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SARATOGA CITY COUNCIL
MEETING DATE: February 18, 2009 AGENDA ITEM:
DEPARTMENT: City Manager’s Office CITY MANAGER: Dave Anderson
PREPARED BY: Crystal Morrow DIRECTOR: Barbara Powell
Administrative Analyst II Assistant City Manager
SUBJECT: Ordinance Regarding Terms for City Commissions
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
1. Introduce and waive the first reading of the attached ordinance (Attachment A) after
opening the public hearing, accepting public testimony, and closing the hearing.
2. Direct staff to place the second reading and adoption of the ordinance on the consent
calendar for the next regular Council Meeting.
3. Direct staff to use proposed alternative interim term lengths (as indicated in Attachment
B) during future Commission recruitments until Commission terms are fully staggered in
2012.
BACKGROUND:
This ordinance would amend the City Code to allow the City Council to make Commission
appointments for terms of more or less than four years to ensure that Commission terms are
staggered so that roughly equal numbers of terms expire each year. Section 2-12.030(c) of the
City of Saratoga Municipal Code states that:
“the terms of the Commissioners shall be staggered such that each year the four
year terms of approximately an equal number of the Commissioners shall expire.
Where a Commission has seven Commissioners, the terms of two Commissioners
shall expire each year except that in the year after the first six Commission terms
have expired, only one term shall expire. The limitations set forth in this subsection
(c) shall not apply to the Youth Commission”.
Currently, none of the City’s Commissions are staggered in accordance with Code Section 2-
12.030(c). The proposed ordinance would allow the Council to facilitate compliance with the
City’s term staggering rules.
Adopting the proposed ordinance will prevent the possible loss of a significant portion of
Commission membership in a single year due to term expirations, while also increasing the
opportunities for residents to apply for positions on the City’s Commissions. Current
Commission terms would not be affected by this ordinance.
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The proposed ordinance will also allow the Council to distribute Commission term expirations
throughout the year. Currently, most Commissions end their terms in April—creating a
burdensome recruitment and interview process at that time each year. Accordingly, staff is
proposing that interim alternative term lengths be structured so that only one or two Commission
end their terms at any given time.
The Ordinance
The attached ordinance would allow the Council to appoint Commissioners to terms of more or
less than four years for the purpose of implementing Commission term staggering. Terms that are
4 years or longer would be considered a full term (subject to term limits) and terms that are
shorter than 4 years would not be considered a full term (not subject to term limits).
Interim Alternative Terms
If the ordinance is approved, staff recommends that the Commission terms be structured so that:
1. For each Commission, the terms of an approximately equal number of Commissioners will
expire each year; and
2. Commissioner terms be set to expire in January, April, and October.
The attached table of Interim Alternative Commission Terms (Attachment B) would implement
this structure. Under that table, no existing terms would be affected. No new terms would be
longer than 4 years and 9 months or shorter than 2 years.
The Heritage Preservation and Traffic Safety Commissioners would end their terms in January,
Planning Commissioners would end their terms in April, and Library and Parks & Recreation
Commissioners would end their terms in October.
The table of Interim Alternative Commission Terms would take effect with appointments made
after the ordinance takes effect (30 days after the second reading and adoption). By October
2012, all Commission terms would comply with the City’s term staggering requirements.
Attachment C is a chart displaying how the realignment method will be implemented. The chart is
organized by Commission and month and year of term expiration.
- Blue indicates term expiration in January.
- Red indicates term expiration in April.
- Green indicates term expiration in October.
FISCAL IMPACTS:
There are no financial impacts.
CONSEQUENCES OF NOT FOLLOWING THE RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:
The City’s Commission terms would not be staggered in accordance with the Municipal Code.
Further, term expirations for all City Commissions would continue to occur in April, resulting in
ongoing administrative challenges.
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ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
N/A
FOLLOW UP ACTION(S):
Implement Council direction.
ADVERTISING, NOTICING AND PUBLIC CONTACT:
Nothing additional.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment A: Draft ordinance regarding terms for City Commissions
Attachment B: Table of Interim Alternative Commission Terms
Attachment C: Term Realignment Chart