Palm Desert City Council - Study Session, January 9, 2025

Transcript text

AI transcript text.

[00:00:02] Speaker: Are we okay? Can you hear me? So, the primary focus is on direct support, but we also fund indirect support that improve the residents' quality of life. Outside Agency funding objectives and priorities are, um, what structure, how the funds are distributed. So, our objectives are enhancing living conditions for the residents, um, assistance to low and moderate-income households and special populations such as the elderly, and meeting basic needs, and then enabling residents to increase, um, their capacity to handle, um, long-term issues without continued public assistance.
[00:00:43] Speaker: The priorities in order, um, that are looked at when approving, um, applicants is, um, programs addressing basic needs like food and shelter, um, programs that improve, um, health, self-sufficiency, um, and care for vulnerable populations, and then programs enhancing community livability like arts, education, and job training.
[00:01:11] Speaker: There are very specific guidelines for the applicants, and, um, I'll just go through a few of them. Um, applicants must submit, um, a slurry of information for us to consider. Um, one of the things that we look at is just, you know, alignment with community needs and project feasibility. Um, we ask them to demonstrate that there are other funding sources, um, and also if they say they're a nonprofit, they have a nonprofit status, they have to provide that, um, justification for us. Um, the organizations must be established for at least five years so that we know that they have a long-term investment in the community, um, and they provide direct benefits to the residents. Um, finally, you know, school organizations, we do allow PTOs to apply for funding. It can be used for, um, student programs like STEM or, um, the museum is often one that they bring in quite a bit, um, but it can't be used for routine educational costs.
[00:02:16] Speaker: In addition to the Outside Agency applications, the Outside Agency Committee also reviews our CDBG program, which you have later today on your agenda, and in addition to our community events sponsorships. And the idea behind that is to ensure that, um, they're in alignment, each of those programs, and that they're also not able to, um, request multiple funding from multiple sources so that, um, the, the committee has everything all at one time. And so, the event sponsorships, um, grant cash and in-kind sponsorships to qualified applications to, um, support events that benefit the community. Um, the sponsorships are evaluated based on the proposed event's impact on the community. Attention is paid to promote Palm Desert as a place to visit or live and celebrate the heritage of the city and its surrounding, and enrich the character and quality of the residents.
[00:03:18] Speaker: As I mentioned earlier, applicants are restricted to one funding source. So, if they apply for outside agencies, they would not qualify for event sponsorship or CDBG.
[00:03:33] Speaker: Too fast. The timeline for our process on, um, applications is we open it in early July—so we intend to open it tomorrow. Um, we do this through our, uh, online portal, OpenGov, and it allows them to apply for funds through April 30th. The committee convenes on May 29th and considers staff's recommendations, and then, um, based on the committee's recommendation, we take that to Council on the 26th alongside with the budget, and then applicants are notified on July 1st of their awards, and the funds are distributed following that award.
[00:04:10] Speaker: For reference, um, our '24-'25 awards for outside agencies were totaled $521,000 collectively, and then event sponsorships totaled $186,000. Um, CDBG were just under $400,000, so collectively there, right around a million dollars with all, um, uh, sources being considered. We will more than likely, um, use this guide as our request for '25-'26 budgets.
[00:04:47] Speaker: Finally, I did say we had a question for you. Um, there are a few organizations that request, uh, funding that doesn't fall entirely in an outside agency description or a community event.
[00:05:00] Staff: And so we wanted to get some feedback on how we should handle things like Desert X, Fashion Week, Food and Wine, The Living Desert, McCallum, and Eisenhower. Those are just a little bit different, and so we can handle them certainly the way we do outside agencies now, but we weren't sure of the impact that has, or if it's the desired way Council would like us to address those ones. That concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions.
[00:05:36] Mayor: Thank you. Are there any questions? Do you have a question? Sure.
[00:05:46] Councilmember 1: The event sponsorships and things like that, they don't fall into the same category. Has staff put any thought into ways it might facilitate that or recommend making it easy? I can conceive that it could be under Economic Development and events, and boosting tourism, things like that.
[00:06:10] Staff: The Economic Development team actually manages that program. Amy is here, and she can give you any specific information, but it is under their umbrella of what they do.
[00:06:25] Councilmember 2: We have seen the requests that are ongoing for, for example, for Food and Wine and for Fashion Week. I have asked for more in-depth methodology, and we just keep seeing the very basic 36% without having any true info on the number of the sample size, the mean, the median—a little bit more scientific detail that would justify the return on investment would be very beneficial to us as we make the decision on what to allot, how, and allow us to be more transparent and accountable to our community. Thank you.
[00:07:00] Mayor: Any questions?
[00:07:01] Councilmember 3: I have one question because I know we constantly struggle with this. We've been really attempting to make sure that people who come to the city and ask requests for grants and donations, that we get it into the budget and they go through the proper channels. And we're constantly telling them about Outside Agency funding opportunities, 'go on the website.' How can we reach out? Perhaps is there another way? Are we reaching out? How can we do it? How can we be more effective with that?
[00:07:36] Staff: Right before we open up the application period, we publicize it, and we also call anyone who has called us in the past year or two, and also any applicant that has provided an application in the prior year that was either approved or disapproved.
[00:07:53] Councilmember 3: And when you say publicize?
[00:07:55] Staff: Newspaper.
[00:07:55] Councilmember 3: Okay. Okay, good. Thank you.
[00:07:57] Councilmember 4: That triggers the question for me then, because this past summer we had the Tour de Palm Springs. People come here requesting money after the fact, and we had to turn them down, and we said, 'Make sure you apply this year.' So do you know if they've been notified yet?
[00:08:14] Staff: Yes, yes they have.
