AGENDA TITLE:
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Provide Direction to Staff Regarding Staff Involvement and City Resources Used at Individual Councilmember Sponsored Town Hall Meetings (CM)
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MEETING DATE:
February 21, 2024
PREPARED BY:
Andrew Keys, Interim City Manager
recommendation
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Provide Direction to Staff Regarding Staff Involvement and City Resources Used at Individual Councilmember Sponsored Town Hall Meetings.
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
On January 19, 2022, the City Council directed staff to not hold monthly town halls for individual Council members. (See the attached January 19, 2022, Council Communication for Agenda Item H-03 and the relevant January 19, 2022, City Council Meeting Minutes for Agenda Item H-3) At the time, some Councilmembers opposing monthly town hall meetings suggested they were either not cost effective or placed additional or unrealistic burdens on limited staffing resources. Councilmembers suggested attending Committee meetings as an alternative for those wishing to be more involved, as opposed to creating an additional standing town hall meeting. Others suggested it was a good use for staff to provide information at town halls for specific hot button topics, but not at regular monthly meetings.
Within the past two years, Mayor Craig has individually hosted town hall meetings to connect with residents on a variety of issues. These were not City sponsored meetings, not held on City property, nor did the initial meetings include City staff.
For the past few months, the Mayor’s town hall meeting topics have expanded and have provided an outlet where specific City projects and actions can be shared with the public. At the Mayor’s request, the Interim City Manager authorized limited number of City staff to attend and provide information at these meetings on Lodi Lake Nature Area security measures, fire mitigation efforts and the Balancing Act program. The most recent meetings and attendance has been strong with unofficial counts from staff of greater than 40 residents in January and 60 residents at the December meetings.
Due to the significant public participation of these meetings, the Mayor is requesting to continue holding monthly town hall meetings and to utilize City facilities to host the meetings. Current City policy allows for the use of Carnegie Forum but that facility is heavily used for Council meetings and City Boards and Commissions. There is no policy for Council use of other City facilities such as Hutchins Street Square. Given the frequency of the meetings and the request to utilize City facilities, the additional workload on staff may be substantial. On a typical month, the City has 2 regular Council meetings, up to 5 shirtsleeve meetings and between 10 and 12 other committee and commission meetings. Each of these takes substantial staff effort for preparation and successful execution. Each additional meeting requires hours of dedicated staff time to ensure staff is prepared to address a topic meaningfully and answer questions from attendees.
The amount of staff time necessary to accommodate one additional town hall per month, or 12 per year for one member, may be substantial. If other members desire to hold monthly town halls as well, that could result in five additional meetings per month or up to 60 per year. Continuance of these additional town halls may result in need for additional staffing in the Clerk’s office to coordinate meetings or for the involved departments to prepare for the meetings. Without additional dedicated resources, it may take away from staff’s ability to deliver other priority projects.
Requested Direction
To address these concerns and assist with managing City wide workload, resource allocation and providing consistent access to resources for all Councilmembers, staff is requesting direction on Council support for Councilmember specific town halls, the use of staff resources, and City facilities for these meetings.
Council could consider alternatives to the proposed town halls, including modification to the City’s shirtsleeve or Council meeting schedule to lessen the workload. Council could also, more frequently and substantially, utilize the shirtsleeve meetings for town hall topics and communicating information.
If Council desires to continue these town halls with staff involvement, staff requests Council to direct the Interim City Manager to draft a policy on frequency, scheduling, use of facilities, and preparation of materials. Staff further requests that in any policy, the City Manager be given authority to determine if staff resources are available for a town hall meeting and whether a specific topic should be addressed by the full Council at a regular or shirtsleeve meeting.
STRATEGIC VISION:
3A. Fiscal Health: Promote City's transparency & fiscal fluency.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Not Applicable.
FUNDING AVAILABLE:
Not Applicable.
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Andrew C. Keys
Interim City Manager