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78 Page 1 REPORT July 13, 2009 SUBJECT Proposed Redwood City Charter Changes - Library Board RECOMMENDATION Approve by Motion to proceed with a Charter Amendment recommendation for the November ballot: 1. Adopt a resolution authorizing submission of certain specified amendments to the Redwood City Charter to the voters of the City of Redwood City at the Consolidated General Municipal Election of November 3, 2009 2. Direct the City Attorney to prepare an impartial analysis with respect to the proposed Charter amendment. 3. Authorize the Mayor and Vice Mayor to select such persons as necessary to sign the ballot arguments in favor of the proposed Charter amendments. BACKGROUND The Redwood City Charter was adopted by the voters of Redwood City in 1929 and has been amended on fourteen occasions, last being amended in 2007. The City Attorney has been directed to regularly review the City Charter and propose any Charter provisions that would be appropriate for amendment. The Council's ad hoc charter review committee (comprised of Mayor Foust and Vice Mayor Howard) has considered a number of possible amendments to the City's Charter. Following the Council/ Library Board joint meeting of January 14, 2008, the committee asked the City Attorney and Manager to provide additional information and responses to questions and action items that were part of the discussion at the meeting. The committee met recently and decided to proceed with two recommendations to the full Council that will affect the Library Board: The Board should be comprised of seven members rather than five members, all to be appointed by the City Council; and the Library Director should report to the City Manager instead of the Library Board. The Committee directed the City Manager to communicate the proposal to the Board, answer any and all questions, and report back to the committee. The City Manager communicated the proposed charter changes to the Library Board at the June 9, 2009 Library Board meeting and reported back to the committee. The committee then recommended proceeding to the City Council. If this proposed two-part amendment is put forward to the voters of Redwood City by the City Council, the current terms of members of the Library Board would be unaffected. It is also proposed that the Library Board would establish rules (or bylaws) for its proceedings and the authority and duties of the Library Board would be set forth by the City Council via an ordinance and/or resolutions, making current Charter Sections 19,