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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Statement 1987/01/13 Item 5a,b,c COUNCIL AGENDA STATEMENT Item 5 a, b, C Meeting Date 1-13-87 ITEM TITLE A. Resolution No. /.2g79 - Adopting City Council Legislative Policy B. Resolution No. 426" - Adopting 1987 Legislative Program C. Resolution No./age/ - Approving the Purchase of CITYLINK and Appropriating Funds Therefor SUBMITTED BY Deputy City Manager (, 1 REVIEWED BY City Manage 4/5 Vote: Yes x No During the past year, the City Council has taken an active role in communicating its position regarding the impact of State and Federal legislative proposals, and/or administrative regulations, on the City. In response to this activity, and in an effort to assist the City Council and staff in being better prepared to respond to future legislative and administrative proposals, staff has prepared the attached legislative policy which sets forth guidelines for reviewing and establishing a City position related to all legislative and administrative matters affecting the City (see Attachment 1) . Also included in this report is the proposed 1987 Legislative Program which outlines general legislative areas the City will monitor during the coming legislative year. Finally, this report discusses the benefits of CITYLINK, an automated legislative information network service, which is being proposed to assist staff in tracking the status and potential impact of new legislation. RECOMMENDATION: That the City Council : 1. Adopt the Council Legislative Policy as proposed. 2. Adopt the 1987 Legislative Program as proposed. 3. Appropriate the necessary funds for purchase of CITYLINK, a computerized legislative network service. BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS RECOMMENDATION: This report has been reviewed by the Legislative Committee and reflects their comments. (The City's legislative advocate in Sacramento has also reviewed and provided input for this report) . DISCUSSION For a number of years, the City Council has used the Legislative Committee to evaluate and establish positions regarding proposed legislative and/or administrative regulations. This Committee, comprised of the City Manager, City Attorney and a member of the City Council, and staffed by the City Manager's Office, reviews proposed legislation anticipated to have an impact on the City and makes recommendations to the full City Council for adoption of a formal position. During the past year, this Committee and the Council have been very active. In 1986 the City Council reviewed and/or took official action on 66 State and 6 Federal legislative proposals. (This does not include administrative regulations proposed by Federal, State and/or local agencies which were reviewed and acted upon but not included as part of the ongoing legislative status report. ) .. ......................... Page 2 , Item 5a, b, C Meeting Date 1-13-87 Staff activity increased in a corresponding manner to meet the City Council 's legislative interests including: Review of League Publications. Staff regularly reviewed publications from the League of California Cities as well as other publications to determine the potential impact of new legislation on the City Contact with the City's Legislative Advocate(s) . Regular contact with the City's legislative advocates to discuss the status of legislative items being monitored by the City. Legislative Position Papers. Regular reports were submitted to the Legislative Committee and City Council outlining new and/or amended legislation/administrative regulations and their potential impact on the City Legislative Follow Up. Follow up letters to the appropriate legislator(s) , legislative committee(s) or agency outlining the City's position on new/amended legislation were prepared and distributed to reflect the City Council 's position. League Contact. Regular contact was made with the League of California Cities staff to determine if the City's position was reflective of California cities in general. Legislative Information System. Staff developed a legislative information system to provide the City Council with regular status reports on legislative activities. (Currently the system is prepared on the City's word processing system, however, it is expected to be on line effective the first quarter in 1987) . The City Council is provided regular status reports from January of each year(the beginning of the new legislative session) through October which ends the legislative year. Bills are tracked for two-years which reflects the State's Legislative cycle. Given this increased level of staff and Council activity, a more formal legislative policy is desired to provide better Council direction regarding the City's legislative program and ensure more effective use of staff time and resources. I. LEGISLATIVE POLICY The proposed Legislative Policy prepared by Iracsema Olivo, Administrative Aide, formalizes the legislative practices that have been in existence for the past several years. Specifically, the Policy establishes procedures for City sponsorship of