[00:08:16] Councilmember 4: All right, great. So the ones that you asked about, I think there were six or seven of them. I looked at some of them, and I guess Economic Development would be—they'd fall in that. They are marketing efforts. The Eisenhower Hospital one, however, was—it's economic development in that that was for a childcare center, and that makes sense for people to work so that they have a place for their children, but it doesn't fit into a marketing effort. So the other ones—Desert X, Fashion Week, Food and Wine, Living Desert, and McCallum—certainly are marketing and part of the branding effort of the City of Palm Desert. Eisenhower Hospital kind of falls out of that description. I'm just wondering how we might make that work, or if there is another umbrella that that might all work under.
[00:09:12] Staff: What we have done up until now is require that they request the funds through outside agencies through that four-month period. They're a little unique in that they typically request larger amounts, and so we don't fund it in one year; we take it over several years. If the Council is content with that, we can continue in that effort. We just wanted to make sure you had all of the ones that are a little different than the annual requests.
[00:09:36] Councilmember 4: And those are fine with me because those aren't—when the high school comes to us and asks us for something, these are branding. This is a more ambiguous type of effort. So it's branding and it's marketing, and those are things that help the city as an entire entity. So that works for me, if that works in the financial sense as we go forward with...
[00:10:02] Staff Member: Budgeting, I think for those three, definitely. When you say marketing on Desert X, Fashion Weekend, Food & Wine, does that mean you would like to see them on a case-by-case basis?
[00:10:13] Mayor: I think those are big numbers that we use. And the other thing, I say marketing, but it's also branding, and I know those are part and parcel, but they are less easily defined as far as an ROI, but yet it's a very real part of us moving the city forward and upward. So I do think we should have an opportunity, maybe there's a study session on those sorts of investments for the city, and I'd love to hear from...
[00:10:48] Staff Member: So on a case-by-case basis, right? We'd like to see those.
[00:10:50] Mayor: Yes, thank you.
[00:10:53] Mayor Pro Tem: I agree with the mayor, to be sure. They're kind of separate entities and should be considered separately. But also, we have about a million-dollar-a-year contract with Idea Peddler, is that right?
[00:11:05] Staff Member: Yes.
[00:11:05] Mayor Pro Tem: To market, you know, tourism with the city. Is there any sort of cross-pollination between what they do and helping out these events like Desert X, Fashion Week, etc., etc.? Or do they work hand-in-hand, in other words, with these organizations?
[00:11:17] Staff Member: I'm sorry, Councilmember, can you repeat the question? Who were you referring to?
[00:11:24] Mayor Pro Tem: Uh, it's that marketing agency we use to promote tourism in the city, and I...
[00:11:29] Staff Member: Okay, I'm sorry, I didn't hear that. There likely is some crossover. We need to talk to Thomas... Thomas, just ask how he's actually assessing these. I think to Council Member Kia's point, we are pushing pretty hard to try to see an ROI, you know, that is defensible, something that we can share with the Council. In some of these cases, it's... it's almost a substitute for marketing dollars. It's the return on investment from a marketing perspective, so we'll continue to work on that. I don't know that there's necessarily a displacement, but I can... Did you hear the question, Thomas? All right, I'm going to defer to you then, rather than punts. I'll just ask you to kind of answer that. We can certainly follow up if there's questions.
[00:12:17] Staff Member: So if I may, when we're looking at these, we're trying to figure out where these go. And looking at all of those, those are marketing/branding, which are more difficult to figure out. It's quite an ambiguous thing to say, 'What is your ROI directly?' It's easy... some of these things, it's easier to tell, this is difficult. But we were saying we'd like to see these. I think the consensus was on a case-by-case basis, perhaps in a study session sort of situation. Mayor Pro Tem Tr... brought up that perhaps we'd like... well, I don't want to speak for you.
[00:12:57] Mayor Pro Tem: I did hear the question, yeah.
[00:12:59] Staff Member: Okay, thank you. Thomas?
[00:12:59] Thomas H. (Public Affairs Manager): Good afternoon, I'm Thomas H., your Public Affairs Manager. And if I understood the question correctly, the sponsorships that we provide for these events do provide marketing value to the city and promote our brand and help let people know about the city. But the dollars that we give them are not specifically for marketing. So the money that we spend with Idea Peddler is to... is for an advertising campaign, and a lot of that is actually not to Idea Peddler, it's media buys that they execute on our behalf. So, sort of an apples and oranges kind of situation.
[00:13:39] Mayor Pro Tem: Part of Idea Peddler's sort of mandate or job on behalf of the city is to market these organizations as... or these events as well, or they don't touch them?
[00:13:50] Thomas H. (Public Affairs Manager): Oh, we... yeah, it's not... it's not directly involved with these events, but we do use these events to help promote the city through the channels that Idea Peddler handles.
[00:14:01] Mayor Pro Tem: Okay. And then, Thomas, isn't there, um, FG Creative? What do they do then in terms of working with Idea Peddler? Do they have any relationship?
[00:14:12] Thomas H. (Public Affairs Manager): They... I... they are in conversation with each other. FG Creative handles the marketing for the El Paseo Business Improvement District, and so they're actually a little bit more involved with Palm Springs Life on Fashion Weekend, Food & Wine, specifically because it's so connected to the street. So there's a little bit more involvement on that front. Um, in terms of general marketing for the city, uh, definitely we want the El Paseo campaign to be conversant with the city's tourism campaign, and so there is a lot of cross-pollination between the two.
[00:14:43] Council Member: May I ask on on that as well? And that is also in conjunction or separate from what we do through Palm Springs Life, right? So that's... the events that go through them are also funded independently. So what I'm gathering is that it's a broad spectrum of what kind...
