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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-02-13 Policy & Services Committee Summary MinutesPOLICY AND SERVICES COMMITTEE MINUTES Page 1 of 13 Special Meeting February 13, 2024 The Policy and Services Committee of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in the Community Meeting Room and by virtual teleconference at 6:30 P.M. Present In Person: Kou (Chair), Lythcott-Haims, Tanaka (6:55 PM) Present Remotely: Absent: Call to Order Chair Kou called the meeting to order. [Assistant City Clerk Vinh Nguyen 12:10] called roll and declared two were present. Public Comments There were no requests to speak. Agenda Items 1. Approval of Office of City Auditor FY2024 Task 4 Task Orders Baker Tilly Kate Crowley announced she was attending the meeting in place of Adriane McCoy who was no longer with Baker Tilly. She was the partner at Baker Tilly, who oversaw state and local government consulting functions, including internal audit. Baker Tilly was working with Council to determine a process to interview and appoint a new City auditor. She voiced that she and Baker Tilly Chiemi Perry would present a review of the Task Orders and request approval of them. However, starting such would be delayed until the appointment of a new City auditor, so the timeline had been moved as reflected in the Supplemental Memo. Baker Tilly Perry would also provide a quarterly report. Baker Tilly Chiemi Perry voiced that they were requesting approval of up to five Task Orders, which were listed on a slide she displayed. She described each Task Order. She commented that Task Orders attached to the Staff Report, Packet Pages 7 through 26, were replaced with Task Orders on Packet Pages 28 through 47 as explained in the Supplemental Memo on Packet Page SUMMARY MINUTES Page 2 of 13 Sp. Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/13/2024 27. The Task Order dates were changed from January 4 through June 30, 2024, to March 1 through December 31, 2024. Chair Kou asked why the dates were increased from six to nine months and if Baker Tilley was requesting P&S recommend approval of 4.23 through 4.27. Baker Tilly Perry explained why the dates had been increased by three months. They were requesting P&S recommend approval of 4.23 through 4.27. Council Member Lythcott-Haims inquired if the definition of recruitment and succession planning, grant management, etc., was included in the documents. Baker Tilly Perry replied that the Task Orders described succession planning, grant management, etc., at a high level. The document was from the approved Audit Plan, and nothing had been changed since it was approved. Baker Tilly Crowley added that the Audit Plan at the beginning of the Task Order and the third column on the table as part of the presentation provided some detail. Some of the scope language was repetitive from Task Order to Task Order and could be confusing. Public Comments There were no requests to speak. MOTION: Council Member Lythcott-Haims moved, seconded by Chair Kou to recommend the City Council approve the following Task 4 Task Orders: a) TASK ORDER FY24-4.23 Recruitment and Succession Planning b) TASK ORDER FY24-4.24 Grant Management c) TASK ORDER FY24-4.25 Emergency Preparedness d) TASK ORDER FY24-4.26 Utility Billing e) TASK ORDER FY24-4.27 Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI/DSS) MOTION PASSED: 2-0 2. The Office of the City Auditor Presentation of the Quarterly Report for the Period of October - December 2023 Baker Tilly Chiemi Perry furnished a slide related the Quarterly Report for October through December 2023 listing six tasks and key activities, which she detailed. She provided a table showing the status of all audits listed in the FY2023 Audit Plan, which she itemized. Regarding Task Order 4.8, a report would be presented to P&S soon after the Task Order end date, which would be March 31, 2024. They were trying to finalize reports of Orders 4.16, 4.19, and 4.20 with management, and the reports would be presented to P&S soon. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 3 of 13 Sp. Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/13/2024 Chair Kou queried if ADA compliance was being evaluated with just Public Works or if it was citywide and if there was clarity that the product abuse, waste, and fraud hotline related to products, not personnel. She wanted to ensure that the hotline had been vetted, communicated to employees correctly, and that it would be used correctly. Baker Tilly Perry expressed they were currently looking at ADA compliance with Public Works, but it could be extended. Concerning the product abuse, waste, and fraud hotline, they had reviewed the policy, and it seemed that mechanisms were in place, but she did not know how much information has been spread throughout the employees. MOTION: Council Member Lythcott-Haims moved, seconded by Chair Kou to recommend the City Council accept the Office of the City Auditor’s Quarterly Status Report covering October – December 2023. Public Comment There were no requests to speak. MOTION PASSED: 2-0 3. City Council Referral to Discuss and Recommend City Council Procedures and Protocols on: Council Discretionary Expenditures – Consideration of the establishment of appropriate parameters for Council discretionary expenditures and whether to allocate $2,000 annually from the City Council contingency fund for each Council member to decide its purpose. Deputy City Manager Chantal Cotton-Gaines supplied an overview. P&S had not yet sent a recommendation to Council related to this referral. The idea was to use some of Council's contingency funding to potentially have a different use than the current process for part of the Council contingency funding. She summarized some subquestions on Packet Page 51. Public Comments There were no requests to speak. Council Member Lythcott-Haims questioned what past Council practice had been and if there was a logical argument against the recommendation other than not being able to afford $14K a year, which she did not find compelling. City Attorney Molly Stump responded that historically the City did not have such a program. She thought it was an idea, which had been referred to the Committee. A logical argument against the recommendation related to legal restrictions and the need for procedures, so it was not straightforward or simple. It would take a fair amount of work to develop the program. For a relatively small amount of funding, there could be some complexities, and a written policy SUMMARY MINUTES Page 4 of 13 Sp. Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/13/2024 and procedures would be needed to make the expenditures. She noted that the report described some of those issues. Assistant City Manager Cotton-Gains added that when the handbook had been reorganized last year there had been changes related to the Mayor and Vice Mayor making recommendations for use of the Council contingency funding. Council members wanted to explore whether there should be a certain amount of funding of the Council contingency to individual Council members for uses within a policy that would be established. The $2K per Council member figure had been passed as the motion by Council. Council Member Lythcott-Haims stated she had expended personal funds on things she thought of as official duties for support she needed to conduct herself in the Council member role. She did not want to create a burden on staff, but having a little discretionary money for Council members' out-of-pocket expenses felt compelling. Council Member Tanaka discussed some other cities getting a stipend larger than $2K. He noted that Council members do not receive reimbursement for cell phones and that staff received full reimbursement. He paid his own Zoom account for his office hours. He mentioned that a stipend to Council members' volunteers would help show gratitude. He supported this item. He thought $2K was low, and he was open to the amount being equal to Mountain View's. Council Member Lythcott-Haims asked if there was data related to the Mountain View budget and number of people in Mountain View. Council Member Tanaka stated Mountain View's budget was a fraction of Palo Alto's, and they had five Council members, and Palo Alto had more voters. To make less work for staff, he proposed copying Mountain View's policy and dollar amount. Chair Kou wanted to see Mountain View's policy and potentially other cities' policies on appropriating such funding. She thought all Council members spent personal funds in their Council member roles. She was concerned about ethics, AB 1234. She noted that the memo referenced conflicts of interests, and she thought a big part of it was the perceptions of such. She did not know how much staff time would be needed to develop a policy and if it would be worth it for this amount. She had concerns about people possibly using funds for personal gain. If this were to be established, it needed to be closely reviewed for possible improprieties. She suggested the fund be audited to ensure proper use. She questioned how strict this would be and how labor laws applied to assistants and interns on a stipend. City Attorney Stump offered that there was a State law pertaining to this type of use, which was described briefly in the report. There were State law procedures limiting the use of funds to actual and necessary expenses incurred in the course of official duties. There were details in State law about reimbursement for mileage, and documentation must be submitted. A written policy would be needed, and she provided examples of what should be addressed. She agreed that other cities' policies would be a great starting point, but she voiced it should be customized for Palo Alto. They would do some work on it if Council wished. She did not know how labor SUMMARY MINUTES Page 5 of 13 Sp. Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/13/2024 laws applied to assistants and interns on a stipend. She described the methods used in the current situation. Staff would have to research how it would work if public funds were used in part to pay assistants and interns and whether it would include another set of requirements in how they would be identified, selected, managed, etc., including liability. Council Member Lythcott-Haims explained that the big question was who could afford to be a Council member. She thought this was an opportunity to reimburse reasonable expenses, which was an issue of equity, which was a great concern to her. Council Member Tanaka had texted some Council members in Mountain View and was told they received $900 a year for cell phone expenses; $4K for iPads, etc., and then $8K for a total of about $13K a year. He would forward the link to everyone upon receipt. Chair Kou inquired if this item should be continued so the requested information could be brought back to the Committee before making a recommendation to Council. Council Member Tanaka proposed that Mountain View's policy be adopted as a starting point and that Council review, edit, and modify it and increase or decrease amounts. He made a motion to adopt Mountain View's policy. Council Member Lythcott-Haims seconded the motion. Chair Kou did not support the motion as there was not enough information. She explained why she wanted it to be reviewed by staff, the City Attorney's office, and Human Resources. Council Member Lythcott-Haims found compelling the motion maker's argument that Mountain View's policy was comparable. She stated that