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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-05-08 Policy & Services Committee Summary MinutesPOLICY AND SERVICES COMMITTEE FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 1 of 21 Special Meeting Council May 8, 2018 Chairperson Fine called the meeting to order at 6:07 P.M. in the Community Meeting Room, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California. Present: DuBois, Fine (Chair), Holman, Wolbach Absent: Oral Communications None. Agenda Items 1. Review of the Fiscal Year 2017 and Fiscal Year 2018 use of Revenue From a Lease at the City Owned Property at 455 Bryant Street for Teen Services and Discussion of Request for Proposals to use Previously Collected but Unspent Lease Revenue for Additional Teen Services. Chair Fine gave a brief introduction to the item and stated that this arrangement dated back to 2001 where the City leased out the garage with rent payments going to teen services. Rob de Geus, Deputy City Manager introduced Adam Howard who is the Manager of the Community Services Program. Mr. Howard started as a Recreational Coordinator in the Teen Center, was Manager of the Mitchell Park Community Center before it was rebuilt, Manager of the Cubberley Community Center for a time and is now back at Mitchell Park. Adam Howard, Community Services Program Manager stated that the presentation will provide an overview of the Bryant Street Garage Funds, some background will be provided and then an overview of the various programs that receive funding. Jose Perez Sanchez, Program Assistant I announced that he is the Teen Program Specialist for the City of Palo Alto (City) Community Services Department and he has been with the City since 2014. Some background FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 2 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 on the Bryant Street Garage Fund is that it was established in 2001 when City Council (Council) leased out the Bryant Street Teen Center with 75 percent of the net revenues going to fund youth and teen programs. In 2016 Council approved a one full-time Program Assistant I position with the working title Teen Program Specialist and the rest of the funds have gone to various programs. Those programs include arts and science, recreation, and performing arts. There are five leadership groups throughout Palo Alto which serve on average about 845 teens combined. The leadership groups put on programs and services to teens in the community. One program is called the Think Fund Grant Program which teens submit proposals for a grant up to $1,000 for projects, programs, or ideas that they want to make happen in the community. Through the Think Fund program, they are offered support and mentorship for their proposed project. At the end of the year, there is Teen Gala when all the grantees are invited to come back and be celebrated for their efforts to make the community better. Isha Rajput is a sophomore at Gunn High School and has used the Think Fund to start her project that has been going on for 2-years, called Tibco Empower Camp. Tibco is a software company who hosts program camps for middle school students. Ms. Rajput stated that with Think Fund and Mr. Perez’s help she was able to figure out the logistics of her program and introduce it into the community. The Tibco Empower Camp will be expanding to Denver and San Francisco in the near future. Mr. Perez Sanchez commented that funds coming strictly through the Bryant Street Garage Fund helps fund the program ClickPA. ClickPA is a website for teens to help them find local events, opportunities, and an informational blog that is posted. The website is run by teens who qualify for the internship and they oversee the entire website throughout the school year. Also, the teens running the website host a job fair and this year the job fair hosted over 200 teens. Yonatan Maor announced he is the co-maker of the program called Make X and is a 10th-grade student at Gunn High School. Make X is the nations first and only student founded and student-run free community maker space. The program is run out of a room at Cubberley and is open on Fridays and Saturdays. The program is for anyone in the community to come in and use the tools provided to work on projects. Kevin Dee stated that he is also a co-maker of the program called Make X and is Senior at Gunn High School. Tools that are provided are traditional woodshop tools and also basic materials are provided to help visitors complete their projects. Two of the most popular tools are the laser cutter and 3-D printer. FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 3 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 Mr. Maor explained that the 3-D printer is mainly used for proto-typing. Mr. Perez Sanchez introduced Daniel Zafer-Joyce who is the Teen Arts Council Coordinator and he runs the programs at the Children’s Theater. Daniel Zafer-Joyce stated that he is one of two adult coordinators. The Teen Arts Council is run by an executive board of teenagers to produce high- quality art-based events by teens for teens. Mr. Zafer-Joyce and his partner provide the Teen Arts Council with comprehensive coverage of an event and provide professional resources to the Teen Art Council. The role of an Adult Corridor is to foster the teen’s creativity, help them establish realistic goals, help them maintain their standards of excellence and to encourage them to broaden the scope of their events. Emily Zhang stated that she is the Publicity Officer on the Teen Arts Council. She voiced that the Teen Arts Council gives teens a safe place to share their artistic abilities with other teens. Some events that the Teen Arts Council is hosting this year include Open Mic Night, Luminescence, Buoyancy, and Point B Poetry Jam. One new event that was established this year is called Momentum. Momentum is an art gallery that displays teen art that is for sale and it also provides hands-on workshops. Marieke Gaboury, Theater Specialist, commented that one of the goals for the Children’s Theater was to diversify the event offerings and diversify the teens that were being reached. In