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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 2312-2321CITY OF PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL Special Meeting Monday, March 18, 2024 Council Chambers & Hybrid 5:30 PM     Agenda Item     13.Discussion and Direction Regarding the City Council Procedures and Protocols Handbook - Annual Discussion as Recommended by the Policy & Services Committee Item Removed Off Agenda City Council Staff Report From: City Manager Report Type: ACTION ITEMS Lead Department: City Manager Meeting Date: March 18, 2024 Report #:2312-2321 TITLE Discussion and Direction Regarding the City Council Procedures and Protocols Handbook - Annual Discussion as Recommended by the Policy & Services Committee RECOMMENDATION The Policy and Services Committee recommends that the City Council discuss potential substantive edits, changes, and revisions to the City Council Procedures and Protocols Handbook (CPP or Handbook). These suggestions were discussed at Committee in November 2023 and the Committee forwarded them all to the full City Council for review and discussion. After City Council discussion and direction regarding the items of interest, staff can return with complete text for review at a future meeting submitted directly to the full City Council or through the Policy and Services Committee, if so assigned. BACKGROUND The Municipal Code provides that the City Council shall adopt “a handbook of procedural rules governing any aspect of the conduct of meetings and hearings for the Council and its standing committees, including but not limited to, agenda requirements, the order of business, rules of order, rules of evidence, closed session procedures and rules for public participation in meetings” (PAMC section 2.04.100). The City Council adopted the first version of the City Council Procedures and Protocols Handbook in the early 2000s and have made modifications over the years. The Handbook calls on the City Council to review its procedural rules and protocols annually (CPP, Procedures Section 8.1). This is typically done at the City Council’s January/February retreat (or soon thereafter depending on agenda availability). The Handbook has been amended numerous times over a 20-year period with updates to particular sections, but the Handbook had grown hard to follow. As a result, the whole document was revised, reorganized, and reformatted in early 2023. This was a significant effort, led by the City Council, to improve Handbook readability and ease of use for City Council Members, Staff and the public. Final action on this most recent version of the Handbook was on April 24, 20231; the Handbook is online at: https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/Departments/City-Clerk/City-Council (scroll to the bottom of the page). Through that revision process, the City Council made seven (7) referrals to the Policy and Services Committee on various topics. The City Council discussed and approved language related to those referrals at various City Council meetings in early 2024 (February 26 and February 5) 2. Staff will provide an updated version of the Handbook as a supplemental report to this report and will also upload it to the aforementioned link. The Policy and Services Committee discussed the suggested edits (Attachment A) for this annual discussion at its November 14, 2023 meeting3 and provided some initial thoughts on the topics. The Committee did not prioritize the items but rather did an initial review. The minutes summarizing the Committee discussion are included as Attachment B to this report. ANALYSIS The Handbook describes the way the Palo Alto City Council conducts its business and is a directional guide (PAMC section 2.04.100). It is intended to accomplish two goals: first, the Handbook is an informational guide for anyone doing business or appearing before the City Council. Second, the Handbook is a compilation of procedures and protocols that have been formally adopted by the City Council. Municipal Code 2.04.100 states the following related to the handbook: Municipal Code 2.04.100 - Handbook of procedural rules The Council shall adopt by resolution a handbook of procedural rules governing any aspect of the conduct of meetings and hearings for the council and its standing committees, including but not limited to agenda requirements, the order of business, rules of order, rules of evidence, closed session procedures and rules for public participation in meetings. The handbook of procedural rules shall be deemed guidelines and failure to comply with any procedural rule shall not be the basis for challenge to or invalidation of any action of the council, nor shall they be construed to create any independent remedy or right of action of any kind. Staff solicited the City Council for suggestions related to the annual discussion of the Procedures and Protocols Handbook (Handbook) in November 2023. Staff also compiled a list of staff-generated potential changes based on observations throughout the year. These 1 City Council April 24, 2023 Agenda Item 6: https://cityofpaloalto.primegov.com/Portal/Meeting?meetingTemplateId=12660 2 City Council February 26 Agenda Item 15: https://cityofpaloalto.primegov.com/Portal/Meeting?meetingTemplateId=13357 City Council February 5 Agenda Item 13: https://cityofpaloalto.primegov.com/Portal/Meeting?meetingTemplateId=13345 3 November 14, 2023 Policy and Services Committee Item 3: https://cityofpaloalto.primegov.com/Portal/Meeting?meetingTemplateId=12180 suggestions from City Council and staff are all included in Attachment A. These suggestions are included for City Council consideration and discussion. Staff requests City Council review of the list of suggested Handbook changes. FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT Depending on the nature and extent of the new/edited procedure or protocol revisions sought, the actual revision language could involve a moderate amount of staff resources to draft. STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT The items included in Attachment A reflect feedback from Staff and the City Council. Staff received Handbook feedback from the City Council prior to the November Policy and Services Committee discussion. