REPORT TO GOVERNANCE AND ETHICS COMMITTEE
SUBJECT
Title
Discussion and Direction on District Communication Options
Report
BACKGROUND
City Hall News started in 2019 as a monthly digital publication featuring City news, initiatives, events, and a message from the City Manager. In 2021, City Councilmembers expressed an interest in sending regular communications to their District constituents. To that end, the publication was rebranded to include a message from the Mayor instead of the City Manager, and Councilmembers were given the option of including a message with the same City Hall News monthly content. On any given month, if the Councilmember submitted a City Hall News message, the digital publication was made available to the public during that month.
City Hall News is distributed via the GovDelivery platform to approximately 50,000 eNews subscribers each month and is archived on the City website where it is viewable in both Flipbook and PDF formats. Currently, each version of City Hall News with councilmember messages are also promoted on the City's social media channels.
DISCUSSION
As background, the Governance and Ethics Committee included the topic of District Communication options as part of their 2024 work plan. Through the review of our current communication options, staff proposes decoupling City Hall News from Mayor and District Councilmember messages to the community, and provide each District Councilmember the ability to send newsletters to subscribers in their districts. The Mayor, as the ceremonial head of the City, would continue to utilize the citywide distribution list to send her/his message to the community.
Mayor and Council Distribution Lists
The City uses GovDelivery as its email distribution platform. Staff is proposing to develop distribution lists for each council district on the City's eNews platform. Since the Mayor is not assigned a district and is considered the ceremonial head of the City, she/he would be able to send her mess...
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