June 2017 funds from the Bryant Street Garage Fund were allocated to invite teens to paint a mural on the basketball court outside of the Mitchell Park Teen Center. Over the course of two weeks, 39 teens helped paint the mural. Another event that is put on is an end of the year festival to celebrate the end of the school year. Denise Laxen di Zazzo, Arts & Science Professional I-H, stated that she is the Teen Programming Coordinator at the Palo Alto Art Center. The funding from the Bryant Street Garage Fund has helped the Art Center expose teens to practicing artists and bringing professional opportunities to teen artists. The main group that funding is allocated to is the Art Center Leadership Group and there are 18 active members. This is a program that started 2-years ago and the program offers workshops throughout the year. Helena Cirne, student, explained that she joined the Leadership Group 2- years ago when she was doing volunteer work at the Art Center and working on a project using trash to make art. She explained that the Leadership Group has taught her administrative skills and managing art. One of the events that the Leadership Groups puts on is called Teen Takeover. The event takes place on a Friday night at the Art Center for teens to make art. FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 4 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 Shanthi Deivanayagam, student, announced that she is a sophomore at Paly and she has also been involved in the Leadership Group for 2-years. In terms of art activities that take place at the Art Center, teens have been able to showcase their work at the Art Center in gallery events. Various workshops that are available to teens include photography workshops, printmaking, and mindfulness watercolor art. Another important feature that teen artists get to partake in is getting mentoring on their portfolio by talking to art college admission officers. Mr. Howard explained that all the previous speakers had touched on some of the ongoing art funded programs that the Bryant Street Garage Fund helps. Also, there is a one-time reserve fund of $300,000 and this was money that was allocated from the lease prior to a formal process being in place to spend the funds. In 2015 the administration with the help of high school students went through a design thinking process to help determine what the reserve money should be used for. Teen-friendly transportation, an app and gamification to help get people out and active, Adventure Palo Alto which is an outdoor education platform which focuses on social awareness, and crisis and post-crisis intervention where some of the top listing ideas proposed to spend the money on. Staff has decided that putting out a Request for Proposal (RFP) to the community with guidelines that will help come up with more ideas. The guidelines for the RFP include things like it has to fund a 2 or 3- year pilot program, has to focus on Palo Alto youth and teens, has to have a direct impact on the mental and physical wellbeing and has to include a sustainability plan. Staff plans to make sure that any proposals from the RFP will be along the same lines as the ideas that were proposed in 2015. Council Member Holman reiterated that the funding from the Bryant Street Garage Fund is able to help 845 teens a month. Mr. Howard explained that 845 only includes the Leadership Groups, not the teens who come in for their own individual grants. Council Member Holman asked how many students are served in total. Mr. Howard answered that the number from the grants is harder to obtain because the Staff does not have a direct link to those activities when they take place. Mr. Perez Sanchez explained that on average there are 25 funded projects and this is in addition to the existing funded programs that the Leadership Groups put on. For an average, there are approximately 1,576 teens that are served per year through the various grants that are funded. FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 5 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 Council Member Holman stated that one of the criteria that Staff is looking for in the RFP is how performance metrics are defined but Staff is not able to quantify how many participants there are. She wanted to know if there has been any consideration to increase the funding using the reserve money for the existing groups. Mr. Perez Sanchez explained that at the beginning of each fiscal year there is approximately $84,000 to start with and then Staff meets with the various programs to determine where the funding will go. Also, it depends on which groups get more and which get less funding based on where the needs are. Council Member Holman restated her question in that why Staff does not raise the $84,000 amount to possibly $184,000 a year and allocate that amount to the existing programs expansion. Ms. Gaboury answered that for the existing programs they have reached their capacity in terms of staffing and facility space. The idea of an RFP looking for community partners is to help take some of the burden off of the existing Staff and the operations of a program. Mr. de Geus articulated that Staff is able to manage the programs with the funding amount that is allocated at the start of every fiscal year. The one- time funding is not ongoing and the Staff is looking to partner with other agencies to see what they can provide in addition to the grant program. Ms. Gaboury explained that Staff is looking for something that helps create a significant impact on the teen community. Council Member Holman asked where the reserve money is generated from. Mr. de Geus explained that the original amount of funding goes back to when the Teen Center was downtown. The Youth Council at that time surveyed over 500 teens and they stated that they preferred to have ongoing funding to support programming that changes over time. The City renovated the old Teen Center, leased out part and now 75 percent of the revenue from that space is being spent on teen programs. Council Member Holman reiterated that she still does not know where the reserve funding comes from to get to the $325,000 amount. Kristen