The Sunnyvale City Council on Dec. 9 approved a package of updates to chapter 7 of the Council Policy Manual that consolidates many support policies, raises the city manager’s grant acceptance authority, and tightens rules for dais presentations.

Assistant City Manager Sarah Johnson Rios told council staff reviewed 123 policies and proposed consolidating 16 into 6 to reduce duplication. Staff also recommended three substantive changes: increase the city manager’s authority to accept grants to $250,000 (from $100,000), change the boards & commissions council subcommittee from a standing to an ad hoc committee, and align council members’ document/presentation submittal deadlines with those used for public submissions (noon on the day of the meeting).

Council members raised concerns that one proposed sentence might be read too broadly — it had said council members "shall not use documents or presentations during questions directed to staff or when expressing advocacy for a motion." After discussion staff and council crafted a narrower amendment stating that “Council shall not use documents or presentations when expressing advocacy for a motion.” The council voted on a package of alternatives (alternatives 1–3 and 5–10) and later adopted alternative 4 as modified; both votes carried unanimously (6‑0, Council Member Srinivasan absent).

Council members said the narrower wording preserves council members’ ability to refer to staff reports, maps or the dais motion text during questions while preventing late‑breaking slide decks intended to sway colleagues without staff review. Staff said the policy’s objective is to avoid introducing materially new information during public hearings that staff has not had time to vet.

What’s next: The consolidated policies move into effect per the adopted manuals and staff said it will continue a five‑year review cycle for council policies.

Quote: "Our intent is not to say ‘can you pull up slide 10 of the staff presentation?’ — that's fine for discussion. It's more about bringing in new information we haven't had time to analyze," the City Manager said during debate.

Context: The council also approved several unrelated council policy cleanups the same night but reserved detailed discussion for the presentation submittal language until staff and council could agree on precise wording.