HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 366-08TO:
ATTN:
City of Palo Alto
CRy Manager’s Report
HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL
POLICY AND SERVICES COMMITTEE
FROM:CITY MANAGER
DATE:SEPTEMBER 9, 2008
SUBJECT: RECOMMENDATION TO CITY COUNCIL FOR APPROVAL OF
PILOT PROGRAM INVOLVING "OPEN CITY HALL" ONLINE SERVICE.
DEPARTMENT: CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE
CMR: 366:08
A
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the Policy and Services Committee recommend to City Council approval
of a pilot program involving "Open City Hall" online service as an additional means to further
engage the residents of Palo Alto in the decision making process and adhere to one of Council’s
top four priorities (Civic Engagement) for this year.
BACKGROUND
On May 19, 2008, members of the City Council discussed a Colleague’s Memo (Attachment B)
requesting support for a pilot program involving "Open City Hall" online Civic Engagement
Initiative. At the meeting, Council passed a motion (7-2) to bring the item to the Policy and
Services Committee to identify and clarify any policy or implementation issues to include: 1)
working with the City Clerk and the City Attorney’s offices to ensure adherence to the Brown
Act and other legal requirements; 2) identifying who will be responsible for framing and posting
the questions for public feedback; and 3) coming up with an initial budget for the pilot program
and funding source. Additionally, the Council wanted to ensure that staff time and resources
would be effectively used in the proposed program to address the issue of civic engagement.
On August 13, 2008, City staff met with two staff members of Peak Democracy, the parent
company of "Open City Hall," via web conference. The meeting allowed staff members,
particularly those new to the project, to better understand the proposed program and to ask
clarifying questions. Staff received a demonstration of an improved version of the "Open City
Hall" online program and discussed with members of Peak Democracy the concerns that were
raised during the City Council meeting.
DISCUSSION
Key features to the updated "Open City Hall" online service include:
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1)’Neutral and Maybe’ Options - Peak Democracy staff has created "Neutral" and
"Maybe", alongside the Yes/No options on the forum, to allow posters to voice their
uncertainties regarding an issue. Posters would be allowed to submit comments along
with these newly added options.
2) Tally Tab - The service has included a ’Tally Tab’ that allows viewers to see an overall
percentage tally of the public’s opinion on the issue.
3) Change in Fees - The cost of using the service has changed from a charge of $50 per
issue/question posted to a monthly fiat rate, which will be explained in further detail
below.
Based on concerns brought up by the City Council, staff engaged in a discussion with the
members of Peak Democracy to furthe~r understand the proposed program’s procedures and
implementation issues. The following are the questions and answers that came out of web
conference."
Who will draft and post the questions to the website?
The proposed method for drafting the questions is to insert the word "should" in front of the
titles of the agenda items that are to be posted on the forum for public discussion. For example,
"Should Council approve [title]?" The City Manager’s Office will be responsible for the process
of coordinating the questions and emailing them to Peak Democracy to upload onto the website.
Will there be a cut-off time to submit comments?
Yes. Staff can determine a cut-offtime for the online public commenting submissions.
How will the comments be monitored?
Those who wish to post a comment must sign up for an account with a legitimate email address.
Posters would then need to login with their account information in order to participate in the
forum. Posters can choose to reveal their identity or remain anonymous. Peak Democracy
implements their own procedures to monitor the comments submitted on the forum. Once a
poster submits a comment, Peak Democracy staff reviews the comment to ensure that the content
is appropriate for posting. If the moderator feels the language of the comment is inappropriate,
the moderator will send the poster an email requesting changes. Once the moderator receives an
acceptable submission, the moderator will post the comment on the public forum. Peak
Democracy staff monitors the "Open City Hall" forum around the clock and will have up to a 4
hour turn around time for all comments submitted.
How long will the postings be kept online?
Staff can determine the length of time postings stay on the forum.
Is there a limit to the number of characters/words that posters are allowed to submit?
No, there is no limit to the length of a poster’s comment. Additionally, posters are allowed to
upload videos of up to 2 minutes in length to the forum. An option to submit photographs has not
yet been added to the forum but is expected to be made available in the near future.