O’Kane, Assistant Director of Community Services commented that of the 75 percent of the money that is received from the rent, $84,000 goes towards existing teen programs. Some of it is used to fund Mr. Perez Sanchez position and then whatever is left over from that 75 percent FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 6 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 revenue has been added to the reserve fund over the years because of the rent increases. Council Member DuBois wanted to know where the other 25 percent goes. Ms. O’Kane stated that it goes into the General Fund. Council Member Holman noted that because of the RFP process, some Staff time is going to need to be allocated for that. She explained that she is still not clear why the reserve money cannot be used to possibly expand Staff support or expand the existing programs. Ms. O’Kane explained that Staff could look at that possibility of adding a new Staff member or expanding the existing programs. Ms. Gaboury announced that many of the programs have been assessed to receive a higher amount of money each year to allow for growth of the program. Mr. de Geus explained that the conclusion made about putting out an RFP is to get non-profits involved and have them be able to leverage the reserve fund to help more teens in the community. Council Member Holman stated that she is concerned that the Policy and Services Committee (Committee) would be directing Staff and not the full City Council. Ms. O’Kane answered that the recommendation is to get the Committee’s feedback and that Staff was not looking for a specific action. Mr. de Geus stated that because it is a budget expenditure it would be folded into the operating budget process for how the funds are being spent. That would be a recommendation as part of the Community Services operating budget. Council Member DuBois asked Staff when the rent is adjusted on the leased space on Bryant Street. Mr. de Geus announced that he would have to check with the City’s real estate Staff but rent has been going up annually. Council Member DuBois wanted to know if there are more teens that want to partake in the programs but are unable to because of capacity issues. Ms. Gaboury answered that all programs have been approved that meet the criteria in the grant funds. FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 7 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 Mr. Perez Sanchez concurred that the grant program funds do not always get spent. Mr. Perez Sanchez announced that one of his current projects he is working on for the upcoming school year is to have Think Fund information sessions at the schools. Council Member DuBois asked if the reserve fund is needed or if all of the funds could be spent. Ms. O’Kane articulated that it is good to have some kind of reserve fund just in case there is an emerging need that comes up that has not planned for. Council Member DuBois announced that he agrees that some kind of reserve fund should be in place. In terms of the budget, Council Member DuBois wanted to know if money is set aside to market the existing programs so as many teens as possible are reached. Ms. Gaboury announced that the Think Fund brochures were printed, the website was updated and Mr. Perez Sanchez has been able to use those resources to market the program. Council Member DuBois stated that it is not just the Think Fund so Staff should think about how to market all the programs so that all teens know they are available. In terms of the 2015 ideas that were proposed for the reserve fund, Council Member DuBois wanted to know if there were teen champions behind them or if they were proposed collectively as a group. Ms. Gaboury answered that most of those 2015 teens are now part of the Teen Leadership Committees. Part of the coordinator's roles is to help market the programs and funds are set aside to help that get accomplished. Council Member DuBois commented that in terms of new projects, what does sustainability mean. Mr. Howard answered that sustainability means the project has to fully fund itself after 2 or 3-years. Council Member DuBois voiced that his preference would be to go for a portfolio strategy and do not use the reserve fund for one project alone. He stated that the criteria for the grant that has an amount of $25,000 can be applied also to the search for ideas for the reserve fund. Mr. Perez Sanchez answered that there are four criteria areas that are used for the grant programs. These are quality, originality and creativity of a FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 8 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 program, how it benefits the community, the planning component of it, and then the budget of the program. Council Member DuBois announced that at the City School Committee meetings there has been talk about initiating a program for kids who do not make the sports teams at their local school. Mr. Perez Sanchez stated that the Palo Alto Youth Council implemented a basketball youth program this past school year at both Gunn High School and Paly High School. One of the requirements is that you cannot already be on the school basketball in order to participate. Gunn High School has had this program for 3-years and at Paly High School it was just implemented. Council Member DuBois asked how that basketball program is funded. Mr. Perez Sanchez answered that it’s funded through the Teen Leadership. Council Member DuBois commented that it might be good to expand the basketball program with the help of the reserve funds. Ms. Gaboury announced that some of the teens did apply for a Think Fund Grant to pilot a sports program. Council Member DuBois stated that maybe some of the Think Fund programs could be expanded with the reserve money. Mr. Perez Sanchez explained that some of the programs get expanded with just the Think Fund Grant or they get Teen Leadership and Think Fund Grant money combined. If there is a lot of teens interested in a sports program or any program there are the funds available to allocate to that program to then be able to reach a bigger group of teens. Council Member DuBois articulated another