CC SR 20251118 E - Policy No. 2 Exemption
CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: 11/18/2025
AGENDA REPORT AGENDA HEADING: Consent Calendar
AGENDA TITLE:
Consider exempting the Community Needs Survey Project from City Council Policy No.
2 regarding questionnaires sent to the public
RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION:
1) Approve an exemption from City Council Policy No. 2 to allow the citywide
Community Needs Survey Project to proceed without City Council approval of the
survey questions in order to maintain the Project’s integrity and statistical
significance.
FISCAL IMPACT: Tonight’s recommendation does not have a fiscal impact. However,
the subject of this recommendation relates to a Council action on October 7, 2025, when
the City Council approved a professional services agreement with Fairbank, Maslin,
Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3) to conduct up to two (2) statistically significant
Community Needs Surveys for an amount not to exceed $60,000. Approving tonight’s
recommendation authorizes City Staff, the City’s Fiscal Sustainability Council
Subcommittee, and FM3 to finalize the survey questions, without City Council deliberation
and approval prior to distribution. Doing so will maintain the surveys’ integrity and
statistical significance.
Amount Budgeted: N/A
Additional Appropriation: N/A
Account Number(s): N/A
ORIGINATED BY: Irantzu Pujadas, Administrative Analyst IP
REVIEWED BY: Catherine Jun, Deputy City Manager CJ
APPROVED BY: Ara Mihranian, AICP, City Manager
ATTACHED SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS:
A. City Council Policy No. 2 – Questionnaires Sent to the Public (Page A-1)
B. Staff Report – October 7, 2025 (Linked)
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BACKGROUND:
City Council Policy No. 2 requires all City surveys to be approved by the Council at a
public meeting prior to distribution (Attachment A). Since then, the City Council has
approved various surveys that gathered opinions on topics ranging from public safety to
recreation programming. While these surveys provided useful data that guide City
policies, they were non-scientific, convenience surveys that cannot be generalized to the
broader population, since they were not designed with statistically valid methods. During
these surveys, participants volunteer to respond, rather than being randomly selected,
and are not proportionately reflective of the City’s demographics.
On October 7, 2025, the City Council approved a professional services contract with FM3
to implement the Community Needs Survey Project (“Project”) (Attachment B). This
Project would prepare and distribute up to two statistically significant surveys that gather
resident feedback on satisfaction with City services, priorities for future investment, and
areas for improvement. The results will be representative of the City’s demographics and
will give the City Council and staff greater confidence when using them to help make
major policy decisions.
DISCUSSION:
To preserve the objectivity and statistical integrity of this Project, Staff recommends that
it be exempt from City Council Policy No. 2. In lieu, the Fiscal Sustainability
Subcommittee (comprised of Mayor Bradley and Councilmember Lewis), City Staff, and
FM3 would finalize the Survey questions, using generally accepted best practices. FM3
has extensive experience creating and implementing such surveys for many
municipalities throughout the State, including the South Bay, and do not recommend
disclosing and deliberating on survey questions during a public meeting. The goal of this
Project is to capture the attitudes of a random sample of residents without pre-planning
or influence by others. If the survey questions were disclosed in advance, the accuracy
and credibility of the results would be questioned, undermining the survey’s value as a
reliable planning tool.
The recommended exemption from City Council Policy No. 2 would apply only to the two
surveys under this Project. Following completion, the final survey questions and results
will be shared publicly with the City Council and the community, ensuring full
transparency.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
City Staff and the Fiscal Sustainability Subcommittee members have been meeting
routinely with FM3 to begin shaping the survey questions to ensure they will adequately
capture the opinions of residents as they relate to community needs. The City anticipates
distributing the first survey in early December, with results available in January 2026.
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CONCLUSION:
Staff recommends that the City Council exempt the Citywide Community Needs Survey
Project from City Council Policy No. 2, permitting the Surveys to proceed without requiring
prior Council approval of the survey questions.
ALTERNATIVES:
In addition to Staff’s Recommendations, the following alternative actions are available for
the City Council’s consideration:
1) Do not exempt the approval of questions for Citywide Community Needs Surveys
2) Take other action as deemed appropriate.
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CITY COUNCIL POLICY
NUMBER: 2
DATE ADOPTED/AMENDED: 02/04/92
SUBJECT: Questionnaires sent to the public by City Council, Committee/
Commission(s) and Staff
POLICY:
It shall be the policy of the City Council that all questionnaires and/or surveys to
be sent by the city to the general public or special groups, whether generated by
Staff, City Council or Committee/Commission(s), be authorized by the full City
Council at a public meeting.
The City Manager shall be authorized, however, to approve any questionnaires
and/or surveys for information to be sent to other public agencies.
BACKGROUND:
The City Council recognized the need to establish a policy to control
questionnaires and surveys for information that are sent or delivered to the general
public and special interest groups.