CMR: 366:08 Page 2 of 4
Elements of the Pilot Program:
1)Hosting - The public forum will be hosted on OpenCityHall.com, a website created by
Peak Democracy staff to host city forums. The format of OpenCityHall.com is very
similar to the developer’s current website, OpenTownHall.com, which is used by elected
officials to poll their respective constituents on specific issues. A link will be provided
through the City’s website to direct the public to OpenCityHall.com. Having the forum
hosted on a website outside of the City’s official website would make a clear separation
of the City’s involvement in moderating and controlling the forum. This would help to
address the public’s potential concerns that the City may interfere with the opinions
posted on the forum.
2)Marketing - In order for the pilot program to be an effective tool for civic engagement,
Palo Alto residents must be widely aware of the program’s existence and purpose.
Therefore, staff seeks input from the Policy and Services Committee regarding potential
channels to market the pilot program to the public. Strategic outreach needs to be done in
order to engage the public and encourage participation in the forum.
3)Questions - As part of the pilot program, staff will use agenda items that occur after the
’Consent Calendar’ as discussion questions on the forum. Staff will revisit the
effectiveness of this m~thod during the pilot program.
4)PA Weekly - Distribution and availability of comments submitted through the Peak
Democracy/Open City Hall forum must be consistent with the terms of a 2003 settlement
between the City of Palo Alto and the Palo Alto Weekly related to electronic
communications. The City Attorney’s office has had ongoing discussions with the
Weekly on whether the Open City Hall comments must be printed and distributed in hard
copy to each Council Member and the public. The outcome of those discussions will
shape the distribution and availability policy for comments submitted through the
OpenCityHall.com online forum.
5)Council Members - Peak Democracy recommends that Council Members refrain from
posting. The City Attorney recommends that the Council adopt a policy prohibiting
posting by Council Members directly on the Open City Hall site. The City Attorney
raised issues of Due Process and a potential violation of the Brown Act if Council
Members comment on upcoming agenda items in this format. Of course Council
Members would be encouraged to view the site to see the public’s opinions.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
The recommendations in this report are consistent with current City Council policies.
RESOURCE IMPACT
CMR: 366:08 Page 3 of 4
The OpenCityHall.com online service costs include the following:
One time start up fee: $5,000
Flat rate per month: $200 (unlimited number of posted items)
A 6 month pilot period would cost the City $6,200. Additional staff time would be required in
order to implement the service.
ATTACHMENTS
ATTACHMENT A:
ATTACHMENT B:
ATTACHMENT C:
Elements of Pilot Program to be Monitored
April 7, 2008 Colleague’s Memo
Peak Democracy Presentation
PREPARED BY:
TRAN
Fellow
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL:
CMR: 366:08 Page 4 of 4
ATTACHMENT A: ELEMENTS OF PILOT PROGRAM TO BE MONITORED
To assess the forum’s success in achieving Civic Engagement, staff will monitor several
elements of the pilot program.
Questions - Staff wilt look at the amount of comment traffic that comes through
the website and address any concerns related to the possibilities of the high
volume of public responses for each discussion question. Staff will look at the
feasibility and capacity of resources to include all agenda items that occur after
the ’Consent Calendar’ versus the effectiveness of focusing on only agenda items
that would greatly benefit from public discussions on the forum.
’Neutral’ and ’Maybe’ Options- The effectiveness of having the "Neutral" and
"Maybe" options depend greatly on the comments that the public submit with
their declaration of neutrality or uncertainty. Therefore, staff will evaluate to see
if those options are being utilized to express feedback that gives the Council a
clearer direction on how the public thinks the Council should move forward with
City matters.
Participation - Staff will monitor the amount and extent of participation that the
public forum draws in. The forum should be a space for individuals who are
unable to attend Council meetings to share their thoughts on City matters.
Resources - One of the concerns of the Council is that not only should the public
forum be a truly effective tool to address Civic Engagement, but that it should
also utilize staff time and resources effectively. Therefore, staff will monitor the
amount of stafftime spent on preparing the questions for the forum, as well as any
actions needed after the closing of the discussion item.
ATTACHMENT B: COLLEAGUE’S MEMO
CITY OF PALO ALTO
MEMORANDUM
TO:.
FROM:
DATE:
SUBJECT:
Palo Alto City Council Colleagues
Mayor Larry Klein and Council Members Pat Burt, John Barton and
Yoriko Kishimoto
April ~7, 2008
Colleague’s Memo Requesting support for a Pilot program
involving "Open City Hall" on-line Civic Engagement Initiative
Back.qroUnd:
The City Council has adopted Civic Engagement as one of its top four prioritiesfor 2008. We would like to initiate a pilot "Open City Hall" on-line service to
create another channel to. increase citizen participation in decision-making.