[00:15:02] Speaker 1: ...of services, whether they end up as marketing or somewhere where we get the ROI, we're still finding a way to factor into each individual contract how that will be marketed. Yes, and marketing is definitely a huge part of Fashion Week and Food & Wine, because of course those events are not successful if people don't attend. And so, Palm Springs Life being a publishing company is very invested and knowledgeable about that, so they really do quite a bit of marketing for these events. And the funds that the City gives to them really, by and large, I think helps defray the cost. There's an enormous cost for the tent where the events are held, there's a lot of overhead for those events, and so the money that the City gives not only helps provide a foundation for that, but it's also good seed money for getting other sponsorships. Because one of the keys to getting sponsorships, as I'm sure you're aware, is knowing that somebody else is investing, right? Nobody wants to be the first one in, and so they've been able to build off of our investment and gain more sponsors for those events. Are there any other questions or comments?
[00:16:17] Speaker 2: Go, yeah, thank you. So the reason we threw in these six events at the end of the presentation—I mean, they really barely fit in any of the criteria we're talking about here. I mean, maybe the third: programs enhancing community viability, etc., etc. So the idea is that we should consider them something completely separate from the outside agency funding program altogether, is that right?
[00:16:44] Speaker 1: And that's actually what we're asking you. Because they're so different, should we consider them that way?
[00:16:50] Speaker 2: I would say yes, thank you. And so the next question would be, do we consider them separately then? Do we create a different system of evaluation or consider them ad hoc? Because right now, it sounds like we consider them ad hoc, and that was kind of my assumption. If we're doing a study session, you'll take, you know, the item case-by-case and make a decision that way. But I guess that's what I would need additional direction on, right?
[00:17:20] Speaker 3: However, Fashion Week and Food & Wine week go together because don't they share the same tent and some of the expenses and things like that?
[00:17:25] Speaker 1: Yes.
[00:17:29] Speaker 4: I suspect since we want this—we want these commitments done before the budget so that they're accounted for, and if we want some of the data that Councilwoman Koon is looking for, I would think we would want some sort of system in place for each of those folks to apply in a similar timeframe as the other events so that we can evaluate them. And we do our study session, then we can look at what they're asking for in a holistic way. So rather than ad hoc, I would suggest we'd want some parallel system with a similar timeline so that we have the commitments ready to go before the budget is adopted, and we have some sort of grading criteria that we can hold accountable year-over-year.
[00:18:15] Speaker 1: If I might, a lot of these, like Fashion Week and Food & Wine, are on a multi-year basis, and so we're right now in the middle of a contract with them. So generally speaking, when that contract is finished and before the budget allocation for the next fiscal year, we would bring that to the Council.
[00:18:35] Speaker 4: All right, that actually makes more sense to me, doing some of these like that on a multi-year basis, right? I think Desert X we do each time it comes up. So, for example, I think that's on the agenda tonight.
[00:18:46] Speaker 1: Yeah, and that was actually one clarification I want to make with Desert X. In the past, it has gone to the Cultural Arts Committee. And would you like a study session in lieu of, or in addition to, or are you okay with just it continuing to go to them for a recommendation to you?
[00:19:06] Speaker 4: I think it should be in addition to. We should have our own, because that's something where a lot of people may not individually be watching those committees. This is an opportunity for people to hear what's going on, to follow the agendas for the primary Council meetings a little bit more closely. When people are either very much in support or have concern on the funding, they'll be able to easily access a study session that shows the justification of the investment.
[00:19:35] Speaker 5: I look at this—both Desert X and Eisenhower Hospital, if I recall correctly, have been presented as part of an agenda item during a meeting, and I definitely think we should do that. They're a little bit different animal than when we look at the Living Desert, the McCallum Theatre, Food & Wine, and Fashion Week. The ones that I just mentioned, I definitely think...
[00:20:00] Speaker 1: We should have a study session for, and though those are on a multi-year, they come back every year and they give us an update and a report, which I think is absolutely necessary. But Desert X, because it's every other year, do I recall? And Eisenhower we won't see for a while because they have already asked us what they want. So those others, I think Desert X is fine as an agenda item within a meeting. I'd love to hear from my colleagues on that, but the others I think are deserving of ongoing study sessions, bringing us up to speed on what we've seen as a result of those marketing and branding investments. Is there any upside to having a study session versus receive and file reports during a council meeting? I think there is, because we don't tend to rush it as much. It really gives us a better opportunity for conversation. That's my belief. Thoughts?
[00:21:13] Speaker 2: No, I'm in alignment with what you said, that we keep Desert X as an agenda item, but the others are study sessions, with the exception of Eisenhower—we've already given them a nice donation.
[00:21:30] Speaker 3: Even if it's simply an agenda item, generally speaking, that organization will send a staff person ready to answer questions, so we can cover all the ground we need to cover. So I think that's adequate. The reason I brought that up is I remember, I think it was in my first year, I came into my office and I think it was like two reams of paperwork that were presented when a then-councilmember asked for detailed accounting records of one of the organizations or artists that was being featured. Where again, art is subjective, and people have questions about the artists that Desert X has chosen. So that was my logic in requesting something separate. I think that Desert X is known regionally and brings people from out of state, from out of the country, in order to watch. And knowing that Palm Desert is a location that has several sites, I think it would bear the opportunity to let people see, understand, and watch. Again, it's easier to look up a study session in our list of previous meetings than hope that someone will go look for the PDF or HTML and watch that segment individually. I mean, it could be a very quick study session, but if we're looking in the terms of who we're serving and who we're accountable to for our funding, I think that would allow us to answer questions to the community in deeper context when, again, people have been wondering why we're raising taxes if we're funding things that they don't see as essential to the city.
[00:23:11] Speaker 1: So does that mean you think Desert X should be a study session along with the rest of them?
[00:23:19] Speaker 3: Okay, fine.
[00:23:20] Speaker 1: Do you have all the information you need, or do you have any other questions?
[00:23:25] Speaker 4: I think we're good.
