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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 3440 City of Palo Alto COLLEAGUES MEMO January 22, 2013 Page 1 of 2 (ID # 3440) DATE: January 22, 2013 TO: City Council Members FROM: Council Member Klein, Council Member Price, Mayor Scharff SUBJECT: COLLEAGUE'S MEMO FROM MAYOR SCHARFF, AND COUNCIL MEMBERS KLEIN AND PRICE REGARDING THE LENGTH OF CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS Problem Our Council meetings are taking too long. Recommendations: 1. We should discuss this problem for one hour at our retreat on February 2. 2. We hope that voluntary changes by Council Members will reduce the length of our meetings over the first half of 2013. 3. If there is no improvement we suggest that at a mid-year retreat Council consider mandatory provisions to limit Council questions and debate time. Discussion At our request the Clerk’s office prepared the attached schedule which shows the start and end time of each Council meeting for years 2008 through 2012. All numbers and charts in this memorandum were produced by its authors based on the attached schedule and we are solely responsible for them. Here are some of those numbers: Year Number of meetings Hours in Meetings Average length of meeting 2008 45 194 4.31hours 2009 47 204 4.34 2010 52 221 4.25 2011 58 256 4.4 2012 52 260 5.0 January 22, 2013 Page 2 of 2 (ID # 3440) Year Meetings started before 6 Meetings ended after 11 Meetings ended after 12 2008 7 18 10 2009 2 21 10 2010 8 26 11 2011 6 25 12 2012 37 27 9 We believe that these numbers show a disturbing trend. In 2012 we spent 66 more hours in meetings than we did in 2008, a 34% increase. In 2012 we started 37 meetings before 6; in the previous four years combined there were only 23 such meetings. Yet in 2012 we still had about the same number of meetings ending after 11 or 12. The average length of a meeting jumped more than a half hour between 2011 and 2012. We acknowledge that there may be many reasons for longer meetings: more extensive reports and more discussions from the public, for example. But the one variable we have direct control over is the time we spend as Council Members asking questions and discussing issues. We risk undermining public confidence in our processes if we can’t get this problem under control. The City Manager has reviewed this memorandum and has no comments. We therefore hope you will join with us in voting to put this matter on the Retreat agenda. DATE: TO: FROM: CITY OF PALO ALTO Office of the City Clerk MEMORANDUM January 17, 2013 Mayor and Council Members Ronna Jojola Gonsalves, Deputy City Clerk 12 SUBJECT: Attachment for the Colleagues Memo regarding Council Meeting Times, Agenda Item Number 12 Please see the attached schedule. It is a compilation of the data from the last five years of Council Meetings. It was inadvertently left off of the Colleagues Memo that was distributed yesterday. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you! City Council Meetings 2008 2009 2010 Date Start End Date Start End Date Start End 1 7-Jan 7:05 10:00 5-Jan 7:12 8:15 4-Jan 7:16 9:00 2 14-Jan 6:00 9:40 12-Jan 7:05 11:20 ll-Jan 6:04 11:36 3 22-Jan 6:00 9:58 26-Jan 6:05 12:41 19-Jan 6:00 8:00* 4 28-Jan 8:20 10:40 2-Feb 6:10 11:59 25-Jan 7:01 12:10 5 4-Feb 5:05 11:10 9-Feb 6:05 12:32 27-Jan 5:30 7:00 6 5-Feb 6:02 7:05 10-Feb 6:00 8:00* 30-Jan 9:00 11:00* 7 ll-Feb 6:04 11:40 18-Feb 6:05 8:50 l-Feb 6:01 11:34 8 19-Feb 6:15 9:45 25-Feb 7:32 10:22 8-Feb 6:01 10:25 9 25-Feb 7:03 8:45 2-Mar 6:06 1:00 22-Feb 7:47 10:15 10 10-Mar 6:30 9:48 14-Mar 8:34 1:43 3-Mar 7:05 10:15 11 17-Mar 6:05 11:50 16-Mar 7:13 1:25 8-Mar 6:00 11:32 12 24-Mar 5:35 12:08 17-Mar 6:02 8:00 15-Mar 6:04 12:00 13 7-Apr 6:00 12:18 30-Mar 6:04 12:12 18-Mar 5:30 6:10 14 14-Aor 6:05 10:40 6-Aor 6:05 10:38 22-Mar 7:46 11:08 15 28-Aor 5:40 11:31 13-Aor 6:00 12:02 5-Aor 6:05 12:21 16 30-Aor 8:04 9:55 27-Aor 7:05 11:58 12-Apr 5:37 10:47 17 5-Mav 6:05 10:26 4-Mav 6:05 8:50 19-Apr 7:01 11:59 18 12-Mav 5:05 11:46 6-Mav .6:00 7:45 3-Mav 5:50 1:26 19 19-Mav 6:05 10:38 ll-Mav 5:33 9:37 4-Mav 6:00 8:00* 20 2-Jun 6:05 9:40 18-Mav 6:35 11:56 10-Mav 5:34 11:44 21 9-Jun 6:05 12:51 l-Jun 7:04 11:10 12-Mav 6:04 9:48 22 15-Jun 12:36 6:50 8-Jun 6:00 11:40 24-Mav 6:07 12:31 23 16-Jun 6:05 9:40 15-Jun 7:15 10:37 27-Mav 6:08 11:50 24 7-Jul 6:02 12:00 22-Jun 7:07 11:32 7-Jun 6:00 12:18 25 8-Jul 6:00 6:45 23-Jun 6:00 7:45 14-Jun 7:38 11:20 26 9-Jul 7:00 9:15 6-Jul 6:00 11:50 15-Jun 6:00 7:00 27 14-Jul 6:05 12:08 13-Jul 6:04 11:27 16-Jun 6:04 9:00 28 15-Jul 5:15 7:15* 14-Jul 6:00 6:35 21-Jun 6:03 11:36 29 16-Jul 6:00 8:00* 20-Jul 7:07 12:35 23-Jun 6:37 10:32 30 21-Jul 6:05 10:40 21-Jul 6:00 7:00 28-Jun 7:03 10:32 31 22-Jul 7:10 8:48 27-Jul 7:07 12:48 12-Jul 6:04 12:24 32 28-Jul 5:35 10:45 3-Aug 6:05 12:45 14-Jul 6:00 7:32 33 4-Aug 7:05 11:34 14-Aug 5:03 5:10 19-Jul 6:05 1:10 34 8-Sep 7:05 9:50 10-Sep 6:00 8:00* 21-Jul 6:00 7:03 35 15-Sep 6:03 12:10 14-Sep 6:00 2:10 26-Jul 5:40 11:44 36 6-0ct 6:30 12:20 21-Seo 6:30 1:05 27-Jul 6:00 7:00 37 14-0ct 6:13 7:14 5-0ct 6:35 1:00 2-Aug 5:33 11:23 38 20-0ct 6:02 12:30 13-0ct 8:00 10:00* 5-Aug 6:05 10:15 39 3-Nov 6:01 11:10 14-0ct 6:00 8:00* 13-Sep 6:07 11:50 40 10-Nov 6:05 12:37 19-0ct 6:05 12:16 20-Sep 6:05 12:00 41 