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Home My WebLink About0390.094, • "., REPORT FROM CITY IILNAGER AND CITY CLERK TIlE HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL Palo Alto, california Attention! Policy and Services committee SUBJECT: ~QPQ$ed New public Communication Actiyities RF:pQRT' It! BRTEF: A proposal for new pub.lie cOl!l.Utunication activities has for both the City Manager's and city Clerkts Of.fices. approval is requested. CITY COUNCIL PIRECTIVE: been developed City CQuncil On December 13, 1993, the City council directed the City Manager and the City Clerk to report to the Policy and services ,P&S) Committee their recommendations for undertaking new public communication activities aimed at improving cOMunications between the City governmer.t and the many public constituencies served. Several issues were identified: 1) What specific items e~ollld 00 included in a public information functionj 2) What reviews and/or controls should he required; 3) How requests for information should be handled; 4) How public communication activities should be coordinate.d; 5) What ne'''' public communications. activities should the City undertake (white papers reflecting Council decisions, briefinq for raporters, information packages, etc,,; 6} How responsibilities shOUld be delineated for public info.rm.ation whi.ch appears on Channel 16. During 'the past several months, the city Manager's and City Clerk1s Offices bave been working to define and identity the existing activities aSEociated with public communications, to address the issue of new and improved comDIunication activities, and to identtfy other areas for consideration. The City Hanager and the City Clerk distinguished the public communications function in each of tJ1e respective Offices" as follows: Council-related public cOJDlJlunications should be handled by the City Clerk's Office and pUblic communication by the operating departments reportinq to the city Manaqer should rest in that department. CIIR: 390: 94 .~. , ... ;" ,,' i/: - The City Clprklg orfice The City Clerkls Office mission for public communications woul~ be to toster awareness ot and civic involvement in Palo Alto by brinqlng the ~ity and qovarnaent closer in partnership and to prooctively ensure ~t the City Council's message is put forth. Fit'. areas were identified which relate to public communication activities. A. Public Into~t1on/communications and Education 1. u.~ of local media 2. U •• of general public information l. Display ot information -update oivic organizations 4. Develop relationship with other cities and agencies 5~ Prase releases 6. Public rnfor.ation Officer for Emerg6n0Y Operations Center '1. Mu"10Uncvaent ot Council actions o. Brochures g~ PUblic access to council actions 10. Agenda hotline 11. Tours 1~. council matters B. Business Relations 1. Participation with businesses and involvement of the Chamber of Commerce 2~ Presentat.ions to Qrganlzations C, Leqislative and Intergovernmental Relations 1. Meetings with legislators, tri-cities events 2. A~1nistrative support to Council Members involved in poSitions on League of california Cities . D. Special Event. 1. Council's Reorganization activities l. M~tings with Boards/Commissions 3. State of t~e City Address 4. Town Hall »eetings 5. Retreat 6. Sister-Ci.t:ies' Activities 7. Protocol activities E. cable TV Programming 1. Press releases/notices of special meetings and events 2. Election night activities 3. Council meetings 4. Special events, e.9., State of the City Address Tho City Managerls Office: CJIR'390,94 Page 2 -' ------"-- I , I , The city Manager'. Office .i80ion for p~blic communications would be to .... intain an open t'o/Ovay eooaounications link "ith the general public and to proaot.e and. explain th. City's proqra..., servic('s, and Aotivities. The otfice would also serv. as • general ClG3rinqhouse for inforaation I:'1IqI,IUta received by the city, Typical, but not inclus1v .. , items to be included in a public inforaotion function in the City Manager's Office vould be: .... Preae I<el •• se. (frow City ~nager's staff) 1. General lnto~tlon 2. CO~cil Action 3. Proqraaa •• Announc~nt8 <i .