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February 25, 2003
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SUBJECT: |
City Council Community Outreach Program Update |
REPORT IN BRIEF
On January 8, 2002 Council approved a City Council Community Outreach Program. This program, proposed by Councilmember Howe, provides an opportunity for neighborhood associations, community groups, and community members to discuss with Councilmembers issues that affect their neighborhoods, and other issues, in an informal and convenient setting.
Eight City Council outreach meetings have been held since January 2002. This RTC reviews each of these meetings and examines the City Council Community Outreach Program as a whole.
Because the City Council Community Outreach Program has been well-received by community members and associations, and is a cost-effective method of community involvement, staff recommends that it continue.
BACKGROUND
Community participation and involvement is a generally accepted predictor of a community's quality of life, and is also critical to an effective democracy. Sunnyvale has a longstanding commitment to community participation as documented in the Community Participation Sub-Element of the City’s General Plan. Underscoring this commitment, in 2002 Mayor Miller and Vice Mayor Risch introduced a study issue to explore options to improve community communications and outreach. The study issue was approved by Council and completed in November 2002. It included an informal survey that queried residents on their knowledge of how to provide input to City Councilmembers, and also summarized the results of a communications audit that had been conducted in 2000 by a professional communications firm. The informal survey indicated that the majority of residents did not know how to provide input to staff or Councilmembers. Additionally, the communications audit noted that:
"Interviewees told us overwhelmingly that they believed the City's public participation efforts were insufficient. Public input was taken too late in the process, they say, with not enough time and publicity to allow residents to respond. Several [interviewees] suggested you could increase public involvement by taking the City to the neighborhoods, and in fact that is a tried-and-true method to increase representative participation."
While the City Council Community Outreach Program was launched in January 2002 (prior to the study issue completion date, but following completion of the Communications Audit), it was designed to address these types of issues by providing informal opportunities for community members to provide input to, and dialogue with, elected officials. As described in the January 8, 2002 RTC #02-009, Expand Citizen Input via Council Outreach to Neighborhoods, the City Council Community Outreach Program utilizes community associations and community meeting places as venues for dialogue, allowing community members to provide input to Councilmembers on City and neighborhood issues in an informal setting.
At the meetings, Councilmembers listen to community concerns, respond to questions and entertain suggestions. Staff support is limited to forwarding each Councilmember a copy of the meeting topics or agenda (if available), providing a brief summary of pressing local issues (if needed), informing the community group regarding which Councilmembers will be attending, informing City staff of the meeting, developing limited publicity as noted in the attached Publicity Planning Tools, and overall planning of the meeting to be in compliance with the Brown Act. At the meetings, staff presence is limited, and staff's role is as audience members only. As appropriate, staff does take action minutes and provides them to both Councilmembers and the sponsoring community group.
Councilmembers directed staff to report back on the City Council Community Outreach Program after one year of operation. This report is a result of that direction.
Note that staff is currently in the process of implementing Council direction from the 2002 RTC Explore Options to Improve Community Communications and Outreach. Report back to Council is anticipated in July 2003.
EXISTING POLICY
The City Council Community Outreach Program supports various goals and policies set forth in the Community Participation Sub-Element of the City’s General Plan, including the following:
Goal 7.2A Achieve a community in which citizens are informed about local issues and City programs and services.
Policy 7.2A.1 Use community and business organizations and networks as a resource for community education and outreach.
Policy 7.2B.3 Support local neighborhood organizations and strengthen contacts between the City and community groups.
Goal 7.2C.1 Representation – Plan for and encourage an appropriate cross-section of the community when obtaining public input for policy decisions.
Policy 7.2C.5 Provide opportunities for community input and monitor feedback.
DISCUSSION
Eight City Council community outreach meetings have been held since January 2002. Five of these meetings were Council Outreach to Associations meetings (in which neighborhood associations and community groups invited Councilmembers to attend their meetings). The other three were Council Outreach to the Community meetings (meetings initiated at Councilmembers’ request and focused on a particular City issue).
Council Outreach to Associations Meetings
Councilmembers received invitations from, and attended, five neighborhood association or community group meetings during 2002. The goals of these meetings were to expand resident input on City issues and to better inform Councilmembers of resident and neighborhood concerns. A brief description of each meeting follows.
