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Home My WebLink AboutCC Resolution 12006 (Grand Jury Response; Agendizing Grand Jury Responses)RESOLUTION NO. 12006 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL APPROVING AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL RESPONSE TO THE 2005-2006 MARIN COUNTY GRAND JURY REPORT ENTITLED "AGENDIZING RESPONSES TO GRAND JURY REPORTS" WHEREAS, pursuant to Penal Code section 933, a public agency which receives a Grand Jury Report addressing aspects of the public agency's operations, must comment on the Report's findings and recommendations contained in the Report in writing to the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court within ninety (90) days; and WHEREAS, Penal Code section 933 specifically requires that the "governing body" of the public agency provide said response and, in order to lawfully comply, the governing body must consider and adopt the response at a noticed public meeting pursuant to the Brown Act; and WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of San Rafael has received and reviewed the 2005-2006 Marin County Grand Jury Report, dated May 26, 2006, entitled "Agendizing Responses to Grand Jury Reports" and has agendized it at this meeting for a response. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City Council of the City of San Rafael hereby: 1. Approves and authorizes the Mayor to execute the City of San Rafael's response to the 2005-2006 Marin County Grand Jury Report entitled "Agendizing Responses to Grand Jury Reports", copy attached and incorporated herein. 2. Directs the City Clerk to forward the City's Grand Jury Report response to the Presiding Judge of the Marin County Superior Court and to the Foreperson of the Marin County Grand Jury. I, Jeanne M. Leoncini, Clerk of the City of San Rafael, hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution was duly and regularly introduced and adopted at a regular meeting of the San Rafael City Council held on the 170' day of July, 2006, by the following vote to wit: AYES: Councilmembers: Cohen, Heller, Miller, Phillips and Mayor Boro NOES: Councilmembers: None ABSENT: Councilmembers: None JE M. LEONCM, City Clerk 0RHUN NA, CITY OF SAN RAFAEL RESPONSE TO 2005-2006 MARIN COUNTY GRAND JURY REPORT ENTITLED "AGENDIZING RESPONSES TO GRAND JURY REPORTS" In its report dated May 26, 2006 and entitled "Agendizing Responses to Grand Jury Reports", the 2005-2006 Marin County Grand Jury made several findings and recommendations, and submitted the report to the City of San Rafael for a formal response. Specifically, the Grand Jury made the following finding and recommendations relative to the City of San Rafael: Findings: F1. "Governing bodies must consider and approve their response to a Grand Jury Report at a properly agendized public meeting in order to be in compliance with California Penal Code section 933 and the Ralph M. Brown Act." 2. Recommendations: Rl. "That all Marin governing bodies (Board of Supervisors, city or town councils, school boards and special district boards) adopt procedures that require their responses to Grand Jury reports be placed on their public meeting agendas in compliance with Penal Code section 933 and the Ralph M. Brown Act in order to provide opportunity for public discussion." R2. "Though not required, all governing bodies should place Grand Jury responses on their public agendas rather than their consent calendars." RESPONSE As required by Penal Code section 933, the City of San Rafael provides the following responses to the above -reference Grand Jury findings and recommendations: DATE: ATTEST: The City of San Rafael AGREES WITH Grand Jury FINDING Fl. The City of San Rafael states that, with regard to the City of San Rafael, RECOMMENDATION RI HAS NOT YET been implemented but it WILL BE IMPLEMENTED in the future. (See Attachment "A"). The City of San Rafael states that, with regard to the City of San Rafael, RECOMMENDATION R2 HAS NOT YET been implemented but it WILL BE IMPLEMENTED in the future. (See Attachment "A"). JEANNE LEONCINI, City Clerk ALBERT J. BORO, Mayor =t� ' T11 Yj Attachment "A" (City of San Rafael Response to Grand Jury Report) In past years, the Marin County Grand Jury has forwarded to the City of San Rafael numerous reports on various topics and the City has responded in good faith, in a cooperative spirit and in a timely manner. In 2000, the Grand Jury Report addressed issues related to the County paramedic system and its billing practices. At its meeting of August 7, 2000, the San Rafael City Council approved a formal response, authorized the Mayor to sign the response and directed staff to forward the response to the Grand Jury. In 2001, the Grand Jury Report addressed issues related to municipal building permit fees. At its meeting of June 4, 2001, the San Rafael City Council