By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

Benicia City Council will meet Tuesday to examine rules and procedures for its “two step” process by which policy issues come before that governmental body.

The procedure emerged from a Sept. 6, 2006, study session on policy-related requests and how they could be reviewed and slated for Council consideration, according to a report written jointly Thursday by City Manager Brad Kilger and City Attorney Heather McLaughlin.

The process was then re-examined Jan. 29, 2008, although no notable changes were made then, they wrote.

Vice Mayor Alan Schwartzman, who has expressed frustration with the way the procedure has been used, has urged the Council to address the matter.

Policy proposals can be requested as agenda items, submitted in writing to the city manager’s office, according to a summary of the 2008 study session. They can be requests from Council members or from city staff, or may be referrals from the Two Step Policy Consideration procedure, the pair wrote.

The request can be added to a list of policy proposals to be considered quarterly for possible study by the Council, or it can be put on a regular Council agenda under the “Council Member Requests” section.

If the latter method is chosen, the two step policy consideration procedure applies, Kilger and McLaughlin wrote.
Under the two step procedure, the item is put on the agenda initially to determine the degree of interest the Council may have in pursuing study or action on the matter.

If a majority of the Council concurs, a study session could be slated to examine the issue, or it could be put on a future regular meeting agenda. However, Council members tend to send most requests onto future meeting agendas, and study sessions haven’t been scheduled consistently on a quarterly basis, the pair wrote.

In addition, questions have been raised whether all Council requests require the two steps, and whether the second step always should be added as an action item on an agenda.

Kilger and McLaughlin have suggested the Council follow the policies as outlined in 2008, but have recommended the Council specify a date each month for a regular Council study session.

That would give the Council time to focus on the specific topic — and give the panel a better chance to discuss the item than they might get when trying to tackle multiple topics during a regular meeting and get them all handled before the customary 11 p.m. deadline. From time to time, significant discussion and action items are postponed when meetings run late.

The pair also suggested adding the two step process into the Council’s Rules of Procedure.

At its last meeting, the Council pulled some items from its consent agenda for further discussion but managed to wrap up its business with time to spare. Some of the items were related to hiring consultants, and Mayor Elizabeth Patterson said the public should hear why the Council was choosing to hire outside help.

One of those items was extending a contract with Renne Sloan Holtzman Sakai for labor relations and personnel services provided by Mark Gregersen. The cost of the extension would be $87,500, coming from the General Fund, Water Fund, Wastewater Fund and the pay a human resources manager normally would receive, according to Anne Cardwell, administrative services director.

Hired May 1, 2010, the company is handling the work of a human resources manager, a position that hasn’t been filled permanently since last March.

It also negotiates with most of the city employee bargaining units, and will be part of the city’s upcoming negotiations with the Benicia Public Service Employees Association.

In other matters, the Council last Tuesday accepted Finance Director Rob Sousa’s investment report for the quarter ending last September.

It approved the Benicia High School traffic signal and entrance circulation improvement project, but denied a claim by the project’s contractor, Prism Engineering, which is contending that Benicia breached the contract.

The Council agreed to spend $31,903 to replace two 43-year-old pumps at the Lake Herman Pump Station, and heard a report by Acting Economic Development Director Mario Giuliani, who said the city would receive no significant economic benefit by trying to qualify as a Foreign Trade Zone.

The Council’s next meeting will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Commission Room of City Hall, 250 East L St.

It will convene a closed session for a conference on labor negotiations and McLaughlin’s performance evaluation, then open the session at 7 p.m. to discuss the two step process.