CITY OF SAN MATEO
City Council Special Meeting
July 17, 2023
5:30 PM
City Hall Council Chamber
Entrance is on O’Farrell Street
COUNCIL MEMBERS
Amourence Lee, Mayor
Lisa Diaz Nash, Deputy Mayor
Rich Hedges
Adam Loraine
Rob Newsom Jr.
AGENDA
THIS MEETING CAN BE ATTENDED IN PERSON OR REMOTE BY JOINING ZOOM – SEE CODES BELOW.
PUBLIC COMMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED BOTH IN PERSON AND REMOTEL Y.
SEE END OF AGENDA FOR OPTIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MEETING.
To join via Zoom – click here:
June 17, 2023
To join via telephone: (408) 638-0968
Webinar ID: 895 0171 1032 Passcode: 739543
The Agenda Report for Item #2 was updated on July 17, 2023. Highlighted sections indicate updates made.
CALL TO ORDER
Roll Call
CLOSED SESSION
The public will have an opportunity to comment before the consideration of these items. Following the meeting a report of action from Closed Session will be provided if required.
1. Conference with Legal Counsel – Existing Litigation
(Paragraph (1) of subdivision (d) of Government Code Section 54956.9) Name of Case:
Liangqiu Wan v. City of San Mateo, et al., U.S. Dist. Court (N. Dist. Cal.) Case No.: 3:22-cv-01509-LB
STUDY SESSION
The public will have an opportunity to comment during the consideration of these items.
2. Boards and Commissions – Qualifications and Compensation Provide policy direction on potential amendments to the qualifications and compensation for service on the City's boards and commissions.
CEQA: This item is not a project subject to CEQA, because it is an organizational or administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment. (CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(5).)
ADJOURNMENT
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AGENDAS:
Agendas and material are posted on the City’s website on the Friday preceding each Council Meeting and can be viewed on the City's website at
www.cityofsanmateo.org
. Any supplemental material distributed to the Council after the posting of the agenda will be made part of the official record.
WATCHING A MEETING ON TV:
City Council meetings are broadcast live on Comcast/channel 27, Wave/channel 26, or AT&T/channel 99.
For transmission problems during the broadcast, please call (650) 522-7099. For all other broadcast comments, call (650) 522-7040, Monday-Friday,
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8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
WATCHING A MEETING ON A COMPUTER:
There are three ways to stream.
1) Public Meeting Portal
www.cityofsanmateo.org/publicmeetings
2) City YouTube channel and stream it on YouTube:
http://youtube.com/CityofSanMateo
3) Watch TV live stream:
https://www.cityofsanmateo.org/193/Channel-San-Mateo-Live-Stream
PUBLIC COMMENTS/REQUEST TO SPEAK
Prior to the Meeting
Send comments to:
[email protected]
until 4 p.m. the day of the meeting.
During the meeting
By Zoom:
Click the link at the top of the agenda and you’ll be added to the meeting. All attendees are muted by default. When the item of interest is open for consideration, select the “Raise Your Hand” icon and you will be called on at the appropriate time.
By telephone:
Call (408) 638-0968 and enter the conference ID found at the top of the meeting agenda. When the item of interest is open for consideration, select *9 to raise your hand. When called upon, press *6 to unmute, state your name and provide your comments.
In Person:
At the meeting complete a “Request to Speak” form, submit a request at the speaker kiosk or scan the QR code.
ACCESSIBILITY:
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, those with disabilities requiring special accommodations to participate in this meeting may contact the City Clerk’s Office at (650) 522-7040 or [email protected]
. Notification 48 hours prior to the meeting will
enable the City to make reasonable arrangements to ensure accessibility to this meeting.
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CITY OF SAN MATEO
Agenda Report
City Hall
330 W. 20th Avenue
San Mateo CA 94403
www.cityofsanmateo.org
Agenda Number: 2 Section Name: STUDY SESSION Account Number: 10-1511 File ID: 23-7669 TO: City Council
FROM: Christina Horrisberger, Interim City Manager
PREPARED BY: City Clerk's Office
MEETING DATE: July 17, 2023
SUBJECT:
Boards and Commissions – Qualifications and Compensation RECOMMENDATION:
Provide policy direction on potential amendments to the qualifications and compensation for service on the City's boards and commissions.
BACKGROUND:
The City of San Mateo has five commissions and two boards (hereafter referred to as commissions), whose primary role is to increase public input and participation in the determination of City policies and programs. Each commission is tasked with reviewing and making recommendations to the City Council on matters within its scope of responsibility, as defined in the Charter or Municipal Code. Broadly speaking, commissions serve as the City Council’s citizen’s advisory arm, with the exception of the Planning Commission, which has the authority to take action on certain prescribed matters.
The City is integrating equity and inclusiveness into all aspects of its operations. In particular, the City’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force has been tasked with developing recommendations to diversify representation on Boards and Commissions. In addition, through its Fiscal Year 2023-24 City Council Priorities, the City Council directed staff to examine ways to increase youth and senior representation on Boards and Commissions.
Qualifications for Service on Commissions:
San Mateo Charter Section 6.05 provides that “[t]he members of all boards and commissions […] shall […] while serving possess the same qualifications as required by this Charter for election or appointment to the council.” Furthermore, Section 2.01 provides that eligibility for election or appointment to the council requires an individual to be “a qualified elector and resident of the city.” The elector requirement for appointees to commissions prevents residents under the age of 18 and non-citizens from serving on these bodies as voting members. A charter amendment would be required to remove the qualified elector requirement for Boards and Commissions, which would need to occur through a vote of the public. This year, the City Council adopted an ordinance (Ordinance 2023-1) to add two youth commissioners to the Park and Recreation Commission. A charter amendment was not required to effectuate this as the youth commissioner positions are defined as non-voting advisory members.