17-Nov 7:01 11:27 21-0ct 6:30 8:00 21-SeJ> 6:00 8:00* 42 l-Dec 7:03 12:23 26-0ct 6:05 12:48 27-Seo 6:03 11:56 43 8-Dec 6:30 10:31 5-Nov 7:03 11:52 4-0ct 6:05 12:10 44 15-Dec 6:05 12:52 9-Nov 6:00 12:30 13-0ct 6:00 7:52 45 16-Dec 5:35 6:45 16-Nov 6:09 11:45 18-0ct 5:20 11:53 46 7-Dec 6:07 1:15 25-0ct 6:00 12:00 47 14-Dec 6:33 1:00 27-0ct 7:00 9:00* 48 l-Nov 6:05 8:50 49 8-Nov 6:37 11:42 50 22-Nov 6:02 12:04 51 6-Dec 6:06 12:20 52 13-Dec 6:00 8:00* 53 54 55 56 57 58 L~LlIIICI\.t::'U Time City Council Meetings 2011 2012 Date Start End Date Start End 1 4-Jan 7:19 8:30 17-Jan 6:10 11:14 2 10-Jan 6:04 11:06 21-Jan 9:05 1:57 3 13-Jan 6:05 9:00 23-Jan 6:02 11:18 4 18-Jan 6:05 10:12 30-Jan 5:35 10:12 5 22-Jan 9:00 2:15 6-Feb 7:02 10:06 6 25-Jan 5:30 8:50 13-Feb 5:30 11:02 7 31-Jan 6:03 9:55 21-Feb 6:00 10:58 8 I-Feb 6:15 7:00 28-Feb 5:00 10:58 9 7-Feb 6:01 12:03 29-Feb 5:00 7:30 10 8-Feb 2:05 7:00 5-Mar 5:30 10:27 11 14-Feb 6:03 11:36 12-Mar 6:00 12:50 12 16-Feb 5:00 7:00* 19-Mar 5:33 11:56 13 18-Feb 4:00 6:00* 22-Mar 5:00 7:07 14 I-Mar 5:01 9:12 26-Mar 5:06 9:52 15 7-Mar 6:04 12:16 27-Mar 5:00 7:00 16 14-Mar 6:03 12:17 9-Aor 5:30 12:12 17 21-Mar 6:05 11:37 16-Aor 5:32 11:56 18 4-Aor 6:02 11:59 23-AJJr 6:00 12:24 19 ll-Aor 6:06 12:40 30-Aor 5:09 8:45 20 19-Aor 6:00 7:00 7-Mav 5:00 11:50 21 27-Aor 4:00 6:00* 14-Mav 5:32 1:06 22 2-Mav 6:01 11:42 21-Mav 7:14 11:08 23 3-May 4:00 6:50 4-Jun 5:36 11:19 24 9-Mav 4:20 10:05 Il-Jun 5:30 11:25 25 16-Mav 7:06 11:24 13-Jun 5:10 8:41 26 6-Jun 6:07 11:16 18-Jun 5:35 11:30 27 13-Jun 6:02 12:21 25-Jun 5:36 12:03 28 20-Jun 6:04 11:27 26-Jun 5:30 10:00 29 27-Jun 6:04 12:40 2-Jul 6:00 10:07 30 Il-Jul 6:05 12:24 9-Jul 5:33 11:03 31 12-Jul 6:00 6:50 Il-Jul 5:00 5:00 32 18-Jul 6:05 12:38 12-Jul 5:00 8:30 33 20-Jul 6:00 10:00 16-Jul 5:35 1:00 34 25-Jul 6:03 11:20 23-Jul 4:39 12:18 35 27-Jul 6:00 10:30 29-AuJ; 5:00 8:40 36 l-Aug 6:00 12:15 30-Aug 5:00 7:30 37 31-Aug 6:05 9:20 4-Seo 6:00 12:07 38 6-Seo 6:05 11:45 10-Seo 5:03 11:53 39 12-Seo 6:03 1:10 18-Seo 5:30 11:50 40 13-Seo 5:30 9:00 24-Seo 5:31 12:31 41 19-5ep 6:04 10:23 1-0ct 7:05 12:08 42 20-Seo 6:05 7:06 15-0ct 5:05 11:03 43 21-Seo 6:03 8:30 22-0ct 5:05 11:07 44 3-0ct 5:05 1:13 25-0ct 6:00 8:35 45 6-0ct 5:00 9:45 5-Nov 6:02 10:33 46 17-0ct 5:35 1:33 13-Nov 5:38 11:35 47 19-0ct 4:05 7:00 19-Nov 5:00 10:04 48 24-0ct 6:03 9:50 3-Dec 5:00 12:35 49 I-Nov 7:03 12:15 5-Dec 5:30 9:45 50 7-Nov 7:00 12:10 10-Dec 6:02 10:58 51 14-Nov 6:04 12:15 Il-Dec 5:02 6:14 52 21-Nov 7:03 8:53 17-Dec 7:05 10:47 53 28-Nov 7:01 11:26 54 5-Dec 6:08 11:45 55 6-Dec 5:05 6:45 56 7-Dec 5:30 7:45 57 12-Dec 6:05 9:11 58 19-Dec 6:05 11:45 * Estimated Time