The central question is whether or not Council should consider placing plaques on City property in recognition of less than a "significant donation," which is the current criterion. Staff recommends that Council revise the policy to establish a tiered monetary scale that defines a significant donation meriting the display of commemorative plaques.

Current policy states the City Council may consider plaques on public property (other than for the dedication of buildings) only in circumstances where an individual or group has made a "significant donation" to the City resulting in the acquisition of property, buildings, or the like.

Councilmember Roberts sponsored a review of this policy as a study issue in 1998 as a result of a request from a Sunnyvale resident. A family donated a park bench and three trees to Las Palmas Park, in memory of their mother, a long-time resident of Sunnyvale. The request for a memoriam plaque on the donated park items was denied as it did not meet the existing definition that allows Council to consider displaying plaques on donated public property.

This item was ranked below the line in 1998 and was brought back for consideration and ranked as a priority for the Office of the City Manager at the 1999 Study Issues Workshop (see Attachment B for the Study Issue Paper).

Council Policy 7.3.11, Plaque Policy, adopted 1985 (Attachment A).

Council Policy 7.3.11 has two components: (1) Dedication of Buildings, (2) Other Occasions. The focus of this report is on "Other Occasions," specifically on donated items. Under existing policy, Council may consider plaques on public property in circumstances where an individual or group has made a "significant donation" to the City. However, the policy does not define significant donation, and therefore, staff has been left to interpret the Council’s intent on a case by case basis.

Currently, the City of Sunnyvale is averaging approximately 12 donations of trees and items a year, some of which include a request for the display of commemorative plaques. These are generally for items donated to the parks. Over the years, a few requests have been made to Public Works, such as for bells on El Camino Real (which is not under the City’s jurisdiction). Our standard procedure, based on current policy, has been to not place plaques on smaller donations such as park benches or trees.

Staff identified the following issues related to the display of commemorative plaques on smaller donations:

Installation Costs
What is the cost of designing, producing and installing a commemorative plaque? Who will bear the cost?

Maintenance Costs
Who will maintain the plaque and how much staff time and resources will be required? What happens if the donated item is no longer of use (a park bench moved due to new construction, etc.)? Would the City replace the donated item and plaque?

Repair Costs
What happens if the plaque is damaged (accident, graffiti, etc.)? Who will inspect, and how frequently? Where will the funds to repair it come from?

Replacement Costs
What if the plaque or donated item is stolen or damaged beyond repair (a tree that has died or needs to be removed for some reason)?

Community Aesthetic Costs
Does the community want plaques potentially all over City property? What standards should be used for the plaque (size, content, etc.)?

City of Cupertino
The City of Cupertino does not have a formal written policy regarding the display of commemorative plaques on public property.

The standard operating procedure is to discourage commemorative plaque displays on all tangible public property.

Requests for the display of commemorative plaques on public property are screened on a "case by case basis."

City of Mountain View
The City of Mountain View is in the process of reviewing its policy.

Current Policy is:

The gift donation is not contingent upon the installation of a recognition plaque, marker, etc.

The City shall approve the design and placement of material gifts so that they are complimentary to their surroundings.

Installation costs of a donated item shall be the responsibility of the donating party unless otherwise agreed to by the City prior to its acceptance.

Once the City accepts a donated item, all maintenance and upkeep costs of the item shall be the responsibility of the City.

The City discourages use of plaques in recognition of donations. However a "Recognition Route" is established for those individuals or groups that feel display of a plaque is necessary to commemorate the donation.

City of Palo Alto
The City of Palo Alto does not have a formal policy regarding the display of commemorative plaques on public property. However, the standard operating procedure is that the City Manager, in consultation with the recipient department director, shall determine if the gift warrants a public announcement and in what manner it shall be made.

City of San Jose
The City of San Jose does not have a formal policy regarding the display of commemorative plaques on donated public property. However they do have a standard operating procedure, which was recently changed.

The City has stopped accepting physical tangible donations, other than buildings. They found that the administrative and maintenance costs exceeded the gained benefits of accepting park benches, trees, etc., as well as the "headaches of administration." As of March 20, 2000, the City of San Jose now refers all tangible donations to the appropriate non-profit agencies such as "Our City Forests" for all tree donations.

With the creation of this new procedure, the City does not accept responsibility for the maintenance or repair of donated public property. Rather, it is the specified non-profit agency’s responsibility for maintenance and up-keep.

City of Santa Clara
The City of Santa Clara does not have a formal policy on the display of commemorative plaques on donated public property. Currently, the Director of Parks and Recreation screens all plaque requests and determines which are appropriate for review by the Citizens’ Advisory Committee. The Citizens’ Advisory Committee reviews all forwarded requests and makes a recommendation to the City Council.

