HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN CITY MEETINGS
Participating in city government has never been more accessible
In response to the ongoing pandemic, City Council and our Boards and Commissions will continue to meet remotely via zoom. We hope that this makes it safer and easier for all community members to get involved and stay informed.
You can view our meeting schedule, read agendas, and find instructions on how to participate by clicking here to go to the Sunnyvale Legistar calendar page. *NOTE: zoom link is provided in “meeting details”, “meeting location”, and on the agenda.
All public meetings are livestreamed on YouTube and are available to view at any time. Subscribe to be notified of future meetings right in your YouTube feed. Click here to go to the Sunnyvale City Clerk’s YouTube Channel.
You can send an email to City Council or any city department by clicking on this link to our Access Sunnyvale contact page. If you have a specific service request, the best way to get it addressed is to click this link to our Access Sunnyvale service request page.
It is a little known fact that you can add the Sunnyvale calendar with all of our public meetings directly to your google calendar or iCal, where it will continually update as we schedule new meetings! This can be very helpful. Click this link for directions on how to do this.
But how does all of this work?
Most of us aren’t taught how local government works in school. Information is often a key barrier to democratic participation. The links and resources I have provided here is by no means a comprehensive overview of everything in our city government, but it goes over all the basics you need to get started.
Are you wondering how Sunnyvale’s city government is structured and who is responsible for what? This link takes you to our city governance guide. We also have a quick visual to describe the relationship between different city leaders viewable in this link to our city organizational chart. If you’re looking to see what all of these people are up to, nothing beats clicking around on the city website, linked here.
Most people have at least some familiarity with elections, whether you’re an active voter or hear about political campaigns in the news. But not all cities do elections in the same way. In Sunnyvale, all councilmembers are now elected by their council district rather than all voters in the city. The mayor, however, is elected city wide (also called “at-large”). Vice Mayor unique because it is a rotating position. We do not have a public election to decide who will be Vice Mayor! Each year, only members of city council and the mayor vote to appoint one councilmember to serve as Vice Mayor for a one year term. You can read more about how and when Sunnyvale holds elections by clicking this link.
Boards and commissions may not be as high profile as city council or the mayor, but they are still very important to giving the city guidance on policy. Joining one is also a great way for residents to actively participate in the policymaking process on a wide variety of topics. And please note, we no longer have a citizenship requirement to be appointed to a board or commission. All adults residing in Sunnyvale are welcome to apply. Learn more about our boards and commissions and how they work by clicking this link.
If you have an idea or something to say, speak up! All of our public meetings have time set aside for members of the public to address City Council, board members, or commissioners. The standard time limit is three minutes but can be made shorter when there are many people wishing to speak. Keep this in mind when you’re thinking about what you’d like to say.
Public comments fall into two categories: “Oral communication” and “Item comment”. Oral Communication is where members of the public can speak about any issue not listed on the agenda. This typically takes place at the beginning of the meeting. Item comment is where members of the public speak about an item that is listed on the agenda. Each agenda item has it’s own public comment period, so you must wait for the item to be heard and for the chair of the meeting to open the public comment period before providing your input.
Unfortunately, no one will be able to give you an exact time for when it will be your turn to speak on a specific item. But when it does come up, Indicating you wish to speak is as simple as using the raised hand feature on zoom or pressing *9 on your telephone.
Public speaking makes a lot of people nervous! But I’m happy to tell you that it tends to get easier the more you do it. If you’re interested in giving public comment, the guide in this link has great suggestions for how to structure your comment and pointers on how to get your message across effectively.