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW City Council action on this item is not a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because revisions to the City Council Procedures and Protocols is a continuing administrative or maintenance activity. CEQA Guidelines section 15378(b)(2). ATTACHMENTS Attachment A: City Council and Staff Proposed Changes to Council Handbook, as of Nov. 2023 Attachment B: Policy and Services November 2023 Summary Minutes APPROVED BY: Ed Shikada, City Manager Attachment A – Page 1 of 2 Attachment A – Suggested Handbook Changes for 2024 Handbook Revisions Changes are as of late 2023 Note: Staff has not yet determined the exact sections to which these suggested changes will apply if the City Council chooses to include them as changes. In an effort to keep the revised Handbook organized, Staff requests the ability to draft the exact language and evaluate the best placement within the Handbook document as an administrative task and to bring the suggested final language to City Council for the items that the City Council chooses to advance from the list below. Suggestions from Council Members (as of November 2023): - Kou: no proposed changes - Stone: no proposed changes - Tanaka: no proposed changes - Veenker: o Revisit discussion on remote participation for public comment (audio and video) o Procedures Page 14 (Sec. 3) Order of the Agenda: Consider adding a land acknowledgement at the start of meetings - Lauing: o Procedures Page 30 (Sec. 5.1(b)1 says “The Council limits the total time up to 30 minutes per meeting for General Public Comment.” We sometimes don’t abide by that. Should we abide by it strictly or have an exception clause (such as “at the Mayor’s/Presiding Officer’s discretion the 30-minute limit can be extended”)? o Consider eliminating call-in public comment. - Lythcott-Haims: o Procedures page 30, Sec 5.1(a)(1) Mentions that the public can access the meeting online. Given recent events, I feel we should discuss whether to discontinue online public comment for items not on the agenda. o Procedures page 34, Sec 7(b) says there is a 2-3-year time limit on City Council priorities. This limitation was of concern to many of us last year. Feels like we should discuss. o Procedures page 34, Sec 7(b) also says Council will provide (only) 2-3 specific objectives within a priority whereas this year we had many more. We should discuss whether we are going to hold to this expectation in coming years or whether we need to amend the handbook. - Burt: o We don’t have anything under the Consent Calendar on how long the members of the public get to speak if speaking on multiple Consent items. I recommend limiting it to 3 minutes total and it can be reduced according to other procedures on public speaker time reductions. Attachment A – Page 2 of 2 o When Council members vote no on a Consent item and get to speak about their no vote, we do not have a time limit set for them. I recommend it be limited to 3 minutes total, no matter how many items a Council member has voted no on. o Council members’ use of public-funded events for their own political purposes: need to clarify rules on this per FPPC. o Protocols Page 37, Sec. 1.4(b)1: Council members should address each other with formal titles. We should update this section to address that Committee meetings can be less formal. o Procedures Page 6, Sec. 1.2(d): Under CAO Committee, there is nothing about an annual responsibility to schedule CAO performance evaluations. Language should be added to address this scheduling responsibility for this committee. Also should add that the CAO committee can review the contract on who will do the CAO reviews as well as review and recommendation to Council related to CAO recruitments. o Agenda setting for Committee Business: the CPP does not spell out how Committee agenda setting is done. It should say that Committee agenda setting is done between the staff and the Committee chair based on the Council referrals and annually assigned items. Can also include that agenda setting will include items within the Council guided delegated topics of the Committee. o New recommendation: That a Committee would be able to make recommendations to the City Council for a Committee to be able to discuss/explore a specific topic instead of always using a Colleagues’ Memo to Council to get a topic delegated to the Committee. Note from Staff: For the Committee’s consideration when looking at the suggestions related to remote / call-in participation, it should be noted that the City Council may revise its procedures by ending (either indefinitely or temporarily) the call-in option for public comment. Doing so, however, would foreclose the ability of City Council Members to use streamlined noticing procedures under AB 2449 where there is just cause or emergency circumstances. To use streamlined remote attendance procedures under AB 2449, the agenda must provide an opportunity for all public comment via a call-in option, an internet-based option, and an in- person option. (Government Code section 54953 (f)(1)(C)). Proposed Changes for City Council Handbook from Staff (as of November 2023): A. Establish a protocol related to the gifts the City can receive from international partners such as Sister Cities. The intention is to set a maximum amount of a gift that a City representative can receive on behalf of the City. This would also include a note that City officials cannot accept hotel accommodations from an international partner. B. Establish as a procedure, additional guidance for proclamations, specifically identifying guidelines on if and why proclamations can be brought forward. C. Note: The suggestion related to additional ad hoc committee guidelines has been removed for the March 2024 City Council discussion POLICY AND SERVICES COMMITTEE SUMMARY MINUTES Page 1 of 14 Regular Meeting November 14, 2023 The Policy and Services Committee of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in the Council Chambers and by virtual teleconference at 7:00 P.M. Present: Tanaka (Chair), Lauing, Veenker Absent: Call to Order Vinh Nguyen called roll and noted three were present. Chair Tanaka called the meeting to order. Public Comment There were no requests to speak. Agenda Items 1. Recommendation to the City Council to Adopt an Urgency Ordinance and an Interim Ordinance That Allows the Director of Planning and Development Services to Extend Planning Entitlements up to an Additional 18 Months Until the City’s Housing Element is Certified by the State Department of Housing and Community Development. Environmental Review: Exempt from CEQA in Accordance with CEQA Guidelines 15061(b)(3). Planning & Development Services Director Jonathan Lait announced that this was a request to bridge the gap between some planning entitlements that would lapse in December and one in January. Approving the ordinances would allow for an 18-month extension of the planning entitlements. He commented that the homebuilding environment had remained volatile, so some projects had not moved to the building permit phase. It was anticipated to be a short- term measure. They were not requesting a change in the code. There were two ordinances for the Committee’s consideration, which were essentially the same – one an urgency ordinance, which would take place immediately and be valid for 45 days, and the second was essentially the same but would require a first and a second reading. It would not be effective by the time of the lapsing of the planning entitlements and was why they were requesting both ordinances. If there was support by the Committee, staff planned to include it on the Consent Calendar for the City Council meeting in December. