25 Apr ‘Chaotic and Burdensome’: Richmond City Council, Staff Hold Special Meeting on Communication

Richmond City Council held a special meeting Tuesday in the Bermuda Room of the Civic Center auditorium in an attempt to improve communication and collaboration with city staff. (Screenshot captured by Samantha Kennedy / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

Onetime interim city manager Henry Gardner spent most of Richmond City Council’s special meeting Tuesday on his feet, walking between the council and city staff as he listed all the things they’d said about one another. The goal was to increase communication. 

Some of the things Gardner, the facilitator of the meeting, was told were easy fixes in the works — like Mayor Eduardo Martinez’s struggle to identify who could speak first — but others showed overworked staff and lack of clear communication.

In preparation for the meeting, Gardner, who provides management consulting services to the city, interviewed each council member, Martinez and members of the management leadership team to get a sense of what each needed from one another. Each knew their input would be shared but were candid. 

City staff in their interviews, for example, expressed the need for prioritization of projects and a request for respect from the council. Prioritization would allow staff to stay focused instead of managing projects that may be inconsistent with current goals. Some suggestions from staff included only allowing an item to be added to the agenda when two council members and the mayor agreed and requiring the council to send in agenda items two weeks before the next meeting. 

Shiva Mishek, Martinez’s chief of staff, said the current agenda process is “incredibly chaotic and burdensome” on staff partly because items are missing names, attachments or other information, and that requires further work by staff. 

“My personal opinion is that (requiring agenda items two weeks in advance) is low-hanging fruit that the council can give staff to show that council appreciates staff capacity issues,” said Mishek.

Though Mishek acknowledged the effort put into some agenda items by council members, she said that usually isn’t the case. 

“It feels pretty bad every week to see what we get,” she said. 

Council members recognized the importance of well-researched agenda items but also mentioned limitations without full-time staff to support them.

Vice Mayor Claudia Jimenez suggested that the council write their own agenda reports to reduce staff’s workload. For her agenda items, Jimenez said she asks presenters she’s collaborating with to contribute to the reports. 

Another solution, she said, could be to have a conversation about additional staff to support items and policy by council members. 

Mishek suggested training for new council members, which city staff said could be shared with the council. 

In interviews with the council, Gardner’s presentation showed that council members wanted better communication from staff.

Council member Cesar Zepeda said at the meeting that his reaching out to staff for an update on something is not to micromanage anyone but to get answers for his constituents. 

“I don’t expect miracles. I don’t want to put more pressure on staff. I just need to update people because the buck stops with us, with me as a council member,” said Zepeda. 

Council members also noted communication problems with Martinez that, since the interviews last year, have seemingly been resolved.