2019 S-71 Replacement2.17.010
CHAPTER 2.17: CITY COUNCIL/CITY STAFF RELATIONSHIPS
Section
2.17.010 Preamble.
2. 1 7. 020 Intent and purpose.
2.17. 030 Council and Council members.
2. 17. 031 Council power.
2.17. 032 Individual Council members.
2.17.033 Council Policy.
2.17.034 Information.
2. 17. 040 Staff.
2 .17. 041 Execution of Council direction.
2.17.042 Undue influence.
2.17.043 Timely response.
2.17.010 Preamble.
After the City of Cupertino's incorporation, the City
Council enacted Ordinance No. 106 creating and
establishing the Council/City Manager form of government
whereby the City Council controls the administrative
services of the City only through the City Manager. The
Council/Manager form of government is intended to provide
the best of unencumbered professional/technical staff input
balanced with the collective oversight of elected officials.
Under the Council/Manager form of government neither the
City Council, nor individual Council members, can give
orders to any subordinates of the City Manager. The City
Manager takes his or her orders and instructions from the
City Council only when given at a duly held meeting of the
City Council. No individual council member can give any
orders or instructions to the City Manager. Although this
provision has worked well over the years, a number of
specific issues and questions have arisen from time to ti.me
regarding the respective roles of the City Council and City
Manager due, in part, to the City's expanding involvement
into a variety of new areas of society. It therefore has
become necessary and convenient for the City Council to
delineate with more specificity the respective roles of City
Manager, the City Cou ncil and individual Council members.
(Ord. 2009, 2007) .
2.17.020 Intent and Purpose.
The intent of this chapter is to address and clarify the
relationship between the City Council, individual Council
members, and city staff by:
2007 S-14 16A
A.Maintaining control and direction of the City by
the City Council as a whole;
B.Insuring that City Council members have free
access to the flow of any information relative to the
operation of the City and insuring that such information is
communicated by staff in full and with candor to the
Council;
C.Ensuring that the Council decision making
process benefits from the unencumbered input and advice
from the professional staff free from undue influence in staff
decision making, formation of staff recommendations,
scheduling of work, and executing department priorities
without intervention by individual Council members;
D.Allowing city staff to execute priorities given by
management and the City Council and protecting city staff
from undue influence from individual Council members.
(Ord. 2009, 2007)
2.17.030 Council and Council members.
2.17.031 Council Power.
The City Council retains the full power to accept,
reject, amend, or otherwise guide and direct staff actions,
decisions, recommendations, workloads and schedules,
department priorities, and the conduct of city business
through the office of the City Manager. This power cannot
be delegated to individual Council members, nor to
committees composed of council members consisting of less
than a quorum of the City Council. (Ord. 2009, 2007)
2.17.032 Individual Council members.
Individual Council members shall not attempt to
influence staff decisions, recommendations, workloads, and
schedules, and department priorities without prior
knowledge and approval of the City Council. (Ord. 2009,
2007)
2.17.033 Council Policy.
If a Council member wishes to influence the actions,
decisions, recommendations, workloads, work schedules and
priorities of staff, that member must prevail upon the City
Council to do so as a matter of council policy. (Ord. 2009,
2007)
2.17.034 Cupertino -Administration and Personnel 16B
2.17.034 Information.
Individual Council members as well as the City
Council as a whole, have complete freedom of access to any
information requested of staff (except information which is
otherwise protected by law from disclosure) and will receive
the full cooperation and candor of City staff in being
provided with any requested information. Information
sought by an individual council member may, at the
discretion of the City Manager, be automatically provided to
the City Council as a whole. In exercising this discretion,
the City Manager will consider whether the information is
significant or new or otherwise not available to the Council
or is of interest to the Council. (Ord. 2009, 2007)
2.17.040 Staff.
2.17.041 Execution of Council Direction.
The primary functions of City staff is the execution of
CoW1cil policy an.d actions taken by the Council as well as
keeping the Council informed regarding the general
operations of the city. (Ord. 2009, 2007)
2.17.042 Undue Influence.
City staff may take guidance and direction only from
management or the City Council as a whole. Staff is
prohibited from accepting direction or being unduly
influenced by individual Council members to pressure staff
members into making, changing or otherwise suppressing
staff decisions or recommendations, or changing
departmental work schedules and priorities. Staff members
will report such attempts to influence them in confidence to
the City Manager, who may inform the City Council as a
whole of such attempts. Any staff member who violates this
prohibition may be subject to disciplinary action at the
discretion of the City Manager. (Ord. 2009, 2007)
2.17.043 Timely Response.
City staff will make every effort to respond in a timely
and professional manner to all requests made by individual
council members for information or assistance, provided
that, in the judgment of the City Manager, the request is not
of a magnitude either in terms of work load or policy, which
would require that it more appropriately be assigned to staff
through the collective direction of the City Council. In
terms of making this judgment, the following guidelines
should be considered:
A.Is the request specific and limited in scope so that
staff can respond without altering other priorities and with
only minimal delay to other assignments?
B.Is the request a "one time" work requirement, as
opposed to an on-going work requirement?
2019 S-71 Rep!.
C.Does the response to a request require a
significant allocation of staff resources (generally defined as
consisting of more than one staff person, or a single staff
person working on the request in excess of two hours)?
(Ord. 2009, 2007)