SR-103007-13D13-
®ctober~~., 2007
Council Meeting: Santa Monica, California
CITY CLERK'S OFFiGE -MEMORANDUM
To: City Council
From: Mayor Bloom
Date: October 23, 2007
Honorable Mayor pro Tem Katz and Councilmembers,
The expiration of the current Mayoral term provides me with an opportunity to share
thoughts regarding possible adjustments to some of our Council norms.
At nearly $500,000,000 annually, the City Attorney recently observed that the City of
Santa Monica has the third largest budget in Los Angeles County {only Los Angetes
and Long Beach exceed us). Our City has Tong championed the highest standards of
community dialogue and input as well as extraordinary concern for customer service.
Our City has a regional presence and mission on transportation, homelessness and
many other issues. Our City has a growing national and international reputation on a
range of issues including sustainability, tourism, business and social justice. We have
a longstanding tradition of professional city management and fiscal responsibility for
which the City Council has ultimate responsibility. The City Council governs a uniquely
complex City relative to its residential population. Few cities of our size boast a thriving
downtown, tourism industry, Pier, bus company and professional police and fire
departments all the while providing a range of recreational, social service, housing and
educational support and opportuni#y. I suggest the following actions as a starting
point for discussion and invite your modifications and input.
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October 23, 2007
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Octaber 23, 2007
-- Weekly council rneetinas. The current Council Resolution calls for bi-weekly
Council meetings. As the Council and community have long been aware, it has been
extremely difficult to routinely adjourn council meetings prior to 11 p.m., as called for in
the Council Rules. Both Closed and Open Session items are frequently complex and
deserve the Council's full attention. The Council is responsible for three of the City's
key employees (City Manager, City Attorney and City Glerk} and time constraints have
made it extremely difficult to effectively fulfill our responsibility to evaluate these
employees on a regular basis: The scheduling of occasional additional meetings has
been difficult. The City Council should consider a Resolution setting weekly meetings
as the norm. This will provide greater predictability and access to the residents we
serve and allow sufficient time to handle the broad variety of responsibilities of the City
Council.
- Re-evaluate Council staffing The City Manager should work with the City Council
to re-evaluate the allocation of resources to the City Council's business. The current
allocation is 1.5 FTE's, but members of the Manager's office also work collaboratively
with the Council and staff. Our Council Administrator is highly competent and
extraordinarily dedicated -qualities shared by ail employees who provide assistance fo
us. That said, the increase in reliance on email has allowed many more people to
communicate with their elected officials and city. It is virtually impossible for any of us
to keep up with the overwhelming numbers of email and calls we receive -yet good
communication is essential to excellence in public service. Therefore, consideration
should be given to providing additional assistance to Gouncilmembers in responding to
constituent communications as well as scheduling. Please note that this is not a
proposal for providing designated council aideslstaff for each councilmember as occurs
in some communities.
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October 23, 2007
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®ctob~r 23, 2007
-- Council compensation. The compensation for the substantial time and
responsibilities contributed by the Mayor and Councilmembers ought to be
reconsidered. Since election, each councilmember has personally experienced the
extraordinary commitment of time and energy that the position brings. This, coupled
with demands of occupations, life and families also combine to discourage some
members of the community from seeking election to the City Council. In my opinion,
this is the singte greatest bar to municipal elective office in our community. Council pay
was re-considered nearly a decade ago. While Council compensation has kept pace
with inflation over the ensuing years, it is questionable whether it has kept pace with
the demands of the work and the conflicting demands of society on members of our
community. Even if the Council does not adopt my proposal for weekly meetings, the
number of official and unofficial meetings we should be expected to participate in has
expanded dramatically over the years. The complexities of our city, the programs we
are responsible for, the number of city employees and departments have, likewise,
.grown. The City Council should survey other cities and consider the unique
characteristics of Santa Monica in determining whether to place before the voters the
question of approving an increase in Council compensation. The Council should
carefully consider budge#ary impacts and trade-offs against other city priorities that
might result from any change in Council compensation.
I look forward to discussing these items with you as well as those ideas of your own in
our mutual desire to improve our city and its processes.
Richard Bloom
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October 23, 2007