Council struggling to manage meetings
Some have dragged into the early hours of the morning recently, and some say it’s a stalling tactic
For months now, Santa Clara City council meetings have dragged into the early hours of the morning, with at least one member accusing his colleagues of delaying crucial votes on certain key topics.
Over the past six months, the council has voted to delay particular items to a later date at more than 60% of its regularly scheduled meetings, a review of the council’s meeting minutes show.
Council member Anthony Becker recently raised a red flag on the delays, namely an apology letter to Mission City taxpayers and the Asian American community over the Civil Rights Voting Act lawsuit and the future of the Loyalton Ranch property.
The apology letter was brought forward by Becker earlier this year to atone for spending roughly $6 million fighting — and ultimately settling — a lawsuit over its previous at-large election system, which the city long was warned infringed on the voting rights of the city’s Asian American population. Loyalton Ranch is a 10,000-acre property in Lassen, Sierra and Plumas county that the city bought in 1977. But more than 90% of the property has been burned in recent fires, and the city is considering selling it.
“We’ve been waiting to hear about these topics for a while, and consistently the can gets kicked down the road,” he said.
Becker — who accused some of his colleagues of “filibustering” during the council’s latest hearing on the curfew at Levi’s Stadium — told
“That’s our problem with these meetings. We continue everything and we can’t get anything done.”
— Mayor Lisa Gillmor
this news organization that the council needs “better pacing and better meeting management.” He sees resistance in being able to get to the “meat” of the agenda and taking votes on items.
Mayor Lisa Gillmor has also publicly acknowledged the recent challenges facing the council.
“That’s our problem with these meetings,” she said at a June 8 meeting. “We continue everything and we can’t get anything done.”
In an email, the mayor said that though she has heard complaints about the length of the council’s meetings, she’s “heard more concerns that the council majority has placed the interest of the
49ers over taxpayers and neighborhoods and that’s what is occupying a lot of our time.”
Alex Shoor, the executive director of community engagement nonprofit Catalyze SV, believes the problem is twofold: The council is dealing with a new makeup and dynamic with newly elected members, and there’s still an ongoing pandemic.
“Democracy was never a stopwatch with a set end time, yet with a dozen ways for elected officials to engage with their constituents at all hours, including via video from their own home, local government can now feel like a time loop in which we are all constantly interacting,” he said. “Nonetheless, there remains a pretty clear time-honored truth — most humans don’t stay up to midnight, nor make the best decisions at that hour.”
Shoor said that meetings in cities across the region have been going longer, partially because remote meetings have encouraged participation through accessibility.
When asked about the impact of long meetings on city officials, Santa Clara spokesperson Lon Peterson pointed toward the pandemic and its challenges.
“City Manager Santana has publicly acknowledged multiple times that the city’s current workload often exceeds capacity due to an increase in services and staff reductions,” Peterson said in an emailed statement. “We are doing more with less. Nevertheless, city staff are extremely high performing and remain committed to the community, so we focus, stay organized, and do our best to deliver excellent services and operations.”