The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About0436.093~ • • .. "~ C';, .... ,. July 29, 1993 THE HONORABL!: CITY COUNCIL PALO A!..TO I CALIFORNIA Attn: policy and Services Committee PJOCI.8' rca IlLlCTtmI 01 COUNCIL PRIOR'ITYBS Report. in Brief In response to a referral from Council, staff has reviewed the manner in which council selects its annual priorities and h.as identified sU99estions for enabling the priority-setting process to be integrated with the development of the City's buuget. Staff recom.ends that the process be modified so that priorities are set prior to the developJIent of budget quidelines and that the two-year budqet be adopted in odd -numbered years, ra ther than even, when the nev Kisaion Driven BuQqet is implell'u?.nted. This latter change will facilitate the participation of newly-elected Council Members in the selection of priorities~ Bagkcmwnd At its -.eeting of February 22.. 1993, the council directed the Policy and Services CoJutittee to develop it. lI:odified process -tor the selection of Council priorities which Council could approve and tBpleaent in time for the start of the 1994-96 budget cycle. This action caae at the 6uqqestion of Mayor McCown and Vice Hayer Kniss. (See Attachalent L) In the course of the Council discussion, certain issues were identified that should be considered when fDrmulating the modified process. (The minutes of the Coancil diseus&ion are contained in Attachlllent 2.) The rationale for modifyinq the Council priorities process is that the priorities should be integral with the. development ot" the bu4get. The process which the Council has used since 1987 is based on the calendar year rather than the fiscal year. Priorities have been .. lected on an annual basis at the start of il mayor's tertZl. Tbis baa facilitated the partiCipation of new Council members, but it bas qe.nerally meant that proposed staffinq and expenditures related to the priorities had to be inserted into the budget durinq its review or a£ter its adoption rather than while it was being developed. Depending upon the nature of the priority, this has ocC&8ionally meant a shift of statf resources and/or the use of reserve funds. O!R,436'9J I o Page Two Qimcussicm In ad.d.ition to the. issue of timinq, t.'le-policy and services Co..itt.ee disCU8sion shoulcl include. an evaluation of the process used in previous year:;. for qenerllotinq auqqestions of potential priorities fro. Council Members, soliciting input and feedback from the publicI and developing council consensus on the final pr!oriUes. Sequence of Actiyities. As a starting point for that discussion, staff has incorporated the steps used in the existinq process into I!!l llOdified process for the selaction of council priorities and suggests the folloYing sequen~e. It the activities are scheduled in the months noted in parentheses, it will enable priorities to be established prior to the start of the budget process. 1. A list of potential issues from which the p~iorities will be selected is developed4 A. {April) -Suggestions from the public 'Will be solicited. Two ways in which this can be accomplished are through a Town Hall Meeting and advertisemehts in the local press. b. (May) -At a council study session, each Council Member in rotation sugqests one issue for inclusion. The rotation continues until all suqqestions are exhausted. At this point, there is no debate on any item proposed by a council Hember4 Whatever the issue is, it goes on thl! list. 7f a Council Member proposes that an issue state.ent be amended. or combined with another issue stateaent, it must re.ceive the concurrence of the Council Heaber who proposed the original statement. 2~ (Hay} -Staff co.piles all the issues ~uqqested by Council Maabers at the study session4 The compilation is distri~ted to tbe co.uncil Members, alonq 'With sta.ff commentary on tbe Cityls current activities relative to the issues suggested as priorities. A score sheet is also provided on which each Council Member individually prioritizes the issues. Each Council M"iAber has 1000 points to d.istribute among the issues. :;. (June) -The local press will be asked to pu1::l1iGh a survey siailar to the council Members' score sheet. The tabulation of the public response ""oil 1 be provided to the Council as input to the second study session. 4. (July) -A sacond st\lay session is held at which Council reviews the tabulation of Member&;' individual prioritizing and proceeds to establish consensus on the Council priorities. CHR:436:93 Page Three S. (August) -council priorities are form.ally approved at a regular Council maeti~9. 