A House Divided:

Conclusions 7

• CL1 Page 16
  The City has a culture of distrust between the councilmembers and City staff that is creating dysfunction.
• CL2 Page 16
  The dysfunction prevalent between the City Council and City staff has negatively impacted City operations, including the continuing loss of skilled and experienced personnel. The City has a reputation of having a difficult work environment, making recruiting of highly qualified applicants difficult.
• CL3 Page 16
  The City has not taken sufficient steps to improve the City’s financial risk profile as recommended by its retained Internal Auditor.
• CL4 Page 17
  A comprehensive Code of Ethics not only provides guidance and baseline standards for ethical behavior, it includes sanctions and consequences for deviations from the standard. The City’s Ethics Policy is generic and lacks enforcement provisions and therefore fails to provide a framework to address ramifications for policy violations.
• CL5 Page 15
  Voters of the City of Cupertino elect five councilmembers. Councilmembers in turn hire the City Manager and the City Attorney. The public has the right to hold the governing body responsible for its leadership and guidance and to pursue policies that lead to sound governance. City voters do not elect City staff. If the environment created by the governing board is toxic, the City will not be able to hire and retain competent talent to serve the residents of Cupertino. The governing council must create a respectful environment for staff. The behavior of councilmembers may need to be reviewed and good government practices implemented to remediate the dysfunction that currently exists. The absence of a comprehensive Ethics and Code of Conduct policy with enforcement provisions is a significant concern for the Civil Grand Jury. Ethics and Code of Conduct policies set baseline parameters of acceptable organizational operating practices and required behavior of staff, management and councilmembers. The absence of enforcement provisions in the new Ethics Policy provides the City and its residents no remedy for unacceptable actions or behavior. The Civil Grand Jury is aware that this report will be published after the November 2022 elections and hopes that any newly elected councilmembers will take the opportunity to develop better working relationships with the City staff.
• CL6 Page 16
  FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Finding 1 The City has a culture of distrust between the councilmembers and City staff that is creating dysfunction. Recommendation 1 The City should develop or acquire a good governance training and development program for both existing and newly elected councilmembers and existing and new staff members to address: (i) their role, responsibilities, and the relevant laws that specify and/or limit their function; (ii) the division of responsibilities between councilmembers and staff as directed by the Cupertino Municipal Code; and (iii) the necessity of morale building to create a stronger, more effective, and respectful relationship between City staff and councilmembers. Recommendation 1 should be implemented by March 31, 2023. Finding 2 The dysfunction prevalent between the City Council and City staff has negatively impacted City operations, including the continuing loss of skilled and experienced personnel. The City has a reputation of having a difficult work environment, making recruiting of highly qualified applicants difficult. Recommendation 2 The City should hire a consultant to study staff morale and make recommendations to improve retention of employees and quality of the working environment. To the extent legally permissible, the study and recommendations should be published for public review. Recommendation 2 should be implemented by July 31, 2023. Finding 3 The City has not taken sufficient steps to improve the City’s financial risk profile as recommended by its retained Internal Auditor. Recommendation 3a The City should implement the work plan identified in the May 2022 Fiscal Policy Inventory and Gap Analysis Report developed by the City’s internal audit firm, Moss Adams LLP, to address policy and procedural gaps and weaknesses. Recommendation 3a should be implemented by July 31, 2023. Recommendation 3b The City should employ the use of continuing annual internal audits to assess progress in the development and implementation of new or modified policies and procedures to comply with
• CL7 Page 17
  internal audit risk reduction and mitigation recommendations. Recommendation 3b should be implemented by July 31, 2023. Finding 4 A comprehensive Code of Ethics not only provides guidance and baseline standards for ethical behavior, it includes sanctions and consequences for deviations from the standard. The City’s Ethics Policy is generic and lacks enforcement provisions and therefore fails to provide a framework to address ramifications for policy violations. Recommendation 4a The City should establish an independent Public Ethics Commission with guidance from experts in applied ethics, such as the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, to: (i) develop and implement a robust government ethics training program for all councilmembers; and (ii) evaluate a best practices enforceable Code of Ethics and Conduct Policy that governs all councilmembers and appointed officials for consideration by the City Council. This recommendation should be implemented by March 31, 2023. Recommendation 4b The City should reinstate enforcement procedures to enable the City Council and the public to file complaints and testify at public hearings to help remediate ethics violations. This revision should include a procedure for public admonishment, revocation of special privileges, or censure. This recommendation should be implemented by March 31, 2023. Recommendation 4c The City Council should engage a conflict resolution professional to help enhance mutual understanding and respect amongst all stakeholders. This recommendation should be implemented by January 31, 2023, and should be repeated at least once per year. Recommendation 4d The City should publish its current Ethics Policy on the City website by January 31, 2023.

No Responses Found 1

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