We face great challenge.s in protecting our economic base, re-investing in ourinfrastructure .for the 21= Century, continuing to provide a diverse array of
services, and addressing our generation’s environmental protection crisis.. Wemust be more innovative in soliciting ideas and feedback from our residents and
businesses.
Palo Alto residents have strong opinions and valuable ideas to share, but fewcan regularly attend City Council meetings. Between family obligations and
work, it is challenging to attend meetings, and many find it intimidating to speak
in public.
Proposal:
We propose using our city website to pilot an "on-line" channel for the community
to provide their input about council agenda items supplementing the public input
we already receive. This is the way it would work:
When an agenda is published for an upcoming meeting, substantive agendaitems can be posted to the Open City Hall page of the City website (see
attached). An announcement is emailed to interested Palo Alto subscribers whovisit the page.
Participants can:
* read the agenda item and other information posted by City Officials
* read what other Palo Alto residents and businesses are saying, and
* post their own opinion
If on-line forums are not structured carefully, blog debates can quickly drive away
many civil, thoughtful participants. We propose imp!ementation of a pilot trial of
the Kitchen Democracy forum. From pilot programs including over 3500
participants in the East Bay, the prototype at KitchenDemocracy.org has been
promising in promoting civil discourse through several key features:
* A yes/no f~amework to focus comments towards the issue and away from one
another. Open City Hall would summarize key yes/no questions from a given
agenda item. Participants must classify their statements as "yes’~, "no", "maybe"
or "neutral". This enables the website to display the "yeas" and "nays" on
separate pages, discouraging writers from attacking specific opposing
viewpoints.
* One statement per issue: Participants are limited to one statement per issue.
They are free to change their statement or make it as long as they wish, but not
make multiple statements. This discourages individualsfrom dominating the
forum with multiple posts.
* Anonymous comments from real people. Participants have theoption to sign
their statements or remain anonymous. They are required to confidentially
provide their real name, home address and email address. Along with other
security measures, this free, confidential registration makes it difficult for any
single person to post multiple times under fictitious identities.
Request:
It is our~hopethat the net result is that Open City Hall can significantly increase
participation.
We therefore ask our colleague’s support in directing staff to bring this item to the
Policy and Service Committee to .identify and clarify any policy or implementation
issues such as:
* working with City Clerk and City Attorney’s office to ensureadhe.rence to Brown
Act and other legal requirements
* responsibility for framing and posting the questions for public feedback
* initial budget for pilot program and funding source, with proposed $50 per
agenda item
Open City
The Problem
Even though most Palo Alto residents have strong opinions about Polo Alto issues, it’s tough fitting City
Hall meetings into their busy schedules.
At the same time, busy Palo Alto City Officials can’t talk to every resident, and it can be hard to see
trends in residents’ opinions. ’
Our Response
Open City Hall is a dedicated on-line channel for citizen participation. This meansi
¯busy P~’ Alto residents can participate in the public comment process on City Agenda Items, and
¯busy Palo Alto City Officials can inform residents while seeing trends and good ideas from
residents -
all from the convenience of everyone’s own computer on their own schedule.
www.PeakDemocracy.c0m
The Public Comment Process...
Should the City Spend $2go,0o0 for the Planning Phase of the palo Nto
.
shoulq.the City ~dopt the Below [~arket Rate Housing P~o~ra~ Ordinance?, .
’
~hould the ci~ ~ply for Fundh~g ~om the U~an.Fore~t~ Grant Program?.
How It Works
As soonas the agenda is publishext for an upcoming meeting, agenda items are posted on the Open City "
Hall page of the Palo Alto City website. An announcement is emailed to al! Palo Alt0 subscribers, who
then visit that¯ page and
Read the agenda item and other information posted by city officials,
Read what other Palo Alto residents are saying, and
Post their own opinion.
Palo Alto City Officials can read those statements and analyze trends using Open City Hall an.alysis
tools. In a fraction of the time it takes to listen to comments at city hall meetings, City Officials gather
input from 10 to 20 times as many residents - and from a much broader cross section of Palo Alto
residents, too.
www.PeakDemocracy.com
Busy Palo Alto,City .Officials.,. *
March 10, 2008 City Cotm¢ll MeetincJ .. : .
the City Adopt the BelOw.ShouldIssues
Urban Forest Adoption of an Ordinance v,,-. .’-.Adding Chapter 18.14.