Enterprise Funds
Staff recognizes the unique demands associated with Enterprise Fund programs. Enterprise programs such as SCI³ need the ability to attract and recognize supporters. The current plaque policy inhibits this because it does not provide a clear mechanism or threshold for recognizing donations. While recognition is currently possible through public statements, press releases, certificates of appreciation, etc. staff recommends any changes in policy provide more flexibility to allow Enterprise programs to publicly and permanently recognize donations. This includes recognition of donations other than physical items. For example, it is possible a firm or organization might make large cash donations and/or give significant items to the collection. There should be a mechanism to appropriately recognize these as well. This could be done through a commemorative plaque on a wall of the library listing donors, or some other recognition.

Donation Policy
The City has a Donations Policy and Procedures in the Administrative Policy Manual. This policy establishes the procedures for the acceptance of donations to the City and specific City departments. Under existing policy, the City Manager will accept or reject offers of donations of money, equipment, and in-kind contributions or sponsorships to City Departments or the City in general up to $35,000. This policy also outlines the procedures for accounting for all donations. For any monetary, equipment, or in-kind contributions or sponsorships with values over $35,000, a Report to Council will be written outlining the purpose of each donation and the advantages and disadvantages of accepting the gift (see Attachment C for Donation Policy and Procedures).

Any new or revised Plaque policy would be consistent with the procedures for donations as outlined in the Donation Policy, but the policy will need to be updated to reflect any Council action on recognition of donations.

Options
A team of staff representatives from the Office of the City Manager, Parks and Recreation, Library, and Public Works met to discuss this issue and developed several options. There are a number of alternatives that the City could employ. Staff has narrowed them to the following general options with the stated (but not exhaustive) advantages and disadvantages:

1. Maintain the existing Council Policy in which plaque requests on donated public property are handled on a case by case basis using only the criteria of "significant donation."

Pro:
City’s has flexibility in the interpretation of a "significant donation"

Cons:
Appearance of disparate treatment without a clear policy or standard operating procedure

2. Change Council policy so that the City does not put plaques on donated public property, or recognize monetary contributions to purchase items.

Pros:
Removes City fiduciary responsibility in the administration of plaque requests, installation, maintenance and repair of donated public properties

Cons:
May discourage the donation of public property that could be used to enhance the City

3. Modify existing policy to define "significant donation" and provide clarity for the recognition of donated property or other items.

Pros:
Does not discourage donations, yet establishes a standard operating procedure / policy for the recognition of gifts

Cons:
Limits staff and Council’s flexibility in determining plaque requests on donated public property

Under this option, staff would suggest the policy establish a tiered approach to recognizing monetary or physical donations. Staff recommends recognition of donations based on the value of the donation:

Based on input from the Library Board, staff recommends exempting the Library’s bookplate program and also suggests that Council have the discretion to give additional appropriate recognition for extraordinarily large or serial donations. Staff would also recommend a periodic review of this policy to ensure it is working and the recognition levels remain appropriate.

For those donations qualifying for plaques, staff would present a report to the Council suggesting the size, placement and wording of any commemorative plaque, with input from the relevant board or commission. The donor would be consulted as part of the staff recommendation. It is possible that something other than a simple plaque, such as a donor wall, could be an appropriate recognition. If the item donated does not fall within the jurisdiction of a board or commission, staff would make a recommendation straight to the Council. The City Council has the final authority on all plaques or permanent recognition on public property.

The cost for designing, producing, installing and maintaining the plaque would be the responsibility of the beneficiary department. If the plaque were for a item that is no longer in use, the department would not be responsible for replacing or maintaining a plaque past the useful life of the item.

A draft of the proposed revision of policy is Attachment D.

FISCAL IMPACT
The fiscal impact of this Council policy recommendation is expected to have some minimal administrative costs of implementation. This is likely to be at least partially offset by the increased value to the community from donated items.

PUBLIC CONTACT
In addition to the standard public contact of publication of the agenda and the report being available in the Library and on the Internet, the following steps were taken:

• Notice to Neighborhood Associations (See Attachment E for sample letter)
• Reviewed by the Library Board May 1, 2000
• Reviewed by the Parks and Recreation Commission May 10, 2000

The Library Board unanimously endorsed adopting the staff recommendation with the following additions:

• Exempt the library’s program in which bookplates are inserted into books donated in honor or memory of people in the community.
• Major fundraising campaigns to support items such as a new public building or a service offered in a public building may warrant special recognition for a whole body of donors such as a donor wall.
• For extraordinarily large or serial donations, additional appropriate recognition may be given at the discretion of the City Council.

The Parks and Recreation Commission unanimously endorsed the staff recommendation.

1. Maintain the existing Council Policy in which plaque requests on donated public property are handled on a case by case basis.

2. Change Council policy so that the City does not put plaques on donated public property, or recognize monetary contributions to purchase items.

Staff recommends Alternative 3, modify existing policy to define "significant donation" and provide clarity for the recognition of donations through a tiered approach to recognition as outlined in this report.

Prepared by:

Bryan Pennington
Graduate Intern

Daniel Rich
Assistant to the City Manager

Reviewed by:

Amy Chan
Assistant City Manager

Approved by:

Robert S. LaSala
City Manager