:
City Manager's Office
ATTACHMENT LIST:
Attachment A: Resolution No. 02-2016 - Creating the Library Advisory Committee(PDF) Pacifica City Council 7
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RESOLUTION NO. _______
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PACIFICA RESCINDING RESOLUTION NO. 02-2016 AND AMENDING THE CHARTER OF THE LIBRARY ADVISORY
COMMITTEE
WHEREAS, on November 23, 2015 the City Council directed staff to move forward with several actions toward constructing a new Pacifica Library including creation of a Library Advisory Committee (LAC); and
WHEREAS, on January 11, 2016 the City Council adopted Resolution No. 02-2016 creating the Library Advisory Committee (LAC) and establishing the duties, membership and general provisions of the committee; and
WHEREAS, the LAC serves in an advisory capacity to staff and their feedback assists staff in making key recommendations to the City Council regarding the Pacifica Libraries Project; and
WHEREAS, developments in the planning efforts and timeline involved in the Pacifica Libraries Project have resulted in significant changes from the time at which the LAC was created; and
WHEREAS, the LAC duties, membership, terms, and general provisions shall be amended to conform to more recent developments in the Pacifica Libraries Project per the provisions as described in Exhibit A.
WHEREAS, the LAC shall be comprised of a Council Liaison, the City Manager or designee, and seven (7) community members appointed by City Council.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Pacifica does hereby authorize the change in membership of the Library Advisory Committee (LAC) from a 14-member body with 9 members appointed by key stakeholder groups and 5 atlarge community members appointed by City Council to a 7-member body with at-large community members from a broad cross-section of the community and to specify membership terms as provided in Exhibit A.
• • • • •
PASSED AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Pacifica, California, held on the 26th day of June, 2023, by the following vote:
AYES, Councilmembers:
NOES, Councilmembers:
ABSENT, Councilmembers:
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ABSTAIN, Councilmembers:
_________________________________
Tygarjas Twyrls Bigstyck, Mayor
ATTEST: APPROVED AS TO FORM:
______________________________ _________________________________ Sarah Coffey, City Clerk Michelle Kenyon, City Attorney Pacifica City Council 9
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EXHIBIT A
Pacifica Library Advisory Committee
Duties
The Library Advisory Committee (LAC) shall:
1. Increase project transparency by holding meetings open to the community and in compliance with Brown Act requirements.
2. Assist City staff by providing feedback on various elements of the project such as project priorities, direction, and selection of professional consultants as needed.
3. Facilitate communication between the City and community in various ways including engaging in public outreach to solicit feedback and opinions on the Library Project.
Membership
The LAC shall be comprised of seven (7) at-large community members from a broad cross-section of the community, including representatives from key stakeholder groups.
Members shall be selected to represent the following segments of the community:
➢ Families with children
➢ Seniors
➢ Sharp Park resident
➢ Service Organizations
➢ Environmental Organizations
Members may also be selected from the following key stakeholder groups:
➢ Planning Commission
➢ Economic Development Commission
➢ Parks, Beaches, and Rec. Commission
➢ Pacifica Friends of the Library
➢ Pacifica School District
➢ Jefferson School District
Terms and General Provisions
Members of the LAC shall be appointed by the City Council to represent a broad cross-section of the community. The LAC may include representatives from other City commissions or committees and/or community groups and key stakeholder groups listed above. No compensation is awarded to members for their services. When the specific purpose for the Committee is accomplished, or no later than one year after a newly constructed library opens, the Committee will be disbanded unless extended by action of the City Council.
The Committee shall select one of its members to act as a Chair and another to act as Vice Chair on an annual cycle each January. City staff or a designated Committee member shall serve as secretary to the Committee. One Councilmember shall be appointed by the City Council as Committee liaision and one Councilmember may be designed as the Alternate liasion.
The Committee shall hold open meetings subject to the Brown Act and shall abide by the rules set out in the Commission and Committee Handbook as amended from time to time.
The Council may remove at any time by majority vote any committee member.