CC 03-04-2025 Item No. 9 Amendments to the City Council Procedure Manual_Written Communications (2)CC 03-04-2025
Item No. 9
Mayor Chao's comments
for Amendments to
Cupertino City Council
Procedures Manual
Written Communications
From:Liang Chao
To:City Clerk
Subject:Written Communication to Item 9 Council Procedures Manual
Date:Tuesday, March 4, 2025 12:08:02 PM
Attachments:image318747.png
2025-03-04 Revision to Council Procedures Manua - by Liang Chaol.pdf
Please include the attached pdf to the written communication of the March 4 Council
Meeting.
It includes slides with suggestions for revisions that I will refer to during the meeting.
Thanks,
Liang
Liang Chao
Mayor
City Council
LChao@cupertino.gov
408-777-3192
Additional Revision to
Council Procedures Manual
2025-03-04 (continued from 2-25-02-19)
Liang Chao
Agenda Lookahead - Tentative Council Meeting Agenda
Calendar (Sunnyvale)
Sunnyvale Tentative Council Meeting Agenda Calendar on the 2/5/2025 Council
Agenda: Starting from March 13, 2025 to March 24, 2026
Sunnyvale Council Agenda includes multiple
“Information Only” items:
Agenda Lookahead - Tentative Council Meeting Agenda
Calendar (Los Altos)
Los Altos Tentative Council Calendar on the 1/10/2023 Council Agenda: Starting
from January 24 13, 2023 to December 12, 2023
Upcoming Draft Agenda Items in “Items of Interest” (aka
Cupertino Connect)
-August 15, 2019 Items of Interest includes “Upcoming Draft Agenda Items” for the
September 3, September 17, October 1 and October 15, November 5, November
19 Council Meetings. => 3 months (6 meetings) lookahead.
-August 27 2020 Items of Interest includes “Upcoming Draft Agenda Items” for the
September 15, October 6, Council Meetings plus a list of items (3 pages long)
without specific dates assigned. => 2 month lookahead
-January 3, 2022 Items of Interest (Attachment) includes “Upcoming Draft Agenda
Items” for January 3 (closed session), January 13, January 18 and February 1
council meetings plus a list of items (4.5 pages long) without specific dates
assigned. => 1.5 month (3 meetings) lookahead
-October 13, 2022 Items of Interest (Attachment) includes “Upcoming Draft Agenda
Items” for Nov. 1, Nov. 15 => one month (2 meetings) lookahead
Expense Reporting Policy NOT FOLLOWED?
LL1: ADD: Mayor to designate when both primary/alternate
cannot attend
ADD at the end: Appointments to regional bodies shall terminate as soon as new appointments
take effect. In the event that both the primary and the alternate cannot attend a meeting, the
Mayor may designate a temporary alternate to maintain continuity.
From the Redlined
version of the 2/19
Council Meeting
=> Add at the end “In
the event that both the
primary and the
alternate cannot
attend…””
5.3.1 For appointments made by outside bodies (for example, the Cities
Association or the League of California Cities), the City Council must ratify the
appointment of a Councilmember as part of a noticed agenda item at a regular
meeting.
(This should be retroactive. The Council shall rectify any pre-existing
appointments made by outside bodies)
REF: Sunnyvale Policy 7.4.12 Council Appointments to Intergovernmental
Agencies
LL2: ADD: City Council shall ratify any appointment made
by outside bodies
LL3: INSERT: CM shall add info requests that require
significant load to the future agenda/info memo list
(so-called TBD list)
6.6 Councilmember Access to Information. ….it more appropriately be assigned
to staff through the collective direction of the City Council, based on the guidelines set
forth in Cupertino Municipal Code section 2.17.043. The City Manager shall place
requests that impose a significant workload on staff on the Council agenda for
review by the full Council, along with a statement from that Councilmember as to
why the information is needed.