their policy could be presented to Council for expediency. City Attorney Stump remarked that the conversation had been hlelpful with respect to focusing quickly on a purpose, which would allow next steps to be structured. If this was to proceed in this way, she would need to review Mountain View's policy and advise Council on the issue. Chair Kou indicated that more than one city's policy needed to be considered and that staff, HR, and the City Attorney and City Manager's offices should vet a policy for Palo Alto and not just adopt another city's policy. City Manager Ed Shikada echoed the City Attorney's comments that Mountain View's policy would need to be reviewed, and he advised that procurement, etc., be brought to the attention of P&S and Council. Deputy City Manager Cotton-Gaines explained that other policies that had previously been sent to Council had been of help. The Committee could consider staff working on a policy and bringing it back to P&S for review before sending it to Council or the background work that City SUMMARY MINUTES Page 6 of 13 Sp. Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/13/2024 Attorney Stump and City Manager Shikada spoke of could be taken to Council. She noted that typically, in the past, P&S wanted to spend time on the proposed language. Council Member Tanaka asked if the seconder was open to using Mountain View as a baseline and staff providing comparisons of surrounding cities to Council. Council Member Lythcott-Haims was excited by Council Member Tanaka's suggestion. She wondered if Council doing the comparison would set them up for frustration. She asked Council Member Tanaka if he would accept a friendly amendment that more comparables be reviewed by P&S before presenting it to Council. Council Member Tanaka agreed to that. Assistant City Manager Cotton-Gains stated there should be room on the calendar to bring this back to P&S next month. Currently on the calendar was the Race and Equity update and potentially an audit report. Staff would try to limit the number of items to four with this being one of them. City Attorney Stump expressed there may be constraints in the survey work that could be done to gather other comparables. She was sure some information could be found for the Committee but asked that the Committee be realistic about what could be done in the time frame. They would likely bring forward a number of points for clarification or discussion and not actual policy language until there was feedback from the Committee unless there were no issues or details to work out. She clarified that staff would have two weeks to do the work due to the notification. MOTION: Council Member Tanaka moved, seconded by Council Member Lythcott-Haims to have staff review Mountain View’s Council discretionary expenditures policy as the baseline along with other cities and bring back to Policy and Services Committee for review and further refinement to recommend to the full Council. MOTION PASSED: 3-0 4. City Council Referral to Discuss the Creation of a Citizen Advisory Committee to Evaluate City Council Member Compensation above SB 329 Guidelines Deputy City Manager Chantal Cotton-Gaines announced there was not a formal staff report. The motion that passed out of Council in December 2023 asked P&S to consider whether there should be a creation of a Citizen Advisory Committee related to Council member compensation above SB 329 guidelines and, if so, some of the parameters of interest for that committee. If there was an interest in a ballot measure for the fall of 2024, it would require Council sending it to the ballot by June. Chair Kou queried if the recommendation from Council was whether to create one or that one be created. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 7 of 13 Sp. Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/13/2024 Assistant City Manager Cotton-Gains read the motion from Council, which she considered open to interpretation. City Attorney Molly Stump added if there was to be a recommendation to create one, the questions to be answered were size, selection of members, and what time period should the group be given to provide its recommendation. Council Member Lythcott-Haims added that the motion had four parts, which she read in its entirety. She understood that work of whether the concept would move forward to the voters had been done by Council and that P&S was to determine who would be on the Citizen Advisory Committee and that that committee would decide if Council should receive more than allowed according to SB 329. City Attorney Stump noted that the salary was set in the Municipal Code, which was $1000. The Charter stated salary was set by Council by ordinance according to the rules in State law, and State law had allowed for an increase. She understood that Council would proceed in two steps, and Number 1 was direction to prepare an ordinance, which Council could pass, to raise it to the amount currently allowed, which she believed was $1,600, which was in process and she was hopeful it would be on the Consent Calendar in February or early March, but it could not be effective until January 2025. She understood Number 3 to be a citizen group to explore changing the charter and removing the charter placing a limit, which said Council salary was limited to what was provided in State law. As a charter city, Palo Alto did not have to limit itself. Compensation could be set at greater than the amounts provided in State law. She understood that Number 3 was to explore that possibility. Council had not decided whether to place something before the voters to remove the restriction provided in State law or what to replace it with. The committee would do that. Public Comments There were no requests to speak. Chair Kou