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CC 03-05-2024 Item No. 7 Revisions to Commissioner & Committee Handbook_Written CommunicationsCC 3-05-2024 Item No. 7 Revisions to City Commission and Committee Handbook Written Communications From:Connie Cunningham To:City Council; City Clerk; Pamela Wu Subject:2024-03-05 CC Agenda Item 7, Action to revise 3 documents, including Commissioners Handbook Date:Tuesday, March 5, 2024 3:09:41 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Dear Mayor, Vice-Mayor, Councilmembers and Manager Wu, The new Ordinance, and two revised resolutions are well thought out. Thank you for all the work that City Staff has done to bring these documents to Council. I have a few questions/comments: 1.In the Draft Ordinance, Section 2.b. please update the term from “homeless” to “unhoused” persons. This term is used more frequently in modern writings to be descriptive, and not be negative. The new Sustainability Commission is a great idea. Using the Climate Action Plan recognizes that there are many synergistic components of climate change. Cities are basic to climate change since cities control so much of land use within its borders. 2. In the Resolution governing rules for appointing commissioners, etc.: how do the changed rules affect Commissioners recently selected if they are business reps but not residents? How does it affect Alternate Commissioners recently selected? Can we assume that Commissioners selected up until now under the old rules will remain? 3.Resolution for appointing commissioners: Page 5. Typo in Para 4. line 5. Add “than” between the words “more" and “three" 4.Commissioner’s Handbook: Excellent changes throughout. Here are three thoughts. a. Page 5: Can participation in the monthly Mayor’s meeting replace the report required every six months on Page 5? This could simplify the work of the Chair, since a report could require a separate Agenda Item. b. Page 8. Add a subparagraph to Staff Updates and Commissioners Activity Report a. The Mayor’s Meeting will be discussed under this heading. c. What are summary minutes? Does liaison keep them? Please add a definition of the two types of minutes. Thank you again for the excellent work on these documents. They are critical to the smooth operation of the Commissions and Committees. Best regards, Connie Cunningham, Housing Commission, self only From:Seema Lindskog To:City Council Cc:City Clerk Subject:Important Clarifications Needed in Commissioners Handbook Date:Tuesday, March 5, 2024 11:19:23 AM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Respected Mayor Mohan, Vice-Mayor Fruen, and Councilmembers, I am writing today in support of adopting a new Commissioners Handbook. It is much needed and will help clarify and cement the role of the Commissions in the city as well as the expectations from Commissioners. There are two topics covered in the handbook that it is very important to clarify: Agenda setting needs to be led by the Commission Chair The current language is vague as to who decides what items go on the agenda. It calls for the Chair and the City Liaison to agree together. However, as in all things, disagreements can occur and there needs to be a final decision maker. That person should be the Chair of the Commission because he/she is the person appointed by the City Council to lead the Commission. I urge you to clarify the language to indicate that the Chair of the Commission has the final decision making authority for adding items on the agenda, with the caveat that items that require a staff report cannot be added to the agenda without the approval of the City Liaison. Consequences for failing to comply with reporting requirements and training The proposed new language for a commissioner failing to comply is very vague. It states the commissioner will be removed from the commission after receiving a "reasonable opportunity to correct the noncompliance". There are instances of commissioners being given years to correct noncompliance, which seems overly generous and defeats the whole intent of this provision. I urge you to add specific timeframes for requiring compliance such as giving commissioners 30 days to become compliant failing which they will be removed from the commission. Thank you for your time and for everything you do for this city. Best regards, Seema Lindskog ___________________________________________________________________ "You must be the change you want to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi This message is from my personal email account. I am only writing as myself, not as a representative or spokesperson for any other organization. From:Jennifer Griffin To:City Council; City Clerk Cc:grenna5000@yahoo.com Subject:Comments on Agenda Item 7, City Council Meeting, 3/5/24 Date:Tuesday, March 5, 2024 9:13:31 AM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Dear City Council: Here are my comments on Item Number 7, City Council Agenda on 3/5/24: Public Comments on The Committees and Commissions Organization Etc. (Please include in public comment for Item 7, City Council Meeting on 3/5/24.) My comments on Agenda Item 7: Committees and Commissions Organization etc. : I recommend this item be postponed. The handling of the City Committees and Commissions last year (2023) Was so traumatizing that I personally have not recovered from it. The elimination of three regular Committees, the Environmental Review Committee, the Design Review Committee and the Legislative Review Committee was extremely disruptive to city process. I participated in all three committees Regularly. Also, the circus big