From: Jennifer Torres
To: Jennifer Torres
Subject: FW: Updated Electronic Communications policy - Part of Tonight"s Meeting 10/25 Date: Wednesday, October 25, 2023 3:48:54 PM
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Rita Comes < >
Date: Wed, Oct 25, 2023 at 3:11 PM
Subject: Updated Electronic Communications policy - Part of Tonight's Meeting 10/25 To: Judith Hasko <[email protected]>, Mary Hufty <[email protected]>, Sarah Wernikoff <[email protected]>, Jeff Aalfs <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>
To the Council Members of Portola Valley
Greetings
Thank you for perusing an Updated Electronic Communications policy for the Town of Portola Valley.I hope that this new policy, when implemented, is under regular review so that it does not become outdated. The Town has had two previous policies on this subject passed in 2009 and 2010.I noticed in the last Portola Valley Town Council Meeting where this new policy was discussed, the 2009 policy showed a signed copy, but the 2010 policy did not show a signed copy in the packet that was presented.How are these policies shared with Council Members/Commissioners and Committee members?Who in the Town of Portola Valley is responsible for monitoring the use and understanding of these policies by the intended audience?
Having an updated electronics and communications policy is very important, especially in a Town that is full of residents that are responsible for many of the great historic updates in electronic communication in the world.
How are our Town
Meetings managed in this area? Is it by the Brown Act, the Bagley-Keen Open Meeting Act (2017), or AB992 (Signed 2020)?
The Governor of California, Gavin Newsom signed into law, 2020, a communications policy that discusses how and where Town communications should and could be shared by individuals in town government AB992.
AB 992, which amends
Government Code section 54952.2, clarifies what kind of communications a public official may have via social media and what kind of communications are prohibited.
There have also been a few recent incidents in Portola Valley that have forced these policies to be updated at this time:
·when a council member shared their computer screen during a Wildfire Committee Meeting andunwittingly showed a private ongoing chat with other members of that Committee and public during the meeting.Because of this incident – a pending lawsuit against the Town of Portola Valley caused the Town to agree to an updated policy change.
·the other incident is when another Council Member discussed an issue on the PV Forum (a selective private chat group) an item that was to be voted on by the Town Council and named a private resident and implied information about this private resident.
Some Towns, such as Palm Desert, have taken their Technology Usage and Electronic Communications Policies one step further than AB992, I hope that our Town can form a consensus and come to an agreement on a new policy that can be reviewed on a regular basis so that it does not become outdated as the technology of communication advances.
Thank you for your time on clearing up this pressing and important policy.
Rita Comes Whitney
Westridge Drive
1 From: Joint subcommittee from the Conservation Committee (CC) and Open Space Committee (OSC) on the maintenance budget for Town-owned open space in FY2024
To: Portola Valley Town Council
Date: November 6, 2023
On June 27, 2023 the Portola Valley Town Council reduced the budget for maintenance of Town-owned open space by more than half, from $94,000 in FY2023 to $44,000 in FY2024, and decided that the maintenance budget would be “supported by the open space fund rather than the general fund at a maximum of 10% of the projected Utility User Tax revenue” (meeting transcript, 7:33:54PM).
Our joint CC & OSC subcommittee was convened to advise on how to prioritize open space maintenance within the $44,000, and whether to tap the open space UUT more deeply in this crisis year. Over the course of two meetings (8/14/2023 and 10/16/2023) and hours of studying Town finances, we became convinced of the need for a broader discussion of the goals and finances of open space acquisition, preservation, and maintenance, now and for years to come. We offer three recommendations toward such a discussion. We realize that our findings are just a piece of a large and complicated financial reckoning that you have undertaken. We thank you and hope our findings are useful.
1. Revise open space maintenance accounts to provide more detailed, accessible information.
Making hard choices about what open space maintenance to continue and what to defer during this budget crisis requires information that has not been readily available, such as the cost and frequency of mowing and weeding for the three main open spaces during the past few years. We understand that the FY2024 budget will cover, at most, basic maintenance at Spring Down, Frog Pond, and Ford Open Space. Given our limited information and flexibility, we recommend allocating the $44,000 to basic maintenance and not drawing further on UUT revenue. Going forward, however, such information is important, whether or not there is a financial crisis. We propose that the Town create a mechanism to make that information on open space operations and expenses more easily accessible, such as a separate account.