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 2 of 14 Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 11/14/2023 Public Comments Megan Watson with Grubb Properties, which owned 788 San Antonio, thanked the Committee for the prompt response to the entitlement extension request. Their entitlement was to expire January 6, 2024. They supported the goals of both ordinances but requested the HEU process be struck from Section 2 of both ordinances, and she detailed the reason for the request. Theu asked that it be modified and the authority be sunset on December 31, 2024. They had submitted an email detailing the technical language. Council Member Veenker asked if staff had a response to the public comment. She asked if there could be language added to indicate there could be an extension for good cause shown. Director Lait expressed this was not intended to be a long-term ordinance, and he thought connecting it to the Housing Element reflected the City relying on these sites for housing opportunities. The projects identified in the Staff Report would receive an 18-month extension. He was unsure about other applications between certification and the end of 2024 and what it would mean for those projects if certification should happen sooner. He hoped folks were mindful of their entitlement expiration dates and coming in for extensions. There would be no [inaudible] if the Committee felt extending it through 2024 was appropriate. He thought it would be fine to add language indicating there could be an extension for good cause shown. Council Member Lauing did not see any downside to this. He queried if this would be precedent setting beyond the scope of the ordinance. MOTION: Council Member Veenker moved, seconded by Council Member Lauing to recommend the City Council forward a recommendation to the City Council to adopt the two attached ordinances (Attachment A & B), with the amendment that the language “and for good cause shown” be added in section 2 of the proposed ordinances after “his/her discretion” and that the sunset date would b e December 2024 and not the HCD approval of the Housing Element. MOTION PASSED: 3-0 2. Staff Recommends the Policy and Services Committee Recommend the City Council Accept the Status Update of the Audit of the Building and Permit Review Report Planning and Development Services Director Jonathan Lait introduced Senior Operations Manager Sarah McRee, who was involved in the permitting operation from system improvements and making changes to that and had been working on refinements to address the audit being reported on at this meeting. He also introduced Chief Building Official George Hoyt. Senior Operations Manager Sarah McRee mentioned that she would provide a status update on the 17 recommendations from the Building and Permit Review Audit. She declared that she would be discussing the background, three key areas of improvement, next steps, and the SUMMARY MINUTES Page 3 of 14 Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 11/14/2023 recommendation. She outlined the 3 objectives that had been presented in June 2022, which resulted in 17 actionable recommendations for implementation. She furnished a slide listing the 17 recommendation statuses. For the purpose of the update, staff had grouped the recommendations into three key areas for the discussion – a staffing model, technology and customer accessibility of information, and process training and operations. She noted that nine recommendations had been completed, seven were in progress, and one had not been started. She presented a slide related to the staffing model and noted that the initial six recommendations were rooted in the staffing model for building inspection and plan review services. She detailed what the recommendations required. She spoke of building inspection and its services. Throughout the pandemic, there had been a shift in the labor market, which she elaborated on. She presented a chart showing vacancies, and she stated that wait times had increased due to lacking staff. Historically consultants had been hired to augment services, but they had not been able to secure consultants during that time. Planning and Development Services (PDS) had met with eight of the City’s on-call firms and learned that there had been a shortage of building inspectors. The City had instituted a training program, so there was a pipeline for potential staff, which had reduced wait times and improved service delivery. She noted that the last three building inspector hires had been part of the consultant trainees. The City was previously in a hybrid model and there needed to be transition to in-house staffing, so two FTE inspectors had been added in the last year, and a new classification of a senior building inspector had been created and positions reclassed to allow flexibility in recruitment strategy as well as for retention. Temporary, part-time staff had been dedicated administratively to help support and expedite recruitments. All these activities resulted in inspections within 48 hours of a request. The plan review function was supported by many departments. There were three main areas within PDS. She provided a graph showing the vacancies in all the programs, which impacted review times. Focusing on the building plan reviews, the program was previously 100% contracted out to consultants, and they had experienced same challenges. The program needed to be transitioned to a hybrid model, and they added 2.0 in-house plan check engineers, created a new classification for a senior plan check engineer, and reclassed all positions. The percentage of on-time reviews had increased due to hiring one in-house staff. Staff expected continued improvement as the second vacancy was filled. Through the structural changes made, six listed recommendations were complete. They were positioned to monitor and make adjustments as needed. The second key area of improvement had been grouped as technology and customer accessibility of information. There were five recommendations to address how information