R-9270
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May 19, 1998 Santa Monica, California
RESOLUTION NUMBER 9270 (CCS)
(City CouncIl Senes)
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
AMENDING AND EXPANDING RESOLUTION NUMBER 5532 (CCS) REGARDING
TRAVEL BY COUNCIL MEMBERS TO INCLUDE CITY COUNCIL GUIDELINES AND
STANDARDS REGARDING COUNCIL TRAVEL, STAFF ASSISTANCE FOR AND
OTHER RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO COUNCILMEMBERS
WHEREAS, Section 602 of the City Charter of the City of Santa MOnica
proVIdes that members ofthe CIty Council shall receIve reimbursement for necessary travel
and other expenses when on official duty out of the City on order of the City Council, and
WHEREAS, the City Council desires to establish a policy In furtherance of
thIs Section 602,
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA
MONICA DOES RESOLVE THAT RESOLUTION NUMBER 5532 (CCS) IS HEREBY
AMENDED TO READ AS FOLLOWS
SECTION I Council Travel and Expense It IS the policy of the City to pay actual
and necessary expenses Incurred by Councllmembers when they travel while conducting
official City business In furtherance ofthls policy, the follOWing gUidelines are established
A Councllmembers' attendance at conferences and meetings
Councllmembers are authorized to attend conferences,
conventions, meetings, educational seminars and other events
sponsored by those organrzatlons In which the City holds
membership or sponsored by the City Examples of such
organizations are National League of Cities, League of California
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Cities, Local Government Commission, Independent Cities
ASsociatIon and the Southern Callforma Association of
Governments
Any other travel by Councllmembers and all travel by outgoIng
(post-election) Councllmembers must be approved at a duly noticed
CouncIl meeting, by a simple maJonty of the members In
attendance
B Travel Budget Each Councllmembershall receive an equal amount
of travel funds at the beginning of each fiscal year In the event a
Councllmember IS a member of the board or a commIttee of one of
the above-mentioned organIzations and IS required to attend
additional out-of-Clty meetings, the Council may consider an
additional one-time allocation of travel funds for this purpose during
the annual budget deliberations For outgoing Councllmembers and
those standing for re-election, fIve-twelfths of the annual travel
budget Will be allocated at the beglnmng of the fiscal year, for
Incoming Councllmembers and those re-elected, seven-twelfths of
the annual travel budget Will be allocated when the Councllmember
IS Installed Any travel funds unspent by an outgoing
Council member or those Councllmembers not re-elected Will not be
re-allocated Travel expenditures by each Councllmember are
limited to the amount of funds In his or her "tnps and meetings"
account One Councllmember may authonze use of a portIon of his
or her allocation by another Councllmember If authonzatlon IS made
In wntlng to the Council Office staff with a copy to the City Manager
Each Councllmember Will be provIded with penodlc updates of
his/her travel expenses compared to budget as expenses are
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Incurred
C Expenses Reimbursed Reimbursable expenses for authonzed
travel may Include but are not limited to registration fees,
transportation (including rental vehicles at the meeting site if such
IS less expensive and more practIcal than other available transit),
meals, events associated with the meeting or conference which
Includes a meal and IS In lieu of reimbursement for that meal during
a day of offiCial travel, child care allowance of not more than $20 per
day, and lodging Administrative procedures regarding offiCIal travel
contained In AdminIstrative Instruction IV-2-1 are applicable to the
CounCIl
D ReconCIliatIon of expenses Councllmembers shall reconcile the
expenses and cash advances for each tnp or event Within 30 days
of the reimbursable activity
E Prohibited Expenses ExpendItures by Councllmembers for the
follOWing Items are not elIgIble for reimbursement
1 Travel expenses for a Councllmember's family or
traveling companIon, except those expenses for child
care as provide In the applicable Administrative
Instruction
2 Mealor other expenses Incurred pnor to or after the end
of the offiCial travel (WIth the exception that meals while
traveling directly to and from are permitted),
3 Parties and entertainment which are not offiCially
sponsored by the City except as noted In SectIon IC of
thiS resolution
4 The cost of alcoholic beverages
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5 Portions of official travel hosted or paid for by other
entities
6 Mileage traveled uSing a personal vehicle while not on
official travel status
7 Expenses associated with travel within Santa MOnica
SECTION II Hosting Events for VIsiting Dignitaries The City may host SOCial
events Intended to welcome dlgnltanes vIsiting the City In their official capacity as an
elected or appointed official of a governmental entity, foreign or domestic Within the
constraints of the Council Office budget (public entertainment line Item), the following
procedures and/or policIes apply
A A Councllmember shall place an Item on the City Council agenda to
request advance approval for hosting and paYing for the event The
request should Include Identification of the guests to be InVited, a
"not to exceed" cost of the event, the official purpose of the VISit and
any written Itinerary from the VISiting dignitaries
B All Councllmembers shall be InVited to attend any approved event
for vIsiting dignitaries
C All guests InVited to attend an approved event shall have an offiCial
purpose for attending the event or shall be the spouse or companion
of a City offiCial or VISiting dignitary
SECTION III Resources Available for Conducting City BUSiness Certain
resources are required by Councllmembers to conduct City bUSiness Within the
constraints of the budget and upon request from the Councllmember, the following
resources will be made available
A A key to City Hall and the CounCil Office to be returned when a
Councllmember leaves office
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B A reasonable amount of Office supplies (mcludlng stationery),
photog raphlc portraits ofthe Councllmember and business cards for
