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CC - (1) Presentation of the Granicus Government Transparency Suite, Including a Consolidated Agenda Format; (2) Consideration of Updated Minute Content; and (3) Direction to the City Manager Related Thereto.
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Contact Person/Dept: Jeremy Green/CClk
Phone Number: 310-253-5851
Fiscal Impact: Yes [] No [X] General Fund: Yes [] No []
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [X] Attachments: Yes [] No [X]
Commission Action Required: Yes [] No [X] Date:
Commission Name:
Public Notification: (E-Mail) Meetings and Agendas - City Council (08/06/15)
Department Approval: Martin R. Cole, Assistant City Manager/City Clerk
(08/03/15)
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council: (1) receive and file a presentation of the Granicus Government Transparency Suite, including a consolidated agenda format; (2) consider updated minute content; and (3) direct the City Manager as deemed appropriate.
BACKGROUND
On September 8, 2014, the City Council approved a professional services agreement with Granicus, Inc. (Agreement) to implement Granicus’ Government Transparency Suite (GTS). Since the execution of the Agreement, staff from the City Clerk’s Office and the Information Technology Department has been leading the efforts to implement the GTS citywide. As part of system testing, the Civil Service Commission, Cultural Affairs Commission; and the Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Commission utilized the GTS for their June and July regular meetings. Because of the successful use of the GTS at those Commission meetings, the City Clerk’s Office utilized the GTS to record the regular meeting of the City Council on July 27, 2015, for the first time, including the implementation of iPad based voting system.
DISCUSSION
Implementation of the GTS will significantly improve access to and ease of searching of City Council and Commission meeting content for meetings recorded using the GTS. Using the recording of the City Council meeting of July 27, 2015, the City Clerk’s Office will make a presentation to the City Council and the Community, showing examples with live data.
As part of the presentation, staff will review a new consolidated agenda format (which is a GTS requirement to allow the improved access and search capabilities) and request City Council’s input on optional updated content for the City Council minutes.
Consolidated Agenda Format
A system requirement of the GTS is that only one session of the Live Manager module can be active at one time. In the past, the City Clerk’s Office prepared a separate agenda for each legislative body in session (for example, the City Council, the Successor Agency to the Culver City Redevelopment Agency, the Culver City Housing Authority, etc.) To accommodate the GTS, effective with tonight’s City Council meeting, a single Consolidated Agenda is being used.
Staff believes this will improve meeting management (as the City Council Members - especially the Mayor - and the City Clerk will not need to manage multiple agendas). The Consolidated Agenda will include a call to order of each of the legislative bodies in session. Instead of having separate joint consent, consent, joint public hearing, public hearing, joint action, and action sections on separate agendas, there will be a single agenda with one consent, public hearing, and action section. The body/bodies participating in an item will be reflected in the agenda item title.
Updated Minute Content
Section 612 of the City Charter requires the City Clerk to: “…keep a correct record of all proceedings of the City Council, and shall record the vote taken on all actions and enter the result in the minutes of the meeting.”
As will be shown in the staff presentation, the GTS allows persons interesting in viewing meeting content to select specific item(s) of interest and view the staff reports/attachments and the City Council video/audio specifically for those item(s). This provides an opportunity for the City Council to consider the contents of the written minutes.
The GTS allows the City Clerk’s Office to record some information during the meeting in real time. This includes the Council Members making and seconding a motion and the vote results of that motion. Shortly after the conclusion of a meeting (generally the next business day), the City Clerk’s Office can review the data collected during the meeting, make any necessary clean-up, and then use the GTS to produce draft meeting minutes. It is the content of the minutes where staff is requesting input from the City Council.
The City Council may wish to consider the following options:
(1) Action Minutes: Action minutes are the briefest form of minutes. They include the agenda item title, a very brief synopsis of who spoke, any motions/seconds and the results of the City Council votes (Action Minutes focus on what was done). Implementation of Action Minutes would reduce the amount of staff/consultant time utilized to prepare, edit, and present the minutes to the City Council for review and formal approval. Since minutes would be significantly shorter, the amount of time Council Members would need to devote to reading draft minutes would also be reduced. Using the GTS, persons interested in more details regarding the content of discussion would be able to access the recording of the meeting item to view and listen to the recording. In essence, the video/audio recording coupled with the functionality of the GTS to click on a specific agenda item could take the place of a written summary.
(2) Summary Minutes: Currently, the City Clerk’s Office prepares Summary Minutes which contain all of the elements of Action Minutes and supplemented by a summary of topics discussed during public and City Council consideration of an item. Preparation of Summary Minutes is time intensive (and involves more cost). Summary Minutes provide a more detailed, written synopsis of what was said at a meeting, in addition to what was done.
Staff will make a short presentation regarding Action Minutes and Summary Minutes during tonight’s meeting.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
Presentation of this item does not create a fiscal impact to the City. However, implementation of Action Minutes would reduce the amount spent on minute transcription services. The amount of such a reduction would depend on the extent to which Action Minutes are implemented and whether or not the City’s Commissions would also make a similar transition. Those legislative bodies which do not meet in the City Council Chambers would continue to utilize transcription services.
ATTACHMENTS
None.
RECOMMENDED MOTIONS
That the City Council:
(1) Receive and file a presentation of the Granicus Government Transparency Suite, including a consolidated agenda format; and,
(2) Consider updated minute content; and,
(3) Direct the City Manager as deemed appropriate.