2. Revise the management of Fund 204, with a goal of improving the income on the Fund.
Given the size and historic nature of this year’s cuts, we examined more closely the Open Space Fund (204) within the Final Proposed budget for FY2024. Reported revenues to Fund 204 raised two issues (Appendix A). First, it appears that the Open Space Fund earned 1.1% last year, or less. Second, although the Council capped the FY2024 maintenance budget at 10% of projected open space UUT revenue, the dollar amount ($44,000) appears to be 10% of the combined UUT Revenue ($355,047) and earnings of Fund 204 ($81,578 + $1,000). We feel the Town’s investment policy and management of Funds need to change and become more transparent, urgently. Growing and stewarding the Open Space Fund could transform many hard choices.
3. Stay true to the vision and promise of the Open Space Fund because it is increasingly vital.
The Town has repeatedly affirmed that the purpose of the open space UUT is to grow the Open Space Fund in order to acquire and preserve open space (Appendix B). If the benefits provided by open space are to be shared by all future residents and sustain local wildlife, open space must remain a priority even in challenging financial conditions. Future priority projects could be diverse, ranging from new linkages—trails and wildlife corridors—that connect existing open spaces and compensate for reductions in “backyard habitat” due to fuel reduction and additional housing, to larger properties that form new environmental legacies. The Town must be able to mobilize when potential open spaces become available.
Respectfully,
Nona Chiariello (CC, OSC), Betsy Morgenthaler (OSC), Judy Murphy (CC), Gary Nielsen (OSC), and Marianne Plunder (CC); members, Joint Subcommittee on maintenance budget for Town-owned open space in FY2024 2 APPENDIX A: Revenues table from https://stories.opengov.com/portolavalleyca/published/nhFUT4wc9. We have three questions (questions match numbered arrows):
1. Is the $355,047 in revenue to Fund 204 from “Charges for Services” or is this the open space UUT revenue (i.e., should this entry be moved down one cell in the table)?
2. Is the $81,578 in revenue to Fund 204 from “Use of Money & Property” the income on the Open Space Fund? Based on estimated and projected Fund 204 totals of $7,627,877 in 2021-22 and $8,065,502 in 2022-23 (as recorded in https://stories.opengov.com/portolavalleyca/published/rquTng-Gj), can we conclude that the income on the Fund was <1.1%?
3. What is the source of the $1,000 in “Miscellaneous Revenue” to Fund 204? APPENDIX B. Statements (bolding is added) from the history of the UUT (https://www.portolavalley.net/towngovernment/town-finance/portola-valley-s-utility-users-tax) “…Revenues received under the 2% Utility Users’ Tax will be exclusively appropriated and expended for the Open Space Acquisition Fund”
https://www.portolavalley.net/town-government/town-finance/portola-valley-s-utility-users-tax : See item 2, Adopted Policy on Expenditure Restrictions for UUT Revenues (09-28-05) “…UUT revenue ….The intent of this revenue is to acquire and improve land for preservation as open space. In any one year, the open space UUT is insufficient to provide for the acquisition of land in Portola Valley.
Therefore, the funds are put into a reserve for future use. Given that the sole intent of these funds is to eventually purchase a capital asset (land) and possibly make improvements to that land for preservation as open space, this revenue is exempt from the Limit as a reserve for future capital outlay.” https://www.portolavalley.net/town-government/town-finance/portola-valley-s-utility-users-tax : See item 4, Memo to Council on Appropriations Limit (06-12-13)
“Why Portola Valley needs the UUT: ….The open space UUT provides approximately $245,000 per year towards a capital reserve fund to pay for the acquisition and preservation of open space in Portola Valley.” https://www.portolavalley.net/town-government/town-finance/portola-valley-s-utility-users-tax 1 2
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