way to get sustainable ideas for the reserve fund is to think about ideas that generate revenue like a teen co-op coffee house for example. Council Member Wolbach asked if the City runs the middle school athletics and if that was legal. Mr. de Geus answered that not to Staff’s understanding. Public schools are required to provide athletics at no cost middle school athletics do not fall into that category. So, because of that reason, the City was able to provide that service to the schools. FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 9 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 Council Member Wolbach stated that having athletic programs and other programs is very important to have for teens and youth. However, he is not sure running the middle school athletics is not in accordance with state law. He stated he feels uncomfortable expanding those programs if it is illegal for the City to run those programs. Terence Howzell, Chief Assistant City Attorney stated that the City’s Attorney’s Office has been engaged with the school districts concerning legal issues of the athletic program that is available to middle school students. Council Member Wolbach articulated that he is very impressed with all the teen programs that are available and the partnership that the Staff has with the local teens. Chair Fine announced that it would be a good idea to look more into the marketing of the existing programs or are there new groups that could be formed. Also, improve what is measured in terms of how many teens are using the programs, is it different students or the same students, and those types of measurements. He wanted to know if Staff had really thought about a co-op or something along those lines. Ms. Gaboury explained that there were surveys, in the beginning, asking teens for their input on which programs they would like and the majority voiced that they wanted to expand on the existing programs. Chair Fine voiced that he agrees with Council Member DuBois that if there are opportunities to grow the reserve fund that may be a good use of the reserve fund in the long term. Council Member Holman noted that she also agrees that the reserve money should not all be spent all at once and that some of it should stay as a reserve. Council Member Holman pointed out that in the Packet the terms used are teen and youth. She asked for some clarity on if it is for youth and teens or just teens. Mr. Howard explained that the focus would be middle and high school students. He mentioned that he would clean up the language so that it projected the impression that the programs are for middle and high school kids. Council Member Holman suggested ideas including art in the parks, music in the streets, and possibly a parade that showcases the floats that the Gun and Pally High School students make. She also stated that an informational FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 10 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 item stating what is going on should go on the Consent Calendar for the Council. Council Member DuBois commented that there are some teachers that run programs and that Staff should reach out to them as well. Mr. de Geus announced that all the programs are meant to facilitate teen leadership and have teens run the programs that they are most interested in. NO ACTION TAKEN 2. 2018 Draft Notice of Funding Availability for Affordable Housing. Chair Fine announced that the City has collected enough Affordable Housing Impact Fees and is now ready to use that money towards a possible affordable housing project. Hillary Gitelman, Planning and Community Department Director announced that the Housing Work Plan that was presented to City Council in February included two tasks related to the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). The funds were most recently used to help preserve the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park but after that project there is $13 million left over. Also, the project on El Camino that supplied 70 units of below-market housing did not use any of the funds and that project was funded through the Mayfield Development Agreement. The Committee received a draft NOFA to review and this draft was based on a NOFA that was issued back in 2014 but no projects were ever funded during that time. Staff’s suggestion is to try to attract proposal that includes new units and that leverages the City’s funds to the maximum extent feasible. This is being accomplished through the evaluation criteria and waiting time that is listed in the draft NOFA that Staff has come up with. Staff is asking the Committee for their suggestions on the criteria, the waiting time, and the rest of the document. After getting feedback from the Committee Staff would issue the draft NOFA after the Committee’s comments were incorporated, proposals would then be received and evaluated by Staff, and then the Review Panels recommendation would come back to the Committee for recommendation to the Council. Council would then be able to select which partners they would like to work with on producing affordable housing. The projects would then go through the regular project approval process before there is a commitment by the City to provide the funds and an agreement entered into to ensure the long-term affordability of the project. Council Member Holman announced that in the Staff report it listed the various ways the funds can be used. These included rehabilitation of existing FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 11 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 affordable units, acquisition of housing units to convert to the affordable unit but the NOFA only talked about the construction of new units. She asked for some explanation on why it only talks about new construction units. Ms. Gitelman explained that Staff read the Council’s discussion about the Housing Work Plan and concluded that there was some desire to develop new units. All of the funds are available though for preservation and rehabilitation of existing units or converting existing market rates units to affordable units. Those are also some options if the Committee