The S.N.A.I.L. neighborhood association invited City Councilmembers to attend its April 4th 2002 meeting at the Columbia Middle School auditorium. Approximately 40 residents from the community attended the meeting. Residents brought several issues to Council's attention including traffic lights, speeding, graffiti, sound wall, and road conditions. Staff followed up with a S.N.A.I.L. representative on the City’s traffic calming policy, statistics on vehicle/pedestrian accidents, the status of the bridge extension over Mary Avenue, and information about the Mathilda overpass rehabilitation. In response to resident concerns, staff also cleaned graffiti on a sound wall, increased speed enforcement on Evelyn at Fairoaks, and ordered new crosswalk buttons at the intersection of Borregas and Maude.
Approximately 180 residents from Willow Ranch, Cape Cod, and Fox Hollow mobile home communities attended a Council Outreach meeting at Willow Ranch on May 4th 2002. The focus of the meeting was the proposed name change of "Persian Drive." In response to resident questions, staff followed-up with Willow Ranch representatives on the history of the street naming system and the costs for a street name change.
Councilmembers were invited to a joint meeting of Heritage District Neighborhood Association and Homeowners Lowlanders Neighborhood Association on June 19th 2002. Approximately 80 residents attended the meeting, which focused on the City’s downtown redevelopment. In response to resident questions, staff followed up with neighborhood association representatives on the history of the downtown plaza plan, ABAG housing development requirements, vacant building requirements, and the EIR process for the downtown design plan.
On July 2nd 2002, Councilmembers met with approximately 60 Plaza Del Rey residents at a Plaza Del Rey Social Club meeting. Issues raised included street cleaning, parking, streetlights, transit, trees, and traffic. In response to resident questions, staff provided Plaza Del Rey representatives with information on the maintenance of Vienna Drive, the stop light configuration of the Tasman and Vienna intersection, and the VTA light rail shuttle program. The Department of Public Works also issued a work order to remove the red curbing at a school bus stop, Nuisance Vehicle Inspectors were directed to continue to monitor Vienna drive for parking violations, and "pick up after your dog signs" were posted on Vienna Avenue.
Members of the organization, Friends of Sunnyvale, discussed the Downtown Design Plan with Councilmembers at a Council Outreach meeting on November 18th 2002. The meeting took place at City Hall in Council Chambers, and 59 people signed the attendance sheet (many more appeared to be in attendance). The meeting was broadcast live on KSUN Channel 18.
Council Outreach to the Community Meetings
During 2002, Councilmembers initiated three Council Outreach to the Community meetings to educate the community about two City issues.
Two Council Outreach meetings were held to educate the community on the recently adopted design guidelines for single-family homes and additions. The meetings took place at the Serra Park and Murphy Park buildings on October 7th and October 10th. Approximately sixteen residents attended the Serra Park meeting and seven residents attended the Murphy Park meeting.
A Council Outreach meeting was held on October 16th at the Murphy Park building to educate the community about the rehabilitation of the Mathilda overpass and to gather public input. Approximately 31 residents attended the meeting.
City Council Community Outreach Program Expenses
A detailed summary of the City Council Community Outreach Program expenses is attached (see Attachment A, Cost Summary Sheet)
.OCM Staff Hours
City Council Community Outreach Program expenses varied per outreach meeting. The first few Council Outreach meetings took longer to coordinate because several meeting tools had to be developed including publicity planning tools (Attachments B and C), a meeting session plan, and a meeting sign-in sheet, (Attachment D.) The typical City Council Outreach to Associations meeting involves the following OCM activities/staff hours:
Typical OCM activities per Council Outreach to Associations meeting Avg. OCM Staff Hrs.
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Preparation (internal communications, coordinating with Council and association representatives, press release, public noticing) |
2 hours |
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Attending meeting |
4 hours |
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Drafting minutes and capturing flip-chart notes |
2 hours |
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Following up with internal staff regarding issues raised, and responding to association representative |
2-4 hours |
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TOTAL |
10-12 OCM Staff Hours |
City Council Outreach to the Community meetings are initiated by Council, and are planned and publicized by staff. The typical Council Outreach to the Community meeting utilizes the following OCM activities/staff hours:
Typical OCM activities Per Council Outreach to the Community meeting Avg. OCM Staff Hrs.
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Preparation (internal communications, reserving meeting space, coordinating with Council, designing the flyer, posting the flyer, distributing the flyer, press release, agenda, public noticing, announcement at Council meeting, KSUN posting, banner on City web site, posting on community/internal calendar) |
5 hours |
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Attending meeting |
4 hours |
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Capturing flip-chart notes and distributing to internal staff |
2 hours |
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Following up with internal staff regarding issues raised, and responding to residents as appropriate |
2 hours |
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TOTAL |
13 OCM Staff Hours |
Publicity Expenses
Two Publicity Planning Tools (Attachments B and C) identifying the specific publicity activities that are undertaken by staff for both types of Council Outreach meetings, are attached.
