Open-government task force delivers report to Santa Rosa council

A report on ways to create a more open government in Santa Rosa was welcomed by the City Council, though quick action on its recommendations is unlikely.

The report of the city’s Open Government Task Force was the final item presented to the outgoing City Council on Tuesday. That means implementation of its suggestions, including passing a sunshine ordinance and hiring a communications director, will fall to the new council, which will revisit the issue in February.

Several council members praised the work of the nine-member panel, which was formed by Mayor Scott Bartley following criticism of how the city reacted to the death of 13-year-old Andy Lopez.

Ernesto Olivares said the community should be “jazzed” about the recommendations.

“It’s more than just open government. It’s really a community taking ownership of their local government and being a part of it,” Olivares said.

After a wide-ranging, eight-month-long process, the task force concluded that City Hall needs to restore public trust by being more transparent, engaged with the community and adept at communicating in times of crisis.

Vice Mayor Robin Swinth, who co-chaired the panel with Councilwoman Erin Carlstrom, said the group worked tremendously hard and constructively with one another.

“We did not go into this task force with a set agenda,” Swinth said. “We very purposefully let the task force determine what they wanted to talk about and what recommendations they wanted to make.”

The group split into two subcommittees, one that focused on how the city could better engage and communicate with the public, the other that zeroed in on policy changes that could create a more transparent organization, Swinth explained.

Planning Commissioner Peter Stanley served on the engagement group and said the task force was formed to address “the perception, real or imagined, that you couldn’t trust your government.”

He said one message the group received loud and clear from the public was that people didn’t feel heard by their elected leaders and city staff. The city should start by adopting a mission statement that makes it clear that the city’s goal is to “honor and engage with your community.”

While insiders might be able to navigate the bureaucracy of City Hall, it is much harder for regular folks, Stanley said. “Imagine somebody who may engage with the city only once or twice in their life. It can be very daunting,” he said.

The communications director position would be responsible for fostering community engagement, partnering with community groups, and ensuring the entire city organization embraced a culture of openness, Stanley said. This would include upgrades to make the city’s website more user-friendly, he said.

Bruce Kyse, former publisher of The Press Democrat, explained the policy committee supports the adoption of a sunshine ordinance that goes beyond what is required by the state and federal requirements.

Recommendations include providing earlier and more detailed notice to the public of agenda items, establishing time-certain periods for public comment, and requiring the city attorney to report all legal settlements over $50,000, instead of the past practice of waiting for someone to inquire.

The group also supports a formal appeals process when public records requests are rejected.

This was necessary because when such requests are rejected, “the only recourse for a citizen or the media is to hire an attorney and sue the city,” Kyse said.

Councilman Gary Wysocky questioned why the task force’s report wasn’t clearer about the problems it was trying to fix. He said he felt the report should have detailed the circumstances last fall that made the public feel there was a “culture of secrecy” at City Hall.

These included a decision to “hold a public meeting behind a locked door,” Wysocky said. That’s a reference to a plan city staff came up with in October 2013 in response to a downtown protest march. The plan was to go forward with a public City Council subcommittee meeting inside the city manager’s office even through the doors were to be locked to protect employees in the event the protests got out of hand.

Staff members have said they would have unlocked the doors for any members of the public interested in attending the meeting. City Hall was instead shut down, causing that afternoon’s City Council meeting to be canceled, a decision that former City Manager Kathy Millison never fully explained.

Kyse said the task force chose not to focus on that issue “because it was such an isolated incident.”

While the task force began as a conversation about ways that the city had “failed or stumbled or been caught flat-footed,” the decision was made to focus on the future, Carlstrom said.

Swinth said she felt the recommendations in the report were “outstanding” but she cautioned that they may take a while to implement.

“This conversation isn’t over,” Swinth said. “We’re talking about a cultural change here it takes work. It takes commitment and it takes time.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. ?On Twitter @srcitybeat.