•.. hiring, appointments, new programs) B. Announccmcntc of ~jor staff ~ventB/activities C. Announcement of l~qal settle~ent9 D. City 1 s Annual Report t¢ the cQJMlunity ~. General citywide publicity F. Announcement ot special cityJid~ events developed by staff G. Announcements of aWArds won by staft St"ftLn9~ All of the above areas could be strengthened with concentrated attention and effort. The Clty Clerk l 3 Office is committed to providing public c~icatlon that helps the public process and provides support for the City Counoil. To that end, a halt-time person would be necessary to enhance the communication activities. The person would be required to i.prove the ",raas already identified; to develop a cOll!prehensive co .. unication proqram; and to qather , coordinate, and assist in preparing intonation.l reports and analysis for City ClerkjCouncil review. This po8ition ~ld be filled on an Interim basis to provide an opportunity to evaluate the proqraa4 The city Kanager's reeoaended reorqanization will contain a Public. Infonation Officer program, The issue of staffing this function "ill be addresae4 within the conte~t of the city Managerls response to the Huqhes-Reis8 Reorganization. comaocta And DiscysaioD council requested that the following issues be responded to: Reyicvs and/or ContrQls to Be Required Iteas would not be iSSUed without approval by either the City Clerk or City Manager depending on which office releases. In cases where the press release deals vith litigation issues, the City AttorneYI or designee, would approve release. CMI<:390:94 1,1 . i Page 3 \ o Beqp •• ts tor Information from the ~lh)ic If the request i. for Council infor.ation, the city Clerk's Office ~!fllndles the mattel'; if the request 1. for staff or prograa/service inton...;tion, the City Kanager'lJ Office handles the .atter. How PUblic C<mmllnicatiQD Should Sa coordinated Each office would coordinate 'With the other to .alee certain 'Wc arB not duplicatlnq services. Intoraation, etc., released by the city Manager would be internally coordinated with the impacted departments. Hhot ReV PubliC Crnmm,n'vot'op Agtiyltlg3 the City Shpu]d UndertAke No new activities are recoaaended at this tiae~ Aft~T th~ offices have bad some operatinq experience, oft recolUllondation may be developed to expand the scope 01 servic$$. The entire responsibility for CATV ~ust rest in one place, either with the City Clerk's Office or 'With the City M.-in.RlJfO>r.'s st~f!. The entire city responsibilH:y including prQ9r.u:,..'!:Iing, overseelnq of contracts, handling of complaints, inputting of information regarding Council agendas, etc., and all cable intel"face including M-PAC must reside in one place_for easy and efficient operation and communication. It will work in either place. It should be noted that the recent Hughes-Heiss Reorganization study recommended no change. stOlcturft The proposal which would allow for the coordination of existing services and would allow for the development of improved coorclination is to fUnd for one part-ti1ll8 position in the City Clerk's Office to assume the ~esponsibiliti~s and roles as outlined in thi.& report~ The City M~na.qe.r's Offico statf person would result fro. the reorganizati~n recommendation fro. tho City Manaqer. After a full year evaluation and research, the staft(s) would return l::I'ith a proposal as ,'to how to develop an i.proved program with the suggested staffing aesociated with the proqr ••. other Cities The city Cler);'s Office reviewed publio infornation materials t'rom several cities including Mountain View, Monterey Park, sunnyvale, and Visalia. The issue ot a public information function and relevant job descriptions have been reviewed. by the City Man~1(ler's Office frol!l Association of Bay Area Governments; Clty of Bellevue; City of Berkeley; City of Boulder, Colorado; East Bay Municipal utilities District; city of Pa~adena; city ot San Leandro; Santa Clat"a Valley Water District; and the City of Sunnyvale. These cities and agenCies Which have a publio information function staffed have all indicated the positive value ot the CIIR:390:94 Page 4 ·1/ . il .. ,' 11 'i'. coordination and facilitation of comm,'nic.tion with tho public that the proqram. provides. Staff made a'n effort to contact the oities which Rughoa-Heiss USed as benchmark cities and then to contact agencies which have a high public profile. In one instance, in the City of San Jose l the public inforaation function is provided via a contract employee. BBcmnrnm ATTOH The City Manager and the City Clerk recommend that the public int'oraation function be Added to each ottice. The Ccuncil-r.alated information would be handled by the· City Clerk's Office and the inforwation related to city services} programs, etc.} generated fro. the City Manager's statf would be handled by the City Konager's Office. The staffing required to initiate the fUnction would require the addiU",., of a .50 staff persoh in the City Clerkls Office, and the posilion in the City Managerfs Office vill he addr~ssed as part of the response to th~ Hug-tass-Heiss Reorqanization Re.commendations from the City Mar"'qer. CIIR:390:94 Page 5 -.