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R-9270 . . eM KEL SG F \CMGR\STFRPTS\CCRES02 wpd 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 1 . . 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 2 . . 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 3 . . 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 4 . . 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 5 . . 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 6 . . 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 7 . . 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 8 . . Adopted and approved thls19th of May, 1998 ~f'~ - F . 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 ~~-~~ Marla M Stewart, City Clerk