[00:23:27] Speaker 1: Okay, thank you so much, new guy. Does that mean, like, we gave you the same direction you came in with, like business as usual?
[00:23:34] Speaker 4: Mostly.
[00:23:35] Speaker 1: Close.
[00:23:36] Speaker 4: You're welcome. Value add.
[00:23:41] Speaker 1: Okay, what do we have next?
[00:23:44] Speaker 5: Turn over to Richard Kenon to give us a quick update on where we are with the business license service contract, or actually business model itself, and then give Council a quick update on the key projects that the Development Services Department are currently undertaking. There's quite a few items on their list. I just wanted to be sure that we kept that in front of the Council so you know what the staff is working on right now.
[00:24:10] Richard Kenon: Good afternoon, Mayor, Council. For the record, Richard Kenon, Director of Development Services. The first item is related to our business licensing program. Just a quick snapshot of the history: if you recall, back in 2021, the City entered into a contract with HdL to handle business licensing. This was due to a number of backlogs as part of the pandemic, and they were able to serve a need that we had at that time. Starting in, I want to say, August of 2023, we began in Development Services really kind of looking at all of our policies, procedures post-COVID, and whether or not they still made sense, business licensing being one of those. At the time, and it still continues through today, we have a number of...
[00:25:01] Staff Member: ...complaints from businesses not being able to properly be served in applying for their licensing. And so we began really evaluating it, trying to work with HDL, but to honestly no success. And really what we came down to is three—kind of summarize it in three findings. The first being we have limited software access, and so if an individual wants to print their business license or come in and apply, we have to direct them to a portal. At times it takes days, sometimes it has taken weeks for them to get back, and we've pushed, prod, and pulled, and still did not get the results that we need. In addition, there's been a number of inconsistencies and complaints from local businesses.
[00:26:01] Staff Member: Myself along with Veronica have met, and our staff in Development Services—I can't tell you how many times in Zoom calls that we've had to try to correct these items. But again, we seem to take a step forward at times and two steps backwards. One of the key components that was initially looked at as a benefit was a compliance program that they had where they would actually send individuals out and assist Code Compliance in enforcing the regulations, making sure individuals had their business licensing, and going after delinquent taxes. We finally launched that—we started gearing up to launch that program in May of 2024, launched it in July, and I quickly suspended that program a month later, maybe 45 days later. There were a number of issues. Businesses were assessed incorrectly, they were not able to get an accurate accounting, or they would get a bill of what was past due, they would pay it, and then there would be a new bill that was provided, and we didn't have a lot of that data. And so Lorena spent countless hours pulling her hair out trying to get that information.
[00:27:28] Staff Member: And in addition to that, there were some misinterpretations that we believe were made with respect to our regulations, one of those being what constitutes a property manager. And so these were things that they are enforcing without our knowledge. And so it's one thing if you want to raise the question, but at least raise it to us so we're able to provide that guidance. And so that was part of why that program was stopped within that first month.
[00:27:58] Staff Member: And so where we ended up, we still have at least 50 unresolved items, and we kind of broke them out in these six sort of broad categories. And really what it boiled down to is their service model is just insufficient for our needs and what our residents and businesses are accustomed to. I believe their software is approximately 25 years old. I don't think there's been any major updates to correct it, and so for them it's business as usual, but for us, it's not business as usual. We need to evolve. What we did was, we went back to that 2021 vendor list and actually looked at who was the second-place vendor, and we started to engage with them. And quite honestly, we were ready to bring them forward because they promised that they would be able to resolve all of our issues.
[00:29:03] Staff Member: And we reached out to a number of municipalities that currently use them or had used them in the past, and they were as dissatisfied as we were with our current vendor. And so at that time, that's why that item was pulled in November, as the City Manager indicated. And so we really kind of went back and took another hard look at what would make the most sense to us, as well as, more importantly, our businesses and what service we're providing. And so we really looked at what it would take to bring business licensing back in-house. A couple of the other cities, I know in the Valley, have done that since they've upgraded software. Some of the other municipalities—it may have been Santa Barbara—is actually considering bringing it back in-house. And so I think a lot of municipalities during COVID that were doing it in-house didn't have the staff...
[00:30:01] Speaker: Short-staffed, it served a purpose at that point in time. But again, we all evolve. And so, when we purchased the Clarity software, we purchased the full package. And so, part of that software package includes a business licensing module, and so there's not any additional software that would be required. The only item that would be would be the implementation cost, which we're estimating to be approximately about $100,000. And that would be to develop all of the workflows interface.
[00:30:37] Speaker: But we also think there's a number of benefits, particularly with streamlining reviews, automating approvals through GIS and Zoning integration, which we don't have now, but more importantly, tracking conditions of approval, making sure that they're met, and so that we can automatically sort of build all of that in so they go on the proper conveyor belt when those applications are submitted.
[00:31:03] Speaker: And so, just sort of a quick, for example, we have, I want to say, I think it was 5,500 business licenses in the city. About a third of those licenses are contractors, so roofers, electricians that are outside of the city. And so, whenever they come in, if they're working on one of the large tracts, if they're coming from Orange County or even Riverside or interior Inland Empire, they're required to get a business license in the city.
[00:31:40] Speaker: And so, what we were learning is there was a lot of time and effort being spent on assessing new fees because those individuals weren't renewing. Well, they have no reason to renew if they're not working in the city. And so, one of the things we talked to Clarity about when we had a demo with them to see if it would meet our needs is whether or not we can automate this stuff. So, if a third of our licenses are related to a one-time permit, once they expire, then let's leave them as expired.
[00:32:10] Speaker: But because it's one system, we would be able to integrate that in. So, if they were to come back, say, the following year or two years later, prior to that permit being issued, that's when that business license would need to be applied for, and it would be integrated as part of that permit system. And so, in order for the permit to be issued, before they have to pay it, they would have to pay for their business license. And so, they're not going through two or three different portals and routing it somewhere else; it would be all integrated into one system. And so, that's sort of one aspect of it.
