Mayor’s Nominating and
Screening Committee
TO: MAYOR’S NOMINAT ING AND SCREENING DATE: JULY 19, 2022
COMMITTEE
FROM: CITY CLERK WARDS: ALL
SUBJECT: REVIEW CITY SPIRIT AWA RD NOMINATION AND SELECTION PROCESS
ISSUE:
Review the City Spirit Awar d nomination and selection proc ess for honoring a community member or members for their extraordinary deeds and community spirit, good citizenship, and dedication to enhancing the quality of life in the City.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
That the Mayor’s Nominating and Screening Committee:
1. Review the City Spirit Award nomination and selection process for the City Spirit Award; and
2. Provide direction regarding recommended changes, if any, to the City Spirit Award nomination and selection process to the City Council for approval.
BACKGROUND:
On March 28, 1995, the City C ouncil established an annual City Spirit Award and referred the selection of the recipient to the Mayor’s Nominating and Screening Committee.
On September 26, 1995, Mayor Loveridge unveiled the perpetual City Spirit Award plaque to hang in the Art Pick Council Chamber and presented the first City Spirit Award to Dickey DeLoss.
Through 2016, the Mayor’s Nominating and Screening Committee directly selected the City Spirit Award recipient from the nom inations submitted by the Mayor and Councilmembers and the recipient was presented the award at a future City Council meeting.
In 2017, the Mayor’s Nominating and Screeni ng Committee began forwarding their nominee recommendation(s) to the City Council for approval.
The following table represents the City Spirit Award recipients from 1995 through 2020:
City Spirit Award – Page 2
CITY SPIRIT
AWARD RECIPIENTS
1995 Dickey DeLoss 2008 San Huang
1996 Rich Biber 2009 Cindy Roth
1997 Michael Goldware 2010 Kathy Allavie
1998 Rose Mayes 2011 Jane Block
1999 Rita Norton 2012 Stan Morrison
2000 Vic Miceli 2013 Debbie Guthrie
2001 Daniel Hantman 2014 Gordon Bourns
2002 William Gavitt 2015 Anthony Rivera
2003 Dell Roberts 2016 Henry Coil
2004 Stan Brown 2017 Ruben and Diana Ayala
2005 Jim Erickson 2018 Brian Jaramillo
2006 Natividad Fuentes 2019 Zack Earp
2007 Damon Castillo 2020 Ofelia Valdez‐Yeager
The names of recipients are mounted on the Cit y Spirit Award plaque in the Art Pick Council Chamber.
DISCUSSION:
On June 21, 2022, the Mayor’s Nominating and Screening Committee directed staff to bring back an item to discuss the selection process for the City Spirit Award.
The Mayor and Councilmembers may nominate one or more members of the community from any Ward whose contributions to the co mmunity exemplify City Spirit through “ extraordinary deeds and community spirit, good citizenship, and dedi cation to enhancing the quality of life in the City.”
Historically, the City Clerk has initiated the City Spirit Award nomination process by requesting nominations from the Mayor and Councilmembers early in the year for review and consideration by the Mayor’s Nominating and Screening Committee, subsequ ently approved by the City Council, and, at a later meeting, the City Spirit Award is presented to the recipient by the Mayor with family and former recipients in vited to attend for the unveiling of the addition of the City Spirit Award recipient name on the plaque.
The City Spirit Award nomination and selection process is not defined and is currently limited to one recipient or group per year. Potential changes to the selection processes may include, but not limited to, selecting multiple recipients annual ly, selecting a recipient or group from each Ward, and establishing guidelines for the submission and selection of nominees for consideration of the City Spirit Award by the City Council to promote fairness, equity, and transparency in the recognition of deserving community members.
The City Clerk’s Office solicited examples of comparable community member award nomination, selection, and recognition proce ss from other cities. The re sponses received varied from Ridgecrest, Sonoma, Chino Hil ls, Santa Rosa, Torrance, and San Rafael. Examples are attached for reference.
City Spirit Award – Page 3
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT:
The Mayor’s Nominating and Screening Committee selection of a community member for consideration by the City Council for the City Spirit Award contributes to Strategic Plan Priority #5 – High Performing Government: Goal 5.3 - Enhance communication and collaboration with community members to improve transparency, build public trust, and encourage shared decision-making.
This item aligns with the 5 Cross-Cutting Threads as follows:
1. Community Trust – The selection process for a City Spirit Award re cipient is transparent and promotes civic engagement by recognizing community members whose activities and actions serve the public interest, benefit the City’s diverse populations, and result in greater public good.
2. Equity – The City Spirit Award promotes equity as it is a citywide honor and nominees may be chosen from any and all Wards. The positive impact of the nominees’ extraordinary deeds and community spirit, good citizenship, and dedication to enhancing the quality of life in the City benefit the entire community.
3. Fiscal Responsibility – This item is neutral toward this Cross-Cutting Thread.
4. Innovation – The City Spirit Award promotes recognition of community members whose contribution include building collaborative partnerships and embracing adaptive processes to meet the community changing needs and preparing for the future.
5. Sustainability and Resiliency – The City Spirit Award promotes recognition of community members’ contribution to the community’s needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future and ensuring the City’s capacity to persevere, adapt and grow during good and difficult times alike.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with this report.
Prepared by: Donesia Gause, City Clerk
Approved as to Form: Phaedra A. Norton
Attachments:
1. Ridgecrest – Key to the City Award
2. Sonoma – Celebrat e Sonoma Program
3. Chino Hills – Uns ung Heroes Awards
4. Santa Rosa – City Merit Awards
5. Torrance – Jared Sydney Torranc e Award and Citizen of the Year
6. San Rafael – Citiz en of the Year Award