At the direction of the City Council, Councilmember Jim Roberts has invited eight community representatives to serve on a task force to help develop community condition indicators for a "Quality of Life/Municipal Performance" Index. These community measures would supplement the City’s own program outcome measures. Council is requested to ratify the appointment of the members of this ad hoc community task force so that it can begin working on the project according to the work plan adopted in December.

At its study session on September 20, 1998, the City Council considered the development of a "municipal performance index," based on the City’s wide range of program outcome measures, as a method for assessing and communicating goals and progress associated with "quality of life" in the community.

At this session, councilmembers indicated that they would be interested in adding other community quality-of-life indicators to the City’s own program measures and in modifying existing measures to reflect community goals and priorities related to quality of life.

On December 8, 1999, the Council approved a work plan (Attachment B) that would establish a task force for this purpose, with Councilmember Roberts serving as chair.

Policy statements throughout the Sunnyvale General Plan refer to the City’s role and responsibility for establishing and maintaining a high quality of life for the community, although none specifically refers to a "quality of life index." Relevant General Plan policy statements include:

• Goal 7.3A Assess community conditions and make appropriate changes to long-range, mid-range and short-range plans.

• Goal 7.2A Achieve a community in which citizens and businesses are informed about local issues and City programs and services.

The goal of the community task force is to engage a range of perspectives and knowledge regarding issues and goals affecting the overall quality of life in Sunnyvale. Although the City Council agreed that the core of a municipal performance index should be based on both existing and anticipated program outcome measures, it also directed public involvement to broaden the scope of the proposed index.

In the context of the City’s own measures, the task force will review critical community concerns that are not the direct focus of municipal services. It will not be asked to review City program budget and measurement structures themselves. The task force will consider how the City’s existing measures, along with potential new measures, could be modified to improve their value for public communication regarding community priorities, issues and trends.

Councilmember Roberts recommends that the Council ratify the proposed members of the task force as listed on Attachment A. Among the selection criteria he used for nominating members for the task force are geographic distribution; demographic diversity; and familiarity with community issues, services needs and resources.

The work of the task force is expected to take up to four months, with a goal to complete this phase by June. Following a progress report to the City Council, the recommendations from the task force would be incorporated into a Quality of Life/Municipal Performance Index based on both municipal outcome measures and community condition indicators.

It is estimated that it will require approximately 150 hours of staff time to support the effort of a public participation task force leading to the development of a consolidated municipal performance and quality of life index as outlined in the work plan.

This report was published with the City Council agenda and posted on the City’s web site.

Staff recommends Alternative 1.

Prepared by:

David Vossbrink
Community Relations Officer

Reviewed by:

Amy Chan
Assistant City Manager

Approved by:

Robert S. LaSala
City Manager