In terms of statewide developments in this area, on October 12, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 225, which authorized the appointment of California residents, without a requirement for citizenship, to Boards and Commissions in the state. Governor Newsom stated, “this bill strengthens representation by allowing more Californians to be considered for public service on Boards and Commissions based on the merits of their application, and not their current immigration status.” SB 225 makes no changes to the competitive recruitment process for Boards and Commission appointments and does not permit the State to circumvent federal employment laws. This legislation governs the eligibility requirements for general law cities within the State of California. However, other charter cities, such as the City of
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Berkeley, the City of Hayward, and the City of Santa Monica have aligned their qualification requirements for service to conform with Senate Bill 225. Any changes to the City of San Mateo’s charter will require a vote of the people during a regularly scheduled election.
Commission and Board Survey:
The most recent survey of the demographic composition of the City’s commissions was conducted in 2017 and provides a comparative analysis against Census and the American Community Survey data. The City Clerk’s Office is currently undertaking efforts to update the survey and plans to provide the results of this survey in the fall of 2023.
Among the findings of the 2017 survey included the conclusion that people of color are underrepresented in the City’s commissions. The graph below shows that at the time the survey was issued in 2017, within the broader San Mateo community, 26.5% identify as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin, and 9.8% of commissioners shared this identification.
While 23.5% of the community identified as Asian, 19.5% of commissions shared this identification. 3% of the community identified as Black or African American, and no commissioners identified as Black or African American.
Moreover, as seen in the graph below, the 2017 survey showed that there was general age diversity amongst commissioners, with those who are 65 and older being the largest age group at 26.8%; however, there were only 9.8% of those under the age of 34 serving on commissions.
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Compensation for Commissions:
At its May 2022 meeting, the DEI Task Force recommended providing compensation to commissioners, whilst providing the option for appointees to opt out of receiving compensation. The primary reason was that participating on a commission is an intensive time commitment and not all members of the community are able to donate their time without receiving some compensation for it since it meant they might have to forgo hours of work to participate. The DEI Task Force did not provide a specific recommendation on which commissions should receive compensation, or the specific amount.
As seen in the chart below, the 2017 commissioner demography study revealed that of those who reported their household income, approximately 7 in 10 commissioners fell above the County median. The majority of those that reported their household income, 53.7%, fell into the highest earning bracket.
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Section 6.06 of the San Mateo Charter provides that: “members of such boards and commissions shall receive no compensation for their services as such, but may receive reimbursement for their actual and necessary expenses authorized by the city council and incurred in performance of their duties of office upon presentation of verified claims therefor on uniform forms to be prescribed by resolution of the city council.” A charter amendment would be required in order to allow for compensation for Boards and Commissions, which would need to occur through a vote of the public.
On October 3, 2022, staff presented an informal survey of city agencies within the State of California (seen within the graph below) and identified over 21 agencies who stated they provided compensation for service to Boards and Commissions appointees. At the time of writing this report, it is understood that one City within San Mateo County provides compensation for service to Boards or Commissions. Planning Commissioners in the City of Foster City are provided with $269 per month in compensation and are eligible to participate in the City’s health benefits plan. A common theme of municipal agency efforts to provide monetary compensation for services were represented in the form of a per meeting stipend, as highlighted in yellow below, with Planning Commissioners receiving an average of $150 and other commissions receiving an average of $70. At the October 3, 2022 study session, Council directed staff to bring back a further study on compensation and qualifications for commissioners.
Budget Analysis:
The City’s general strategy for employee compensation has been to use the median amount that other cities provide.
Utilizing this strategy and applying the research contained within this study session, a rough financial analysis would indicate that, should a $150 per-meeting stipend be provided for Planning Commission and a $70 per-meeting stipend be provided to other commissions, boards, and committees, the total amount would be approximately $45,650 plus, $662 for statutory taxes and Medicare, coming to an approximate total annual cost of $46,312.
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*. The City of Foster City’s planning commissioners receive a monthly payment rather than a per meeting stipend, the amount represented on this table is broken down on a per-meeting basis for comparison purposes only.
Direction Requested from Council:
Should Council provide direction to update the membership requirements and compensation for service on the City’s commissions as an effort to enable more residents to actively participate in shaping city policy, the following direction will be needed:
1. Should a ballot measure be put to the voters on removing the elector requirement for service on the City’s Commissions?
a) If yes, should this proposed ballot measure include removal of the elector requirement for all commissions or should the elector requirement remain for specific commissions? b) If the elector qualification is removed, should the Youth Commissioner roles be reviewed?
2. Should a ballot measure be put to the voters on providing compensation for service on the City’s commissions? a) If yes, should the proposed ballot measure include compensation for service on all the City’s commissions or should specific commissions receive compensation?
b) If the Council wishes to provide compensation for service on any of the commissions, how much compensation should be provided?
c) Should the proposed ballot measure include a delegation of authority to the Council to make amendments
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to the process for future adjustments to the compensation of commissioners?
3. Does the Council have any further direction on other ways increase representation on the City’s commissions? BUDGET IMPACT:
There is no budget impact associated with this study session. Should Council provide direction to proceed with offering a median stipend per-meeting attended an approximate financial analysis indicates that, should a $150 per-meeting stipend be provided for Planning Commission and a $70 per-meeting stipend be provided to other commissions, boards, and committees, the total amount would be approximately $45,650 plus, $662 for statutory taxes and Medicare, coming to an approximate total annual cost of $46,312.
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION:
This item is not a project subject to CEQA, because it is an organizational or administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment. (CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(5).)
NOTICE PROVIDED
All meeting noticing requirements were met.
ATTACHMENTS
None
STAFF CONTACT
Martin McTaggart, Deputy City Clerk
[email protected]
(650) 522-7044
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