wishes to recommend that to Staff and Council. Council Member Holman strongly suggested that the NOFA include all criteria because there could be units that could be saved instead of being demolished. She explains that through multiple conversations with affordable housing developers it is less expensive to convert existing units instead of building new ones. Ms. Gitelman announced that rehabbing existing market rate units and deed restricting them to affordable units can be included in the NOFA. Ms. Gitelman wanted to know if Council Member Holman and the Committee were also interested in adding the preservation of existing deed-restricted affordable units. Chair Fine wanted to know if any of the existing affordable units where terming out in the near future. Ms. Gitelman explained that there is one development identified in the Housing Element that is coming to the end of its agreement but it is owned by Palo Alto Housing. Palo Alto Housing has informed the City that it’s not going to change out of affordable housing. Council Member Holman stated that it does not do any harm to include the criteria for preserving existing affordable housing units. Council Member Holman voiced that the Staff report language on Packet Pages 10 and continuing on Packet Page 12 disqualifies partnering with the Teacher Housing Project and including BMR units as a part of that project. Ms. Gitelman answered that Staff wrote the report thinking that another government agency in the housing business could qualify. Council Member Holman asked for clarification on what qualified organizations means and what the county’s track record is in creating affordable housing units. FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 12 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 Ms. Gitelman stated that the county has a huge housing division that provides money to develop housing and the county has a robust housing program. Council Member Holman reiterated that the way she interpreted the Staff report language it is saying the organization itself develops. She suggests that Staff include some clarification on that point. Council Member Holman asked Staff if the Teacher Housing Program could apply for funding. Ms. Gitelman answered that Staff could receive that application and consider that as a potential partner project if it is deed restricted as affordable. Ms. Gitelman voiced that she agrees with Council Member Holman that Staff makes it clearer in the Staff report that the City is looking for organizations that have expertise in affordable housing. Council Member Holman announced that this item should go on the Council’s Consent Calendar so that the full Council be included from the beginning. Ms. Gitelman commented that she would talk to the City Manager about that. She also stated that when the first NOFA was initiated in 2014, it was not brought to the Council or any Committee. That NOFA as in alignment with the county’s guidelines. Council Member Holman explained that she is happy that Staff brought this item to the Committee but since some Council Members are voicing their opinions on it, the full Council should be able to do that as well. Chair Fine asked if the county's guidelines mention when is the right time to produce a NOFA. Ms. Gitelman answered no. Chair Fine wanted to know if there was anything else that can be done besides an RFP. Ms. Gitelman commented that the City could use the funds without any proposals but this is a way to see who is interested and has some ideas for affordable housing units. Chair Fine agrees with Council Member Holman that the City should invite anyone who has an idea to come forward, not just a few select groups. Chair Fine asked the Committee to voice their thoughts on if the item should go to Council as the next step or skip that step but bring it to Council once 4 or 5 projects have been selected. Chair Fine asked Staff what the City could do to help streamline the projects when they are selected. FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 13 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 Ms. Gitelman announced that there is a statement in the Housing Element that all processing fees will be waived for 100 percent affordable housing projects. Staff is open to suggestions from proposers if there are specific things that would help them be successful. Chair Fine agreed with Ms. Gitelman that it is a good idea if the City hear from the proposers and try to help them with things that are holding any projects up. Ms. Gitelman stated that the reason there is a step to bring the item back to the Committee once Staff evaluates the proposals is because that is consistent with the Council’s direction on the Work Plan. Council Member Wolbach answered Chair Fine’s question of whether a step should be taken out of the process. Council Member Wolbach stated that Committees should put in some work with Staff before things go to Council. He is also in agreement that the City should be open to any kind of proposals that gets the City more affordable housing projects and the criteria in the NOFA should be less restrictive. He also agrees with Chair Fine’s comment that Staff should ask the proposers what the City can do to reduce the costs. Another idea is shortening how many Board and Commission meetings there are in order to help streamline the process for affordable housing projects. Ms. Gitelman articulated that Staff has been doing some outreach to developers and various people who use the City’s Municipal Code to get their input on how to streamline projects. She stated that she is in agreeance with putting in the question of what the City needs to do to help affordable housing projects move quickly through the process in the NOFA. Council Member DuBois asked Staff if the first NOFA that happened in 2014 got any applications. Ms. Gitelman noted that there were two applications. One was from a non- profit developer and one was from an organization that was associated with Buena Vista Mobile Home Park. One thing Staff learned from those applications is that giving a proposer enough time to develop a good proposal will net some great ideas. Council Member