6. (September) -The Finance Coamittee develops the budget ~~idelinea for the two-year budget, incorporating the Council priorities. Relations.b,ip 1:p Coune'l electionB. council elections occur in Noveaber of odd-numJ:>ered years, with ter:s of office commencinq on January l. followinq the el-ection. The City's curr-ent two-year budqet is adopted in even-numbered years, meaning the budqet develop.ent begins in th. fall months of the odd-numbered years. If the current two-year budqet cycle i_ maintained, and the priorities 5P.tls!::tion process outlined above is instituted, e situation could be created where -la:lle duck-Council Members would participate in the selecti~n of priorities and newly-elected Council MeaDers would serve nearly two years ~fore putting forth th.ir own priorities. This preble. can be rectified by shiftill9 the sequence of the two year bu~et cycle. This is an opportune time to make this shift, ~. the city is goinq through the transition to the Missioll Driven 8'.ldqe.t (JIDS). In other words., vh.m the transition is complete, the tvo-year HDB would be adopted in odd-numbered years and the budqet eevelopment would begin in the fall months of the first and third years of council Member terms. In order to accoapliah the. transition, the budqet adopted in June 1994 would be & ?ne-year budget. An opportunity fo.:: public input concerning potential priorities could occur with the Town Ball Meeting scheduled for Septeaber 13, 1993. However, because the tiAe ava-ilable for the process outlined above is foreshortened ISM an election will be occurrinq in November, it may be advisable to review Council priorities in January after any newly-elected Council ~~ are seated rather th~n atte~vting to finalize the 1994-1995 prioritie~ thi3 fall. Bc!!!:gmpendatioD Staft recolmends that the pOlicy and Services COmlllittee review the eleaents of the modified process ter selection of Council priorities, identity any further changes which would improve the process., and recommend to Council that the modified process be i~lemented in the development of the budget for the coming fiscal y ....... CIIR:436:93 .> • • Page Four Reapectfully submitted, fL~~ Aaai.tant to the City Manaqer t~H~d.' £IIny ~arriBon 7' D ctor ot Pi ce AttaclDlents 1. February 18, 1993 KelIlo froll McCown/Kniss re COuncil Priorities 2. £>:cerpt of City Council Minutes of February 22, 1993 CIIR,436,93 • llTTllCllJ(l!!NT 1 February 18, 1993 TO: .. _....n. SUBJECT: OUr Colleagues ftayor Jean McCo~n and Vice Mayor Kniss CoUDcil Prioritias 9 For the past six years it has been council's practice to set aside time at the start of each calenda~~ar to review the variety of issues of importance to the city and to determine which issues. shall be designated as the Cour.cil's priorities for the year-. After 4iscussions with the city Manager and staff, we are putting forth two suggestions that we believe could improve our process for selecting priorities. We sU9'gest that council modify its priority-setting process so that the selection of priorities becomes synchronized with the City's two-year budget process. 'This .... ould -mean shifting the con5ideration of potential priorities to the early fall, prior to the ti.e when 1IIe adopt the budget guidelines. Therefore, the quidelineo could actually incorporate our priorities and the two year budget could be const~ucted from the outset 1IIith our priorities in mind~ Attached to this memorandum is a description of the three priorities which council selected for 1992. We believe that the nature of those priorities makes 1993 Q suitable year for the transition. One of the three l-l:ciorities -(people in crisis) was a continuation of an issue we selected in 1991. A recent r~port from staff (CMR:110:93) provided us with a summary of what was accomplished over the two-year perio(L The magnitude of the accomplisbents demonstrates that the yorx of the first year provided the foundation and, in the second year, the structure for carrying out our goals was implemented. The other tvo priorities selected in 1992 (Palo Alto's Economic Future and Palo Alto's Relationship with East Palo Alto) should be continued as priorities for 1993. As was the case with the People in Crisis priority, the city has laid the groundwork for these two priorities in the first year and should not allow the focus to be diminished at this time. Emphasis on the priority of Palo Alto's Bconomic Future should continue under the leadership of the Finance COmmittee; efforts with respect to Palo Alto's Relationship with East Palo Alto should contirlue to be guided by the Council members of the East Palo Alto Liaison Committ~e and the Policy and services CClDittee~ • Therefore, we intend to aove the folloving: 1) that the Council designate as its priorities: for 1993 the continuation of lII) Palo Alto'. Economic FUtur~ and b) Palo Alto's Relationship with East Palo Alto; and, 2J tha~ the Council direct the Policy and Services Comaltt.. to develop a modified process for the selection of Council priorities which council cou.ld approve and implement in tt.e tor the start of the 1994-9E budget cycle. Attachment • • .:=; COUNCIL PRlORITlES FOR 1992 It is the practice or the Palo Alto City COllncil to sele..:t yearly pri.orities. The reason for 'this prJJct;ice is to identify issues which are matters of importance to Palo At to and which reqtJire some lnte12sirled e.t:Lort or B:ctjvity in order to resolve a problem or accompljsh 4 g~l. Listed belOW' are 'the three priorities which the Council adopted for ~992. These descriptions provided st~ti.ng poill.ts for ci ty ect~on y,u ti'e;! priorii-ies. In tile ensuing mOT.lcns, Counc~.l Members .and' C.lty starL have worked toward carrying