[00:32:46] Speaker: The other is, when I talk about automating approvals through the GIS integration, we really looked at how can we improve the workflows, i.e., simple licenses. And what I mean by that is, let's say it's a clothing store retail on El Paseo, and they're moving across the street—I won't mention a name—that license should be able to be issued the same day. They shouldn't have to apply, it gets sent somewhere else, and then gets sent back to us to look at it, say, 'Yes, it's okay,' and then get issued, where it's taking three, four, five days for that.
[00:33:25] Speaker: And so, what we would like to do is build those workflows so that if it is what I'll call that simple—a simple renewal or a simple application—if it's built in and tied to our GIS layer, it can be something that's automatically issued without having a staff review. If the zoning—if it's specific retail permitted, there's no conditions of approval associated with that address—that's something then that can be, as soon as they submit their information, upload it, that license could be issued. And so, these are those workflows that we would like to get to that saves a lot of time and effort, both from our side as well as from the customer side.
[00:34:02] Speaker: And so, the estimate that we got was about 15 weeks to go live. And in order to do that, our sort of target date would be January 1, 2026. And I know that's a year from now, but as I'll get into my next item—a prelude to that—we're in the process of implementing our permitting software. And so, what we don't want to do is run those two parallel. What we want to do is make sure our permitting system, our permitting software, since it is underway, is implemented. We work—whatever, you know, there's always going to be bugs when you implement new software, it happens even with Microsoft Windows—we want to make sure that those kinks are worked out, the portal is working, and then go in and implement the business licensing module. And so, that would be at least our recommendation. Again, some of the...
[00:35:01] Richard: Of the key benefits I hit on, I won't read through all of these. Most importantly, it gets that direct oversight and control, as well as the improved customer service, and more importantly, really is being able to answer the questions as to why am I being assessed this fee, and making sure that if they are assessed incorrectly, we can quickly address it. The second consideration was really looking at establishing a fixed renewal date. Other municipalities that I've worked for, a lot of the business licensing is done on an annual basis, meaning, whether it's January 1st or July 1st. Right now, we have, like I said, 5,500 licenses, and we have 5,500 renewal dates. And so, as we gear up sort of our workflows and work plans, particularly with Code Compliance going out, it really is sort of this constant ebb and flow. And so, what we would like to do is really address those inefficiencies and streamline it to where your fee is due, again, whether it's January 1st or July 1st, 30 days after. Then we can include Code Enforcement to go and do those checks to make sure the business is still operational. If they are, let them know, 'Hey, you need to renew this before enforcement activities go in place.' But at least we're able to plan for that and gear up accordingly. Again, we also think it'll help with fee collection. One thing, in addition to business licensing, the ELOBID fees are also a component of that, so there's a multiplier of the business license, and so we want to make sure that those are all being collected. We also think it'll help with forecasting those revenues in future years. And so, our recommendation really would be to bring all business licensing functions back in-house beginning in January, and then establish an annual fixed renewal date for business licensing. With that, I'll be happy to answer any questions.
[00:37:32] Mayor: Okay, do you have any questions, please?
[00:37:35] Councilmember: All right, thank you, Richard. Couple questions. So, we implemented or we began to outsource through HdL two, three years ago, maybe longer, due to a backlog problem. Did we solve the backlog problem?
[00:37:51] Richard: I think we did, but I think it also created other, as a result, it created other inefficiencies. My understanding, prior to HdL, everything was done manually. And so, we had some things in Trackit, some things were done on an Excel spreadsheet, and then notices were being, you know, envelopes were being stuffed. And so, especially during COVID, there was a lot of backlog that was created as a result of that.
[00:38:23] Councilmember: So the complaint was it might take six months to get a business license turned around, and now it's down to what kind of a turnaround?
[00:38:30] Richard: It really depends, but for the most part, if it's a new license, it's typically processed within a week, I want to say. Sometimes it might be a little longer, but that part of it is much more efficient than where we were.
[00:38:49] Councilmember: And is there any concern that if we bring it back in-house, we're going to start ramping up the backlog again, or is that what Clarity is going to solve?
[00:38:55] Richard: I think as long as we set up those workflows and those automated emails, I think we'll be in a much better situation where we're not having, you know, stuffing envelopes, licking envelopes, stamps, and the like.
[00:39:12] Councilmember: Perfect, okay. And I do have two more questions, sorry. Is there any concern that having a fixed date of, say, January 1st for renewal...
[00:39:19] Councilmember 2: That was my question.
[00:39:20] Councilmember: ...will get the staff scrambling during the month of December and then the rest of the year—in other words, is it sort of a feast and famine situation where licensing staff is working like crazy the month of December and the rest of the year doesn't have a lot to do?
[00:39:33] Richard: Part of what we, how we've adjusted within Development Services, one of the things we looked at at one point, I think what initially was Code Compliance was actually handling business licensing, which really isn't a function of Code Compliance. And so, one thing was really trying to look at right-sizing and looking at the right roles and responsibilities. And so, one thing we did was really...
[00:40:00] Staff: Sort of revamp what was, you know, our permit center, really kind of rebranded into Development Services Center and created this sort of regulatory and licensing component of it. And so we're always going to have new licenses that come in throughout the year, but part of that function is business licensing, cannabis licensing, and short-term rentals. And so it really is consolidating all of that in one place. And so, as you know, we've recently updated a lot of those ordinances as a result of sort of inefficiencies that we had there, and this is sort of the other main component of that.
[00:40:37] Council Member: Perfect. And one more, if you'll indulge me. How long is our license with Clarity until expiration? How long is it good for, and is there any, you know, does it include updates? I mean, if you're talking about the HDL having their software go out of, you know, being old-fashioned, 25 years old, how do we prevent that from happening with Clarity?
