HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/11/1991 Adjourned Meeting 2 413
CITY OF YAKIMA, WASHINGTON
. , -, :A'Y -ADJOURNED MEETING • - • , , , . , f,
. JUNE 11, 1991 -
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The City Council met in session on this date at 11:30 -A.M. in the
Conference:Room at the City Legal Office, Yakima, Washington. Mayor Pat
Berndt, ,presiding,, Councilmembers Lynn Buchanan, George , ' Pech and
Bernard :Sims present. , Councilmembers Clarence Barnett, Henry Beauchamp,
and Skip Semon absent and excused. Staff members City Manager Zais
(after 12:10 P.M.), and City Clerk Roberts also present.
1. INFORMAL DISCUSSION REGARDING LEGAL DEPARTMENT OPERATIONS , -
Legal Department staff members were introduced: City Attorney John
Vanek, Assistant City Attorneys Sharon Carberry and Ray Paolella,
Prosecuting.. Attorney Bob Bounds, Susan Woodard (will replace Bob
Bounds upon his - ,retirement), Jeff West, Laurie Boyd, and Legal
Ass: istants p - Linda , Spence, and Debbie Woodcock. Henry Hamilton, III
was introduced as the student legal intern, who will help
with research this summer.
City Attorney Vanek stated he wanted to net with. Council to tell
Council what the Legal Department does and about the complexity of
their tasks.
Bob Bounds described the daily tasks;df t he prosecuting attorneys,
beginning with arraignments in the morning and trials in the
afternoons. No attorneys alternate doing arraignments and trials
or staying in the office. Councilmember Pechtel asked if that is
enough people to do the job? Mr. Bounds stated they will be
impacted by the annexations taking place. Councilmember Sims asked
if a video camera in the police cars would help? Mr. Bounds
responded that it could help in the DWI arrests. Mr. Vanek
commented that a lot of the stops are done at night and it would
not show the lack of motor skills.
City Attorney Vanek talked about the work flow for the attorneys
who handle the civil issues for the City. He gave examples of the
legal research requested by Council and the departments. He
distributed a chart giving information on the major assignments
the attorneys are addressing. The office is understaffed in terms
of legal assistants. He stated he has partially dealt with this by
hiring a summer clerical support person. There are two legal
assistants for a staff of six and the normal ratio is one on one.
His plan is to make Linda Spence an office manager with some
supervisory responsibilities over the other legal assistants.
Councilmember Sims asked how many people have a computer at their
desks? Mr. Vanek stated that only the two clerical people have
computers. He is preparing a report about the use of desktop
computers for the civil attorney staff to do data storage, and
charge capabilities (the state has a data base). City Manager Zais
stated that is included as part of the five year computer update.
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ADJOURNED MEETING - JUNE 11, 1991
Susan Woodard reported'on a system- Used-in Bellevue which could be
adapted to our City's use - for prosecutorial recordkeeping. (The
prosecuting attorneys absent after 1:05
Discussion followed regarding the funding of capital equipment and
staffing requests. Councilmember Pechtel suggested the possibility
of looking at "re- tooling" the City - and delaying-other capitals:
project expenditures for one year. City Manager Zais cautioned
'L ttat this = can't be done all at once; it is too much money. City
'Attorney f`Vanek stated he will' return to Council. in the future' with!
specific requests for his department.
There being no further items for discussion, the meeting adjourned at the
hour of 1:20 • P. M. 1
READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY: / / �
' COUNCIL MEMBER DA
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CO CIL MEMB nD4
ATTEST: •
(- 2,0 - 6 - Vc-L--) C3,ZGt 4AA
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CITY CLERK MAYOR
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