City of Santa Clara
Council Policy Manual
COUNCIL DISTRICT COMMUNICATIONS
Adopted DATE CP XXX Page 1 of 2
Resolution No. _________
PURPOSE The purpose of this policy is to outline the procedures for the City Council to provide communications to constituents in their districts using the City’s email distribution platform.
POLICY The City provides the option for the City Council member to send messages to email subscribers on the City’s email distribution platform.
PROCEDURE There are two methods for City Councilmembers to communicate to their constituents using the City’s email distribution platform.
1. City Councilmembers may choose to include a message in the monthly City Newsletter sent to the citywide email distribution list. Their respective messages will be included as a link in the newsletter.
2. City Councilmembers may choose to send additional separate communications to email subscribers. The messages would be sent to the citywide subscriber list and include an option to unsubscribe. As City Councilmembers develop their own content, best practices should be adhered to, as stated in the Guidelines for Council Communications attachment.
Monthly Message in City Newsletter
1. City Councilmembers submit content to staff by the third week of the month or by deadlines established by staff.
2. Staff will review the content and format it in a template.
3. Staff’s review will be limited to typographical/grammar corrections and compliance with the Guidelines for Council Communications.
4. The Councilmember’s communication will be included as a link in the monthly City Newsletter.
Separate City Councilmember Messages
City Councilmembers shall also have the option to send direct messages to constituents more frequently than monthly as follows:
1. City Councilmembers submit content to staff with an indication of their desired publication date; the proposed publication date should be no sooner than three (3) business days after the submittal date.
2. Staff will review content and format it in a template.
City of Santa Clara
Council Policy Manual
COUNCIL DISTRICT COMMUNICATIONS
Adopted DATE CP X XX Page 2 of 2
Resolution No. _________
3. Staff’s review will be limited to typographical/grammar corrections and compliance with the Guidelines for Council Communications.
4. If workload creates negative impacts to staff, the City Manager will go back to Council with recommended adjustments.
D
istrict Subscriber Lists
The City utilizes an eNews subscription service to send email notifications to over 50,000 subscribers. Each District subscriber list will be comprised of the subscribers on the Citywide distribution list. Subscribers will have the option to unsubscribe or remain on the subscriber list, as indicated by the “unsubscribe” hyperlink in the footer of each District message.
Guidelines for Council Communications
The attached Guidelines for Council Communications are intended to apply to both communications submitted for the City’s monthly newsletter, and for direct City Councilmember communications. City staff may update the Guidelines from time to time without Council approval in order to be consistent with best practices and legal requirements. Any updates to the Guidelines will be distributed to the City Council.
A
ttachments:
1. Report to the Government and Ethics Committee 12/2/24
2. Guidelines for Council Communications
3. Policy 054 Council District Communications