Item #5 11/7/2023
City Council
Meeting
Item #5: RTC 23-1294
Presentation of the Recommendations
from the 2023 Charter Review
1852 Committee Related to the Positions of
Chief of Police and City Clerk
THE MISSION CITY
Presented by: Jeff Houston, Chair
November 7, 2023
1 City of
Santa Clara
The Center of What's Possible
Agenda
• Creation of the Charter Review Committee ("Committee") • Discussion of Community Engagement Process
- Community Meetings
- Engagement Tools
- Best Practice Research
• Findings
- Process Used
- Recommendations
• Acknowledgements
2 POST MEETING MATERIAL
1 Item #5 11/7/2023
City of
Santa Clara
The Center of What's Possible
Creation of 2023 Charter Review Committee
• June 6, 2023: Council establishes a 7-member Charter Review Committee ("Committee") for the purposes of studying whether to propose an amendment to the City Charter that would change the positions of Chief of Police and City Clerk from elected to appointed positions
• July 18, 2023: Council appoints Committee members and approves budget to support the work of the Committee
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City of
Santa Clara
The Center of What's Possible
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROCESS
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City of
Santa Clara
The Center of What's Possible
Community Meetings
• Five community meetings held from August through October • Meeting #1 - Initial meeting focused on Committee orientation (process, logistics, roles & responsibilities as Committee members • Meeting #2 - Santa Clara incumbents were invited to present their perspectives as to the attributes & challenges of an elected position
• Meeting #3 - Outside experts were invited to present their perspectives as to the attributes & challenges of an appointed position
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City of
Santa Clara
The Center of What's Possible
Community Meetings (cont)
• Meeting #4 - Committee reviewed public input and took preliminary vote to provide direction to staff to prepare ballot language research
• Meeting #5 - Committee reviewed all public input, including survey results, and completed final vote on recommendations 6 3
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Santa Clara
The Centerof What's Possible
Communication Tools
• Hybrid meetings
• Meetings both at City Hall and at Central Park Library • Expert presentations
• Historical and best practice information
• Dedicated webpage with relevant Committee-related resources • Promotion across City's communications channels: GovDelivery emails and social media platforms: X (Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, NextDoor • Community survey - September 7 through October 12, 2023 • Decision-tree voting
City of
Santa Clara
The Center of What's Possible
Survey Outreach
• Postcard mailed to over 30,000 registered voters
• Posted on City website for 6 weeks
• Promoted across social media platforms: X
Let Your Voice
(Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, NextDoor
Be Heard!
• Three GovDelivery emails sent to approximately
Take the Community Survey:
30,000 e-news subscribers and promoted through
City Hall News
• Hard copies of the survey were made available at
all 3 library sites, the Senior Center, and City Hall
• Flyers provided to Committee members for
distribution
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Santa Clara
The Center of What's Possible
COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVES
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City of
Santa Clara
Tho Cantern What Porci
CITY CLERK
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5 Item #5 11/7/2023
Reasons for an APPOINTED CITY CLERK
1. Attract the most qualified pool of individuals to perform the work
2. Duties require professional competency, training and experience
3. It is an administrative position; should be appointed and evaluated by the City Manager
4. There would be fewer items to take to the voters and would save in election costs
5. Current practice of PT is not sufficient; position should be full-time
6. Allows for regular evaluation of performance and clear metrics for success
7. Facilitates timely removal for sub-par performance when action is needed.
8. Position should be isolated from politics/outside influence; elected position requires running for office
9. Appointed position would allow for enhanced working relationship with City Manager
10. City Manager/Council more familiar with day-to-day requirements of the job 11 11
Reasons for an ELECTED CITY CLERK
1. Voters should make the decision
2. Lack of trust in the appointed model due to concerns regarding current political climate
3. Current system works well; check and balances
4. Qualifications should be added
5. Residency requirements should be eliminated
6. Elected Clerk more inclined to keep best interest of the public in mind
7. Clerk should be independent; Position needs to be free from political pressure
8. Elected Clerk process is more transparent
9. Clerk position should return to a FT position with full responsibilities
10. Waste of public funds
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City of
Santa Clara
The Center of What's Possible
CHIEF OF POLICE
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Reasons for an APPOINTED CHIEF OF POLICE
1. Attract the most qualified pool of individuals to perform the work
2. Selection should be based on professional experience, education and core competencies, not residency
3. Chief should be responsible for full range of Department Head responsibilities
4. Focus on fighting crime; not running for office. Current environment is too political
5. Would allow workforce to have a say in hiring & recruitment process
6. Allows for regular evaluation of performance, clear metrics for success and on-going accountability.
7. Facilitates timely removal for sub-par performance when action is needed
8. Position should be isolated from politics/outside influence; elected position requires running for office
9. Residency requirements of elected should not determine competency to lead professional work force. Only 1 candidate does not provide voters with a real choice
10. Political affiliations have clouded judgment
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Item #5 11/7/2023
Reasons for an ELECTED CHIEF OF POLICE
1. Voters should make the decision
2. Lack of trust in the appointed model due to concerns regarding current political climate
3. Current system works well; check and balances; makes Santa Clara unique
4. Qualifications should be added
5. Residency requirements should be eliminated
6. Elected Chief more inclined to keep best interest of the public in mind. Builds rapport between SCPD & community.
7. Chief should be independent; Position needs to be free from political pressure/outside influence
8. Elected Chief process is more transparent
9. Chief position should be responsible for full range of department responsibilities
10. Waste of public funds
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City of
Santa Clara
The Center of What's Possible
DECISION-TREE VOTING PROCESS
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Santa Clara
The Center of What's Possible
Expected Outcomes
Should the
Elected qualifications for the
position be changed?