INSERT: The City Manager shall place requests that impose a significant workload on
staff on the Council agenda (under the “Future Agenda Items” Item) for review by the
full Council
LL4: INSERT “info memo requests” to the future agenda
request list
“INSERT: listing of all current future agenda requests and
info memo requests”
ADD “and info memo
requests”
7.1.1 Tentative Council Meeting Agenda Calendar The Tentative Council
Meeting Agenda Calendar shall list items pending to come before Council within
the next 12 months period and shall be included in each Council Meeting’s agenda
packet under the “Future Agenda Items” item. The Tentative Agenda
Calendar.should include agenda item-level detail for the next 3 months with dates
requested by council, agenda category (consent, discussion item, public hearing),
and department heads assigned to the agenda item.
(NOTE: All commissions/committees shall develop a Tentative Commission
Meeting Agenda Calendars so the Council has a grasp of upcoming agenda items
for commissions/committees. => Added Item 4.7 => See next slide)
LL5: ADD “7.1.1 Tentative Council Agenda Calendar” to
the Future Agenda Items
Under “4. Other City Commissions and Committees”
ADD: 4.7 Future Agenda Items Each meeting of a commission/committee shall
include the “Future Agenda Items” on the agenda, which shall contain a list of
proposed future agenda items and a Tentative Commission Meeting Agenda
Calendar, similar to the 7.1.1 Tentative Council Meeting Agenda Calendar of the
City Council.
LL6: ADD “4.7 Future Agenda Items” for all
commissions/committees
LL7: INSERT 7.7: Any written communications on items
not on the agenda sent from any member of the public or
any councilmember
[LC]: It has been the long-standing practice in Cupertino that the city clerk will
include all written communications for non-agenda items. No need to change the
practice.
L13A. ADD: Add Info Memos to Council agenda
L13B. ADD: Council Report may include matters serving
constituents;
8.3 Order of Business. The order of agenda items for regular Council meetings is as follows:
…
13. Oral Communications (continued)
14. Councilmember Reports
15. Information Memos
15.16. Future Agenda Items
Oral communications shall be limited to 30 minutes. …
Councilmember Reports should focus on include Council committee assignments and may
include other matters serving the constituents, in addition to, ceremonial
appearances.[L13A]
The information memos, as described in Section 11, include additional documents requested
by councilmembers for past or future agenda items, [L13] In the absence of an objection
made by a majority of Councilmembers present and voting, the Mayor may modify the order
of business to facilitate the fair and efficient conduct of Council meetings.
From Slides for the
Motion at the 2/4
Council Meeting
Keep the wording from
the Motion at the 2/4
Council Meeting
=> may include other
matters serving the
constituents other
information relevant to
matters within
jurisdiction of the City
Council
LL8: RESTORE “include other matters serving the
constituents” - may include county or state matters affecting
Cupertino, but not within our jurisdiction
L12. ADD: When “regular” council meeting is moved to
Wednesday…. It shall be treated like a regular council
meeting
8.1 Meeting Schedule. The City Council conducts its regular meetings on the first
and third Tuesdays of the month, except when Council is in recess. At Prior to the
second regular meeting in January, the City Council will approve the schedule of
meetings for the calendar year, which in addition to the regular meeting schedule
may include the cancellation of regular meetings and the addition of special
meetings and study sessions….
8.1.1 When a regular council meeting is moved to Wednesday, the agenda shall
be published the prior Wednesday and the meeting shall start at 6:45pm and
include all items as a regular council meeting.
From Slides for the
Motion at the 2/4
Council Meeting
LL9: RESTORE “Prior to the second regular meeting in
January”
Keep the wording from
the Motion at the 2/4
Council Meeting
=> “Prior to the second
regular meeting in
January,”
LL10: ADD 8.4.3 Questions and Comments on Consent
Items
8.4.3 Questions and Comments Councilmembers shall be given the opportunity
to ask a clarifying question about a consent item or make a brief comment about
an item without having to remove the item from the Consent Calendar.
