MINUTES OF THE
JOINT MEETING OF THE RULES AND OPEN GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
AND COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2023
The Committee meeting was held in a hybrid format, both in person in the Council Chambers and remote locations. The meeting convened at 2:02 p.m.
Present: Councilmembers - Jimenez, Foley, Kamei, Cohen.
Absent:Councilmembers - Davis.
Staff:Assistant CityManager, Lee Wilcox; Assistant CityAttorney, Kevin Fisher; CityClerk,Joy Rodriguez; City Manager’s Office,Rachelle Blattman; and DeputyCityClerk, Daniel Aguilar.
A. City Council (City Clerk)
1. Review Final Agenda
Review November 14, 2023 Final Agenda
a. Add New Items to Final Agenda
b. Assign "Time Certain" to Agenda Items (if needed)
c. Review of Notice of Waiver Requirements for Agenda Items or Documents (if needed) Public Comment: None provided.
Action: Upon motion by Vice Mayor Rosemary Kamei, seconded by Councilmember Sergio Jimenez, and carried unanimously, the November 7, 2023 Final Agenda was approved including the Add Sheet. (4-0-1; Absent: Davis)
2. Review Draft Agenda
Review November 21, 2023 Draft Agenda - Cancelled
B. Consent Calendar
Public Comment: None provided.
Action: Upon motion by Councilmember Pam Foley, seconded by Vice Mayor Rosemary Kamei, and carried unanimously, the Consent Calendar was approved with the below actions taken as indicated. (4-0-1; Absent: Davis)
1. Joint City of San José and Santa Clara Valley Water District Special Meeting. (City Manager)
Set a Joint City of San José and Santa Clara Valley Water District Special Meeting on November 17, 2023, from 9:00 a.m. – noon to be held at Valley Water’s Headquarters Building Boardroom, 5700 Almaden Expressway, San José, California, and approve the draft Special Meeting agenda.
Action: The meeting set for a Joint City of San Jose and Santa Clara Valley Water District Special Meeting on November 17, 2023 was approved, including the drafted Special Meeting agenda.
2. Set a General Plan Hearing Fourth Review Cycle for November - December 2023. (Planning, Building and Code Enforcement)
Set a General Plan Fourth Review Cycle of 2023 City Council hearing beginning on the afternoon of November 28, 2023, and continue the General Plan hearing on December 5, 2023 and December 12, 2023, if necessary, to consider privately initiated and City-initiated General Plan amendments.)
Action: The General Plan Fourth Review Cycle for the City Council dated November 28, 2023- December 12, 2023 was approved.
3. Monthly Report of Activities for October 2023. (City Auditor)
1. Approve the Auditor’s Office Monthly Report of Activities for the month of October 2023.
2. Amend the City Auditor’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-24 work plan to defer the audit of traffic signal and streetlight maintenance. This audit will be reconsidered for inclusion in the Office’s FY 2024-25 Proposed Work Plan.
Action: The Auditors Office Monthly Report of Activities for October 2023 and amendments related were approved.
4. External Quality Control Review of the Office of the City Auditor for the Period July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2023. (City Auditor)
1. Accept the independent auditor’s report, External Quality Control Review of the Office of the City Auditor, San Jose, CA for the Period July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2023, which representatives of the Association of Local Government Auditors (ALGA) prepared on October 26, 2023.
Action: The independent auditor’sreport for the External Quality Control Review of the Office of the City Auditor for July 2021- June 2023 was accepted.
5. Request for Travel for Councilmember David Cohen. (Cohen) Authorize travel for Councilmember Cohen to Carlsbad, CA from November 29 - December 1, 2023, to attend the League of California Cities Board of Directors Meeting.
Action: Councilmember David Cohens request for Travel from November 29 – December 1, 2023 was approved.
6. Retroactive Approval of Multiple Special Events Sponsored by Council District 10 as City Council Sponsored Special Events to Expend City Funds and Accept Donations of Materials and Services for the Events. (Batra)
1. Retroactively approve the Santa Teresa Shredding Day event scheduled on October 7, 2023 as a City Council sponsored Special Event and retroactively approve the expenditure of funds.
2. Retroactively approve the Los Paseos Neighborhood Association Dumpster Day event in partnership with the LPNA scheduled on October 21, 2023 as a City Council sponsored Special Event and approve the expenditure of funds.
3. Retroactively approve the Celebration of Vietnamese Community event scheduled on November 6, 2023 as a City Council sponsored Special Event, and accept donations from various individuals, businesses, or community groups to support the event.
4. Place the item on the November 14, 2023 Council Agenda for action.
Action: Multiple Special Events sponsored by Council District 10 was retroactively approved for placement on the November 14, 2023 City Council Agenda.