[00:40:58] Staff: I don't recall offhand. I want to say 10 years, I think, is our license, and I believe it includes those updates.
[00:41:08] Council Member: Okay, perfect. Thank you.
[00:41:09] Council Member: Yeah, what other cities do the single renewal date? I'm sorry, are there any other cities you're aware of that have a single renewal date?
[00:41:21] Staff: I mean, cities that I've worked in in other places. I haven't looked within the valley. I'd be happy to do that research.
[00:41:32] Council Member: I was just curious if there's any models where that seems to be more successful. I know property taxes work the same way. You have a single lien date. A lot of work goes in throughout the year processing new sales, right? And the whole purpose of having a single lien date is it kind of streamlines everything because most people are in Prop 8 and they just get a bill, right? So, a similar process is you kind of automate the ones that don't have a lot of changes throughout the year, and your staff is processing new ones. So, it makes sense to me, but I was just curious if there was any model you were following. Secondly, is there a precedent or consideration for doing business license options of longer duration—one, two, three-year permits—and would that have any sort of benefit to the business and staff in terms of somebody who gets a two-year permit, they don't have to renew every year?
[00:42:30] Staff: We can look at it. One of the challenges is just the way the fee structure is set up. Because it's actually technically considered a tax, a number of the license fees are based upon their annual revenue. So, we would just have to understand, if that's a route we wanted to take, if it would require an amendment to the ordinance and whether or not that would result in—because it would be a change in how taxes are assessed and collected—whether that would have to go for a referendum. I would defer to BBK on that, but it's something that we could explore.
[00:43:16] Council Member: I was just curious. Based on the tradeoffs, it doesn't sound like it would materially benefit us or the business owners very much. So, as long as I know the background, like, 'All right, that's a lot of work, it probably doesn't make sense.'
[00:43:29] Staff: Yeah, if we could, I mean, I certainly wouldn't be opposed. It'd be much easier to manage.
[00:43:36] Mayor: Other questions or thoughts?
[00:43:37] Council Member: Seeing things from the perspective of how it would impact our staff in terms of clearing backlog, and looking at the challenges from the perspective of a business owner, would this help or hinder to now have a fixed date? And for those that currently have licenses that are due to expire beyond, let's say, February, would they then be extended to July, or would they be expected to then do the previous date in advance of the renewal date?
[00:44:07] Staff: Typically, I guess to the first part of the question, we could certainly ask a number of the businesses. I would think it would be much easier if we have this fixed date, similar to property taxes. You know, whether it's January 1st, July 1st, start of the fiscal year, you're going to get this—your business tax is due. The second... can you repeat, I'm sorry, the second part?
[00:44:38] Council Member: If, looking at the dates that you said, for example, July 1st or 12/31, if it should be due to renew, whether in February or September, would it be extended to the next date, or would you want them to do it in advance in order to give staff more time to complete it prior to the renewal date, instead of making it like...
[00:45:00] Staff: ...seem like it's done later. I think the way we would have to, and we actually talked this through with the one vendor we were looking at, as well as with the Clarity folks who have done this. And so once we would get the new system up and going, typically what happens when there's that kind of change, there's a credit, if you will. So they would pay whenever their initial bill is due, let's say March, and if that date is set, they would pay that full amount. And then if we establish it, say January 1st, they would then get a credit for that from that prior year's pay because they did pay in full. And then the next year, then that billing cycle would go on that annual basis.
[00:45:53] Staff: Yeah, they would be prorated.
[00:45:58] Council Member: Will they still be able to go online to do this?
[00:46:00] Staff: Yes, and in person. Thank you.
[00:46:05] Chair: All right. Are there any other questions or thoughts? Okay, I think we hit that pretty well. Is there anything else, or our next one is the update on the status of key projects?
[00:46:29] Staff: I'll just jump right into this. And so this is just more of kind of, as I was explaining earlier, we have five workgroups. They're all responsible for being part of all of these projects, but again, for us, it was right-sizing and making sure the roles and responsibilities were established of who is responsible for what. We had multiple divisions, or multiple workgroups, I should say, at one point doing licensing, and so again, a lot of that was all consolidated into the Development Services Center. And so, one of the things I also wanted to mention, while we have these what I'll call our key major projects, we still have a lot of development projects still coming in and other code amendments or other things we're working on. So, really wanted to hit on these big items. And so, the first is a Development Services Fee Study that we started. The last study was completed, I want to say, in 2012, and so we're in the process now of wrapping that study up. Really, the focus was on cost recovery, looking at what our cost of services are, what those increases have been since 2012, and then providing that information ultimately to City Council to make a decision as to which way they want to go with our fees. In addition, what I think is even more important than that is changing the way that building permit fees are assessed. A very archaic way of assessing fees—a customer cannot figure out what their building permit fees are, and it often takes our staff an hour, sometimes two hours, to calculate and come up with what their projected building permit fees are. And so, we really wanted to change how we do that. We're the only one in the valley that does it the way we're doing it, and we think there's just a much simpler way to do that. So, that's really kind of the two parts of that study. What we're looking to do is get it out to DVBA to provide comments, and then look to bring that to City Council for consideration in March as part of that discussion. And so, that's one aspect that's underway. And so, some of this part will fold into the next item. As we're building out our new land management software, fees obviously are a big component of that, and so we want to make sure that as we're coming out with the new software, that new fee schedule—whether the fees change, but more importantly, how we assess building permit fees—are integrated as part of that software. And so, as you know, the current system is outdated. The user experience is not great with Track-It, and so we're really looking to, as I talked about, automating a number of workflows, also being able to digitize records and save a lot of staff time. Even a quick example: staff spends countless hours renaming plans when they come in. We have a specific naming convention that we use so everything is searchable and follows our...
