City of Santa Clara
Meeting Minutes
Governance and Ethics Committee
3:00 PM Hybrid Meeting
City Manager's Conference Room/Virtual
1500 Warburton Avenue
Santa Clara, CA 95050
03/13/2023
CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
Present 3 - Member Raj Chahal, Chair Sudhanshu Jain, Alternate Member Kevin Park Excused 1 - Member Lisa M. Gillmor
CONSENT CALENDAR
1 23-233 Approval of the December 5, 2022 Governance and Ethics Committee Meeting Minutes
Recommendation: Approve the minutes of the December 5, 2022 Governance and Ethics Committee Meeting.
A motion was made by Member Chahal, seconded by Alternate Member Park to approve the December 5, 2022 meeting minutes.
Aye: 3 - Member Chahal, Chair Jain, and Alternate Member Park
PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS
Member of the public Wanda Buck stated the importance of ethics and requested a response from Councilmembers on a recent email sent regarding ideas on citizen input on ethics.
GENERAL BUSINESS
03/13/2023Governance and Ethics Committee Meeting Minutes 2 23-236 Action on the 2023 Governance and Ethics Committee Workplan Recommendation: Approve the Proposed 2023 Governance and Ethics Committee Workplan.
The Committee had a robust discussion of the proposed 2023 Governance and Ethics work plan and added the following items to the work plan:
review of Council Policy 030 Adding an Item to the Agenda, review of Council Policy 020 Proclamations, Certificates of Recognition, Commendations, discussion on process on how to add a special meeting, and the discussion of meeting management protocols. The Committee agreed to remove the Citizens Advisory Committee discussion from the workplan, since the body is not currently active.
3 23-237
A motion was made by Member Chahal, seconded by Alternate Member Park, to approve the 2023 workplan with the amended changes.
Discussion and Direction regarding the City Council Letterhead and Correspondence Policy
Recommendation: Staff makes no recommendation.
The Committee discussed the use of letterhead for correspondence.
Committee members posed questions related to the process for letters issued on behalf of the City Council as well as using letterhead for district recognition. Staff explained the Legislative Advocacy Policy and noted the use of letterhead. In addition, questions were raised regarding overall district governance. Staff noted that this topic may be placed on a future Priority Setting Session. No action was taken on this item. 4 23-234
Review the Task Force on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s Recommended Amendments to Council Policy 035 - Naming of Facilities (Deferred from June 7, 2021)
Recommendation:
Approve the Task Force on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’s recommended amendments to Council Policy 035.
A motion was made by Member Chahal, seconded by Alternate Member Park, to approve the staff recommendation.
Aye: 3 - Member Chahal, Chair Jain, and Alternate Member Park
03/13/2023Governance and Ethics Committee Meeting Minutes 5 23-336 Discussion of Protocol for Adding New Items to the Governance and Ethics Committee Agenda
Recommendation: Staff makes no recommendation.
Committee approved adding to the Governance and Ethics Committee agenda template, under the Committee Member Reports section, a place to add referrals for consideration.
A motion made by Member Chahal, seconded by Alternate Member Park, to approve the addition of a section for new referral items for consideration.
Aye: 3 - Member Chahal, Chair Jain, and Alternate Member Park
STAFF REPORT
City Attorney Glen Googins stated he was looking forward to working on items with this Committee. Chair Jain mentioned having a presentation from the City Attorney on Ethics Training on AB 1234, City Attorney Googins added this was forthcoming.
COMMISSIONERS REPORT
None.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned by Chair Jain at 4:41 p.m.