City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: July 12, 2022
Agenda Item: 11.C
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Lori Gentles, Chief People Officer, Human Resources Department Subject: Adoption of a Resolution Placing a Ballot Measure on the November 8, 2022 Ballot to Amend Section 1011 of the City Charter
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the attached resolution (Attachment A) submitting to the voters a measure amending City Charter Section 1011 to change the eligibility requirements for service on the Personnel Board to include, in addition to City residents, residents of Los Angeles County who are natural persons and are either employed full-time within the City, or who own real property in the City, or who have been issued a business license by the City, and to reduce the term of service for Board members from five years to four years; and to direct actions necessary to place the measure on the November 8, 2022 Municipal ballot.
If the resolution placing an amendment to Section 1011 of the City Charter on the November 8, 2022, ballot (Attachment A) is approved, staff also recommends that the Council authorize City Council members to file written arguments for or against the measure and direct the City Attorney to prepare an impartial analysis.
Executive Summary
Consistent with the City’s efforts to expand civic engagement and promote inclusive participation in the civic process, staff recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution to place a measure on the November 8, 2022, general election ballot amending the City Charter’s Personnel Board eligibility requirements to include in addition to City residents, individuals that live in Los Angeles County and are either employed full time in the City of Santa Monica, or own property in the City, or have been issued a business license by the City. Staff also recommends amending the term of service for Personnel Board members from five years to four years to make the position more attractive to prospective applicants and to align Personnel Board member terms 2 of 6
with the terms of the members of other City boards and commissions. This recommendation aligns the Personnel Board with several other City Boards and Commissions that have less restrictive membership requirements.
Background
The Personnel Board is a 5-member advisory body to the City Council and Human Resources Director on matters pertaining to personnel administration and is a quasijudicial review body for hearing employee appeals of certain disciplinary actions. In conducting its business, the Board considers the rights and interests of City employees, the City administration and the citizens and taxpayers of Santa Monica.
From September 2018 to the present, four Personnel Board members had reached their term limit. At one point, four out of the five members on the Board were serving past their term. Given the importance of the Board’s work to the administration of City personnel by the Human Resources department, these Board members were asked by staff to continue their service until a replacement could be appointed. Staff believed this to be necessary to ensure that the requisite quorum was present for the Board to continue performing its essential functions under the City’s Charter and Municipal Code, including the review and approval of new or amended job class specifications and the prompt resolution of City employee disciplinary appeals.
Given the past challenges with recruiting new members, the Personnel Board discussed at its regular meetings on May 27, 2021, July 22, 2021, March 3, 2022, and March 24, 2022, the difficulty staff has had with convincing residents to apply for appointment to the Personnel Board. Furthermore, recruitment efforts since September 2018 have resulted in only two successful applicants that would eventually be appointed by the City Council to serve on the Board. In 2021, following the Council’s announcement at one of its regular meetings of open Personnel Board positions, the City received only three applications. Staff was expecting more applications in order to present the City Council with a more diverse applicant pool.
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Discussion
To gain a better understanding of why residents were not applying to serve on the Personnel Board, the Board requested City staff to undertake a comprehensive review of the Personnel Board’s eligibility requirements for service. Staff’s assessment revealed that approximately nine City boards or commissions have less restrictive and more inclusive eligibility requirements that allow for City residents and non-residents to apply for and serve on those boards and commissions. Staff identified the Architectural Review Board, Arts Commission, Building and Fire-Life Safety Commission, Commission on Sustainability, Environmental Justice, and the Environment, Urban Forest Task Force, Santa Monica Pier Corporation, and Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. as having less restrictive and more inclusive eligibility requirements than those of the Personnel Board.
Currently the City Charter limits eligibility to serve on the Personnel Board to only those persons that are “residents of the City.” This limitation has proven too restrictive to recruit new Board members and that has resulted in staff having difficulty ensuring that the Board has a sufficient number of members to allow it to fulfill its essential functions.
Furthermore, staff’s review also revealed that other City boards and commissions have a standard 4-year term for service instead of the current 5-year term for Personnel Board members. Staff believes that a 5-year term is too lengthy of a commitment and that reducing this commitment will be more appealing to prospective applicants.
Prior to recommending a change to its eligibility requirements, the Personnel Board requested staff to enhance its recruitment and promotion efforts for vacant board positions in addition to the standard City Clerk postings that staff regularly performed.
Board members themselves participated in the recruitment by networking with personal and professional relationships and gauging interest. Staff also sent email advertisements to the various neighborhood association groups that the City has a relationship with and posted the vacant positions on several City social media accounts.
Staff even enlisted the assistance of the Council which allowed for the vacant Personnel Board positions to be announced at one of the council meetings from the dais. 4 of 6
Current Policies
The City Charter as it relates to the Personnel Board states the following:
Article X, Section 1011. Personnel Board.
There shall be a Personnel Board consisting of five members to be appointed by the City Council from the residents of the City. To be eligible for appointment, each appointee shall neither hold public office or employment nor be a candidate for any other public office or position and shall not be an officer of any local, state, or national partisan political club or organization.
The members of the Personnel Board shall serve for a term of five years and until their respective successors are appointed and qualified. The terms of such members shall be staggered so that the term of one thereof shall expire on each succeeding July 1st. Any vacancy on the Board shall be filled by the City Council for the unexpired term. (Amended by Ord. No. 1051CCS, adopted April 12, 1977; amended at General Municipal Election, November 6, 2018, certified by Res. No. 11154CCS) Given the challenges recruiting candidates for the Personnel Board over the last several years, staff recommends expanding the membership qualifications. Staff also believes this is an important strategy in having a Personnel Board membership reflective of the diversity of City staff. Although the Personnel Board takes pride in having members that live in the same community that it serves, Board members recognize that opportunities to attract competent, diverse, and interested applicants are being lost by limiting recruitment to those that only live within City limits. The City has a demographic makeup that is not reflective of City staff. As of May 2022, 65% of Santa Monica employees are black, indigenous, and persons of color (BIPOC), whereas 77% of the residents of the City of Santa Monica are white. Relaxing or removing the current residency requirement would allow the Board to ensure that its membership can better reflect the City’s workforce.
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Because the Personnel Board performs an essential function in the administration of City personnel, the City has taken several measures to actively recruit interested parties to apply for service on the Board. Staff’s recruitment efforts are consistent with the City Council’s priorities of supporting civic engagement, connecting communities, and providing the public with access to resources and opportunities. An amendment to the City Charter to expand Personnel Board eligibility requirements from just City residents to also include natural persons who live in Los Angeles County and are employed full-time in the City of Santa Monica, or who own real property in the City, or who have been issued a business license by the City, would foster a welcoming environment and would help address the current recruitment challenges for the Personnel Board. Additionally, amending the eligibility criteria will create greater access to a more diverse pool of prospective civic contributors that can serve on the Personnel Board.
Next Steps
The California Elections Code allows for the City Council to amend the City Charter on its own motion and to submit the proposed amendment to the voters at an established statewide general election, provided there are at least 88 days before the election.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
The cost of adding the measure to the November 8, 2022, ballot is included in the FY 2022-23 in the Records & Election Services (City Clerk) Department.
Prepared By: Sasha Sargent, Executive Administrative Assistant Approved Forwarded to Council
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Attachments:
A. Reso re PB Eligibility Rqmts (7-12-22)