official City use
C Reimbursement for the cost of telephone calls made which are
related to City Council business
D Electronic equipment Including, but not limited to, a portable cellular
telephone, a pager and a personal computer system IncludIng a
printer and a facsimile machine A group of not more than 3
Councllmembers should period Ically review and affirm the electronic
equIpment to be provIded to each CouncIl member Electronic
equipment shall be returned to the City when a Councllmember
leaves office
E Installation of one telephone line to be used with the electronic
equipment as well as reimbursement of reasonable mCldental
expenses Incurred to support the electronic eqUipment
F Publications, profeSSional Journals and other wntten, audiO or Video
materials required by a Councllmember to cond uct City busIness as
long as all matenals are paid for from a Councllmember's budget
allocation
G Information Retneval/Research by City Staff A Councllmember
may directly request routine, easIly retrievable information from a
staff member regarding an Issue pending before the Council, an
Issue which the Councllmember Intends to bnng to the Councilor an
Issue previously established as Council policy Such direct requests
should be made with the knowledge of the City Manager, City Clerk
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or City Attorney as appropnate and within departmental or
admlnlstratlve poliCies
H Responses to Citizen's Complaints by City Staff Complaints about
with the administrative affairs of the City should be directed by the
Councllmember to the City Manager or to the approprrate
Department Head with a copy or appropriate notrficatlon to the City
Manager Councllmembers may request that staff respond directly
to the constituent or back to the inquIring Councllmember so that he
or she may personally contact the complainant
Assistance of Staff In Speech and Correspondence Preparation
Councllmembers are entitled to a reasonable amount of staff
assistance for speech and correspondence preparation related to
CIty business The City Manager Will evaluate the request and
assIgn appropnate staff resources When available, an outline of
Issues to be covered as well as available supporting material IS to
be provided by the requesting Councllmember Requests should be
limited to a speech or correspondence that reflects adopted Council
policy or relates to matters that have been or Will be consIdered by
the Council Councllmember correspondence shall be limited to 200
pieces of mall per distribution unless the correspondence IS
responding to numerous constituent requests or InqUlnes
J Intergovernmental ASSignments Reasonable staff assistance Will
be provided to Councllmembers serving on or seeking appointment
to a nonpartisan Intergovernmental body when the Council has
approved appointment of a member to that body or, In the case
when the Council IS not the approving body, If the Council has
consented to that member sitting on that body For purposes of this
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policy, Intergovernmental bodies are broadly defined to include
committees of Intergovernmental agencies or organizations Use of
staff shall be consistent With the follOWing gUidelines
1 If the Intergovernmental body has Its own profeSSional
staff, such staff should be used to the greatest practical
extent, rather than City staff
2 City staff may attend the Intergovernmental meeting If
the Councllmember requests such attendance With the
approval of departmental and City management
3 The primary responsibility of staff IS to review Issues
before the Intergovernmental body as they may affect
the City and advise and assist the Councllmember In
presenting Issues before the full Councilor representing
Council's pOSition before the body
K Routine Support Services The Council Office staff provides routine
support services to Councllmembers including the follOWing
1 Preparation of correspondence relating to official City
business Within the resource restraints of the adopted
budget and the limitations noted above Each of the
Councllmember Will be given equal consideration City
resources Will not be made available for
correspondence to or for political organizations, In
support of a Councllmember's pursuit of an elective or
partisan office, In support of or Opposition to a ballot
measure, or In support of someone else's pursuit of an
elective or partisan office
2 Assistance In scheduling meetings concerning City
business and making logistIcal and travel arrangements
for offiCial meetings ThiS Includes but IS not limited to
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arranging for meeting room The fee for the room shari
be consistent With the fees charged to City staff and
may be charged to the City Council Office budget
3 Assistance In secunng single copies of official records
4 Unless otherwise requested by a Councllmember,
Council mall will be opened dally and If of a non-urgent
nature, distributed With the agenda on Thursday and
before Council meetings on Tuesday evening If there
IS no council meeting scheduled dUring a two week
period then mall will be delivered to the
Councllmember's home at least once a week
Councllmembers may pick up mall at City Hall at any
time
5 Response, at a Councllmember's request, to telephone
InqUlnes
SECTION IV All documents uSing the City letterhead should be considered a public
document As such, all documents shall be provided to the City Council Office Manager
SECTION V The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of thiS Resolution, and
thenceforth and thereafter the same shall be In full force and effect
APPROVED AS TO FORM
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Adopted and approved thls19th of May, 1998
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Robert Holbrook, Mayor
I, Mana M Stewart, City Clerk of the City of Santa Monica, do hereby certify that
the foregOing Resolution 9270 (CCS) was duly adopted at a meeting of the Santa
MOnica CIty Council held on the 19th of May, 1998 by the following vote
Ayes Council members
Feinstein, Genser, Holbrook, Rosenstein
Noes Councllmembers
None
Abstain Councllmembers
None
Absent Councllmembers
Ebner, Greenberg, O'Connor
ATTEST
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Marla M Stewart, City Clerk