stated the first question was whether to have an advisory committee. Council Member Lythcott-Haims recalled that Council questioned whether compensation should be higher than allowed by SB 329, and she thought it was put to P&S to create a Citizen Advisory Committee to make the decision because Council should not make the decision. She thought the question was who and how many should be on the committee and if there was staff to support it. She thought the recommendation should be what the committee would resemble. City Manager Ed Shikada thought the question may come back to what had been done previously. The research to see whether there were examples of a similar effort had not been undertaken. He noted that when the motion was brought forward he had commented that the support to make the November ballot would be challenging and could be a significant undertaking. At the time of the motion, he understood that getting to the November ballot was SUMMARY MINUTES Page 8 of 13 Sp. Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/13/2024 not the driver. Staff was not currently anticipating this, so it would need to be prioritized if it was Council's interest, which would need to be factored into the priority work and choices that would be before Council in early March. Chair Kou indicated evaluating compensation was a big matter. Especially if it looked at full compensation, she questioned if it would involve benefits, retirement, etc. She was happy to hear that getting it to the November ballot was not a driver because she did not believe the process should be rushed. She thought it had to be vetted very carefully and with the public. She queried what timeline would be needed to create a purpose statement and to determine who would be part of the committee and who would be a neutral third party to guide it through. She thought staff and HR would need to guide the process. Deputy City Manager Cotton-Gaines mentioned that the closest example in the last seven years was the Community Advisory Committee related to Rail, which became XCAP. There had been an application process, which staff collected, reviewed, and presented the recommendations to Council who then confirmed members. She added that another option could be each Council member recommending a committee person. Either way, the full Council should confirm the names. However, there was a lot of flexibility in how Council could move forward. Council Member Tanaka explained that caution should be taken in Council raising its own salary. He thought a committee should be very inclusive. He did not think a CAC process would be bad. He thought this should be publicly advertised, asking interested parties to apply, which should be inclusive and not a select group of three people. There should be staff resources to help with research, etc. He thought each step had to be completely independent, so there would not be an appearance of it being self-serving. He felt research should be done to determine what other cities had done concerning pay raises. He did not think the process should be rushed. He felt it was important that the people vote on this issue. He voiced that in general he did not support the idea of a compensation raise, which he felt was very different than Item 3 and out-of-pocket expenses. He wanted transparency to the people. Council Member Lythcott-Haims discussed why she did not think this should be politicized. She suggested folks with significant city governance experience, such as retired city managers in the region, comparable city managers around the region, and/or city consultants who had a sense of various systems, policies, etc., be on the committee. She thought it would be great to have citizens on the committee as well. She voiced this was about what would be fair and adequate compensation for the work, not about whether Council should be paid. Chair Kou suggested there be five or seven on the committee. Council Member Lythcott-Haims proposed there be three to five members. Council Member Tanaka thought the more people the better and that it should be a diverse group. He thought having former city managers or HR people on the committee was a good idea. He detailed why he did not support a small number of members. He thought there should SUMMARY MINUTES Page 9 of 13 Sp. Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/13/2024 be 15 committee members. He spoke of the pros of having a larger committee and having open meetings. City Attorney Stump stated that, since the committee would be created by Council, it would be Brown acted, so a quorum would be needed. Chair Kou thought the committee should be under the Brown Act and noticed to the public. Council Member Lythcott-Haims was happy to have more committee members than she originally stated. She did not want this to go on for 18 months and she did not want to spend more money on this than what would be the dollar increase to Council. Chair Kou mentioned this would take a lot of discussion. She questioned what the timeline should be. Council Member Tanaka thought it should be a very deliberative process and open to the community. He specified why this should not be fast tracked. Chair Kou asked if this would be an hourly wage or a salary. She voiced that PSC should discuss Council benefits and retirement. She thought it would be good to have a former city manager as the moderator. She questioned how much this would cost. Council Member Lythcott-Haims answered that it was a $1,000 monthly salary, moving to $1,600 monthly if the voters agreed. City Manager Shikada asked if the moderator should be viewed as a consultant or a volunteer. He noted that it may be difficult to secure a volunteer. Deputy City Manager Cotton-Gaines replied that doing the ballot measure itself would be a cost. Council Member Tanaka asked staff to research what nearby cities were doing and the process they used to increase Council member salary. Chair Kou questioned if researching the process of nearby cities should be done by the advisory committee. She added that two options to select advisory committee members were community members applying or PSC making recommendations. Council Member Lythcott-Haims felt all the information should be publicly available, and it would not be unreasonable to ask the newly formed Citizen Advisory Committee or Council to gather information, which would mean using less staff time, and it would also inform the committee members about the issue, which would allow them to make an informed decision. She noted that the compensation increase could allow people at a lower income level to serve on Council. