CC 11-08-2019 (Special) CUPERTINO
APPROVED MINUTES
CUPERTINO CITY COUNCIL
Friday, November 8, 2019
SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING
At 5:33 p.m.Mayor Steven Scharf called the City Council meeting to order in Cupertino
City Hall EOC, 10300 Torre Avenue.
ROLL CALL
Present: Mayor Steven Scharf, Vice Mayor Liang Chao, and Councilmembers Darcy
Paul (5:34 p.m.) Rod Sinks, and Jon Robert Willey. Absent: None.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS - None
CITY COUNCIL TRAINING WORKSHOP
City Manager Deborah Feng introduced the session.
Consultants Senior Partner Rod Gould and Senior Manager Christine Butterfield with
Management Partners facilitated the workshop.
The Council discussed best practices of governance and clarifying roles.
The consultants created a workshop report containing a summary of the discussions
which is available in Exhibit A (attached).
ADJOURNMENT
At 9:45 p.m., Mayor Scharf adjourned the meeting.
Kirsten Squarcia, De ty City Clerk
City of Cupertino
Exhibit A
CUPERTINO
City Council Workshop
Held November 8, 2019
November
PartnersManagement
City Council Workshop
Table of Contents Management Partners
Table of Contents
WorkshopReport......................................................................................................................................1
WorkshopOverview........................................................................................................................1
Objectives....................................................................................................................................1
Agenda........................................................................................................................................1
Participants.................................................................................................................................2
WorkshopGround Rules.............................................................................................................2
WorkshopPreparation................................................................................................................3
Welcome and Opening Comments................................................................................................3
Learn More About Councilmembers' Service to Cupertino......................................................3
Council Discussion of High-Performance Governance..............................................................5
Council Discussion of Roles............................................................................................................6
Viewfrom the Bridge.......................................................................................................................7
Review of Significant Opportunities and Challenges Facing Cupertino.................................7
WrapUp and Next Steps.................................................................................................................8
Attachment A—City Manager Presentation........................................................................................9
i
City Council Workshop
Workshop Report Management Partners
Workshop Report
The City of Cupertino held a City Council workshop on Friday,
November 8,2019,from 5:30 p.m.—9:30 p.m.The workshop was held at
Cupertino City Hall located at 10300 Torre Avenue.The workshop
provided the City Council an opportunity to strengthen Councilmember
relationships, discuss the characteristics of high-performing Councils and
identify significant opportunities and challenges facing the community
over the next several years. This report contains a summary of workshop
discussions.Rod Gould,Senior Partner, and Christine Butterfield,Senior
Manager with Management Partners,facilitated the workshop.
Workshop Overview
Objectives
• Strengthen trust and effectiveness and the City Council.
• Learn about how Councilmembers approach Council service and
decision-making.
• Discuss expected opportunities and challenges on the horizon for
the City of Cupertino in the next two years.
Agenda
• Welcome and call to order by the Mayor
• Public comments
• Comments from the City Manager
• Agenda review
• Learn more about Councilmembers' service to Cupertino
• Council discussion of high-performance governance
• Council discussion of roles
• View from the bridge
• Identify significant opportunities and challenges facing Cupertino
• Wrap up and next steps
1
City Council Workshop
Workshop Report Management Partners
Participants
All members of the City Council and City Manager Debra Feng
participated in the workshop.
City Council
Mayor Vice Mayor Councilmember
Steven Scharf Liang Chao Rod Sinks
Councilmember Councilmember
Darcy Paul Jon Wiley
Workshop Ground Rules
At the start of the workshop,Rod reviewed several ground rules to help
the group have a successful workshop.
• Seek consensus
• Listen to understand
• Participate
• Stay focused
• Assume good intent
• Speak up if we need a course correction
2
City Council Workshop
Workshop Report Management Partners
Workshop Preparation
Prior to the workshop,Rod Gould conducted interviews with each
Council member and the City Manager to better understand what each
believed would constitute a productive workshop. .
Welcome and Opening Comments
The workshop began with opening comments from Mayor Steven Scharf.
He welcomed Council members, staff, and the public and invited public
comments at the start of the session.
Following the Mayor's welcome, City Manager Deborah Feng shared the
importance of the session and then turned the workshop over to
facilitators,Rod Gould and Christine Butterfield.
Learn More About Councilmembers'Service to Cupertino
Christine kicked off the workshop by opening the discussion about
governing and what called each Council member to service. Christine
asked Council members to respond to the following questions. Their
responses are also listed below.
What propelled you to serve on the City Council?
• Housing pressures.
• People were upset that the Council did not listen,and their voices
were either ignored or were not being heard.Some voices were
louder than others.
• Listen, serve the residents, and give back to the community.
• Support for diversity.
• Some Council members were encouraged to run for City Council.
