TO: Mayor and City Council
THROUGH: Dan Atchison, City Attorney
FROM: Keith Stahley, City Manager
SUBJECT:
title
Salem Governance Assessment - Moss Adams Assessment
Ward(s): All Wards
Councilor(s): All Councilors
Neighborhood(s): All Neighborhoods
Result Area(s): Good Governance.
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SUMMARY:
summary
As part of the Annual Policy Agenda, or Council work plan, City Council affirmed its interest in assessing the effectiveness of the City’s current governance framework and comparing this framework to best practice. For the purposes of this work, Salem’s governance framework includes the City Charter; Council committees, commissions, and boards; and Neighborhood Associations. This report transmits the Assessment and lays out next steps in the process.
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ISSUE:
Shall City Council approve the preliminary work plan to review the Moss Adams Salem Governance Assessment recommendations and begin implementation of the Council adopted recommendations?
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Approve the preliminary work plan to review the Moss Adams Salem Governance Assessment recommendations and begin implementation of the Council adopted recommendations.
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FACTS AND FINDINGS:
One of the City Council’s 2024 Policy Agenda priorities is to assess the effectiveness and alignment of the City’s current governance framework with best practice and principles of equity. This work began in January 2024 and includes an assessment and examination of the City Charter; the 34 governance groups comprised of Council committees, boards and commissions; and 17 Neighborhood Associations (Attachment 1).
The intent is to look at opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness, streamline and simplify structure and processes, consider the needs of today’s Salem, and improve community representation on committees, boards, commissions and neighborhood associations. This work was conducted with the support of Moss Adams, the City’s consultant of record for organizational assessment. Moss Adams consultants are attending tonight’s meeting remotely and are available to answer council questions about the Assessment.
The Assessment relies on survey results that were distributed to members of Boards, Commission, and Committees; leadership from Salem’s Neighborhood Associations; and staff liaisons for these groups. Survey results point to generally positive perceptions about community representation, experience with application and appointment process, onboarding and training, and clarity of purpose, roles, and responsibilities of each group.
Based on the survey results and research, the Assessment sets out options to consider for improvement of the City’s governance framework, including:
• Better aligning some City Charter provisions with best practices
• Creating consistent member eligibility requirements, where possible, and application processes
• Developing common bylaws and consistent naming conventions for governance groups to support clarity and transparency in how governance groups operate
• Providing guidance for equitable practices for greater accessibility, providing consistent staff support to governance groups including availability of meeting materials on-line, improving clarity of staff liaison roles and responsibilities, and reviewing staff liaison workloads
• Creating more alignment between governance group activities and Council direction by having annual work plans and reports to Council
• Clearly defining the role of Councilor liaisons and developing a framework for deciding when a governance group should be assigned a Councilor liaison
• Considering opportunities to sunset or consolidate some groups and developing a process for regularly reviewing governance groups to determine if any should be consolidated or sunset
• Providing equity-related guidance and training to governance groups and staff liaisons, including training on potential barriers to access and cultural competency, and exploring opportunities to better promote equity within governance group processes
• Improving recruiting and onboarding practices for governance groups
• Clarifying City support for and relationship with neighborhood associations, and providing backup support for the Neighborhood Program Coordinator
Next Steps:
Staff recommends that Council assign the Charter review to a Council task force appointed by Council to review the Assessment recommendations and make recommendations for potential changes to the Charter back to Council. Further that the Boards and Commissions Appointments subcommittee review the Assessment recommendations concerning Boards and Commissions and report back to Council, and that Community Services and Community Planning and Development staff review the Assessments recommendations and report back to Council. The Preliminary Work Plan is attached to this report as Attachment 2.
Salem Charter:
Staff recommends that Council establish a Charter Review Task Force consisting of members of Council and potentially members of the public. The Task Force would review the areas identified in the Assessment and provide recommendations to Council for potential amendments. Upon receiving the Task Force recommendations, Council would direct amendments to the Charter be drafted and public outreach on the draft amendments occur.
The final draft amendments would be presented to Council at the end of that process, and Council would then decide whether to refer the proposed amendments to Salem voters at a future election.
Boards, Commissions, and Committees:
Staff recommends that Council delegate review of the Assessment recommendations concerning boards, commissions, and committees to the Council Board and Commissions Appointments Committee. The Committee would review the Assessment and provide recommendations to Council. Council would then determine whether to adopt the Committee’s recommendations and direct staff to implement them. Some of the Assessment’s recommendations would require code amendments, while others would be implemented administratively.
Neighborhood Associations:
Staff recommends that Council delegate initial review of the Assessment recommendations to staff to provide specific recommendations to Council and develop a work plan to implement the changes. In the alternative, Council may create a Council subcommittee to review the Assessment’s recommendations specific to neighborhood associations and provide recommendations to Council.
The preliminary work plan establishes an anticipated timeframe for work in the three focus areas to occur. It anticipates work beginning on the three areas as early as this summer and continuing through 2025. Depending on which recommendations Council decides to move forward on, implementation will require a substantial amount of work, in terms of drafting of various documents and implementation of new procedures and plans. This work will occur subject to the capacity limitations of Council and staff. Therefore, Council and the committees that review the Assessment recommendations should include a desired priority for the work.
BACKGROUND:
As part of its annual work plan, City Council affirmed its interest in assessing the effectiveness of the City’s current governance framework and comparing this framework to best practice. For the purposes of this work, Salem’s governance framework includes the City Charter; Council committees, commissions, and boards; and Neighborhood Associations.
Dan Atchison
City Attorney
Attachments:
1. Salem Governance Assessment - Moss Adams
2. Governance Assessment Preliminary Work Plan