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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 8.2 - 2513 Discussion of Alternate Commissioners Page 1 of 4 STAFF REPORT CITY COUNCIL DATE: March 19, 2019 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers FROM: Christopher L. Foss, City Manager SUBJECT: Report to City Council on Alternate Commissioner Model Prepared by: Tivonna Stern, Interim Assistant City Attorney EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: At the January 8, 2019 City Council meeting, the City Council requested that Staff bring back a report regarding the establishment of alternates on the various City commissions and committees, as well as a mechanism that would allow alternates to succeed to commission seats when a vacancy occurs. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Receive the report and provide Staff with further direction. FINANCIAL IMPACT: The financial impact will depend upon whether the City Council decides to move forward with establishing alternates on the City’s commissions and committees. Should the City Council wish to proceed, additional funding would need to be budgeted to cover the compensation of additional commissioners/committee members, as wel l as funding for training and technology equipment. DESCRIPTION: At its January 8, 2019 meeting, the City Council requested that Staff bring back a report regarding the establishment of alternates on the various City commissions and committees, as well as a mechanism for selecting alternates to fill unscheduled vacancies. The City’s commissions and committees consist of the Heritage and Cultural Arts Commission, Human Services Commission, Parks and Community Services Commission, Planning Commission, Senior Center Advisory Committee, and Youth Advisory Committee. Staff is seeking direction on whether the City Council wishes to proceed with establishing alternates on the City’s commissions and committees and, if so, the possible ways in which the alternate structure could be set up. Page 2 of 4 Certain municipalities and other governmental entities in California appoint alternates to their commissions and committees. The form of the alternate model varies widely. In some cases, the alternate only attends when the pri ncipal is absent, and in other cases the alternate is expected to attend all of the meetings. In still other cases, the alternate participates in the discussion and deliberation but does not vote. In almost all cases, there is only one alternate. In the Tri-Valley, three of the four cities appoint alternates to commissions. The City of San Ramon, for example, appoints two alternates on its Economic Development Committee and two (one of which is vacant) on its Senior Advisory Committee. The Town of Danville’s municipal code reflects the city’s use of alternates on its Planning Commission, Parks and Leisure Services Commission, Arts Commission, Heritage Resource Commission, Design Review Board, [something is missing here.] The City of Pleasanton’s municipal code indicates that it appoints alternates to its Planning Commission, Housing Commission, Parks and Recreation Commission, Youth Commission, Library Commission, Civic Arts Commission, and Human Services Commission. Such persons are entitled to vote o nly in the event of an absence or conflict of interest and may also serve as a voting member on any commission subcommittee. Unlike regular commissioners, alternate commissioners for the City of Pleasanton are not subject to a limit in the number of years served. The City of Livermore does not appear to utilize an alternate system. Questions on Alternates and Structure There is no legal prohibition against the City establishing a model for utilizing alternates. The following includes several policy questions that the City Council would need to answer if the City Council is interested in creating alternates for commissions/committees. The answers to these questions will allow Staff to return at a future meeting with legislation implementing the City Council’s direction. 1. Is the City Council interested in establishing alternates for any or all of the commissions/committees? Yes/No The City Council could choose to appoint alternates to all commissions and committees or only to a subset. There are 4 commissions and 2 committees: Heritage and Cultural Arts Commission, Human Services Commission, Parks and Community Services Commission, Planning Commission, Senior Center Advisory Committee, and Youth Advisory Committee. The City Council may or may not believe that alternates are necessary and desirable for each of the commissions and committees. 2. If yes, what are the number of alternates and the terms desired? The City Council would need to decide if one or two alternates should be assigned to each commission or committee. For reasons discussed in a later section, the City Council may wish to have more than one alternate if it chooses to have alternates automatically assume vacant commission or committee seats. Page 3 of 4 3. Does the City Council want to require attendance at each meeting for alternate members? Yes/No The City Council could: (1) require the alternates to attend all meetings; or (2) only require alternates to attend a meeting upon being noticed of the absence of a sitting member. If alternates were required to attend all meetings, Staff would assume that they would be subject to the City Council policies governing unexcused absences, in which a commissioner/committee member vacates his or her seat if absent three times in any 12-month period. 4. Does the City Council want the alternates to play an “active” or “passive” role in the meeting when not sitting in for a regular member? An “active” role would entail alternate members sitting at the dais and fully participating in the discussions, but not voting. So as to prevent the risk of unintended Brown Act violations amongst a non -voting alternate and regular members, Staff would recommend that the commission treat alternate commissioners for the purposes of the Brown Act as if the y were regular commissioners. Conversely, a “passive” role would require alternate members to sit in the audience, observe the meeting, but not participate. 5. Do you wish to compensate the alternate members? Yes/No Currently, regular commissioners/committee members are compensated. If yes, Staff recommends that the alternate be compensated as a regular member based on their meeting attendance. Unscheduled Vacancies The City Council also requested information on whether the alternate can automat ically assume the seat in the event of an unscheduled vacancy by a regular member. Ordinarily, when an unscheduled vacancy occurs on a commission or a committee, the City is required to post a notice of the vacancy at least 10 days prior to the vacancy being filled. The City Attorney advises that, so long as the appointment of the alternate specifically indicates that he or she would assume any vacancy on the commission or committee, there would be no unscheduled vacancy requiring a notification. There would, however, be an unscheduled vacancy in the alternate position that would be filled in the ordinary manner. Alternates automatically assuming vacant seats creates a further complication. Since the Committees and Commission have staggered terms, an alternate appointed to fill the remainder of a vacancy might serve more or less than the alternate term to which he or she was appointed. For example, if an alternate were appointed to a four -year term in 2018, and a vacancy occurred in a commission seat end ing in 2024, the alternate would succeed to a seat that extended beyond the end of the alternate’s 2022 term. These situations could be avoided by appointing one alternate for the group of commissioners Page 4 of 4 with term ending in 2020 and another for the group with terms ending in 2022. Staff would therefore recommend two alternate positions should the City Council desire to have alternates automatically fill vacancies. Training, Cost, and Compensation Considerations If the City proceeds in adopting an alternate model, Staff recommends that alternate members be trained in the same manner as regular members (e.g. as to onboarding, conference registration and attendance, AB 1234 ethics training, and Brown Act training). Additionally, Staff would recommend alternates be equipped with the necessary technological infrastructure, such as laptops set -up with the requisite software and applications. Providing alternates with laptops equipped with licenses, as well as registering alternates for conferences and necessary training, would contribute to the cost of an alternate-incorporated model. Staff requests that the City Council to provide guidance on the above question(s) as to whether it would like to proceed with developing a process to appointment alternates and, if so, the structure of that model. Alternatively, the City Council could consider and provide direction on increasing the regular members on specific commissions or committees. STRATEGIC PLAN INITIATIVE: N/A NOTICING REQUIREMENTS/PUBLIC OUTREACH: N/A ATTACHMENTS: None.