7. Retroactive Approval of Friends on the Farm Sponsored by Council District 6 as a City Council Sponsored Special Event to Expend City Funds and Accept Donations of Materials and Services for the Event. (Davis)
1. Retroactively approve the Friends on the Farm scheduled on November 4, 2023 as a City Council sponsored Special Event and approve the expenditure of funds.
2. Retroactively approve and accept donations from various individuals, businesses or community groups to support the event.
3. Place the item on the November 14, 2023 Council Agenda for action.
Action: Friends on the Farm Event sponsored by Council District 6 was retroactively approved for placement on November 14, 2023 City Council Agenda.
C. Rules Committee Reviews, Recommendations and Approvals
1. Development Services. (Jimenez and Davis)
Direct the City Manager to take the following actions:
1. Identify improvements in development services led by departments other than PBCE (e.g.
Fire, PRNS, Housing, Public Works). To the extent feasible, include these improvements in the PBCE Customer Service Charter - Improvement Initiatives dashboard, or in a substantially similar publicly-accessible location.
(a) Where no description is provided for a proposed improvement/initiative, add information to help the public understand what the improvement/initiative is and what it will achieve when implemented.
2. Include open audit recommendations pertaining to development services either in the Improvement Initiatives dashboard or in a new, separate dashboard.
3. Continue to solicit input from the development community and other relevant stakeholders regarding potential improvements to the City of San Jose Development Services Customer Survey.
4. Compile results from the Development Services Customer Survey and either provide information regarding survey results on the PBCE Customer Service Charter website or in periodic reports to CED. To the extent feasible, include input received through channels or venues other than the Customer Survey as well.
5. Assess the cost implications of the City’s regulatory framework (e.g. Building Code, Design Guidelines, etc.) and incorporate findings into future studies of the cost of development.
6. Evaluate the following and provide a qualitative (or, when feasible, quantitative) assessment to CED and/or the City Council through an informational memorandum:
(a) The effectiveness of existing pathways for the development community to provide constructive feedback to the City (for instance, the Developers and Construction Roundtable and any successor forum).
(b) Potential process improvements that could reduce the need for multiple rounds of review.
(c) Consistency in the citation of specific, approved regulations in comment letters during project review. Additionally, identify regulations that could be interpreted subjectively and/or regulations or guidelines that may not be strictly enforceable i. For example, provide a citation for enforceable and objective regulatory comments. Consider providing guidelines, subjectively interpreted regulations, and other comments that are unenforceable in a different memo, but not in the same letter of comments
(d) The staff capacity and resource implications of initiating new or updated studies of development services (for example, the 2016 Management Partners “Development Services Cost Recovery Analysis, Process Improvements, Calculation of Unearned Revenues, and Refund Processing”).
(e) The staff capacity and resource implications of conducting an assessment of the City’s regulatory framework, including local amendments to the Building Code and Design Guidelines, with the goal to simplify or eliminate regulations that are particularly costly or burdensome to the development community. This assessment shall not occur until after Recommendation 5 has been implemented. (f) The resource implications of dedicated staffing to provide clarifications to the development community by phone rather than through formalsubmission of responses.
Public Comment: Matthew Reid (Silicon Valley @ Home) provided public testimony regarding the item.
Councilmember Sergio Jimenez requested staff to include the housing catalyst work plan in the memo.
Action: Upon motion by Councilmember Sergio Jimenez, seconded by Councilmember Pam Foley, and carried unanimously, all actionsrelated to the improvement of development services led by multiple departments was approved. (5-0-0)
2. Special Park Use Policy. (Torres, Cohen, Ortiz, Candelas, and Foley) Direct the City Manager to modify the special park use policy to allow each Council an increase of one standard free-use event and three additional small-scale events of a neighborhood or regional park for the purpose of a community event sponsored and/or produced by the Council office.
Public Comment: None provided.
Motion: Councilmember Pam Foley moved to approve the Early Consideration Response Form, which includes the green light for three small scale events or one medium to larger event. Vice Mayor Rosemary Kamei seconded the motion.
Friendly Amendment: Chair David Cohen requested that the motion include a request for an MBA be added on the budget discussion to be considered when budget planning. The friendly amendment was accepted by the maker of the motion and seconder.
Action: Upon motion by Councilmember Pam Foley, seconded by Vice Mayor Rosemary Kamei, and carried unanimously the Early Consideration Response Form, including the modifications to the special park use policy and the addition of an MBA, was approved. (5-0-0) D. Open Forum
None provided.
E. Adjournment
This meeting was adjourned by Chair David Cohen at 2:31 pm.
Minutes Recorded, Prepared, and Respectfully Submitted by, DRAFT
Daniel Aguilar,
Deputy City Clerk, City of San José
Approved at Council on:
# of Actions: 4
Attest By:
Toni J. Taber, CMC
City Clerk, City of San Jose
vv:rulesmin20231108