legislation and/or administrative regulations, which the City seeks to have introduced, and review of legislation and/or administrative regulations introduced by others that may have an impact on the City or its interests. The following highlights the more significant components of the proposed policy. Page 3 , Item 5 a, b, c Meeting Date 1-13-87 Legislative Program The proposed Legislative Policy requires that a Legislative Program, outlining legislative positions to be taken by the City Council/Redevelopment Agency on a broad range of topics, be submitted to Council for approval by the third Council meeting in December of each year. (Items related to the State budgetary process will be submitted to Council on or before the first Council meeting in June. The State begins its budgetary process one year in advance of the pending fiscal year. ) The Program will include: • Sponsorship of proposals the City would like enacted. • Sponsorship or opposition to legislative matters sponsored by others • Administrative actions that the City seeks at various levels. Once the program is approved, the Legislative Committee, assisted by the City Manager's staff, will be responsible for reviewing proposed legislative and administrative actions for consistency with the Legislative Program. An important element of the proposed policy is that it authorizes staff, after concurrence by the Legislative Committee, to automatically take action on legislative/administrative items consistent with of the City's legislative program. Because of conflicts in scheduling between City Council meetings and Committee hearings in the Legislature, this will ensure timely response to pending legislative items which the City Council has not yet specifically reviewed but has already taken a position on as a result of prior action. This will be discussed in greater detail under Section 2 of this report regarding the proposed 1987 Legislative Program. Legislative Hearings The City Manager's staff shall keep the Legislative Committee and the City Council apprised of hearings on matters affecting the interest of the City. The City Council shall take appropriate action regarding City representation at those hearings. Legislative Advocates and Special Representatives Legislative advocates and/or special representatives shall be appointed by the City Council, as necessary, to ensure appropriate representation of the City before Federal, State, regional and/or local entities or organizations which may impact the City. Representation by Elected Officials and City Staff The proposed policy requires that testimony by elected officials and/or City staff be consistent with the formal adopted City Council position. If such testimony is contrary to the official City position, the proposed policy requires the official/staff member to state that the communication is contrary to the adopted City position. This section is included in the proposed policy to cover those situations where Council is split on a particular issue and Councilmembers on the minority side wish to express their dissenting opinion. Page 4 , Item 5a, b, c Meeting Date 1-13-87 Participation on Interagency Policy and Technical Committees In addition to formalizing parameters for the City Council 's internal legislative process, the proposed policy requires that Councilmembers serving on interagency policy and technical committees, such as SANDAG or the League of California Cities, coordinate actions on legislative/administrative issues with the City Council and the Legislative Committee. The intent of this section is to try to achieve regional consistency with regard to the impact of legislative/administrative actions imposed on the City. SUMMARY The proposed Legislative Policy, if adopted by the City Council, will formalize current legislative practices and ensure more timely input into the legislative process by the City Council. At the same time, the proposed policy expands staff's authority with regard to follow up and/or action on proposed legislative/administrative items which are new but on which the City Council has already taken a similar position. Overall, the proposed policy will enhance the City staff's ability to positively respond to the increased legislative activity within the City. II. PROPOSED 1987 LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM The proposed 1987 Legislative Program for Chula Vista divides the City's legislative concerns into the following categories: 1. Bayfront/Redevelopment 2. Environmental Protection 3. Fiscal Support/Home Rule 4. General Government 5. Housing and Community Development 6. Land Use Planning 7. Public Employer-Employee Relations 8. Public Liability 9. Public Safety 10. Transportation These categories are not included in the proposed Legislative Policy as it is anticipated that the components of the Legislative Program will not be static in nature but will change to meet the current needs and goals of the City. Development and input for the program was consistent with the proposed policy including review and recommendations by departments and the Legislative Committee, respectively. Input for this program was also received from the City's legislative advocate in Sacramento as well as the League of California Cities staff. Specific detail was not available with regard to bill numbers and authors, therefore, the proposed Legislative Program deals with categories of legislation on which City staff believes the Council should take action. Page 5 , Item 5a,b,c Meeting Date 1-13-87 Highlights of the proposed program include the following: 1 . Support coordination of Federal Coastal Zone Management Act regulations and the State Coastal Zone Act. 2. Support of efforts to retain maximum flexibility in the administration of Article XIIIB (The Gann Initiative) . 