approved a formal response and authorized staff to forward the response to the Grand Jury. Both of these responses were placed on the Council's consent calendar, a practice that, though disfavored by the Grand Jury, complies with the requirements of Penal Code section 933. Under the provisions of the Brown Act and in conformance with the custom of the City, any member of the public may address any item on the consent calendar at the time the consent calendar is called. In practice, this procedure has provided opportunity for public discussion of such items. In 2005, the Grand Jury report addressed issues related to government employee pensions and retirement plans. On July 7, 2005, the Mayor of the City of San Rafael signed the City's formal response, which was then forwarded to the Grand Jury. Unintentionally and contrary to past practice, the response was not placed on the City Council's agenda. This failure was not to avoid public discussion of this important matter. In fact, the issue of City employee pensions, pension reform and the City's position on these issues was publicly discussed at a noticed special study session of the City Council held on June 20, 2005, prior to the City's formal response to the Grand Jury report. And, at its regular meeting later that same evening, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 11783 which outlined the City Council's position on pension reform. A copy of that Resolution is attached. Regardless of its past efforts to respond to Grand Jury reports, the San Rafael City Council intends to consider a procedure requiring that all future responses to Grand Jury reports be formally agendized at City Council meetings under "New Business" so as to provide for even greater public input and discussion as well as City Council action. The City Council will consider the adoption of this procedure at its meeting of July 17, 2006. If you have any questions, please contact Interim City Manager Ken Nordhoff at 485-3070. RESOLUTION NO. 11783 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN RAFAEL SUPPORTING REFORM OF THE PUBLIC PENSION SYSTEMS IN CALIFORNIA WHEREAS, public pension systems for most California governmental entities have been experiencing a period of great cost volatility; and WHEREAS, the primary factor contributing to these volatile pension costs, which have risen sharply over a short period of time, has been the recent and dramatic downturn in investment earnings from pension funds; and WHEREAS, a secondary contributing factor to rising pension costs has been the adoption of new and higher public employee pension benefits; and WHEREAS, some state legislators and the Governor's office have put forward proposals to address rising pension costs by eliminating defined benefit plans for pubic employees and only permitting the adoption of defined contribution plans for public employees, similar to pension models found more commonly in the private sector; and WHEREAS, defined benefit plans have been the centerpiece for public pension systems in California, and have been a key factor in recruiting and retaining quality public servants; and WHEREAS, public pension benefits should be set with a sound actuarial foundation that achieves the goals of providing a: 1) fair retirement benefits; 2) designed for a 30 -year career employee; 3) that maintains the employee's standard of living in retirement; and WHEREAS, some of the pension benefits adopted in recent years exceed the above stated pension goals. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City of San Rafael does support the retention of the defined benefit retirement plan model as the central means to provide retirement benefits for public employees in California; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City of San Rafael supports the League of California Cities efforts to continue discussions among legislative leadership, the Administration, public employee organizations, and public employers to develop pension retirement benefit plans that meet actuarial -based goals of providing public employees with fair retirement benefits for career employees that maintain their standard of living in retirement; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City of San Rafael supports public pension benefit levels that can be rationally defended to the taxpayers of our local communities. I, JEANNE M. LEONCINI, Clerk of the City of San Rafael, hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was duly and regularly introduced and adopted at a regular meeting of the Council of said City held on Monday, June 20, 2005 by the following vote, to wit: AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS Cohen, Heller, Miller, Phillips and Mayor Boro None ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS: None J!EANNE�-(rl�rtir..� l� . M. LEONCINI, City Clerk