Malibu City Council members and senior staff spent a workshop session reviewing the lines between policymaking and operational work, discussing how frequent direct contacts from council members — emails, texts and one‑on‑one requests — are affecting city executives’ time and morale.

The discussion was framed as an effort to “align our paradigms” so elected officials and staff can implement council priorities without undermining the city manager’s authority, a workshop facilitator said. The council and staff debated informal limits on after‑hours contacts, whether to route requests through liaisons and how to make the council’s expectations clear when hiring a permanent city manager.

Council members and staff described three recurring problems: (1) the cumulative time executives spend responding to repeated calls or emails from multiple council members; (2) confusion among residents and commissioners about which agency handles specific services; and (3) inconsistent training and onboarding for commissioners. City staff said they could handle many requests but recommended that council members channel operational questions through the city manager or an assigned liaison so staff can triage workloads.

“We have to figure out how you can meet residents’ needs by saying … this isn’t a strong‑mayor form of government,” City Manager Candace said during the session, summarizing a central distinction between elected members’ representative role and staff’s operational role.

Council members acknowledged the tension. “I can reach out to the city manager anytime,” one council member said, but added that a better structure — including clearer liaisons and an agreed‑upon etiquette for off‑hours messages — would reduce friction. Several council members volunteered that they already try to avoid off‑hour demands; staff proposed rules such as not sending routine emails after 8 p.m. and reserving weekend contact for true emergencies.

Participants also discussed Malibu’s membership in a joint‑powers pool for liability insurance and risk management. The facilitator described how representatives must sometimes wear dual hats — acting as a Malibu official in local matters and as a JPA board member when the pool asks for action — and how those competing duties shape settlement and governance decisions.

Commission training, both for newly appointed commissioners and for council liaisons, also appeared on the agenda. Staff and council members said better onboarding for commissioners and clearer online guidance for residents (for example, a one‑page “who does what” contact sheet) would reduce repetitive requests that clog staff time.

No formal motions or votes were taken at the workshop. Instead, participants agreed to continue the discussion and to include the topic of council‑to‑staff communication and boundaries in follow‑up planning and code‑of‑conduct updates.

The session closes with plans to consider an explicit, nonbinding etiquette — such as limiting routine council emails after 8 p.m., routing operational requests through the city manager or a designated liaison, and expanding training for commissioners — and to make those commitments part of future agenda work on hiring a permanent city manager.