Should positions of If any changes, Committee
Police Chief/City Clerk propose /o-word Recommendations for Be Elected or ballot language Each Position
Appointed? Appointed
Should the appointing
authority be the City
Council or the City
Manager?
Robust Community Engagement
17 City of
Santa Clara
The Center of What's Possible
City Clerk
If the Committee
recommends the position
remain elected and the
qualifications should not be
changed, no ballot language
If elected, should the is required.
/ qualifications for the position be changed?
If the Committee
recommends changes to
qualifications for the elected
City Clerk position, it must
identify changes and propose
Should the position of City 75- word ballot language.
Clerk be elected or
appointed?
Prepare charter change to
identify City Council as
Appointing Authority
If appointed, should the
appointing authority be the
City Council or the City
Manager?
Prepare charter change to
identify City Manager as
Appointing Authority
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City of
Santa Clara
Preliminary Decision-Tree Results
Meeting City Clerk Chief of Police
Sept. 6 votes: City Clerk position 6 votes: Chief of Police position be 21, be appointed appointed
2023
1 vote: City Clerk position 1 vote: Chief of Police position remain elected remain elected
7 votes: if appointed, the 7 votes: if appointed, the
appointing authority should appointing authority should be the be the City Manager City Manager
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City of
Santa Clara
The Center of What's Possible
Final Decision-Tree Results
Meeting City Clerk Chief of Police
Oct 17, 6 votes: City Clerk position 5 votes: Chief of Police position be 2023 be appointed appointed
1 vote: City Clerk position 2 votes: Chief of Police position remain elected remain elected
7 votes: if appointed, the 7 votes: if appointed, the
appointing authority should appointing authority should be the be the City Manager City Manager
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City of
Santa Clara
The Center of What's Possible
PROPOSED BALLOT MEASURE LANGUAGE
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city o
santa Clar
The Center of What's Possible
Proposed Language
City Clerk: "Shall an amendment to the City Charter providing that the City Clerk position be appointed by the City Manager be adopted?"
Chief of Police: "Shall an amendment to the City Charter providing that the Chief of Police position be appointed by the City Manager be adopted?"
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City of
Santa Clara
The Center of What's Possible
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
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City of
Santa Clara
The Contero Whats Possible
Recommendations
• It is recommended that the City Council place before the voters the following charter amendments in March 2024:
City Clerk: "Shall an amendment to the City Charter providing that the City Clerk position be appointed by the City Manager be adopted?"
Chief of Police: "Shall an amendment to the City Charter providing that the Chief of Police position be appointed by the City Manager be adopted?"
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City of
Santa Clara
The Center of What's Possible
Recommendations
• It is also recommended that if the ballot measures are successful, that the City Manager be encouraged to utilize recruitment strategies and hiring practices that will promote as diverse a pool of qualified candidates as possible
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City of
Santa Clara
The Center of What's Possible
Acknowledgements
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"An educated officer is a better officer, who
is likely to have a broader understanding of
what is happening in our profession and
who really understands all the nuances and
issues of the community."
- Police Chief Jose Tellez, National City (CA) Police Depariment with Erik Fritzvold, PiD University of Sant Diego School of San Jose Santa Clara County Morgan Hill Campbell Sunnyvale Los Altos San Jose State Univ. Palo Alto Los Gatos
Santa Clara Milpitas Mt. View Gilroy
Bachelors Masters / Regional LE Leadership Advanced Sr. Mgmt / FBI Academy / Harvard Gov.
POST MEETING MATERIAL 1
Marisa Welling
Subject: RE: Survey To Appoint Chief of Police and Clerk From: Alex Ikeda Salzmann <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, November 6, 2023 7:22 AM
To: Mayor and Council <[email protected]> Subject: Survey To Appoint Chief of Police and Clerk
It is unconscionable that a survey, asking residents whether they want the police chief to be elected or appointed, a survey that admittedly was likely tampered with rapid-fire unregistered responses is going to be used to do Jed York's bidding. Why would any resident vote to remove their right to elect city officials and instead ask the City manager to do that? The two potential choices for how to get a police chief are:
1) Let the union choose and then voters approve
2) Let Jed York's appointed manager choose and then his city council approves Neither choice is good, but at least a few people in the police union have a conscience. Why are you fighting on issues no one cares about? We want to see more police, more parks, fewer homeless, some of these building projects that have been languishing for years to come online.
Prevent water prices from going up double digits every year, like they have the last two years....How are you going to improve infrastructure now that we are putting up tiny apartments everywhere and we have so many more residents and cars on our streets....
You are beating on a charter change that one billionaire cares about and literally no one else in your community is thinking about.
Alex Salzmann
Boulevard HOA
POST MEETING MATERIAL
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