The City incurs no publicity costs for Council Outreach to Association meetings because City Councilmembers are invited to attend these meetings. It is the association’s responsibility to cover the costs of publicizing its meetings.
City Council Outreach to the Community meetings require City-incurred publicity expenses to ensure that community members are adequately informed of the meeting. While publicity does increase the probability that community members are informed of the meeting, it does not guarantee a high turnout. With the single-family home design guidelines meetings, for example, staff printed and distributed approximately 350 flyers to Boards and Commission members, neighborhood associations, the Neighborhood and Community Services mailing list, and the Community Development Department mailing list. Additionally, staff posted flyers at visible locations throughout the City such as the Library, Community Center, Senior Center, Chamber of Commerce, and City Hall. Advertisements were also placed on the City’s web site, in the Sunnyvale Sun, and on KSUN Channel 18. Sixteen residents attended the October 7th design guidelines meeting and seven residents attended the October 10th meeting.
The typical publicity expenses per Council Outreach to the Community meeting are as follows:
Typical publicity expenses per Council Outreach to the Community Meeting Avg. Cost
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Printing of 500 flyers including postage for 350 |
$162 |
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Ad in the Mercury News (Guide section) |
$120 |
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Ad in the Sunnyvale Sun |
$184 |
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TOTAL |
$466 |
Residents heard about the Council Outreach to the Community meetings through the following channels:
Newspaper Mailed Flyer Posted Flyer Email City Website Other
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Mathilda Overpass Rehabilitation* |
16 |
12 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
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Single-Family Design Guidelines** |
6 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
3 |
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TOTALS |
22 |
15 |
6 |
3 |
7 |
4 |
*Numbers reflect answers from an informal survey by Councilmember Howe of the
residents attending the Mathilda Overpass meeting.**Numbers reflect answers from the sign-in sheet at the Design Guidelines meetings.
Other Expenses
An architectural consultant who assisted the Planning Division in drafting the single-family home design guidelines presented the guidelines at the Serra Park and Murphy Park Council Outreach meetings. The architectural consultant cost $1,050 for two meetings. Since these were the first meetings of this type, and to prepare staff for facilitating future meetings, a facilitator was used at a cost of $544 for two meetings. Facilitators are not anticipated for future meetings. The KSUN live telecast of the Friends of Sunnyvale Council Outreach meeting cost $150.
Community Feedback
Informal feedback from the associations on the City Council Community Outreach Program has been very positive. Six association representatives who had hosted Council Outreach meetings provided the following feedback from an informal telephone survey:
The association representatives made the following comments about the City Council Community Outreach Program:
FISCAL IMPACT
Council Outreach to Associations Meetings
Estimated OCM staff time for these meetings is approximately ten to twelve hours per meeting. No additional expenses are incurred.
Council Outreach to the Community Meetings
Estimated OCM staff time is approximately 13 hours per meeting. Additional expenses are incurred to publicize Council Outreach to the Community meetings. Publicity will vary depending on the type of meeting, affected community members, and Council direction. The recommended publicity per Council Outreach to the Community meetings is as follows:
Recommended Publicity Per Council Outreach to the Community Meeting Avg. Cost
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Printing of 500 flyers including postage for 350 |
$162 |
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Ad in the Mercury News |
$120 |
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Ad in the Sunnyvale Sun |
$184 |
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TOTAL |
$466 |
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TOTAL FOR 4 MEETINGS |
$1,864 |
If Council directs staff to continue this program, staff is budgeted for four Council Outreach to the Community meetings per year including publicity expenses totaling approximately $1,864. This expense is also included in the City's FY2003-04 operating budget.
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PUBLIC CONTACT |
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Public contact was made through the posting of the Council agenda on the City’s official notice bulletin board, posting of the agenda and report on the City’s web page, publication of the Council agenda in the San Jose Mercury News, and the availability of the report in the Library and the City Clerk’s Office. |
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ALTERNATIVES |
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RECOMMENDATION |
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Staff recommends Alternative #1. |
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Prepared by:
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Reviewed by: |
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Approved by: Robert S. LaSala City Manager |
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Attachments |
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| List of Council Meetings | List of Reports to Council | Sunnyvale Home Page |