top environment conducted during the "supposed" removal of A long-standing commissioner and its simultaneous broadcasting on social media leaves A very distasteful memory of how apparently we are conducting business in Cupertino. I think we need to regroup and think very carefully about how we are handling our committees And commissions. Consolidating the library commission with other committees is not advisable In most universes. Thank you for your attention to the comments above. Sincerely, Jennifer Griffin From: Carol Stanek <carolstaneks@gmail.com> Sent: Sunday, March 3, 2024 12:38 PM To: City Council <citycouncil@cupertino.org>; Cupertino City Manager's Office <citymanager@cupertino.org>; City Attorney's Office <cityattorney@cupertino.org> Subject: March 5 Council Agenda Item #7 - Commissioners Handbook Revisions CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Dear Mayor Mohan, Vice Mayor Fruen, Council Members, City Manager Wu and City Attorney Jensen, Having served on the Parks and Recreation Commission for a number of years, I am delighted to see that the Council is revising the Commissioners' Handbook to bring increased accountability and clarity to the role of Commissioner. It is unfortunate, but necessary, that the consequences for incomplete training or reporting be included in our Handbook and policies. The proposed requirements, as stated in the Draft Resolution 24 -022 and the Handbook, are incomplete and inconsistent. A few changes, recommended below, will improve and clarify the requirements: 1. Update the requirement for completing training stated in the Handbook as follows: o "Each member should must complete all training required by state or federal law or by a City rule or policy" 2. Update the language for conditions for removal in both documents to include all mandated training, not just "legally required" training as follows: o " A member fails to comply with legally required mandatory training or conflict of interest reporting requirements..." 3. The timeframe to correct should be limited and clearly spelled out, considering that an initial grace period to complete the training or reporting would have already elapsed. I recommend not longer than 30 days. 4. Specify that Commissioners who have not completed mandatory requirements by the initial due date may not participate in Commission business until they have completed the requirement. 5. Specify that missed meetings due to delinquent training or reporting will be marked as an absence for the purposes of annual Attendance requirements. Reasons for the above recommendations are as follows: • Limiting the requirement to "legally required" training or reporting is ambiguous to those who will not be familiar with legal requirements. • Cupertino should require Commissioners to complete training offered by the City (such as Ethics and Anti-Harassment training) even if legal mandates are eliminated • Handbook and Cybersecurity training may not be legally required but they are considered mandatory by the City so they should also be covered by the policy and consequences • Cybersecurity training is especially relevant to keeping Cupertino's networks free from ransom attacks since Commissioners are required to use their City email for commission business • Including training required by City rule or policy in the stated consequences ensures that Commissioners are trained in these important areas • The changes will remove the inconsistency between the Handbook and Resolution 24-022 where the Handbook references training required by "City rule or policy" but the Resolution does not. It is a privilege to participate as a Commissioner at Commission meetings. Cupertino deserves Commissioners who are compliant with reporting requirements, fully engaged and trained when conducting Commission business. Additional Notes: 1) The Table of Contents for the Handbook needs to be updated under Commission Membership from "Quorum and Attendance" to "Quorum, Attendance, Training and Reporting", per the revised section in the body of the Handbook. 2) The Handbook would be easier to reference if each section were identified by a numbering scheme, similar to the Resolutions, rather than only by page numbers in the Table of Contents. Sincerely, Carol Stanek Speaking for myself From: Joel Wolf <JWolf@cupertino.gov> Sent: Tuesday, March 5, 2024 3:37:54 PM To: City Council <CityCouncil@cupertino.gov> Subject: Agenda Item #7 Dear Mayor Mohan, Vice-Mayor Fruen and Council Members, I am writing in regard to tonight’s Agenda Item #7, and more specifically the agenda item portion related to the Commissioners’ Handbook revisions. As a past Chair of the Bike-Ped Commission, I believe there needs to be greater clarity on how the commission agendas are set each month. The current language in the Handbook states that “Each commission has a staff liaison responsible for preparing agendas in consultation with the Chair.” This language is somewhat vague and provides no direction when there is a disagreement as to whether an item should be placed on the agenda. Sometimes I have left the agenda-setting meeting unsure as to what will actually be placed on the published agenda. I would recommend that the Chair have final decision-making authority as to items placed on the agenda. However, this would not include any items requiring preparation of a staff report unless approved by the City Manager (this is the proposed new language in the redlined Commissioners’ Handbook). Thank you for your consideration. Joel Wolf Vice-Chair Bike-Ped Commission Joel Wolf Bicycle and Pedestrian Commissioner JWolf@cupertino.gov