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Sunnyvale committee narrows and delays community survey on possible charter amendments
Summary
The Charter Review Committee reviewed a draft community survey on proposed charter changes — including council vacancy rules, elected-official pay, public-works delivery and city manager settlement authority — approved staff direction to shorten and clarify the questionnaire, and set a follow-up meeting to finalize wording.
The Sunnyvale Charter Review Committee on Sept. 4 agreed to narrow and rework a draft community survey about possible charter amendments and directed staff to return with a revised version for the committee to review on Sept. 25.
Deputy City Manager Connie Bersellas told the committee the survey is intended to gather public input to help the committee prepare a final recommendation to City Council on proposals that could reach the ballot. "The intent is to get a lot of feedback," Bersellas said, adding staff would launch the survey after the committee signs off on the questions and run it through Sept. 29 if the committee chooses that schedule.
The committee’s action on Sept. 4 trimmed demographic questions, asked staff to provide clearer background text for several items, and directed staff to quantify special-election costs and typical turnout when presenting the vacancy options to respondents. Member We moved the set of changes and Member Davis seconded; the motion passed 8-0-2 with Members Pine and Philly absent.
Why this matters: The committee is considering four potential charter amendments — rules for filling council vacancies, council and mayor compensation, alternative public-works delivery methods, and the city manager’s authority to settle claims — that could change how Sunnyvale fills seats, pays elected officials, contracts for projects and manages legal claims. The survey is intended as one public input dataset that the committee will combine with other research before recommending ballot language to Council.
What the committee changed and why - Demographics: Committee members agreed to simplify respondent demographics to two questions aimed at understanding likely voter representation: whether the respondent is a registered Sunnyvale voter and whether they voted in the 2024 general election. Several members said lengthy demographic sets risked deterring responses and would not reliably represent the electorate. - Clarity and background:…
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