REFERENCE 10.7 Consent Calendar. A Councilmember or any member of the public
may request an item be removed from the Consent Calendar. At the Mayor’s discretion,
items removed from the Consent Calendar may be considered immediately after
approval of the balance of the Consent Calendar or elsewhere in the agenda.
Councilmembers shall be given the opportunity to ask a clarifying question about a
consent item or make a brief comment about an item without having to remove the item
from the Consent Calendar.” (from Los Altos Council Norms and Procedures)
L15. REPLACE: Remove limit that only 5-person group
may combine time
8.5 Public Comment. An opportunity for public comment shall be provided … If a
speaker representing five or moretwo up to five members of the public in
attendance and wishing to comment on the item but electing not to speak, the
speaker may have the combined time of two minutes per member, up to 10
minutes, to address the Council. Consolidation of time among speakers is not
otherwise allowed. If a large number of speakers wish to address Council on an
item,...
From Slides for the
Motion at the 2/4
Council Meeting
LL11: RESTORE “two or up to five members”
zz
Keep the wording from
the 2/4 Motion:
=> two or more up to
five members
LL12: 8.7.1 Texting during council meetings (already in
redlined version)
CC 03-04-2025
Item No. 9
Amendments to
Cupertino City Council
Procedures Manual
Written Communications
From:Peggy Griffin
To:City Council
Cc:City Clerk
Subject:2025-03-04 City Council Agenda-ITEM 9 Council Procedures Manual Amendments
Date:Tuesday, March 4, 2025 3:08:22 PM
Attachments:image001.png
image002.png
image003.png
image004.png
image005.png
image006.png
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.
PLEASE INCLUDE THIS EMAIL AND ANY ATTACHMENTS AS PART OF WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE
ABOVE MEETING AGENDA ITEM.
Dear City Council,
I compared City Attorney Jensen’s red-lined version of the Council Procedures Manual with the Feb. 4, 2025
Council’s motion listed in ITEM 6 Draft Minutes page 12 of 17.
The key differences between CA Jensen’s red-lined version and the Council’s approved motion that I feel
should be changed to match the Council’s motion are:
Section 8.1 Meeting Schedule – doesn’t specify when Council calendar is set
Section 8.3 Order of Business – no Information Memos in agenda
Section 8.5 Public Comment – not clear that it is 2-5 people
TO CONSIDER…Should any other items be added (list from public comments)
No phones/texting on the dais. Personal or “city issued” cellular phones should NOT be allowedduring meetings. This includes Councilmembers and Staff and includes messaging apps onlaptops.Allow discussion of informational itemsFix Section 2.2 last sentence – It is still an incomplete sentence.
DETAILS ON THESE 3 ITEMS
SECTION 8.1 Meeting Schedule
BIG DIFFERENCE
JENSEN (Change #3)
Doesn’t specify when the schedule of meetings for the calendar year is set.
Added clarity with the last red-lined sentences which helps
COUNCIL
Specifies prior to the 2nd regular meeting in January. This forces it to be either the 1st meeting in
January or in December.
CA JENSEN’S VERSION
COUNCIL’S VERSION
SECTION 8.3 Order of Business
BIG DIFFERENCE
JENSEN (Change #4)– Informational Memos – not added to agenda
Councilmember Reports –
JENSEN – “info…relevant to matters within the jurisdiction of the City Council”
COUNCIL – “other matters serving the constituents”
JENSEN’S VERSION
COUNCIL’S VERSION
SECTION 8.5 Public Comment
DIFFERENT
JENSEN – says “two or more” members
COUNCIL – says “2-5” members
NOTE: The issue I see is when a Mayor reduces a speaker’s time to be less than 3 minutes. If the max number
of people in a group is not specified to be 5 then groups can be as many as can fit in 10 minutes. The group
size needs to be specified so it is limited.
JENSEN’S VERSION
COUNCIL’S VERSION