and guidance was provided to customers through the technology platforms. Over the last year, substantial improvements had been made. They continued to evaluate the technology used. This year they had completed a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the electronic document review system. She detailed the changes that had been made to the website. The submittal checklists and requirements had also been reduced. A user navigation guide had been created and published for Accela Citizen Access (ACA). They continued to look for opportunities to streamline the application process, and that had been done in the SolarAPP+ and instant permits. Heat pump water heaters had been added as part of qualifying instant permits, and permits could be obtained on the website. She noted that 450 instant permits had been issued July through November of 2023 and only 551 had been issued in SUMMARY MINUTES Page 4 of 14 Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 11/14/2023 totality last year. They hoped to add more permits in the next six months. All the changes had streamlined efforts for applicants. User access had been improved for the website and the ACA where possible. Although many recommendations had been addressed, PDS identified four of the five recommendations as in progress because technology would continue to be updated, and they hoped to bring those forward in the next iterations. They would continue to develop fillable forms in the online permit system, and they were exploring third-party wizards and applications to improve that system. They wanted to expand instant permits to include heat pump mechanical residential replacements and residential bath and kitchen remodels. Chair Tanaka thought this would help increase efficacy. He voiced that a big source of building permit process complaints was the lack of knowledge transfer from planner to planner. He added that the private industry used a CRM system to solve the problem. He requested Senior Operations Manager McRee speak about the lack of knowledge transfer. Senior Operations Manager McRee replied that a CRM system was not being considered currently. She thought it would tie into the next area of developing standard operating procedures. Accela was limited in the functionalities, so it was not meant to be a CRM system. A CRM was something they could explore. She continued to speak of key areas of improvements. She shared a list of six recommendations, which tied into updating the internal processes, documenting internal procedures, and training staff , which was to increase quality control and consistency in the application and permitting process. Over the last year, they looked at the permitting process from beginning to end from the customer and the staff processing perspectives. She outlined areas of improvement they had made immediately. She highlighted that over the summer they had an appointment pilot program, which was to understand if required appointments would be beneficial. Currently virtual and in-person appointments were offered, but they were not required. An area the audit focused on was training, and some of the changes made in building inspection and plan review programs allowed some of the capacity challenges related to dedicating time for training. Staff now had the ability to train beyond minimum certifications, and they were bringing in training beyond technical expertise. A department-wide customer service mandatory training was held last month. She supplied a summary slide outlining her presentation on process, training, and operations. Work was ongoing, and they were not done making changes, so once the changes were complete, training materials needed to be developed and standard operating procedures created. The PDS strategic plan had not been started, and it would begin upon completion of the majority of the substantial changes. Council Member Lauing queried if there were results to report on the pilot. He questioned if there should be follow-up done to ensure customers understood the process. He asked if direct outreach could be done, which he thought should be included in the processes. He suggested spot checking with customers to get their input concerning the process. Senior Operations Manager McRee did not have the pilot information for this meeting. She commented that it had been interesting, and she detailed what had been done. The next phase was a work in progress, but it would focus on certain permit types that might benefit from an SUMMARY MINUTES Page 5 of 14 Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 11/14/2023 appointment. Concerning follow-up and direct outreach, staff had been actively monitoring applications, and they had started proactively reaching out to applicants in certain circumstances. She noted that the simplified checklist helped. They had customer surveys for almost every area of the department, and they were trying to print survey cards so they could provide a survey card to a customer every time they interacted with a customer. Council Member Veenker asked if staff reached out every time an application was not accepted and how that had gone. She thought it was a great practice. Senior Operations Manager McRee indicated they did reach out every time an application was not accepted. Chief Building Official George Hoyt expressed that, according to staff, reaching out to applicants had gone fairly well. It could be very beneficial in providing needed clarification to staff, which would allow the customer to complete their application. To give it a personal touch, they were also promoting more phone calls versus email. If there was a communication email disconnect, customers were invited in for a virtual or in-person meeting. Chair Tanaka loved how they were doing surveys, and he liked how they were trying to solicit feedback. He thought their survey results should be published because it could be inspiring for staff and the public. He spoke of organizations having incentives for filling out surveys. He asked what was being done to incentivize participation in a short survey to get somewhat continuous feedback. Senior Operations Manager McRee answered that the next step of the survey process was to increase participation by printing very short, simple ranking surveys on cards that would be distributed at the end of every interaction. Chair Tanaka thought it might be better to include a survey on every email generated or at the end of every phone call rather than handing out cards. He suggested having kiosks at the Development Center. He noted that people were generally impressed with staff, the City, and what was offered, but he had experienced areas of