3. Opposition of efforts to control tax increments in redevelopment projects. 4. Support of efforts to fund facilities to capture and treat the flow of raw sewage entering San Diego from Tijuana. 5. Support of efforts to change the legal principal of 'Joint and Several Liability" to protect the City against deep pocket liability. 6. Support of efforts to fund school facility construction programs. In the past, the City Council took official action on each new legislative item reviewed by the Legislative Committee. Through the adoption of the 1987 Legislative Program, this practice would change. It is intended that staff, after approval by the Legislative Committee, will be authorized to respond directly regarding legislative/administrative items included in the Legislative Program. In practice, this will entail preparation of the appropriate letter for the Mayor's signature with copies to the City Council. (The City Council will receive copies of all letters of support and opposition sent out in this fashion. ) New legislative proposals not covered by the Legislative Program will continue to be forwarded to Council for approval . These actions should streamline the City's legislative process and make it much more responsive to legislative activities in Sacramento and Washington. A complete listing of items proposed for inclusion in the 1987 Legislative Program is shown in Attachment 2. III. AUTOMATED LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION SERVICES Because of the increased level of legislative activity described earlier in this report, staff has evaluated various automated legislative information systems that would make more efficient use of staff resources and provide immediate, up to date information on new legislation and/or recent changes to pending legislation. In conducting this research, staff reviewed LINO, LEGTECH and CITYLINK. Of these systems, only CITYLINK and LEGTECH, offered an automated information system which was geared specifically to the interests of California cities and only CITYLINK, offered by the League of California Cities, provides all aspects of the data used by staff in its legislative analysis. LINC concentrated more on the needs of County agencies and LEGTECH was more of a general legislative service and provided no access to League services. Page 6 , Item 5a,b,c Meeting Date 1-13-87 CITYLINK CITYLINK provides a broad range of legislative services including: The full text of all State bills. Screening of all bills by author, subject and code section. Daily calendars of hearings and committees. Status reports including amendments and voting records. CITYLINK will also, within the next year, have the capability of providing legal opinions on newly proposed legislation. CITYLINK is a network system that provides telecommunications access to the League of California Cities and other subscribers and allows the transmission of documents, memos and reports to network members. This type of system would have been invaluable in "tracking" the 72 legislative items acted upon by the City Council in 1986. Some of the specific advantages that staff would realize through CITYLINK are the following: 1. Access to League Legislative Bulletin. CITYLINK would enable staff to have immediate access to the League's Legislative Bulletin effective the same day of its production. Currently the Bulletin is mailed out on Friday and received the following Monday or Tuesday. By this time, Committee action on a bill may already have taken place. Computer access would maximize the amount of time available to staff for analyzing and submitting newly proposed and/or amended legislation to the Legislative Committee and City Council for action. 2. Immediate access to new legislative text. Immediate access to new legislative text is provided daily by CITYLINK. This will eliminate lost time caused by waiting for the text to be delivered by mail for further distribution to Council. The City will continue to receive "hard copies" of the Bulletin as well as having the ability to print copies via computer access. 3. Monthly Status Report Assistance. Staff time for updating the monthly status report will be reduced as a single source can be accessed for this update rather than the previously required multiple long distance calls to various legislators and the League to determine the current status of legislation. The multiple phone calls were necessary as League staff often were unavailable or did not have current legislative information available in a manner that was consistent with the timing of this report to the Council. 