[00:50:00] Speaker: ...records, no one follows it when they submit. It's one of those things we hate to constantly have to reject people to rename something, so we end up doing it, and it takes a lot of staff time constantly renaming. So rather than focusing on coordinating, our permit techs are being data entry clerks, which they don't need to do. One of the components that the software will be able to do is, they can call it whatever they want as long as they put it in the right bucket. If it's a landscape plan, whether they call it 'landscape plan', 'LA', 'LAP', or 'LA plant', it'll automatically, once they submit it, convert to that naming convention. So that's just one small thing, but will save us on our end an enormous amount of time. But what that will also translate into is saving a number of time of how that permit gets processed. So rather than being delayed one or two days because we're naming everything, that can be processed right away. So that's just a simple little example of things that we're looking at doing to help improve the process.
[00:51:09] Speaker: Our Citywide Historical Resource Survey is underway. As you know, this was a priority of the Cultural Preservation Resource Committee as part of their annual work plan, and so that has kicked off. The drafting of their context statement and survey has been in, so staff is currently reviewing that. And then we look to get that to CPRC, hopefully in March, for them to take a look. And what that really will do is it just provides that resource so we understand which properties would be eligible or merit further research for historic designation. In addition, it'll also put us in line to apply to be a Certified Local Government, or CLG. The US Department of the Interior provides funding to states for historic preservation, and so those grants are allocated annually. But in order to be able to qualify to get those grants to do additional studies, you need to be a Certified Local Government. And so that's just another thing that we think we would be able to get, and then just another resource that we could tap into.
[00:52:20] Speaker: We're in the process of updating our circulation element of the General Plan. Really, what prompted this is changes in state law, particularly with VMT, but also a number of inconsistencies that we have throughout the General Plan and our bike plan. And so, really looking to establish, in addition to correcting those items, really establishing clear objective standards for right-of-way dedication. We don't have those adopted, and so when we're asking, particularly even an affordable housing development, to dedicate right-of-way, unless we have it specifically tied to that street as an objective standard, they are telling us no, and there's quite honestly not much that we can do to force them because we don't have those adopted standards. And so those are other items that we're looking to address.
[00:53:19] Speaker: The other item that we're working on is the Hillside Development Ordinance. And so, if you recall, when we brought forward the contract for the objective design standards for the downtown, it also included the Hillside Development Ordinance. What we have done in the last, I want to say last month or two, is sort of readjust a priority of those, and I'll get into the downtown objective standards here in a couple items. But we sort of moved up the Hillside Development Ordinance. It was really going to follow the tails of the downtown objective design standards, but we swapped that. And so we have moved the Hillside Development Ordinance up. I know we now have a subcommittee, and so we will be scheduling a meeting here very, very shortly to at least go over kind of some of the background of it and the initial analysis that they're being looked at, as well as bringing forward a study session in February.
[00:54:24] Speaker: The other major project is the update to the University Neighborhood Specific Plan. Some of the main reasons, obviously, for this was how that 170 acres will redevelop, or really develop, I should say. Our existing circulation concepts cannot be applied to that, and so that was one of the reasons why we're updating this specific plan. The design guidelines were based on the 111 design guidelines, which aren't really going to fit for that area, and so...
[00:55:00] Staff Member: Those are some of the main concepts, as well as planning for a new park in the area. And so those are sort of, I'll say, the big items that prompted that, you know, kind of the 'why are we doing this?' And so once we get those adjusted, we'll be in a much better spot to move forward with how that site will develop in the future.
[00:55:22] Staff Member: The downtown objective design standards, and I modified this because I initially was going to talk about the downtown zoning analysis as part of this, but I think it might sort of inadvertently blur the importance of the two. Because really, the downtown objective design standards kind of came out of the downtown zoning analysis that we brought forward in October. And so right now, we're in the process of completing that assessment for the downtown objective design standards. We'll ultimately bring that item forward, but the overall completion date, as I said, we adjusted the schedule. We look to have that completed quarter one of 2026.
[00:56:05] Staff Member: The downtown zoning, I know there is the appointment of the new subcommittees on a later item today, but we're looking to bring that subcommittee back together and talk through a number of issues there. There was a number of analyses that we needed to complete, and quite honestly, now that we have more GIS capabilities, it's helping us tremendously with how we're spending our time in doing those analyses. However, there are some minor amendments, what I'll call a cleanup amendment, that we're working on, where we're already bringing forward involving where and how single-family homes are permitted. They're permitted on El Paseo, but they're not permitted in the periphery of the area that borders the single-family. So we think that was just an error in the code, and so we're going to address that as part of a cleanup amendment prior to getting into the full update.
[00:57:10] Staff Member: Business licensing, I think I hit on. Obviously, our Unified Development Code creation of that and code update, we're in the process now of finalizing that assessment memo and look to bring a study session item forward in March for that. And I know that subcommittee, we're looking to have that one also provide some guidance, but that is more of a long-term project, quarter three of 2026. But this one will provide for a number of benefits both for staff, developers, and residents, so there's clear objectives, clear standards, and clear processes throughout.
[00:57:53] Staff Member: And lastly, our GIS integration, this is something ongoing. I've given some examples already, so I won't go into any more. And with that, I'll be happy to answer any questions.
[00:58:07] Mayor: Any questions or thoughts? Okay, thank you.
[00:58:12] Councilmember: Okay, not me. I have just a comment I wanted to make. We talked about the General Plan circulation element, and there are grant funds currently available through RCTC and SCAG. I will send that information—there are two separate pots of money—I will send that over probably at the beginning of next week. They're coming up; they haven't opened the process yet, but I will make sure that we have access to it. Thank you.
[00:58:41] Councilmember: I do have one comment, Madame Mayor. Thank you to staff for taking on the transition from a concept to do the historical survey to fruition, and all of the work, the many hours of developing something new, modeling it, and customizing it. So, just a little bit of extra kudos, knowing how much that took and what it will open up in external funding. So, thanks.