• The interplay of politics and law.
• The fight against overdevelopment.
• Development drove several Council members to run for office
("bait and switch" on a recent senior housing project).
• Corruption.
• Provide fairness and justice. Some Council members wanted to do
the right thing.
• "Root for the underdog."
• Authentic participation in civic engagement.
• Emissions from cement plant.
• City failed to negotiate with Steve Jobs.
• Some problems are interesting.
3
City Council Workshop
Workshop Report Management Partners
What about our service on City Council do you find most satisfying?
y y
• Experiencing the learning curve of an elected official.
• The opportunity to listen,balance, and navigate community
interests.
• Being beholden to voters.
• Upgrading City systems and internal services.
• Meeting a lot of people.
• Contributing to making City improvements.
• Having respect for honest people.
• Solving problems—even small ones.
• Lack of library parking—defies solution.
• Advocate for the East Side Park.
• Listening to those community members who are engaged and
want to be heard.
• It is a once in a lifetime experience.
What would you like the City Council's reputation to be in the
community and with staff?
• People can bring their problems to the Council for resolution.
• The Council and the City are listening to all voices.
• Create opportunities to get people talking.
• City Manager is affecting people positively.
• The City is making a real difference.
4
City Council Workshop
Workshop Report Management Partners
I
Council Discussion of High-Performance Governance
Rod Gould then distributed three handouts to the participants to review
and help guide the discussion. The documents included:
• Excerpt from the City of Cupertino Municipal Code, Chapter 2.17,
City Council-City Staff relationship;
• "Attributes of Exceptional Councils"from the Institute of Local
Government;and
• "A Key Ingredient for Success:An Effective City Council/City Manager
Relationship"by Kevin Duggan.
Rod began sharing some aspects of high-performing councils to help
participants understand how elected officials'performance corresponds
to the current research on high-performance councils.The discussion was
then transitioned to participants responding to their Council practices
and norms.Below are highlights from the discussion.
What stands out?
• Effective meetings where the meeting does not last until 2:30 a.m.
or 4:30 a.m.
• One-way dialogue is not productive engagement.
• Abide by the two-hour rule in Municipal Code(for any staff
information and research requests).
• Mutually supportive relationship with the staff.
• Holding ourselves accountable by providing more details to staff
for clarity.
• Council meetings and agendas:
o Better preparation for Council meetings by previewing the
information ahead of time.
o Submit questions before Council meetings and allow staff
to review and respond.
o Agenda review is good when helping the Council prepare,
but it takes a lot of extra time.
o The Council needs more time(in advance of meetings)to
review the information in the packet.
o Information should be better organized within the agenda.
• Identify a method to enhance communication between City
Manager and City Council.Although it is improving,more
communication can help grow the team and increase confidence
in staff.
• Circulate individual Council member questions and responses to
all.
5
City Council Workshop
Workshop Report Management Partners
Council Discussion of Roles
Rod shared with the participants the importance of understanding the
respective roles of key participants in local government with whom
Cupertino's City Council must work with. The following slide contains
the key roles in local government.Rod described an effective working
relationship between the City Council and each party.
Discussionof • Clarification
!• Policy role
• Administrative role
'• Advisory role !
;• Legal role
-----------------------
Management
Partners
Below are highlights from the discussion.
• Recognizing that 90%of the work is direct service delivery done
by City staff, and 10%represents policy work that needs to be led/
reviewed by City Council.
o City Council's role is to focus on policy, ask the "what,"
and provide observations/suggestions.
o City staff's role is to fulfill administrative duties, address
the"how," and provide direction to address City needs
and projects.
• Advanced civic engagement would benefit Cupertino.
• Help staff to not overreact to questioning or implied criticism.
• Interest in better understanding roles of boards and commissions.
6
City Council Workshop
Workshop Report Management Partners
View from the Bridge
City Manager Deborah Feng presented an overview of the state of the
City's organization, finances and staffing.Her slides are included as
Attachment A to this report.
Review of Significant Opportunities and Challenges Facing
Cupertino
Christine facilitated the Council discussion about key community
opportunities and challenges over the next several years. The Councils
responses to the discussion questions are listed below.
What are the significant opportunities to improve Cupertino that will
come before the City Council in the next two years?
• Bike and pedestrian improvements;enhance connectivity.
• Push out/publicize successes.
• Expanding the library.
• Improve City infrastructure.
• Create a better City image through branding.
• Have a greater influence within the region and state.
• Improve resident engagement.
• Address traffic calming.
• Citizen satisfaction at the highest levels.
• Use common language(easy for the public to understand).
• Renovate City Hall.
• Increase mobility.
• Identify new grants and funding streams.
• Expand the East Side Park.
• Build more accessible housing and student housing.
What will be some of the major challenges that the City Council must
face in the next two years?