concern around the Development Center and Utilities. He discussed customer service being under pressure but not having to be adversarial, and he felt training was important. He sensed that the majority of staff was doing an amazing job, but he heard that there were certain staff members at the Development Center that people would go out of their way to avoid. He inquired if employee evaluations were done and if staff commented on performance reviews and provided feedback and coaching. In his experience, people were afraid to livestream especially related to building permits due to fear of retaliation, and he did not know if retaliation was happening. He asked staff to speak to that issue. He loved the idea of staff randomly calling people for feedback. He believed the City was a customer service organization. He shared a story of hearing about a customer service rep making a snide comment to a customer. Senior Operations Manager McRee expressed that the surveys were at touchpoints. At the end of emails, there was usually a survey linked to the employee’s program area. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 6 of 14 Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 11/14/2023 Director Lait added that the objective was to send a survey to the contractor to respond to in real time at the end of every action placed in the system by an inspector. There had been technology problems when that was executed, so it was challenging using the current system, and that process had to be aborted. They were trying to work through the technology challenges. Getting real-time feedback was the goal. There were QR codes at the DC. He was interested in exploring the kiosk idea. Everything was being done in coordination with the City Manager’s office related to communication strategies in terms of how to collect survey information. All surveys could be distilled into a single datapoint of overall customer service with a point system assigned. He did not think there was currently enough data to post. If it was posted, he thought it would be artificially higher than the sentiment. Once more data was collected, they would be happy to publish it online. Regarding customer service sometimes being adversarial, he did not want anybody who interacted with the department feeling they were not treated professionally and respectfully. He had spoken to staff about it, and it was a big part of customer service training recently. He knew there were examples where they had fallen short. He had recently received feedback, and he met with the individual and the supervisors, and they discussed what had happened. They were taking training and customer service very seriously. He was quick to respond to feedback. It was not okay for staff to feel they have authority beyond advancing the City’s regulations and processes. While making these changes and having some successes, staff recognized there was a fair amount of baggage that had to be navigated through. He declared that feedback was gold. If there were problem individuals who were consistently the source of a problem, he needed to know about it so he could follow up to ensure corrective action. He voiced that it was hard to hear of the possibilities of retaliation, but he was not surprised to hear it. He stated that he had been in the building and planning field for over 25 years, and in his earlier years, he had somewhat experienced seeing that happen. He did not think that was okay, and he knew George McRee and the inspection manager did not think it was okay. He remarked that a lot of the staff was guided by true government public service. To the extent that any staff member should take action, delay, or cause a bad situation, he wanted to know about it, and it would be addressed immediately. It was not acceptable. He did not know how to get folks to communicate with him if they were uncomfortable contacting to a supervisor in the Department. He was quick to respond to emails sent to pdsdirector@cityofpaloalto.org, which was a great way to reach out to him, and he could pursue an issue and provide anonymity to the claimant. He was responsible for ensuring that customer service was the best it could be. He discussed being understaffed and working conditions being difficult. Deputy City Manager Chantal Cotton-Gaines added that customer service was pinnacle for their work. If someone felt uncomfortable reaching out to Director Lait, her office was available, and they wanted to know if there were any issues especially causing fear. They wanted to be a conduit related to the Department. If City Council should hear about issues, she requested that information be shared ASAP because real-time information would help the Department address any issues. It was also important to validate positive situations where good customer service had been provided and to give feedback more real time on issues that may have gone a little awry. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 7 of 14 Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 11/14/2023 Senior Operations Manager McRee proceeded with her presentation and commented that they continued to focus on recruitments. There was a vacancy for an assistant chief building official, which had been vacant since July 2022. She noted that recruitment had been very challenging because it was currently a very competitive market. They were developing internal dashboards for performance tracking, so managers would have visibility into all key areas of the permitting process. They were considering possible third-party applications that could be layered on top of the online permitting system, which could possibly make the user interface better or make the application process easier for customers. She supplied a slide showing the staff recommendation. Council Member Lauing queried if shifting to an in-house model from consulting was finding enough supply chain or if there were still vacancies. Senior Operations Manager McRee responded there were still vacancies. On the Development Services side, there were two vacancies for building inspectors. They had an offer out for one, which they hoped would close soon. There was a plan check engineer vacancy, and they were at the end of the recruitment process. She explained that they had seen the market shift and change over the last year. Recently they had been more successful in filling recruitments, especially with in-house staff, which was a little more reliable. They reached out very frequently for plan review services, and they were not able to dedicate FTE to the City. Next year, they would do an RFP for on-call services, and they hoped to expand the bench of consultants