4. Hearing Dates - CITYLINK will also provide staff with access to legislative committee hearing dates and allow more timely access to committee members with regard to explaining the impact of pending legislation on the City of Chula Vista. Page 7 , Item 5a,b,c Meeting Date 1-13-87 An added benefit to CITYLINK is that it can also provide staff with the voting records of legislators and assist staff in determining the responsiveness of local legislators on issues that impact the City. The League has compiled such a report on 27 major bills that were top priorities to the League. (See Attachment 3) . Using a similar format with CITYLINK, staff could compile its own report specifically illustrating local legislator's votes on bills which were a top priority to the City of Chula Vista. Speed, accuracy, daily updates and efficient use of staff resources represent the four key benefits that can be provided by CITYLINK. CITYLINK will only complement existing resources that the City has available to it through the use of a Legislative Committee, City staff and legislative advocates in Sacramento and Washington. CITYLINK will further enhance the City's ability to successfully lobby and participate in the legislative process. CITYLINK Costs The first year costs for CITYLINK are estimated at approximately $2,890, including set up fees, training for 2 staff, the purchase of a phone modem and taxes. Ongoing costs for the system are estimated at $1,890 per year. Purchase of the CITYLINK system includes 48 hours of on-line time per year with additional time available at a cost to the City of approximately $35 per hour. Because of the limited experience with this program, staff is uncertain whether additional on-line time will be required during the course of the legislative year. This issue will be addressed as part of the FY 87-88 budget process, as necessary. Although staff believes that CITYLINK will provide a number of efficiencies and cost savings regarding its legislative program, it recognizes that these are soft dollar savings offset by the cost of the CITYLINK program. Nonetheless, staff believes that the purchase of CITYLINK will provide an effective administrative tool necessary to stay current with an increasingly active legislative program. FISCAL IMPACT Appropriate $2,890 from the unappropriated balance of the General Fund for purchase of CITYLINK. all3golf/c by tho City Cot_ roil of Chuda Vista, Cati:`ornia Dated /X3"'7 COUNCIL AGENDA STATEMENT Item 5 a, b, c Meeting Date 1-13-87 ITEM TITLE A. Resolution No. /de?? - Adopting City Council Legislative Policy B. Resolution No./oat - Adopting 1987 Legislative Program C. Resolution No. /,l ef/ - Approving the Purchase of CITYLINK and Appropriating Funds Therefor SUBMITTED BY Deputy City Manager '- REVIEWED BY City Manage 4/5 Vote: Yes x No During the past year, the City Council has taken an active role in communicating its position regarding the impact of State and Federal legislative proposals, and/or administrative regulations, on the City. In response to this activity, and in an effort to assist the City Council and staff in being better prepared to respond to future legislative and administrative proposals, staff has prepared the attached legislative policy which sets forth guidelines for reviewing and establishing a City position related to all legislative and administrative matters affecting the City (see Attachment 1) . Also included in this report is the proposed 1987 Legislative Program which outlines general legislative areas the City will monitor during the coming legislative year. Finally, this report discusses the benefits of CITYLINK, an automated legislative information network service, which is being proposed to assist staff in tracking the status and potential impact of new legislation. RECOMMENDATION: That the City Council : 1. Adopt the Council Legislative Policy as proposed. 2. Adopt the 1987 Legislative Program as proposed. 3. Appropriate the necessary funds for purchase of CITYLINK, a computerized legislative network service. BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS RECOMMENDATION: This report has been reviewed by the Legislative Committee and reflects their comments. (The City's legislative advocate in Sacramento has also reviewed and provided input for this report) . DISCUSSION For a number of years, the City Council has used the Legislative Committee to evaluate and establish positions regarding proposed legislative and/or administrative regulations. This Committee, comprised of the City Manager, City Attorney and a member of the City Council, and staffed by the City Manager's Office, reviews proposed legislation anticipated to have an impact on the City and makes recommendations to the full City Council for adoption of a formal position. During the past year, this Committee and the Council have been very active. In 1986 the City Council reviewed and/or took official