DuBois reiterated at Staff is not looking for feedback that would change policy. Ms. Gitelman answered that is correct. Staff is looking for feedback on how Staff prioritizes and make it clear what the City is looking for. FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 14 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 Council Member DuBois stated that he read the Staff report saying newly available however that means would be whether a conversion or construction. He agrees that should be made clear in the NOFA. Council Member DuBois wanted to know if other projects can come in at the same time that is not associated with the NOFA. Ms. Gitelman answered that if it were to happen where the county went around this process with a project the City would have to deal with that when it happens. Council Member DuBois asked Staff to clarify Criteria Number 3 to include the broader definition of making new affordable units to include conversion or construction. Ms. Gitelman explained that based on the Committee’s discussion Staff will be adjusting Criteria Number One and make it a little broader in terms of experience. Council Member DuBois announced that he disagrees and that experience is important. Ms. Gitelman commented that what Staff meant by new affordable units that included conversion of existing units or new construction. Council Member DuBois voiced that he was not sure how the City would count units that are preserved. Ms. Gitelman commented that Staff could add language that said something along the lines of preserving units that are at risk of loss. Council Member DuBois wanted to know how many years of affordability Staff expected for new constructions. Ms. Gitelman answered that it is 55-years or more per the guidelines. Council Member DuBois commented that residential funds did not list conversion of non-residential as appropriate. Ms. Gitelman explained that the funds are used based on what the fees are collected for. If the Committee were interested in changing the guidelines then that would be a Council action and Staff would have to go back and look at the New Nexus study. Council Member DuBois stated that the funds should be used for affordable housing whether that is a conversion of non-residential space or not. FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 15 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 Ms. Gitelman announced that Staff would make it work if there was a project that converted a hotel or motel to affordable housing. Council Member DuBois stated that other than some minor changes the scoring criteria looked good. Council Member Holman asked for clarification if the first step is an RFP or is their outreach first. Ms. Gitelman answered that Staff would reach out to the organizations and entities that would be interested in the NOFA and ask those groups to consider responding. NO ACTION TAKEN The Committee took a break from 7:39 P.M. to 7:41 P.M. 3. Planning for Palo Alto Town Hall Meetings. Rob de Geus, Deputy City Manager announced that this topic is related to a Colleague’s Memo that was put forth in 2015. The spirit behind the Colleague’s Memo is to improve and strengthen the City engagement with community neighborhoods. Staff is looking for recommendations for feedback on the Town Hall meeting structure, why there are Town Hall meetings and what the purpose is. Mr. de Geus and Ms. Chantal Gains visited Mountain View’s Town Hall meetings and discovered that the meetings are very traditional, old-school style Town Hall meetings. Chantal Gains, Assistant to the City Manager announced that Mountain View has about four meetings each year in different parts of the City. The meeting structure is very open and so the public is allowed to ask any questions they want through a comment card. Mountain View City Staff then takes those cards and hands them out to the 25 other Staff members or so that are in attendance at the meeting. Those Staff members then get up and answer the questions that were present on the cards that were handed to them. At the end of the meeting, the Staff members are open to any of the public to come up and ask them additional questions. The Staff also put together community updates which include the biggest things happening Citywide as well as things relevant to that particular neighborhood. Mr. de Geus voiced that the Town Hall Meeting in Mountain View was very one way in the beginning and many members of the public stated they felt that Mountain View Staff did not give full answers. More back and forth conversation happened when the meeting went to its break out period. At that time the public was able to approach Staff members and have a dialog FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 16 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 with them. He noted that the traditional, old-school way like Mountain Views would not be the best fit for Palo Alto. In his opinion, he believed that the most successful community meetings included smaller group conversations and one on one dialog. He suggests asking not just the City Staff and Council Members but also the community for their opinion on what has been the most effective community engagement process. Staff suggests holding a meeting with the community before the Council goes on their summer break to get that feedback. Ms. Gains commented that possibly a Facebook Live could be incorporated into the meetings or other ways of including technology to help reach citizens that cannot be physically present. Council Member Wolbach announced that he was the co-lead author on the 2015 Colleague’s Memo along with Council Member Holman. In 2015 the Committee at the time did make some recommendations to City Council on Town Hall meetings. Those recommendations were approved by the City Council and became a City policy. In 2015 there were a series of Town Hall meetings held towards the end of the year but they were not well attended. In 2016 the Town Hall meetings were pushed to the end of the year and again not well attended. In 2017 no Town Hall meetings were calendared. In 2015 the Policy and Service Committee at the time decided to do a similar version of