[00:59:06] Mayor: Okay, next is City Council roles and new laws. We wouldn't think we're in California if there weren't a lot of new laws. So, these... Mr. City Clerk?
[00:59:38] City Clerk: Okay, Madame Mayor and City Council. First is a Brown Act update regarding teleconferencing. This was recently amended and now puts caps on the amount of times that you can remote participate under 2449. These still allow remote participation under just cause, which include childcare, illness, and official travel on City or agency business.
[01:00:00] Speaker: However, this is now limited to no more than two times per year. In addition, you are also allowed to remote participate for emergency circumstances related to either a physical or medical emergency. In those cases, you have to announce a general description of the circumstances, and then the council would need to take an action to approve that participation. In total, you can't exceed more than five meetings, so that might be two meetings for the just cause and three meetings for the emergency circumstances, or five meetings for the emergency circumstances as it may be. And then just note that this law does sunset in January 1st of 2026 unless it's extended, and so remote participation after that point would be under the traditional Brown Act requirements, which would essentially create a satellite location for public participation.
[01:00:50] Speaker: Additionally, AB 170 was enacted, which now requires our 87200 filers, which includes the City Council, to file their statements of economic interest, which is the Form 700, directly with the Fair Political Practices Commission using their electronic system through Granicus, which means that you can no longer file a paper Form 700. In addition, they are provided advice that any questions related to your filing obligations should be directed to the FPPC or to the City Attorney. And then we do have an upcoming ethics training coming up, so if you are about to need to renew your local ethics training, we have a session on January 30th at 9:00 AM. This will be a virtual but live session with BBK attorneys. It will meet the two-hour minimum requirements, and you can either attend in person in the council chamber or via Zoom. And if you would like to register, please contact Erica and we'll get you the links.
[01:01:56] Speaker: When it comes to—these are just some simple reminders—when it comes to the role of the mayor, the mayor does serve as the presiding officer of the meetings. Typically, the role involves explaining to the public how the meeting will be conducted, which is usually through the reading of the statements on the agenda. You can reasonably limit time for public comments. So, for instance, if you saw several hundred people in the room and the amount of time it would take to go through public comment would be excessive, you could limit it to, say, one or two minutes per speaker instead of the required three minutes or the typical three minutes. The mayor also states the questions coming before City Council and can move, participate, and vote on any actions the same as any council member. And ultimately, the role is to preserve the order and the quorum for all of the City Council meetings. In addition, other duties include signing ordinances, issuing proclamations and recognitions in collaboration with the mayor pro tem, and then representing the city at ceremonial events.
[01:02:55] Speaker: When it comes to the role of the mayor pro tem, serves in the absence of the mayor and serves as the presiding officer at those meetings. In addition, as I mentioned, works in collaboration with the mayor to issue proclamations and other recognitions, and also serves on the subcommittee with the mayor on discussing matters of interest with the city manager.
[01:03:16] Speaker: When it comes to conduct at City Council meetings, it's just a reminder that our Municipal Code does state that council members must preserve order and decorum and shall not, by conversation or otherwise, delay or interrupt the proceedings in any way, nor disturb any other member while speaking, and refusal to obey the orders of the council or presiding officer.
[01:03:39] Speaker: When it comes to members of City Council, the best practices is to represent and work for the common good of the city, to provide unbiased, fair, and equal treatment to all persons in matters, particularly when it comes to due process matters such as public hearings. Limit distractions and provide your undivided attention, particularly during those public hearings and quasi-judicial proceedings. Refrain from taking any action or participating or trying to influence the decision if you have a conflict of interest. Working with staff regarding any questions of clarification that you may have, and then to refrain from abusive conduct, personal charges, or attacks on others.
[01:04:20] Speaker: Just a reminder on the role of the City Council liaison. The liaison is not a member of the advisory body. Instead, the liaison serves to provide information between the City Council and that committee. So the key reminders are to not influence the decision of the commission or the committee, and to—if you do have a request for action, it should be made at the City Council meeting, not at the advisory body. And then attending meetings as a member of the public. So, for instance, if CVAG or let's say the Chamber of Commerce was holding a meeting and two members of the City Council were there in an official capacity presenting on a topic, and a third member were to attend...
[01:05:02] Speaker 1: It's important that that third member ensure that they don't communicate or participate in the meeting other than as an observer. And if that situation were to arise, please contact the City Attorney for further guidance to ensure that we don't have a Brown Act violation. And that's ultimately my presentation, and happy to answer any questions. Thank you so much.
[01:05:21] Speaker 2: Are there any questions or comments at this end? No? And how about here? I am going to remind everyone our role as Council liaisons. We are not to take the time from the meeting, we are not to attempt to influence the meeting. Our job is simply to listen, to bring back meetings to the day as needed, or information back to the dais during discussion, and to allow the advisory body to do their work and to conclude what they feel is best as the advice that they're going to represent to the Council. I think we have to make sure, we must make sure that we allow those advisory bodies to act independently and without any sort of influence from the Council members. So I do want to remind everyone of that. Are there any other questions or thoughts?
[01:06:26] Speaker 2: Okay, then I believe that concludes our meeting. And are we scheduled for closed session at 4:00 or right now?
[01:06:38] Speaker 3: We were scheduled at 3:30. We've got two fairly quick items, I think.
[01:06:40] Speaker 2: Okay, so why don't we start this now, and then we'll take the break between, if everyone concurs. We'll take the break between closed session and public session. Is that okay? Okay, so I'm going to start the meeting now. This is the Palm Desert City Council meeting that includes Palm Desert City Council Successor Agency to the Palm Desert Redevelopment Agency, Palm Desert Housing Authority, and the Palm Desert Board of Library.