action on 66 State and 6 Federal legislative proposals. (This does not include administrative regulations proposed by Federal, State and/or local agencies which were reviewed and acted upon but not included as part of the ongoin legislative status report. ) Page 2 , Item 5a, b, C Meeting Date 1-13-87 Staff activity increased in a corresponding manner to meet the City Council 's legislative interests including: Review of League Publications. Staff regularly reviewed publications from the League of California Cities as well as other publications to determine the potential impact of new legislation on the City • Contact with the City's Legislative Advocate(s) . Regular contact with the City's legislative advocates to discuss the status of legislative items being monitored by the City. • Legislative Position Papers. Regular reports were submitted to the Legislative Committee and City Council outlining new and/or amended legislation/administrative regulations and their potential impact on the City Legislative Follow Up. Follow up letters to the appropriate legislator(s) , legislative committee(s) or agency outlining the City's position on new/amended legislation were prepared and distributed to reflect the City Council 's position. League Contact. Regular contact was made with the League of California Cities staff to determine if the City's position was reflective of California cities in general. Legislative Information System. Staff developed a legislative information system to provide the City Council with regular status reports on legislative activities. (Currently the system is prepared on the City's word processing system, however, it is expected to be on line effective the first quarter in 1987) . The City Council is provided regular status reports from January of each year(the beginning of the new legislative session) through October which ends the legislative year. Bills are tracked for two-years which reflects the State's Legislative cycle. Given this increased level of staff and Council activity, a more formal legislative policy is desired to provide better Council direction regarding the City's legislative program and ensure more effective use of staff time and resources. I. LEGISLATIVE POLICY The proposed Legislative Policy prepared by Iracsema Olivo, Administrative Aide, formalizes the legislative practices that have been in existence for the past several years. Specifically, the Policy establishes procedures for City sponsorship of legislation and/or administrative regulations, which the City seeks to have introduced, and review of legislation and/or administrative regulations introduced by others that may have an impact on the City or its interests. The following highlights the more significant components of the proposed policy. Page 3 , Item 5 a, b, c Meeting Date 1-13-87 Legislative Program The proposed Legislative Policy requires that a Legislative Program, outlining legislative positions to be taken by the City Council/Redevelopment Agency on a broad range of topics, be submitted to Council for approval by the third Council meeting in December of each year. (Items related to the State budgetary process will be submitted to Council on or before the first Council meeting in June. The State begins its budgetary process one year in advance of the pending fiscal year. ) The Program will include: ▪ Sponsorship of proposals the City would like enacted. Sponsorship or opposition to legislative matters sponsored by others • Administrative actions that the City seeks at various levels. Once the program is approved, the Legislative Committee, assisted by the City Manager's staff, will be responsible for reviewing proposed legislative and administrative actions for consistency with the Legislative Program. An important element of the proposed policy is that it authorizes staff, after concurrence by the Legislative Committee, to automatically take action on legislative/administrative items consistent with of the City's legislative program. Because of conflicts in scheduling between City Council meetings and Committee hearings in the Legislature, this will ensure timely response to pending legislative items which the City Council has not yet specifically reviewed but has already taken a position on as a result of prior action. This will be discussed in greater detail under Section 2 of this report regarding the proposed 1987 Legislative Program. Legislative Hearings The City Manager's staff shall keep the Legislative Committee and the City Council apprised of hearings on matters affecting the interest of the City. The City Council shall take appropriate action regarding City representation at those hearings. Legislative Advocates and Special Representatives Legislative advocates and/or special representatives shall be appointed by the City Council, as necessary, to ensure appropriate representation of the City before Federal, State, regional and/or local entities or organizations which may impact the City. Representation by Elected Officials and City Staff The proposed policy requires that testimony by elected officials and/or City staff