Town Hall meeting like Mountain View but have less Staff present. Council Member Wolbach stated that he likes Staff’s ideas about a new Town Hall meeting structure but before having a community meeting about how a Town Hall meeting should be structured, there should be a Town Hall meeting about the various hot topics that are in the community. Council Member Wolbach would like to have the current existing policy be implemented fully for 2018 before it’s ruled out as something that does not work for Palo Alto. Also, he suggested having a representative from each of the Boards and Commissions be present at the Town Hall meetings along with City Staff members from every City department. Council Member DuBois voiced that he was also surprised there were no Town Hall meetings scheduled in 2017. He asked Staff’s opinion on why Staff thought the Town Hall meetings were not working with the structure that was laid out in the 2015 policy. Mr. de Geus answered that last year there were a lot of other types of community meetings around specific topics. Also, the Town Hall meetings were not a priority at the time and there was turnover in the City Manager’s Office. Also, Staff though the effectiveness of the Town Hall meetings was not good. FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 17 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 Council Member DuBois voiced that he did not share Staff’s opinion on the effectiveness of the Town Hall meetings. Council Member DuBois noted that he did not think Palo Alto should have Town Hall meetings structured like Mountain View and that it is important to hear from people in a dialog setting instead of a one-way street type meeting. In 2015 the Policy and Services Committee’s deliberation contained discussion about having the meetings be more Council lead than Staff member-led. Council Member DuBois suggested possibly the public being able to submit questions, vote on other people’s questions, and then the top question would get answered. If all the questions do not get answered then the public would be allowed to submit them and Staff would answer them via an email or some other mechanism. Mr. de Geus noted that he has attended local neighborhood meetings and has found them to be very informative. He noted that the neighbors were very appreciative of a senior Staff member coming to them, to their meeting and answering all the question that they had. One suggestion that was suggested by a City Department Manager was to leverage the existing community engagement the City does through events and other things. Council Member DuBois reiterated that neighborhood association meetings are a good way to have City Staff and Council get out of City Hall. Also, that this is important community building and funds should be allocated to it. Mr. de Geus announced that the City Manager does want to have a Town Hall meeting before the City Council takes their break. Council Member DuBois asked if there is a part of the City that has not been reached yet that is targeted. Mr. de Geus stated that there are 36 neighborhood associations and that there are likely to be some that have not been engaged with at all. Some of those associations are dominated by a handful of people and it does not reach everyone in that neighborhood. Council Member Holman stated that when the Colleague’s Memo came out in 2015 there was a very strong roadmap of how these Town Hall meetings should be. Council Member Holman announced that she attended all the Town Hall meetings in 2015 and 2016. Every meeting had four Council Members and questions where submitted ahead of time and the corresponding Staff member from that department was elected to come and speak about those questions. Her opinion was that the meetings were well received and that when the public left they felt like they were connected. Council Member Holman is also in consensus with the other Committee Members that Council Members need to be present, not just Staff. In the FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 18 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 past Town Hall meetings, the City Manager would give a brief overview of the various major projects happening in the City and then the meeting goes move to the topics that the public wanted to address. She voiced that face to face dialog is most important and that the meetings are successful when Council Members are there to answer questions. Mr. de Geus commented that he would like to have both an informational meeting on various things that happen in the City but also have a conversation on the topics that the public is most interested in. Council Member Holman articulated that it is bad when Council Members are not physically out in the community and engaging with the community. In terms of the Mountain View Town Hall structure, Council Member Holman stated that that model sounds expensive and hard to coordinate so she does not support that model. She voiced that the City needs to financially support some of the neighborhoods and that none of the suggested methods in the Colleague’s Memo of 2015 has happened except for one. She stated that she is with Council Member Wolbach that the existing Town Hall policy needs to be tried out before reinventing the wheel and also that she is not in support of having a Town Hall meeting to discuss how Town Hall meetings should be structured. Mr. de Geus explained that it would not be a Town Hall meeting about Town Hall meetings. It would be a Town Hall meeting about community engagement and how City hall and Elected Officials engage with citizens. Council Member Holman articulated that some feedback that she has received from the public is that they do not like being broken up into groups and set down at random tables to discuss major topics. Doing it that way does not provide enough time to develop a consensus among the group as a whole. Mr. de Geus commented that he has heard a different point of view where members of the public are not comfortable speaking up in front of a large group and prefer the smaller groups. Also, they feel it is much less personal when it is a larger group. Small groups need to be