Daly City Municipal Code Ch. 2.58 Small Business Commission

The following definitions shall apply to this chapter:

"Brick-and-mortar establishment" means a building or other structure (including residential structures) that represents the primary place of business for one or multiple active businesses.

"Small business" means a privately-owned corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship with reported annual gross receipts not exceeding one million dollars.

(Ord. No. 1435, § 1, 1-27-2020)

A small business commission is created and shall consist of five members who shall be appointed by the city council and serve at the council's pleasure, none of whom shall hold any paid office or employment in the city government.

(Ord. No. 1435, § 1, 1-27-2020)

Each commission member shall serve for a term of four years. The four-year terms of the commission members shall be staggered. In order to achieve staggered terms, two of the members first appointed to the commission shall be assigned by lot a term for two years and the remaining commission members shall be assigned by lot a term for four years. The members shall not receive any compensation for their attendance of commission meetings, or any other services rendered as a commission member.

Any actual and necessary expenses incurred by a commission member in the performance of their duties on the commission may be reimbursed if funds are available in the budget approved by the city council and the individual expenses are approved by the city manager or designee.

(Ord. No. 1435, § 1, 1-27-2020)

The small business commission shall have the following duties:

A. Advise the city council on all matters affecting the small business community within the city and to advise and assist other city boards and commissions as it pertains to small businesses;

B. Encourage strategies that support the functioning of small businesses in the city;

C. Foster programs that promote and celebrate the small business community;

D. Support the formation of new businesses within the city;

E. Provide local businesses with economic, demographic, and land-use related analytics to eliminate information gaps in the small business community;

F. Create a collaborative environment for local businesses to voice their desires, concerns, and hopes in connection with business ownership/management in the city;

G. Establish an effective liaison between the city, local businesses, and small business groups;

H. Undertake and carry-out all functions reasonably necessary to accomplish the objectives and to discharge the functions of the commission;

I. Exercise such other functions as may be prescribed by the city council.

J. Nominate businesses to the city's legacy business registry and provide advisory recommendations to city council as to whether the business meets the criteria detailed in section 2.58.100.

(Ord. No. 1435, § 1, 1-27-2020; Ord. No. 1464, § 1, 5-8-2023)

Commissioners shall be small business owners with active business licenses in the City of Daly City who have demonstrated a strong commitment to Daly City's small business community through individual ownership and/or management, education, professional experience, or knowledge of a particular field related to small business support mechanisms, business management, or entrepreneurship. At least three of the five commission members must be qualified small business owners with existing brick-and-mortar establishments in the City of Daly City. The remaining two commission members are not required to own/manage a brick-and-mortar establishment within the city, however, they must be small business owners with active business licenses in the City of Daly City. Commission members who were small business owners within the City of Daly City at time of appointment must remain owners of the same business within the city while serving on the small business commission.

Efforts should be made to include commissioners of varied and diverse backgrounds. Commissioners shall commit to volunteering time to serve on the board which meets once every two months, and on an ad hoc basis as needed. In selecting commissioners, city council members shall evaluate whether candidates would be able to effectively and ethically serve, considering any foreseeable conflicts of interest.

(Ord. No. 1435, § 1, 1-27-2020)

The small business commission shall hold a minimum of twelve regular meetings in each calendar year at the city council chambers located in City Hall, 333 90th Street, Daly City, California. The commission shall meet on the second Thursday of every month at seven p.m. of such day. If at any time any regular meeting falls on a holiday, such regular meeting shall be held on the following business day.

Three members of the commission shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. A majority of the quorum shall have the authority to act on any matter regularly coming before the commission. Meetings may be adjourned, or special meetings called in compliance with the provisions of the Ralph M. Brown Act (commencing with Government Code section 54950) or as may hereafter be amended.

(Ord. No. 1435, § 1, 1-27-2020; Ord. No. 1456, § 1, 4-11-2022)

Except as provided in this chapter, the proceedings of the small business commission shall be governed by the latest edition of Robert's Rules of Order on all matters pertaining to parliamentary law, but no ordinance, proceedings or other action of the small business commission shall be invalidated, or the legality thereof otherwise affected by the failure or omission to observe or follow such rules.

(Ord. No. 1435, § 1, 1-27-2020)

Any member of the small business commission may be removed from office upon the approval of such removal by a majority vote of the city council. Any vacancy occurring other than by expiration of a term of office shall be filled by city council appointment for the unexpired portion of the term.

(Ord. No. 1435, § 1, 1-27-2020)

In order to ensure Daly City's definition of small businesses pursuant to this chapter is representative of local economic conditions overtime, the economic and community development department will make annual adjustments to the gross receipts threshold (currently set at one million dollars) that defines small businesses by linking future adjustments to changes in the consumer price index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) for the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, California metropolitan area. Adjustments will be calculated in January of each calendar year.

(Ord. No. 1435, § 1, 1-27-2020)

A. The department of economic and community development shall establish and maintain a Registry of Legacy Businesses in [the] City of Daly City (the "registry"). The purpose of the registry is to recognize and celebrate the longstanding community-serving, and culturally relevant businesses in the city. In addition, the city intends that the registry be a tool for the provision of promotional assistance to legacy businesses to encourage their continued viability and success.

B. For the purposes of this Section 2.58.100, "registry" means a qualified list of legacy businesses that is maintained by the department of economic and community development and provided to the public through the creation of a web page, accessible through the city's website, which may include interactive maps and information on the history and cultural relevance of included businesses.

C. For the purposes of this Section 2.58.100, "Legacy Business" means a business that has been nominated by a member of the small business commission in accordance with subsection (d) below, and that the city council, after a noticed hearing, determines meets each of the following criteria:

1. The business has operated in City of Daly City for ten or more years, with no break in Daly City operations exceeding two years. The business may have operated in more than one location and may have gone through an ownership change.

2. The business has contributed to the history or identity of the neighborhood or community within which it is located.

3. The business is committed to maintaining the physical features or traditions that define the business, including craft, culinary, or art forms.

4. The business has no pending complaints with the city associated with its operations.

5. The business has a total of one hundred or fewer employees across all locations.

6. The business reported less than one million dollars in annual gross receipts in its first full year of operating in the city.

Prior to the city council noticed hearing, the department of economic and community development shall request an advisory recommendation from the small business commission, at a regularly scheduled meeting, as to whether the business meets the requirements in this subsection. If the small business commission does not provide an advisory recommendation within sixty days of receipt of the nomination, city council shall treat such nonresponse as an advisory recommendation that the business meets the requirements of this subsection.

If city council confirms and makes all six findings, it shall include the business in the registry as a legacy business.

D. Nominations for the registry shall be limited to a total of ten businesses per year, with each small business commissioner granted up to two annual nominations. If a small business commission seat is vacant at the start of a given nomination year, starting on October 1, the small business commission chair will be granted additional nominations equal to two nominations per each empty small business commission seat. Commissioners must submit nominations by September 30th of each year, with a new year of nominations commencing on October 1 of each year. A nomination is deemed to have been made on the date the department of economic and community development receives a nomination in writing from a member of the small business commission. Nominations received after the close of business on September 30th shall be considered received in the following year. The nominations for any year shall be the first ten received in that year (October 1 through September 30).

(Ord. No. 1464, § 2, 5-8-2023)