be consistent with the formal adopted City Council position. If such testimony is contrary to the official City position, the proposed policy requires the official/staff member to state that the communication is contrary to the adopted City position. This section is included in the proposed policy to cover those situations where Council is split on a particular issue and Councilmembers on the minority side wish to express their dissenting opinion. • Page 4 , Item 5a, b, C ' Meeting Date 1-13-87 Participation on Interagency Policy and Technical Committees In addition to formalizing parameters for the City Council 's internal legislative process, the proposed policy requires that Councilmembers serving on interagency policy and technical committees, such as SANDAG or the League of California Cities, coordinate actions on legislative/administrative issues with the City Council and the Legislative Committee. The intent of this section is to try to achieve regional consistency with regard to the impact of legislative/administrative actions imposed on the City. SUMMARY The proposed Legislative Policy, if adopted by the City Council, will formalize current legislative practices and ensure more timely input into the legislative process by the City Council. At the same time, the proposed policy expands staff's authority with regard to follow up and/or action on proposed legislative/administrative items which are new but on which the City Council has already taken a similar position. Overall, the proposed policy will enhance the City staff's ability to positively respond to the increased legislative activity within the City. II. PROPOSED 1987 LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM The proposed 1987 Legislative Program for Chula Vista divides the City's legislative concerns into the following categories: 1. Bayfront/Redevelopment 2. Environmental Protection 3. Fiscal Support/Home Rule 4. General Government 5. Housing and Community Development 6. Land Use Planning 7. Public Employer-Employee Relations 8. Public Liability 9. Public Safety 10. Transportation These categories are not included in the proposed Legislative Policy as it is anticipated that the components of the Legislative Program will not be static in nature but will change to meet the current needs and goals of the City. Development and input for the program was consistent with the proposed policy including review and recommendations by departments and the Legislative Committee, respectively. Input for this program was also received from the City's legislative advocate in Sacramento as well as the League of California Cities staff. Specific detail was not available with regard to bill numbers and authors, therefore, the proposed Legislative Program deals with categories of legislation on which City staff believes the Council should take action. 3 Page 5 , Item 5a,b,c Meeting Date 1-13-87 Highlights of the proposed program include the following: 1. Support coordination of Federal Coastal Zone Management Act regulations and the State Coastal Zone Act. 2. Support of efforts to retain maximum flexibility in the administration of Article XIIIB (The Gann Initiative) . 3. Opposition of efforts to control tax increments in redevelopment projects. 4. Support of efforts to fund facilities to capture and treat the flow of raw sewage entering San Diego from Tijuana. 5. Support of efforts to change the legal principal of "Joint and Several Liability" to protect the City against deep pocket liability. 6. Support of efforts to fund school facility construction programs. In the past, the City Council took official action on each new legislative item reviewed by the Legislative Committee. Through the adoption of the 1987 Legislative Program, this practice would change. It is intended that staff, after approval by the Legislative Committee, will be authorized to respond directly regarding legislative/administrative items included in the Legislative Program. In practice, this will entail preparation of the appropriate letter for the Mayor's signature with copies to the City Council. (The City Council will receive copies of all letters of support and opposition sent out in this fashion. ) New legislative proposals not covered by the Legislative Program will continue to be forwarded to Council for approval. These actions should streamline the City's legislative process and make it much more responsive to legislative activities in Sacramento and Washington. A complete listing of items proposed for inclusion in the 1987 Legislative Program is shown in Attachment 2. III. AUTOMATED LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION SERVICES Because of the increased level of legislative activity described earlier in this report, staff has evaluated various automated legislative information systems that would make more efficient use of staff resources and provide immediate, up to date information on new legislation and/or recent changes to pending legislation. In conducting this research, staff reviewed LINC, LEGTECH and CITYLINK. Of these systems, only CITYLINK and LEGTECH, offered an