managed well in order for them to be effective. Chair Fine agreed with Council Member Holman that the 2015 layout of the Town Hall meeting process was a good one and having Council Members out in the community is a great thing. Also, the City needs to decide what the purpose of those meetings are and how they can benefit questions that Staff would like opinions on in certain areas or projects or topics. He stated that there does not need to be a set plan in terms of geography and to rely on Staff’s gut to know where the Town Hall meeting should be held. In terms of FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 19 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 notification to the community on when these meetings would be and take place, Chair Fine disagrees that the neighborhood associations are not the best outlet for these meetings. He also agrees that having something being spontaneous like the City Hall van is a good idea. He agrees with Mountain View’s structure in that questions are funneled through experienced Staff members and then to be able to look at what are the common themes that people wanted more information on. Then to follow up and post those questions and answers online for the public to view. Chair Fine asked Staff if there has been any thought to bringing in other partners such as Stanford, Palo Alto Unified School District, Teen Services and other various groups. Mr. de Geus answered that Staff has not talked about community engagement meetings with other organization but that it is a good idea and Staff will follow up with that idea. Chair Fine wanted to know what the role of City communications is and that aspect coming out of the City Manager’s Office. Mr. de Geus answered that it is a pretty small unit with only two City Staff. The feedback received from those two City Staff is that they have not been very effective in communications and that they are overwhelmed with a very robust workload. Also, that those two Staff members are not very supportive of the 2015 Town Hall structures. Chair Fine commented that maybe there needs to be more City outreach to the community stating that there are limited communication and outreach resources. Also, that the City would still love to hear any feedback that they have on topics. Chair Fine stated that the Neighborhood Services Officer concept in Mountain View is interesting and could be explored more. Council Member Wolbach articulated that some of the successes he saw with the Town Hall meetings that were held in 2015-2016 is that they were well received and that the community greatly appreciated them. There was some feedback from some senior Staff that it was not worth their time but there was more positive feedback from junior City Staff. Areas that he thought needed to be improved was the planning, noticing, scheduling and the level of attendance. In terms of communication, Council Member Wolbach suggested looking at how the Utilities Department and the Police Department do their communications. In terms of break out groups they can be effective when they are facilitated by a Staff, Council Member or a list of questions. Then having report outs from those small groups that are presented to the whole group to then help the group as a whole come to some sort of consensus. Council Member DuBois commented that marketing for these meetings FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 20 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 needs to be a top priority and that there needs to be a list of topics to hook people in. Also, that Palo Alto citizens give a general feeling that they do not like to manage so Staff needs to find a way that people feel like they are being heard but not managed. Mr. de Geus stated that he agreed with Council Member DuBois that Palo Alto residents do not like to be managed and that citizens want to have a back and forth dialog. Council Member Holman reiterated the importance of having these meetings, to not wait to have these meetings at the end of the year and that she still would like to see the layout that was put forth in the 2015 Colleague’s Memo be implemented more thoroughly. Future Meetings and Agendas Rob de Geus, Deputy City Manager noted that the next meeting would be June 12th. One topic that has been requested by Staff for the next meeting is the Public Works Green Purchasing Policy. The City Auditor has a couple audits that she wanted to bring as well to a future meeting. Also, the Policy and Procedures annual update needs to take place at a future meeting. Council Member Holman stated that the Committee did not want the Safe Parking topic to be an information item. That the Committee would like to see that as an action item. Council Member Wolbach announced that he agrees with that as well. Mr. de Geus voiced that he would talk to the City Manager about that item coming to the Committee as an action item and not an informational item. Also, topics that get put on the Policy and Services Committee agenda is typically a referral from Council or the City Manager and the Chair. Chair Fine stated that the Committee could get an informational piece on safe parking and then ask Council to refer it to the Policy and Services Committee. Council Member Holman wanted to know why there needs to be an extra step in the process in terms of having an item go to Council just to have it referred back to a Committee for discussion and action. Mr. de Geus explained since there are at least two Council Members who are interested in that topic on the Committee, the Chair has heard that and he would bring that up to the City Manager. FINAL SENSE MINUTES Page 21 of 21 Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting Final Sense Minutes: 05/08/18 Chair Fine addressed Council Member Holman and explained that since several different Council Members have differing opinions on safe parking that it would be in the best interested of the City Manager’s Office to speak to the full Council first. Then come back to the Committee with a report that has more information in it on where the City Council stands as a whole. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 8:46 P.M.