• Publicize job/housing balance.
• Address the myth of a divided community and City Council.
• Deferred maintenance and poor facilities(i.e.,City Hall, water
system, and golf course).
• Shrinking number of retail stores and rising rents.
• State mandates on housing.
• Library parking.
• Getting entitled housing built.
• Balancing school enrollment(across schools in the district).
• Lack of improvement/development to East Side Park.
• Addressing water issues/systems.
• Growing petty criminal activity and perception of safety.
7
City Council Workshop
Workshop Report Management Partners
• Modernizing transit systems.
• Managing congestion.
• Budget process.
• Capital Improvement Program(CIP)long-term plan.
• Addressing the increase in housing and transit regionally.
• The underfunding of schools.
• The City being manipulated by developers.
Wrap Up and Next Steps
To conclude the workshop, Rod noted that Management Partners would
prepare a report summarizing the day's discussions.
The following items were placed on a list for follow up at a future time.
The City Manager will determine next steps on each of these.
1. Consider holding a follow up Council session to establish
priorities for the coming year. .
2. City Manager will work with staff to provide more background
information(e.g.,fact reviews,project chronology)in staff reports
to better inform the Council about items on the agenda.
3. Discuss at a future meeting, developing a public engagement plan
and protocols.
4. Review and clarify advisory board and commission roles and
responsibilities.
5. Consider holding more frequent Council retreats(such as
quarterly).
8
City Council Workshop
Attachment A-City Manager Presentation Management Partners
Attachment 1Manager
Building on • • • Foundation
City • • •er's State of
CUPERTINO
Could Your City
Be hi Fiscal Distress?
CASH POSITIONlLIOUIOITY
i+tlaeatyaMeropay�tttih io Me �� CA State Auditor's Report
DEBTBUROEN
[rowkrhedty9 Mxtofdebe 263 Based on 471 cities/towns in CA
nvnoaredro�[s�mmef
• Higher rankings = Better Fiscal Health
FINANCIAL RESERVES 277
nsetres tl caKvunepeeted cmn ar
shlxikt6 h n�+eletee
REVENUETRENOS 458
''�� ssUrec4ys reverrtepphrydamrovertVm7
RETIREMENT OBLIGATIONS
DG the fk h—Me u&JlVltapoy -
krrteelr++aMvxtiKitprwnfud332 I
.m�n >
Swute:Cd�Sxnn SlohAude�[
9
City Council Workshop
Attachment A—City Manager Presentation Management Partners
Santa Clara County Fiscal Risk Heat Map
Palo Alla � `
N 11
YII 'J
Sx a lar.•
San)oEk
:I m.
l.��vtil
1
How did we Rank?
w. .iii r_al Risk CitiesjTor,r, Santa Clara County.
I iir
10
City Council Workshop
Attachment A-City Manager Presentation Management Partners
General Fund 10 Year Forecast
Annual Operating Surplus/(Deficit)
Conservctivefcxec�sl Major Revenue Assumptions
1.3%Sales Tax
55 au
56.001.000 }.vA
• 2.0%Property Tax
55,E any
5.0%TOT
}]LA
53.rub Major Expense Assumptions
}I•w
3.0% Employee Compensation
57.000.C,OG fexA ,._.,
• 4.8%Employee Benefits
• 4.3%Contract Services
51L6)(I.b.UI
} 1.3°%Transfer to Capital Reserve
Revenue not currently forecasted
ent Project - - ongoing
L
Mixed Use Fees Taxes
Hampton $1.6M $0.8M
Marina $1.2M $0.5M+$1.6M
Oaks $0.9M $0.3M
Cupertino Village $0.2M $1.3M
De Anza Hotel $0.3M $1.6M
Vallco $16M $6.9Mi
Keyser Manton Shidy Total $20.2M $13M
I
I
I
11
City Council Workshop
Attachment A—City Manager Presentation Management Partners
City's Workforce
Current & Anticipated Vacancies (9/1 1 )
1. Account Clerk 6. Recreation Annual Attrition Rate
2. Senior Office Coordinator
Assistant 7. Environmental
s. Emergency Programs
AmV.IhBtl Aihlikvl
Services Manager W 2019
Coordinator s. Maintenance
4. Director of Work I (2)
Parks and 9. HR Manager
Recreation lo. City Clerk
5. Case Manager
City's Mission Statement
W
le
� r
�il�■■■INCLUSIVE
SIFFM � ' ��' � � �
® TlVALOEs INNOVATION'
=WC0 1 UIVI V _mu-
Mww"MMZ CUSTRMERSERVICE=0'W
ej CBLLAUUUA11101i us
12
City Council Workshop
Attachment A—City Manager Presentation Management Partners
i
Building
on a Solid Foundation
City Manager's State of - City
CUPERTINO
CUPERTINO
13