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San Jose council adopts policy to standardize elected-official office transitions, including city-based accounts and CRM migration
Summary
The council approved a new policy to standardize transitions between mayor and council offices: require city-based accounts for official communications, centralize constituent data, manage physical assets, and plan a phased migration to city CRM and .gov domains.
San Jose’s City Council on May 20 adopted a policy to standardize transition procedures for elected officials’ offices, directing staff to centralize city-owned accounts and to help incoming offices migrate constituent data and online services.
The adopted policy requires city-based accounts for official communication tools where feasible, centralizes constituent profile data into the city’s customer-relationship management (CRM) system, memorializes onboarding/offboarding procedures, and sets an implementation timeline for CRM and domain changes.
Why it matters: Council members told staff the lack of consistent procedures during past transitions led to service interruptions and confusion for constituents. The new policy aims to protect city-owned data and maintain continuity of constituent services across officeholder changes.
What the policy requires and timeline: City Clerk Toni Taber presented the policy and recommended that official social media and other business accounts be administered as city-based accounts with administrative access for city staff so that data the city pays for remains accessible to the city. Taber said that AB 1637 (referred to in the presentation as California Government Code section 5034) requires local agencies to use .gov domains by Jan. 1, 2029; the city will update Administrative Policy 1.7.9 to implement subdomains of SanJose.gov and provide support for transition. Staff said the city will provide mayor and council offices with core accounts, CRM access and migration support, with a target to assist transitions to the city CRM by Dec. 15, 2025.
Council debate and clarifications: Discussion focused on training, timelines, and enforcement. Some members supported mandatory trainings for staff using official accounts; others warned against last-minute policy mandates and preferred the city attorney and clerk collaboratively designing a standard training. Multiple speakers — including Councilmembers Kamay, Candelas, Dwan, Mulcahy, Cohen and others — emphasized balancing respect for personal social-media identities with preserving city assets. Assistant CIO and IT staff explained the CRM migration timeline and technical reasons for phased implementation. Nora (city attorney staff) and other staff clarified that the policy sets minimum expectations and that council policy violations would still ultimately be enforced by council oversight rather than criminal penalties.
How personal accounts will be treated: Staff said the policy differentiates three account types—campaign, personal, and official— and only city-created or city-email–tied accounts would be recoverable and considered city assets. The policy does not force deletion of personal accounts but cautions that officials who use personal accounts for official communications cannot delete comments or block users when those accounts function as official communication channels.
Vote and next steps: The council voted unanimously to approve the policy, with direction for the city clerk and city attorney to collaborate on standard training materials and for staff to continue phased CRM migration and .gov domain implementation. The council also asked staff to return with implementation details and a schedule that aligns operationally with elections and the CRM rollout.
Provenance: City Clerk Toni Taber’s presentation began at transcript block 2277.575 and debate continued through the lunch break and reconvening; the motion recorded as passing occurred at transcript block 11443.83.