and have more options. Council Member Lauing asked if they had been rescoping for the critical number two spot. Director Lait explained that they wanted somebody to take on policy work. With the position not being filled, they were tackling the ability to look forward to some of the programs and priority projects the Council had advanced. He recently spoke to a recruiter about the position, and he was told the job title was wrong, so they have been discussing changing the title. They had also been considering advancing a midyear request. Council Member Veenker questioned if the hotline was appropriate for folks worried about reporting problems. She expressed that she had not received a disproportionate number of complaints about the Planning Department or of the process. She noted that permits needed to be issued as quickly and as appropriately as possible. She felt that technology and staffing would help. She indicated that customer service in this area was perhaps more high profile than in many of the City’s departments. She was encouraged by the report and the ongoing efforts. She respected the strategic plan being delayed in favor of addressing customer service, but she questioned why it would not start for another year. She commended staff on the audit and embracing the recommendations. City Attorney Molly Stump clarified that the hotline was focused on fraud, waste, and abuse, and general customer concerns would not fall within that. Something rising to the intentional misapplication of the law, etc., would be appropriate. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 8 of 14 Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 11/14/2023 Director Lait expressed, related to strategic planning not starting for another year, that 17 recommendations on the audit was a significant amount of work to address, and decent progress had been made. He first wanted to focus on things that they knew needed to be addressed. He hoped after implementation of some of the systems and a little runtime that the effort could be made to define what the City’s role was in government, with customers, and to each other in the Department. He felt time was needed before engaging in the strategic plan. He estimated that strategic planning would start in about a year. Senior Operations Manager McRee added that they were continuing to make progress toward strategic planning. Public Comments There were no requests to speak. City Auditor Adriane McCoy was pleased to see the work done. She declared that they were available to assist the Department with the ongoing findings in progress and working toward the strategic plan. Through their follow-up activities over the next six months, they would be in conversation with Director Lait and his team members to a complete end. Chair Tanaka discussed incentives and measuring and reaching scores and thought there should be incentives for reaching and exceeding scores. He queried if there was a program to recognized those doing an excellent job, especially in customer service. He suggested there be public recognition, such as putting the person ’s name on a board, etc., and perhaps monetary benefits. In terms of customer service, he asked if there were goal metrics to get a percentage measurement or score by a certain date. Chief Building Official Hoyt remarked that when he recognized a staff member going above and beyond, he complimented them on their efforts. He voiced that he needed to make more time to write personal notes because he thought that would mean a lot. They had a lot of events and potlucks to try to celebrate certain occasions. Director Lait did not think there were metrics for goals, but it was not for a lack of consideration. He discussed the dashboard tracking progress in turning around applications, etc., and making proactive calls to respond to the customer service piece. He thought additional information was needed and systems needed to be in place before thinking about publicizing metrics. He was open to ideas to achieve that. He thought they were trying to approach it from different angles as opposed to a score on a satisfaction bar. Chair Tanaka thought it started with a measurement goal, then looking at [inaudible] scores, and then setting something reasonable and achievable for the organization , and everyone in the organization should know that a certain score was being targeted. It needed to be transparent and easy to understand. He asked what was keeping them from using a CRM system, which would provide coherency in engagement with customers. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 9 of 14 Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 11/14/2023 Director Lait thought more consideration needed to be given to a CRM system. He remarked that sometimes notes were taken when there was interaction with customers through the Accela process, although it was hard to track that data when on a phone call or when with a customer. Sometimes information was presented in a different way, so a CRM program would be beneficial to the City. MOTION: Council Member Veenker moved, seconded by Council Member Lauing to recommend the City Council accept the status update of the Audit of the Building and Permit Review Report. Chair Tanaka inquired if there was anything that could be recommended to Council that might be helpful for the budget for a CRM system, a consultant, or a midterm hire, etc. Director Lait thanked Chair Tanaka for his support. He did not currently have any specific recommendations, but going through midyear and into next year’s budget, he anticipated that there may be some adjustments to staffing and some consultant budget enhancement requests. He had been reaching out to a consultant to understand a little more of the nuance related to the application intake process, so if he had someone from the outside go through the process, there may be some opportunities for refinement. Deputy City Manager Chantal Cotton-Gaines thought a budget request was beyond the current agenda item with it being a status report. She voiced that it was important to have the recommendation in the context of the larger budget conversation. [The Committee took a five-minute break] MOTION PASSED: 3-0 3. Discussion and Recommendation to the City Council Regarding the City Council Procedures and Protocols Handbook – Annual Discussion Deputy City Manager Chantal Cotton-Gaines noted that the item was a cursory review. It was pre-conversation for the Full Council on the annual review of the handbook. She stated that they planned to take the referrals that came from Council earlier in the year to the Full City Council on February 27, and they would