automated information system which was geared specifically to the interests of California cities and only CITYLINK, offered by the League of California Cities, provides all aspects of the data used by staff in its legislative analysis. LINC concentrated more on the needs of County agencies and LEGTECH was more of a general legislative service and provided no access to League services. Page 6 , Item 5a,b,c Meeting Date 1-13-87 CITYLINK CITYLINK provides a broad range of legislative services including: The full text of all State bills. Screening of all bills by author, subject and code section. Daily calendars of hearings and committees. Status reports including amendments and voting records. CITYLINK will also, within the next year, have the capability of providing legal opinions on newly proposed legislation. CITYLINK is a network system that provides telecommunications access to the League of California Cities and other subscribers and allows the transmission of documents, memos and reports to network members. This type of system would have been invaluable in "tracking" the 72 legislative items acted upon by the City Council in 1986. Some of the specific advantages that staff would realize through CITYLINK are the following: 1 . Access to League Legislative Bulletin. CITYLINK would enable staff to have immediate access to the League's Legislative Bulletin effective the same day of its production. Currently the Bulletin is mailed out on Friday and received the following Monday or Tuesday. By this time, Committee action on a bill may already have taken place. Computer access would maximize the amount of time available to staff for analyzing and submitting newly proposed and/or amended legislation to the Legislative Committee and City Council for action. 2. Immediate access to new legislative text. Immediate access to new legislative text is provided daily by CITYLINK. This will eliminate lost time caused by waiting for the text to be delivered by mail for further distribution to Council. The City will continue to receive "hard copies" of the Bulletin as well as having the ability to print copies via computer access. 3. Monthly Status Report Assistance. Staff time for updating the monthly status report will be reduced as a single source can be accessed for this update rather than the previously required multiple long distance calls to various legislators and the League to determine the current status of legislation. The multiple phone calls were necessary as League staff often were unavailable or did not have current legislative information available in a manner that was consistent with the timing of this report to the Council. 4. Hearing Dates - CITYLINK will also provide staff with access to legislative committee hearing dates and allow more timely access to committee members with regard to explaining the impact of pending legislation on the City of Chula Vista. Page 7 , Item 5a,b,c Meeting Date 1-13-87 An added benefit to CITYLINK is that it can also provide staff with the voting records of legislators and assist staff in determining the responsiveness of local legislators on issues that impact the City. The League has compiled such a report on 27 major bills that were top priorities to the League. (See Attachment 3) . Using a similar format with CITYLINK, staff could compile its own report specifically illustrating local legislator's votes on bills which were a top priority to the City of Chula Vista. Speed, accuracy, daily updates and efficient use of staff resources represent the four key benefits that can be provided by CITYLINK. CITYLINK will only complement existing resources that the City has available to it through the use of a Legislative Committee, City staff and legislative advocates in Sacramento and Washington. CITYLINK will further enhance the City's ability to successfully lobby and participate in the legislative process. CITYLINK Costs The first year costs for CITYLINK are estimated at approximately $2,890, including set up fees, training for 2 staff, the purchase of a phone modem and taxes. Ongoing costs for the system are estimated at $1,890 per year. Purchase of the CITYLINK system includes 48 hours of on-line time per year with additional time available at a cost to the City of approximately $35 per hour. Because of the limited experience with this program, staff is uncertain whether additional on-line time will be required during the course of the legislative year. This issue will be addressed as part of the FY 87-88 budget process, as necessary. Although staff believes that CITYLINK will provide a number of efficiencies and cost savings regarding its legislative program, it recognizes that these are soft dollar savings offset by the cost of the CITYLINK program. Nonetheless, staff believes that the purchase of CITYLINK will provide an effective administrative tool necessary to stay current with an increasingly active legislative program. FISCAL IMPACT Appropriate $2,890 from the unappropriated balance of the General Fund for purchase of CITYLINK. all 3gol f/c by ncil of. Chula the VistaCity,,Cou California Dated )