(’Below Market Rate No
Housing Program’) to N.uU~I (Non=)
T~le 18 (’Zoning~L,,H=~* " (None) *
Full Service Solution
No Palo Alto information technology resources required
Open City Hall is available from Peak Democracy as a service. There.is no need to install special.
software or use any internal technology, expertise or infrastructure. Start your Op.en City Hall service
simply by pasting a couple lines of htm! (provided by Peak Democracy) in one of your website pages;
everything, else happens on Peak Democracy’s servers.
No significant Change¯to existing process
Fbllow your existing process for setting and documenting agenda itemsi our Open City Hall service
inserts them into your on-line forums. The only additional task required is to name each agenda item
and write a short yes/no question which starts the community discussion. Peak Democracy will handle
the rest,
/A www.PeakDemocracy.c0m
And For Busy, Palo: Alto Residents.
March 10, 2008 City Co’moil Meeting
Closed Issqos
~ Adopt the Below Market Rate Housing Program O~dlnance?~
,:~.~e~iew ~de: SMtemen~. MyPosi~on"
Click bars to read statements
~solutely, ~y prodding affordable housing,many of the people ~ho work in ~alo ~to :..
would not need to drOe to get to work, This would decrease Palo ~o’s ca~on footpff~.
I say yes
Doe
I say yes
This should be adopted, and be considered as paCtof our disaster pr~parsdness’prQgrar~,
Civil, Civic Engagement
The Internet in general - and blogs in particular - can be nasty and contentious. Open City Hall is not
a biog. Designed to foster civil, civic engagement, Open City Hall is a s, afe place where personal
attacks and off-topic rants happen rarely, if ever.
The ’yeas’ and the ’naYs’ appear on separate pages, keeping Comments focused on the issue, rather than
attacking each other. Moreover, residents can post their Statement signed or anonymously, making it
easy to express an opinion without interfering with important relationships with others in the Palo Alto
community.
Residents are restricted to only one statement per issue, and are required to confidentially provide their
real name, home address and email address to Peak Democracy. Along with other security measures,
this free, Confidential registration makes it very difficult for any single resident to post multiple times
about one issue and dominate the forum.
/A www.PeakDemocracy.com
ATTACHMENT C: PEAK DEMOCRACY PRESENTATION
Peak Democracy Mission:
Agenda
I~1 Define the problem and the ’Open City HallsM’
service
Communi .ty Meetings
City lqall Meetiags. Neighborhood Meetings. etc.)
Open City Hall
Civil civic engagem,-ul
Open City Hall - For City Officials
Civil civic engagemem
Demonstrations" Using Open City Halt
El Late in the decision process
2
~.PcakDcmo~cy.com OVCPACW
Lessons Learned Since March 2008
~ Open City Hall
Lessons Learned Since March 2008
~ We observed in our Open City Hall (OCH)
5
Open City Hall today is more flexible
OpenTownHatl.com
Too btlSy Iol town hall?Say it here insteae
OPEN TOWN
OPEN TOWN HALL
Open Town Hall
Open City Hail Benefits for Residents
~1 Learn about and participate in the decision
process on their ownscheduld from the¯browser. "
:1~1 Presenttheir~opinions without ~reSsu~e of-ti~
-- !imitedpt ~licspeaki~g~_._ --~_
Cl Pdrtici-pat l~non~t~eaten~g ~ent
_/~ Hearhll S ~esOf. ueS~n ,tj
Benefits for City Officials
Benefits for Colnmunities
tnternet tools for community outreach
Feature Compm~son
Internet tools for community outreach
[:eamre (~ornpar[son
B~gs &
Internet tools for community outreach
Featnre Coll~l)al~SOll
Internet tools for community outreach
Internet tools for community outreach Internet tools for commullil3" outreach
intemet tools for community outreach Internet tools %r cominunity outreach
Feamr~ Comparison
Internet tools for community outreach Internet tools for corm~mnity outreach
Feature Comparison
10
Feedback From Residents
~ Kitchen Democracy Issue. Oakland Councihnember Pat Ke,mighanl
121 Nina Home: Thanks, Pat, for building a constructive process for
Feedback From City Officials
NPR ]ntervie~
Feedback Prom City Officials
Kitchen Democracy provides an easy and safe forum for residents to
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