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Title:
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Discussion of Costs of Public Notification.
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City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
RECOMMENDATION:
That the City Council discuss the costs of public notification and direct staff as
deemed appropriate.
BACKGROUND:
On May 1, 2006, Councilmember Rose requested and received Council consensus
for Council to discuss the subject of the costs of public notification.
DISCUSSION:
As the Council is aware, the City is required by various laws to provide a minimum
level of public notification (legal notification) for certain actions to be considered by
the City Council and/or other agencies/boards/commissions of the City (for example
the Planning Commission). Legal notification is usually required within a certain
radius of impacted properties (for land based decisions) or to a certain segment of
the Culver City Community (for policy based decisions). However, the City has
adopted a practice of an enhanced level of public notification (enhanced notification).
In accordance with enhanced notification, the City sends notices to additional
persons or at additional frequency above the minimum required by law. These
enhanced notifications oftentimes take the form of a courtesy notice postcard or an
advertisement in a local newspaper.
To assist the City Council in its discussion of this topic, the following table includes
some general information from the City’s financial system related to directly
identifiable public notification costs:
Meeting Date: 06/12/06 Item Number: A-7
AGENDA ITEM: Discussion of Costs of Public Notification
Contact Person/Dept.: Martin R. Cole,
ACAO
Phone Number: (310) 253-6000
Fiscal Impact: Yes [] No [X] General Fund: Yes [] No []
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [X] Attachments: [X]
Public Notification: Master Notification List (06/07/06)
Department Approval:
Martin R. Cole (06/07/06)
CAO Approval:
Jerry B. Fulwood (06/07/06)
City Controller Approval:City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
Vendor FY 04/05 FY 05/06
(10 months)
KES Mail $63,239.25 $25,071.16
Culver City News 26,731.60 18,909.25
Culver City Observer 2,985.00 3,392.00
Los Angeles Times 3,085.00 4,256.92
TOTALS: $96,040.85 $51,629.33
Because of the general nature envisioned for this initial discussion, staff provides the
general information above. There are definitely additional staff resources (especially
the Graphics Division and postage costs) allocated to enhanced notification. Should
Council desire a more in-depth analysis, additional review of individual invoices and
other potential payment methods (including credit cards) could be evaluated. This
process would require additional staff time estimated to be of the magnitude of tens
of hours.
A ball park minimum estimate of 50% of the City’s public notification costs are
attributable to the enhanced notification policy. There are also additional costs
associated with public notification paid by the Redevelopment Agency.
The City Council discussed a similar subject on January 24, 2005. A copy of the
staff report and the minutes from that meeting are attached for the Council’s ease of
reference.
FISCAL ANALYSIS:
Council discussion of this item does not, by itself, create a fiscal impact.
Given the ball park estimate above, it is estimated the minimum incremental costs
to the City of the enhanced notification policy are in a range of $25,000 to $50,000
per fiscal year.
Should Council determine to alter the enhanced notification practice, a fiscal impact
would be created. Should the Council desire to make such a change, staff could
return to Council on June 26 with a more comprehensive analysis of the public
notification costs (including the costs from the Redevelopment Agency, if desired)
and the associated fiscal impacts.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Staff Report of January 24, 2005.
2. Excerpts of City Council Minutes of April 7, 2004 and January 24, 2005.City of Culver City, California
City Council Agenda Item Report
MOTION:
That the City Council receive and file this report and direct staff as deemed
appropriate.