Thanks to everyone who took my study issues survey. For those who are interested, you can find my write-up of the results here. The results were a little different this year, in that with the exception of a few study issues on the extremes, there was a general lack of enthusiasm for many/most issues. Not dislike, just “meh”. Regardless, the input is useful, and I appreciate everyone who took the time to participate.
FollowIt’s that time of year again. The study issue submission period for 2016 has closed, and staff is preparing the issues for the January 29th all-day study issues workshop, in which Council will review, drop, defer, and rank all study issues and budget supplements. As I’ve done in the past, I’ve prepared a resident study issue survey, and I’m soliciting your input.
The survey allows you to go through the same process that Council goes through – reviewing the study issues, dropping issues, deferring issues, and ranking the issues that remain. Note that the staff rankings for the study issues aren’t all available yet. You can take the survey now, wait until the rankings are available, or even take it now and resubmit it later, accordingly. The deadline for final submissions is 11:59 p.m., Sunday January 24th.
Have fun!
This is our annual ceremonial meeting, where we recognize the outgoing leadership and swear in the incoming leadership for the year.
We have no study or closed sessions, so we get right to it. We start the evening with special orders of the day recognizing the outgoing Mayor and Vice Mayor, and then the incoming Mayor and Vice Mayor. We deliberately do this a week after the election because of the unique nature of our elections. With a 2-year mayoral term, we can’t and don’t have an automatic rotation scheme for Mayor and Vice Mayor, the way many other cities do. This means the results are much less predictable, which means that candidates don’t know whether or not to invite their family to attend the meeting (which they want when they win but not when they lose). Separating the ceremonial recognition from the vote allows the winner to invite friends and family only when appropriate, sparing the others some serious embarrassment.
Anyway, I hope to see lots of you there as we swear in Sunnyvale’s new Mayor and Vice Mayor.
We deliberately keep the schedule light otherwise, which is easy because of the holidays and the upcoming study/budget issues workshop. Other than the ceremonial tasks, we only have the consent calendar, and it’s a small one. We have the usual stuff plus one agreement with the Serenaders, who perform free concerts at Ortega Park every year.
Happy New Year, everyone!
We start the evening with a closed session to discuss ongoing labor negotiations (SEA and PSOA). Then we get to business. The consent calendar is another big one. Beyond the usual, we’ve got funding for a comprehensive study of fire response coverage and community risk, to determine what coverage we have and what we may need. There’s a series of contracts for handling of food waste, a contract for water mixers and quality monitoring, an amendment to the San Miguel open space master plan to reflect four new modular rooms, a contract for the Water Pollution Control Plant, and a couple of ordinance second readings. There’s an amendment to the Heritage Museum agreement to permit their new solar panels. And then there’s the 2016 Council meeting calendar.
Last meeting of the year, and it’s gonna be a very, very long one.
We start the evening with a closed session to discuss labor negotiations with PSOA and SEA. This is followed by the final performance evaluation of our City Attorney. And this is followed by a study session to discuss possible uses of 1.6 acres that we now own at Charles and Mathilda. Finally, this is followed by discussion of which councilmembers have an interest in serving as Mayor for the next two years or Vice Mayor for the next year.