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Home My WebLink AboutStaff Report 3513 City of Palo Alto COLLEAGUES MEMO February 04, 2013 Page 1 of 1 (ID # 3513) DATE: February 4, 2013 TO: City Council Members FROM: Council Member Schmid, Council Member Klein SUBJECT: COLLEAGUES MEMO FROM COUNCIL MEMBERS KLEIN AND SCHMID REGARDING ANNUAL COUNCIL REORGANIZATION MEETING Problem: Our present practice of holding our annual Reorganization meeting on the first business Monday in January creates legal and practical problems. Proposed Solution: Council to direct staff to prepare the necessary Resolution or Ordinance to set the first business day of the calendar year as the date for the swearing in of new Council Members, the election of the Mayor and Vice Mayor and the recognition of departing Council Members/Mayor/Vice Mayor, with no other business to be transacted at such meeting. Discussion: Under our Charter terms of outgoing Council Members end at midnight on December 31. New Council Members cannot act until they are sworn in. By delaying the swearing in until as late as January 8 we run the risk of not having sufficient Council Members on hand to act if an emergency should arise. Further, when the Mayor is a departing Council Member, as was true in 2012, he/she cannot serve in that position past December 31. If both the Mayor and Vice Mayor were departing Council Members we would have no person in those positions until the Reorganization meeting. Our present schedule also creates an unnecessary delay in getting down to business in January. The newly elected Mayor cannot make appointments until she/he is in fact chosen. This delays such appointments until mid-month. Further, by using the first business Monday solely for swearing in and reorganization we leave ourselves with only two Mondays (three when January has five Mondays) in January for regular business meetings, since the Martin Luther King holiday falls on the third Monday each year. At the very time when enthusiasm is high- particularly in years when new people are joining the Council - we in effect are dawdling. Please join us in supporting this simple change in our schedule.