City of Santa Clara logo

Legislative Public Meetings

File #: 25-1222    Version: 1 Name:
Type: Public Hearing/General Business Status: Agenda Ready
File created: 12/3/2024 In control: Council and Authorities Concurrent Meeting
On agenda: 1/28/2025 Final action:
Title: Action on Recommendation from Governance & Ethics Committee on City Council District Communication Options to be Memorialized in New Council Policy 054 - City Council District Communications
Attachments: 1. RTC 24-772 Report to the Government and Ethics Committee 12/2/24, 2. Guidelines for Council Communications Using City Platforms, 3. Policy 054 Council District Communications, 4. Draft Resolution, 5. POST MEETING MATERIAL, 6. Resolution No. 25-9416
REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Action on Recommendation from Governance & Ethics Committee on City Council District Communication Options to be Memorialized in New Council Policy 054 - City Council District Communications

Report
COUNCIL PILLAR
Enhance Community Engagement and Transparency

BACKGROUND
City Hall News started as a monthly digital publication featuring City news, initiatives, events, and a message from the City Manager. In 2021, District 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 a Councilmember submitted a City Hall News message, that message was included in the digital publication for that month.

City Hall News is sent 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.

The Governance and Ethics Committee took up the issue of possible modifications to how the citywide digital newsletter is prepared and circulated, along with the possibility for separate District representative communications, as part of its 2024 Work Plan. This item presents their recommendation on these topics for full Council consideration in the form of new City Council Policy 054.

DISCUSSION
The Governance and Ethics Committee included the topic of District Communication options as part of its 2024 work plan. Through the review of the City's current communication options, staff presented options for consideration (Attachment 1) to the Governance and Ethics Committee meeting on December 2, 2024.

In summary, staff proposed an option t...

Click here for full text