report on all the actions taken thus far on the referrals, which was on censure, international travel, role of liaison for boards and commissions, etc. She asked that that be separated from this discussion. Each year, the Committee was to review the handbook and consider any necessary modifications. Staff offered a few items in the Staff Report, and they had also solicited the Full City Council for suggested updates to the handbook, and all the suggestions were included in the report. The current item was to organize the topics within the report and to think about the Full Council discussion on the annual handbook review. She noted that typically occurred at the City Council’s retreat in the January or February time frame, but in the last few years, there had usually not been time at the retreat, so it would happen a meeting or two after the retreat. She had a few categories to summarize the topics into, and she wanted to get the Committee’s acceptance that those were the categories and SUMMARY MINUTES Page 10 of 14 Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 11/14/2023 the approval to put this on the Council agenda around February 2024. She had categorized the topics in thinking about the order of the agenda. Chair Tanaka asked that this be presented one at a time. Public Comments There were no requests to speak. Deputy City Manager Cotton-Gaines expressed that the staff recommendations were at the top of Packet Page 34, which she displayed on a slide, and included boundaries of receiving gifts from sister cities and other international communities that Palo Alto was in relationship with. Council Member Veenker asked if this applied to the City and City representatives receiving gifts. Assistant City Manager Cotton-Gains clarified that the intention was to be clear and establish a gift dollar limit that could be received by the City. She provided an example of the City receiving a gift of a high dollar value, and the gifts Palo Alto might provide not being of the same dollar value. It could apply to the City or individuals. Individual gifts were already legislated. This was more related to large gifts from another city to Palo Alto as an organization. It was not designed to address what may be given, only what may be received. Council Member Veenker mentioned that if felt odd to her that the City could give a large gift but not receive one. She was concerned about the inconsistency, and it felt as though Palo Alto was putting itself on a pedestal. Assistant City Manager Cotton-Gains indicated that on average the gifts Palo Alto gave were of lower dollar value than gifts received. Giving away the firetruck was an exception. It could apply to what may be received as well as what may be given. She noted that currently the decision to receive a gift was left to an individual, and this procedure would provide more structure. Chair Tanaka supported Council Member Veenker’s comments. He did not understand why this was needed because he thought all elected officials had an FPPC limit. He questioned how a hotel room would be a gift to the City versus an individual. City Attorney Molly Stump explained that this applied to gifts to the City, not to individuals. There was a specific FPPC rule on international travel. Assistant City Manager Cotton-Gains indicated there should be something in place saying hotel accommodations would not be accepted by international partners. Discussion ensued related to why this was needed, what was included in FPPC, and the City and individuals receiving gifts. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 11 of 14 Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 11/14/2023 Council Member Veenker suggested that it be viewed as three entities – the City, an elected Council member subject to FPPC reporting, and staff/neighbor’s abroad/others on behalf the City. She thought there may be different rules. Assistant City Manager Cotton-Gains felt that was helpful feedback, and noted that it could be refined before presenting it to Council. Chair Tanaka did not think the City should make donations. Assistant City Manager Cotton-Gains remarked that there were not clear guidelines related to proclamations. Staff wanted to add clear instructions. Council Member Veenker thought there should be clear instructions. Council Member Lauing believed there should be guidelines with broad discretion and not too restrictive. Council Member Tanaka asked if this was a problem. Discussion ensued concerning the volume of proclamations increasing; the Mayor doing a recent proclamation on her own; when, where, and by whom proclamations should be; and staff having difficulty providing [inaudible]. Assistant City Manager Cotton-Gains noted that C on Packet Page 34 related to additional guidelines for ad hoc committees. Staff had provided some draft ad hoc committee guidelines in the packet. It would be brought forward for Council’s discussion. Ad hoc committees had been used more in recent history, so staff recommended the handbook provide clear expectations for them. Council Member Veenker supported Council discussing and providing clarity for ad hoc committee guidelines. She felt that the tone of the specifics as written appeared to be reprimands to Council members. She addressed 2d on Packet Page 34 and noted there should be an option for compromise. She did not see anything indicating what staff should do to make it work. She discussed the flexibility of ad hocs. She thought Council member limits should be set forth, but it felt like negatives as opposed to positives and/or compromise. Council Member Lauing agreed. He thought it was meant to be defensive of workload and normal process. He noted that they were not trying to circumvent staff opinion. He provided an example an ad hoc agreeing on the Director’s approach on an issue, although there could have been disagreement, which then Council could have made a decision from both perspectives. Council Member Veenker addressed Item 4 and inquired how a work plan could be created, adopted, etc., in the tenure of an ad hoc as ad hocs were generally short, temporary committees. