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Councilmember proposes tighter rules for agenda requests; council directs staff to draft redline
Summary
Councilmember Molina proposed amendments to Council Policy 105 to require justification statements, resource impact assessments, co-sponsorship and a priority-alignment check before placing items on the agenda; council directed staff to return a redlined policy for review.
Councilmember Molina presented a proposal to amend Council Policy 105 — the mechanism used by council members to request items for future agendas — and asked staff to draft a redline for council review.
Her recommendations included a short justification statement for each 105 request, a one-page impact statement describing staff time and budget implications, an option for co-sponsorship to encourage collaboration, a priority-alignment evaluation by the city manager and mayor, a cap on the number of concurrent 105 requests per councilmember, and incentives for members who submit "fully formed" proposals (for example, faster placement on the agenda or placement on the consent calendar when appropriate).
Members discussed the trade-offs between reducing staff burden and preserving councilmembers' ability to raise district-specific issues. Several members praised the goal of minimizing surprise, underdeveloped requests and reducing late-night staff workloads; others cautioned against creating an overly burdensome or politicized process that could prevent members from advancing urgent constituent matters.
After discussion and public comment, council voted to have Councilmember Molina work with staff to produce a redlined amendment for future council consideration; the motion passed with one abstention from Councilmember Yamani. Council asked staff and the proposing councilmember to prioritize objective criteria in the redline and to return the revised policy for formal review.
