Laserfiche WebLink
Page 2 of 3 <br />City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.org <br />ANALYSIS <br />At the September 19, 2023 meeting, the City Council’s Governance Sub-Committee (Mayor Gee, Vice <br />Mayor Espinoza-Garnica, and Councilmember Martinez Saballos) suggested requiring all BCC members to <br />adhere to the City Council’s Norms, which describe the City Council’s aspirations for engaging with one <br />another, with staff, the media, and community members. The Sub-Committee discussed the importance <br />of BCC members complying with these norms and further suggested the development of a Code of <br />Conduct for BCC members. <br />Governance Sub-Committee Recommendation <br />Although the City Council authorized the City Clerk to make changes to the Handbook without seeking <br />additional Council approval, staff presented the draft changes to the City Council’s Governance Sub- <br />Committee for review. <br />The City Clerk’s Office surveyed six nearby and comparable cities (Belmont, Foster City, Mountain View, <br />Palo Alto, San Carlos, and San Mateo) to learn how policies related to BCC conduct were crafted and <br />implemented. Of the cities surveyed, San Mateo and Palo Alto both administer Codes of Conduct similar <br />to Redwood City’s practices. Many elements of San Mateo’s Code of Conduct already are present in the <br />current Redwood City Handbook; therefore, staff modeled a draft Code of Conduct after Palo Alto’s Code <br />of Conduct. <br />At their meeting on May 13, 2024 staff presented the modified Handbook to the Sub-Committee for <br />consideration. In addition to introducing the BCC Code of Conduct, staff made several “cleanup” edits to <br />reflect changes that have occurred since the last update in 2021. The staff memo for that meeting details <br />all changes included in the revised Handbook and is included as Attachment A to this staff report. The <br />Handbook containing tracked changes is included as Attachment B to this staff report. Following the staff <br />presentation and discussion, the Sub-Committee voted unanimously to recommend the revised BCC <br />Handbook to the full City Council for consideration and adoption. <br />EQUITY IMPACT STATEMENT <br />Equity and/or inclusion was considered in development or implementation of item through the <br />following <br />As it relates to BCC support, staff continuously strives to ensure materials and processes are accessible <br />and inclusive for members who may be new to public service. Edits to the Handbook have been made in <br />such a manner to streamline information, reorganize content for easier readability, remove jargon and <br />use plain language to convey information. Further, the Handbook has been revised to remove gendered <br />language. <br />9.B. - Page 2 of 53 <br />158