During a study session on Sept. 17, the City Council reviewed its policy manual, a document that has been under revision since 2021. The council discussed which policies need further review and decided to appoint Ad Hoc committees to work through the remainder of the manual.
The policy manual is a document that directs the City Council how to proceed with responsibilities such as elections, social media, public comment and the organization of formal meetings. It was designed 15 years ago, but at a meeting in August 2021, the City Council began reviewing the manual to keep it up to date. At that meeting, the policy was split into two separate documents—the policy manual and the handbook, for non-policy information. Then, on Feb. 6 of this year, the City Council reviewed the manual again, to make sure that they were all in agreement on the policies, but they only got through the first 13 pages. At that time, they agreed on provisions regarding the role of the mayor, regular formal City Council meetings, public comment at meetings and the addition of references to the Beverly Hills Municipal Code, to explain why such policies make sense for the city. They approved the handbook at that time.
At that Feb. 6 meeting, council discussed but did not come to an agreement on policies regarding the selection of the mayor and vice mayor, the rotation of the mayor and vice mayor, media relations, social media, participation in meetings requiring travel and organization of formal meetings and study sessions. These issues were brought up by Municipal Affairs Program Manager Cynthia Owens at the meeting on Sept. 17 during a presentation that outlined the history of the policy manual and asked the council for direction. A copy of the updated manual was provided in the meeting’s agenda, but a section of the 2009 manual regarding study sessions was omitted. The original sentence read, “At the study session meetings, the council shall not take any formal or binding action upon any resolution, ordinance or other action required by law to be taken by the council. Such action occurs at the formal meeting.”
This requirement was changed due to an ordinance that allows the City Council to take action during these meetings, but it sparked a lot of controversy among members of the community.
During public comment, the council received multiple emails from individuals who were concerned about legislation taking place during study sessions. “I’m appalled to find out that the city is proposing this change to allow legislation and other important decisions to also be made at afternoon study sessions,” wrote Beverly Hills resident Renee Strauss. “I’m totally opposed to this proposed change. It goes without saying that such a change will make such proposed matters and legislative changes less transparent. An evening meeting is more accessible for those residents that have jobs and work. Our opinions matter and must be taken into account when the city is proposing legislative changes.”
This was cleared up during the council’s discussion, however, when the council approved the revised study session policy in the manual. Vice Mayor Sharona Nazarian suggested that the remainder of the policy manual should be assigned to Ad Hocs, and should be split into two sections: policies that the council discussed in February, and those that the council did not have time to review. Mayor Friedman seconded her thoughts, and the councilmembers ultimately agreed that these policies will be discussed by the Election Ad Hoc and the City Council Policy Manual Ad Hoc at later meetings.