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 12 of 14 Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 11/14/2023 Assistant City Manager Cotton-Gains answered that a work plan could be perceived as larger than it actually was. It was to make clear what assignments the committee would do given the time they had. Council Member Lauing thought an ad hoc would have a specific objective, and he was not sure a work plan would be done. He was comfortable dropping Item 4. Assistant City Manager Cotton-Gains voiced that it would vary by topic. Some topics were very clear and others were to explore a topic and present something to Council. In the latter, it would be helpful to have a definition very early on. Chair Tanaka liked Council Member Veenker’s comments related to the tone of the item. It seemed like staff was relaying to Council they could not do X, Y, or Z. He discussed the importance of Council having the freedom to operate. He suggested that Council have discussions instead of publicized rules in the handbook. He did not think staff should tell Council how to operate. He thought items should be removed if items were added. It appeared to him that some of the items seemed to be micromanagement of Council by staff, which could provide limits to future Council members. He agreed with the perspectives previously voiced by Council members. He addressed the size of the handbook and suggested it be compressed. Council Member Lauing asked if it could be condensed before coming back. City Attorney Stump was sure it could be condensed, more user friendly, and positive. She clarified that this was more about the relationship between Council and ad hocs, not between ad hocs and staff. An ad hoc needed to stay tethered to the purpose and scope given by Council. Assistant City Manager Cotton-Gains would explore edits that could be made. She furnished a slide of the Supplemental Memo, which contained ideas received from City Council. Council Member Veenker summarized her suggestions related to remote participation. She detailed why she was less excited about moving away from video participation and thought it should be reconsidered. Public Comments There were no requests to speak. Chair Tanaka noted that he had had more participation by doing his office hours via Zoom, which he thought was helpful and useful. He discussed why it should be encouraged. Discussion ensued related to this meeting providing Council with a specific recommendation, and the Committee decided to provide feedback to Council without taking a vote. It was noted that the item may return to PSC. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 13 of 14 Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 11/14/2023 Council Member Veenker voiced that her second suggestion in the Supplemental Memo related to the City adopting a formal land acknowledgement, which she supported and wanted to see it added to the agenda. She provided a definition of land acknowledgement. She noted that it could be determined when and how often it would be done. Assistant City Manager Cotton-Gains added that some organizations had chosen to do land acknowledgements at the start of events and meetings. The idea was to honor and acknowledge that the land had roots from people prior to [inaudible]. Chair Tanaka liked the idea, but he was concerned that could extend meeting times. Council Member Lauing discussed his recommendations in the Supplemental Memo related to a 30-minute limit for public comment and questioned if it should be strictly abided by or if there should be an exception clause, and he thought call-in public comment should be discussed. Council Member Veenker thought this should be included in the time management category, and she believed they were all worth discussing. She believed the rules should be stated publicly. Chair Tanaka felt rules should be followed. Assistant City Manager Cotton-Gains noted that the item contained two ideas – one enforcing the existing rule and the other suggesting a change to amend the rule. Chair Tanaka addressed the ideas in the Supplemental Memo from Council members not present at this meeting, and he suggested they speak to their ideas when they were in attendance at a future date. Council Member Veenker commented that she was glad Council Member Lythcott-Haims brought up her third item in the Supplemental Memo, which would be good to discuss, and she thought clarity should be provided as she felt there were miscommunications related to it Council Member Lauing added that Council Member Lythcott-Haims’ first item was also worth debate. Council Member Veenker supported discussing Council Member Lythcott-Haims’ first item. She was interested in Council Member Burt’s recommendation concerning a Committee making recommendations to Council for a Committee to discuss a specific topic instead of using a Colleagues’ Memo. She thought the proposed ad hoc rules indicated that was a possibility. Council Member Lauing did not think Council Member Burt was referring to ad hocs. Council Member Veenker thought it should be made clear that it related to standing or formal committees. SUMMARY MINUTES Page 14 of 14 Policy & Services Meeting Summary Minutes: 11/14/2023 Chair Tanaka suggested the handbook be streamlined to reduce the number of pages, and asked staff to include that in the item. He thought something should be removed if anything else was added. Assistant City Manager Cotton-Gains remarked that there had been a few iterations of the handbook. The most comprehensive was the one Council did earlier in 2024, which started in Policy and Services. Future Meetings and Agendas Assistant City Manager Chantal Cotton-Gains declared there would be two back-to-back meetings in December, which included the legislative platform for the coming year, the auditor’s risk assessment and audit plan, and an audit on wastewater treatment. She noted there were about four audits. There was also the 2024 City Council priorities discussion and recommendations and referral, the last referral on procedures and protocols related to Council discretionary expenditures. There were about seven items that would be split between the two evenings. Council Member Veenker explained why she may not be in town for the meetings. She would confirm her schedule and let Assistant City Manager Cotton-Gains know for certain. Chair Tanaka requested there be another Doodle poll, if needed, to see if the meetings could be rescheduled. Assistant City Manager Cotton-Gains would work with the Clerk’s office to issue a Doodle poll if needed. She would also check with staff related to the items to determine which actually had to come before the Committee this year. She flagged that there was an informational item for the Committee to read on their own related to the Race and Equity update being done t his month. They continued to move forward Council’s recommendations and the initiatives. They had also hired an Equity and Inclusion Program Manager. Chair Tanaka asked the Committee for thoughts about how the next meeting should be streamed. Council Member Veenker thanked staff for the Equity and Inclusion Program manager hire. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:38 P.M.