At Tuesday’s meeting, the City Council quickly and unanimously moved a motion that will cap gifts that City Councilmembers can accept at $100 per gift and $590 over the course of a year. City staff will need to officially draft legal language for the Council to consider before the new limit becomes law.
“In my day job, that’s what I’m limited to,” said Councilmember Natalya Zernitskaya of the $100 limit.
The motion (Agenda, Item 16 M) introduced by Councilmembers Dan Hall, Ellis Raskin and Caroline Torosis, included a packet of reforms and suggestions aimed to make the Council more transparent and efficient. Other items the Council asked staff to investigate before a final vote included:
- Moving the time of closed session items to earlier in the day,
- Occasionally holding Council meetings on different days including weekends,
- Streamlining the voting process for boards and commissioners by instituting ranked-choice voting,
- Set standards for use if the city’s seal including a ban on using it in political ads,
- Limit use of the term Mayor Pro-Temp to only use it when the Councilmember is temporarily acting as Mayor.
While it may not seem like a major reform, the previous Council chafed at creating gift limits. Straw man arguments about being able to attend conferences and meetings on behalf of the city were used to justify stopping short of supporting the limits the Council seemed to support last night.
The tone was different last night, with Councilmembers asking what happens if they receive a gift and find out later it was valued more than $100. For example, the new Council all received orchids at their first meeting. Those flowers were valued at $130. Staff will bring back recommendations on how to handle those situations when a final vote on the rules is scheduled.
Mayor Lana Negrete voted to move the proposal to ask staff to flesh out the proposal, but expressed concern about holding meetings on Saturday.
“It’s not ideal for a work-life balance for any of us,” she concluded by also warning that it creates hardship for staff who already have five day work weeks and late-night meetings. Staff will write legal language and motions for all of the suggestions and Council will vote on them officially at a meeting in early 2025.