out: the plans and projects associated with ~be priorities. The council is equally interested in .1dentiry1n; vays that community lijembers can also t-ake active roles in workin9 toward accomplishing the goals of the priorities. Palo ~lto's Economic Futu~~ Included in this priority are the following! address the structural problems that stand in the l&ray of balancing revenues and expenditures for the long term; conduct an organizational review that ~ill provide a comprehensive objective analysis of the organization ana its staffing patterns and identify possible areas of furthi:!r economy and efficiency; continue the analysis and determination of appropriate levels of service, with emphasis on the delivery systems of such serv1ces to establish hiqher standards of efficiency and quality customer service. People in crisis A continuation of the 1991 Council priority, addre~sing the following: specifically Youth and families at risk~ Work 'With the Human Relations Commission, the Youth Council, the Palo Alto Unified School District and othe.r school communities to identify specific problems that are app~oprlately remedied by city interventio~. Develop programs to address such problems. The needs of the hO~~less. Follo~ up on the initial efforts made in 1991 concerning access to se~vices for homeless# child c~re ~or h~meles7 familie:.# and ameliorating conflict sltuatl.Ons 1nvolvlwJ street persons and the business Cotnmun i t Y ~ Comple.te the project:; begun in ~S91 that seek to increase the efficient ~nd compretJt;!nsive provision ot services to people in cri7i~,. .l.e. ,. put,lie in[or:r.12tion campaign~ outreach act.lVltlc5, coordin,:p.ion of s(>r-vices and sharing of resources between non-prof i t ;J·/~ncies. • ~ti9nahip with East Palo Alto Explore new avenues tor linkage and improve~ent of the City~s relationship with East Palo Alto. In addition to the law enforcement component, there are many other critical issues where individual talent~ ~ithin this camaunity May be successfully linked to East Palo Alto. Non~ governmental approaches should be the highest prioritYI but city can p~ovide the catalyst. Palo Alto Town H411 Mcetlnq June 1, 1992 A'l"l'AClIJIBNT 2 EXCERPT -CITY COUNCIL MnIDTI!S OF FEBRUARY 22, 1 9 9 3 9~ KAyor MCCown and Vice Mayor Kniss re Council Priorities Mayor McCown said the memorandu. dated February 18, 1993, sugqested that council .odify the ti~e of the year that the Council set its priorities to synchronize with the tvo-year budget process and to synchronize it in anticipation of tbat process by liMing that priQrity setting in the early fall. "l'he. suggestion for the current year vas for it to be a transition year and that Council plan to do that priority setting in the tall for the next two-year budget cycle. In the interim, for the remainder of the current year~ the Council ~ould continue with two of the three priorities from last year: Palo Alto's Economic Future and Palo Alto's Relationship vith East Palo Alto .. Council Keaber Rosenbaum said due to the election, there would be a nev Council at the start of each two-year budget cycle who would not have a chance to vote on the priorities. City Manager June Fleming said staff assumed the business of the council had to proceed and it took awhile for new Council Members to get into the stream of what was being done. The Council would continue with business as usual and the new Council Members would be $eated by the .time the l:ludget came' to the Council.. The new Council Members would have orientations that explained where the staff was, but if they wanted changes, it woald have to happen as part of the budget re'qiew process. Council Member Rosenbaum said there ~ere two aspects--keeping with the same priori~y tor two years corresponding to the budget cycle and the timing of setting the priorities. He believed if the COl.Ulcil went to a two-year cycle, it would alloW' more time and would be less pres5ing to do in the fall before the two years, but it could just as easily be done in Jc-.nuary or February given there were two years .~o act on the prio~ities. Ms. 1'1em1nq said if the Council set thE:!: priorities in January, unless it was being done at an interim period for the next two-year cycl~St staff would have already started the budget. It was difficult, if allilost impossible, to realistically fold in those priorities. Staff would be forced to look at what had already been budgeted and try to make it fit with what was chosen as the priorities. Council Member Rosenbaum said not all of thE! things establisbed were priorities that necessarily went into the budget cycle. One way the Council acted on those pr iarities was to have those 02/22/93 70-171 .·c/.