Exhibit A
City of Ripon Committees – Roles and Responsibilities
The Role of City Council Committees
1. City Council Committees are intended to enhance communication between the City Council and City staff at the early phase of the development of significant items affecting public policy.
2. These Committees will enable City staff to obtain early feedback from representative members of the City Council on issues affecting public policy prior to their presentation, as necessary, to the full City Council.
3. City Council Committee members develop and maintain a deeper level of knowledge on matters of a technical nature which might affect public policy in order to increase the positive exchange of information and discussions between City Council members, City staff, and the public.
4. When appropriate, items may be considered by a City Council Committee before a final recommendation is made from staff.
5. City Council Committees do not replace the City Council as final decision makers on behalf of the full City Council. Similarly, City Council Committees shall not be formed to replace or perform any functions of existing Commissions established in Chapter 2.15 of the Ripon Municipal Code. Council Committees are not empowered to give staff direction on administrative matters, specific assignments, or work tasks. If Committee members seek additional information from an outside party or consultant resulting in additional cost to the City, approval to incur such cost must be approved by the full City Council.
6. Any discussion or feedback expressed or received at a Committee meeting should not be construed or understood to be a decision by or for the City Council. Further, any recommendation the Committee may make to the City Council is based on information possessed by the Committee at the time the recommendation is made and may be revised or amended upon receipt by the Committee of additional or newer information.
7. To prevent the proliferation of committees with no continued reason for existence, Committees should be disbanded when their primary function or task has been completed.
Operational Guidelines
1. City Council Committees consist of 1 or 2 Council members, one of which typically serve as the Committee chair. Members are appointed in January of each year by a recommendation of the Mayor ratified by the City Council.
2. All City Council Committee meeting notices will be posted and meetings will be conducted in conformance with the “Open Meetings Law” in the California Government Code. All agendas should include language identical or similar to: “Any discussion, feedback or recommendation by Committee member(s) should not be construed or understood to be an action or decision by or for the Ripon City Council. Further, any recommendation(s) the Committee may make to the City Council is based on information possessed by the Committee at that point in time.”
3. The Council Committee chair will forward to the City Administrator those items to be placed on the meeting agenda a minimum of one week in advance of the scheduled monthly meeting.
4. The City Administrator will coordinate with staff members in the preparation of the agenda to determine whether items will be presented to a Committee or placed on the Council’s regular agenda to be considered by the full City Council. Any item may be referred to the full Council by the Committee considering that item.
5. The full City Council by majority vote may refer any item on its agenda to an appropriate Committee.
6. Regularly scheduled Committee meetings should be scheduled to allow regular attendance by City Council Committee members, as well as City Administrator, and staff, as necessary. In order to prevent inadvertent violations of the Brown Act, attendance by non-member Council members that will result in a quorum of the full City Council is discouraged, but not prohibited. A non-member City Council member who attends a committee meeting should not participate actively in the committee meeting; rather, his/her role should be limited to gathering facts and information on matters considered by the committee.
7. The regular Council meeting agenda shall include an opportunity for Committee reports at which time any appointed Committee member may report to the Mayor and City Council on pertinent and timely issues before a Committee.
Role of Staff
The City Administrator, or his/her appointee serves as an advisor to each City Council Committee. The responsibilities of the City Administrator, or his/her appointee, are as follows:
1. Attend all meetings of the City Council Committee.
2. Assemble information and prepare reports and correspondence for Committee members as required for the Committee.
3. Provide administrative support to the Committee, including distribution of documents to the Committee as required.
4. Coordinate with the Committee chair to prepare agendas.
5. Schedule meetings as needed and provide appropriate public notification.
6. Prepare Committee minutes within one week of the meeting and submit to the City Clerk for posting and distribution to the full City Council.
7. Serve as the communication link between the Committee, City departments, and Council as appropriate.
Outside Committees (e.g., Chamber of Commerce, school district, fire district, etc)
1. From time to time, other entities will request City Council members to sit in on certain committees on matters that do not involve the City of Ripon. Any City Council member may choose to participate in these committees, although it is important to keep in mind that such a committee is not associated with the Ripon City Council. With that, what the Council members communicate does not represent the City Council, nor will staff attend these meetings. Examples of this could be Spring Creek Golf Course Board of Directors requesting a Council member to sit on their internal capital improvement committee.
2. If an outside organization would like to request the City Council to address a specific matter related to policies of the City that impact that organization, the organization will need to request to be added to a City Council agenda and make a presentation to the City Council. At the conclusion of that presentation, the Mayor may assign the appropriate City Council Committee to address the matter. Examples of this could be the Ripon Unified School District Board of Directors requesting the City Council consider dedicating an existing park to the District for a new school site.