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30 CHAPTER 5 – ADMINISTRATION ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT The City Manager’s office provides general staff and administrative support to members of the City Council. Services include scheduling of appointments, calendaring, receipt of telephone messages and light word processing. EMAIL AND VOICEMAIL Councilmembers are provided with a City email and voicemail account. These communications can raise important legal issues to which Councilmembers should pay special attention. The Brown Act strictly prohibits members from using technology to have a discussion or develop a concurrence by a majority of the Council outside of an open and noticed public meeting, unless an exception applies. Councilmembers should not use telephones, faxes, or email to communicate with other Councilmembers to develop a majority position on any issue that may come before the full Council. Also, be aware that any email sent by Councilmembers addressing substantive city business, either from a City email account or your personal email account may be a public record according to the California Public Records Act (PRA). Email information is stored on the computer network and may continue to exist on the network’s backup system even after being deleted. As a result, emails can become records of the City maintained in the ordinary course of business, and thus available for public disclosure under PRA. MAIL Councilmembers may receive large amounts of mail. Administrative staff in the City Manager’s office maintains a mailbox for each Councilmember in City Hall. COUNCIL OFFICE There is an office available for Councilmembers to use for councilmember business. The office is available on a first-come, first-served basis. POLICY DEVELOPMENT Local officials best serve their constituents when they listen to the community as well as help the community visualize where it wants to be in the future. As an elected official, you play a fundamental role in the evolution of the goals, purpose, and direction of your community. You are responsible for making decisions about tax policy and tax rates, the scope of services your government will provide, and the role of the public sector versus that of the private sector in the delivery of those services. You are also responsible for policies that will affect local economic growth, cultural change, and the environment. All these complex and ever-changing factors affect and are affected by a local government’s mission. To understand your government’s mission is to become familiar with its policies. Review the budget, the capital improvement plan, the general plan, administrative procedures and practices, and the charter. As issues come up, take another look at existing policies to see if they support the mission of the organization. Keep in mind that policymaking can be passive as well as active. Policy ideas come from many sources, but the final determination of how policies (and through policies the mission of DRAFT