-".,. -,: o priorities reflected in the budget. The East palo Alto might have soae budqet conaequftnce but an lllIIIendment coulQ hanO,le" that. He preferred to set the priorities after the new Council was seated. Mayor McCown said there were tvo parts to the aoticn: one was to continue the current priorities for the current year and the second vas to start the priority setting process at a time when it could be used by staff in the development of the two-year budget. As suggested in the .emorandum~ that would mean in the early fall~ Tbat did: not lIean it an emergency came up that needed to be a priority tor a year, the Council would be precluded trom addinq a priority based on an e.merqeney situation. The intent of the 30tion would be to have the priorities relate to the planning of the two year budget process. Vice Mayor Kniss said. the process began in 1986 and was not a concrete process. I.t see1Zed to 'Work vell for the Council at t."le mosent, but qiven it vas e. short-ters process, another council could decide to handle the process differently. Council Member Fazzino supported the idea of a two-year priority concept. He struqqled with the issue that Council Member Rosenbaum raised. on the one hand he wanted to see the priorities incorporated in the two-year budq~t proce$s, and on the other hand it did not make much sense for an_outqoinq council to adopt new priorities in october only.to have four or five new members come on board in January~ He wanted to discuss ways in vhich to alter that structure ISO that the new council would be alloved the opportunity to s_at priorities but at the same time be able to incorporate those priorities into the budqet pr~paration. Emily Renzel, for.er Ci~y Council Member, ~056 Forest Avenue, felt that Council HelDber RoscnbaUhl'S concerns were well founded with respect to newly elected Council Membe~s; but the elections were held in early November, and it seemed to her that those people vould be identified at 'that tim.e. Since it 'Was the priorities the Council wanted to be working on while on the Council, there had to be some way that the nevly el~cted Council Members could participate in settinq the priorities for their terms of office. She understood stillff' s concern about try in9 to set budqet priorities. She never liked the process and felt a lot of staff ttae va. spent for exa.ple on Sand Hill when it never was se~ as a p't'"iority. TIlere were & lot of other issues on which staff time and -aoney had. been spent that vere not priority issues. Maybe the process should be evaluated and how much time vas spent on the priorities selected and how aucb t.i1le was spent on other things durinq those years. She believed it was ynfair to set a two-year priority that would take over the first. half of a person's term of office. Council Keaber CObb believed the priority setting probably should take place around the .iddle of the year so there could be more of an input to the bUdqet process earlier. Ii little bit of tillle was helpful for new people co.inq on b:lard and there was nothing that aaid there could not be fJ. reeva~uation each year to determine whether the council was on the r 19ht trac)( ~ 02/22/93 70-172 . ~ , • ."'. o council MeJIl)er Andersen Buqqested that if there were a major shitt in the aakeup ot the: Council, those items could be reconFiidered in JanU&ry. :JIOrl:CW. Kayor McCown IIOved, seconded :by Kniss, to e.pprove the ~ol.lDVinq, 1. The council designate as its priorities for 1993 the continua tion of a) Falo Alto'.s EconoJlic Future and b) Palo Alto's Relationsbip with East Palo Alto; and 2. The Council direct the Policy and services COllllllittee to develop a aodified process .for the selection o! Cowlcil priorities whieb council could approve and i.plement in time ror the start of the 199.-S6 budget cycle~ IIO'fiClil PUBIID 9-0. JIOTla. IfO UCOlI8IDBR: Mayor McCown moved, seconded by JC.niss to reconaider Item No.9. JIOnClil ft) IUICOII8ZDBR PUBBD 9-0. council MeBber Rosenbaum suqgested an amendment that the priority would be set after a new council vas seated. He believed new Council Haabers should not be told the priorities had already been set~ "···'-Cft: Council MeJlber Rosenbaum. moved, seconded: by Fazzino, that the process with respect to the two-year priorities occur after the new City Council takes its seat in Jan"oJary 1994. Council .Mesber Si.itian asked whether that was a practical consideration, whether it would work to start the priority setting process in January, and Whether there vas still time in the stafr's view to incorporate that into the two-year budget process" Xs. Fleming said that was very difficult to do, and the reason staff ~d supported the proposal was that it vould be able to consider the Council's priorities when the budget was done. Staff starteci work on the budqet before the Christmas holidays. Xf the. priority ~ttinq process re.ained and if it were on the agenda as it had historically been, staff would already be into internal reviews by that time. If the Council made the decisions about priorities early, it would allow staff to show in the budget docmaent how the Council wanted the time spent. In the past, staff had forced the priorities to fit. Staff was now really trying to orient the budget in a different way. city Attorney Ariel calonne observed that some of the problems were caused by the current synchronization of the elections and the budget. The Council aiqht want to change that synchronization and solve the problem. If the two-year process were started the year after the current year, there would not be the same problem. 02/22/93 70-173 • 02/22/9) 70-174