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 10 of 13 Sp. Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/13/2024 Chair Kou proposed, if there was going to be a recommendation to create the committee, that there be an application process for 11 to 15 members, that it be a Brown acted committee, that applications be out in 2 to 3 months, and then that the committee make a recommendation in approximately 12 months. She also proposed that the committee do the research related to other cities' processes. Council Member Tanaka queried if there were cities that did not provide compensation. He suggested that the application process be well advertised and that there be a mechanism for feedback even for those who were not applying. Council Member Lythcott-Haims responded that it appeared that Portola Valley Council members received zero dollars. She suggested that a certain number or percentage of members have a government service background, and she elaborated on why that would be helpful to the committee. She explained why it should be clear that no one in the pipeline for service in Palo Alto would be eligible. Council Member Tanaka thought it would be interesting to get the perspective of school board committee members if they did not receive compensation. He again suggested there be 15 members. Deputy City Manager Cotton-Gaines asked if members would be approved by Council. Chair Kou confirmed that members would be approved by Council. Council Member Tanaka asked how the process would work. He proposed that anyone serving on the committee not be able to be a Council member in the future. Council Member Lythcott-Haims did not know if one's future plans to run for office could be restricted. She suggested exempting those who were currently on boards and commissions. She thought it was important that members reflect a broad spectrum of socioeconomic diversity, and she wanted that reflected in the motion. Deputy City Manager Cotton-Gaines suggested that it be recommended that these committee members not run for Council the fall after the work was done, but she retracted her statement. City Manager Shikada spoke of the application possibly asking whether an applicant had municipal experience; however, the socioeconomic diversity may be tricky on an application. As for the selection of committee members, he spoke of how members of the Housing Element Working Group had been selected. He thought that was more complex than what was being envisioned here. However, if more categories were added, the selection could be more complicated. Chair Kou asked if an application could ask one's profession. City Manager Shikada responded that an application could ask one's profession. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 11 of 13 Sp. Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/13/2024 Deputy City Manager Cotton-Gaines pointed out that the question of socioeconomics was more complicated than asking someone's employment. She explained, for example, that current employment or income could not be asked in doing the board and commission member survey. Staff had a few ideas that could help determine levels of wealth, which would be discussed with P&S next month in the Race & Equity update. Council Member Lythcott-Haims indicated that open-ended questions could be asked, like college admissions, etc., and stating that representation was being sought from a broad swath of the community and for applicants to let it be known if they had experience being lower income. She added that the want could be signaled on the application. Chair Kou noted that could be part of the application without asking a question that would invade privacy, etc. Deputy City Manager Cotton-Gaines thought asking whether someone identified as low income may be another way to get the information being sought. Mayor Kou thought the application would signal for low income versus asking the specific question. Council Member Lythcott-Haims suggested, for example, the application solicit experience of being low income in Palo Alto, but she would ponder that. On another note, she thought the committee would decide if there would be an increase above the proposed $1,600 and what the increase should be, which would be put to the voters. City Attorney Stump clarified that the $1,600 did not need to go to the voters and Council could do that by ordinance. The compensation increase at the SB 329 maximum amount would come to Council on Consent for approval. Council Member Lythcott-Haims thought it should be made clear that the committee would determine if compensation for Council members should be increased above the State maximum of $1,600 monthly and, if so, what the increase should be. Discussion ensued concerning the language of the motion related to committee members having a diverse socioeconomic status. Council Member Tanaka specified that it was important that the possible compensation increase be a ballot measure. Chair Kou asked if there was to be an increase above the SB 329 guideline, for example $5,000, if Council would decide that or if would it go to the ballot. City Attorney Stump explained what would be required to go to the ballot, which was related to what the charter currently said, and she explained that Council, an independent commission, etc., could change the language/dollar amount in the charter. A simple majority was needed to SUMMARY MINUTES Page 12 of 13 Sp. Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/13/2024 place it on the ballot and to adopt it. A simple majority would be needed for the voters to change the charter. City Manager Shikada asked, if this passed unanimously, if it should go to Council on Consent or if there should be a full Council discussion of the parameters. Chair Kou wanted there to be a full discussion. MOTION: Council Member Lythcott-Haims moved, seconded by Council Member Kou to recommend the City Council creation of a Citizen Advisory Committee to evaluate City Council Member compensation above SB 329 guidelines with the following parameters: • An application process for 15 members; • Brown Act committee; • 2-3 months for application process to get applicants (make sure it is well advertised); • Once constituted, the committee shall conclude its work within 12 months and recommend to Council whether compensation for Councilmembers should be increased above the state maximum of $1600/month and if so, what that increase should be. Committee shall research comparable cities to determine how other cities provide salary increases to their councilmembers; • Committee should be broadly representative of the Palo Alto communities and shall have at least 4 members who have former municipal government experience to help scope context; • No one currently in the pipeline to run again; • If an increase is recommended, have a recommendation to Council for ballot measure. Council Member Tanaka disagreed with increasing the salary, but he felt the process was on the right track. Chair Kou agreed with Council Member Tanaka. She did not favor a salary increase, but she supported the motion so it would go to Council for discussion because it needed to be advanced and it was a directive from Council. It would return to Council to be vetted and whatever happened, it would go to the voters. Council Member Lythcott-Haims appreciated the Committee's comments and it being critical that the community be able to consider this for an extensive period of time. She asked Chair Kou and Council Member Tanaka to comment on not supporting a compensation increase. She asked them how many hours a week their service took. Chair Kou replied that she ran for Council to provide a public service. She valued community, giving back, and representing the people. She had learned much in her position and working with staff, fellow Council members, and the public, which satisfied her. Compensation was never what she wanted. It was a fulltime job, so she made adjustments with her own job. The time put in depended on what one put into being a Council member. There were set hours for Council meetings, etc., but she also took time to speak to constituents. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 13 of 13 Sp. Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 02/13/2024 Council Member Tanaka responded that he had voted against this the last time it came up. He viewed being a Council member as a volunteer position. He was doing it not for the money but because he wanted a great community and wanted to make it better. He considered at a way to give back, not as compensation. He voiced that he had always volunteered because giving back and getting involved built communities. He encouraged others to get involved. He did not look at this as a career or a way to build wealth. He thought democracy functioned better with rotation and with citizen politicians versus professional politicians. He clarified that he viewed this differently than expenses because money should not be lost in doing this. He hoped whoever served in the future would serve to help the community, not for the money. He thought rotation and a service to the people should happen at all levels of government. He considered this a passion project, and he did not track the hours. Council Member Lythcott-Haims stated she put in about 30 hours a week, which was a conservative number. She agreed that being a Council member should be service, and it was her passion. She was not suggesting anyone be a Council member for compensation. She wanted there to be awareness that some could not do a passion project due to lack of compensation. She supported this because she did not want the City to be governed by the wealthy. A higher compensation might allow recruitment of those who presently could not serve the City. Council Member Tanaka discussed spending his leisure time serving the City and not being wealthy. He did not know if one had to be wealthy to give back to the community. MOTION PASSED: 3-0 Council Member Lythcott-Haims suggested there be summary minutes of the conversation related to Item 4, which could help inform Council. Deputy City Manager Chantal Cotton Gaines responded they would provide summary minutes if available. Future Meetings and Agendas Deputy City Manager Chantal Cotton Gaines stated that she would be working with the Chair offline. The Work Plan for the Committee would be included at the March 4 discussion when the 2024 Council objectives would be reviewed; the summary of the recent equity work; and the follow-up to the discretionary funds referral item that had been discussed today. She also anticipated one audit item. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 P.M.