HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/07/2010 04B Minutes 08-28-2010 Council Rules and Procedures Committee 0 Yakima City Council Committee:Meeting.Minutes
RULES AND PROCEDURES COMMITTEE
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Mayor's Office - City Hall
Committee Members Present Staff Present
Micah Cawley Chair Michael Morales, CED Director
Kathy Coffey Randy Beehler, Comm. Relations Manager
Dave Ettl Debbie Kloster, City Clerk
The meeting convened at 10:03 am
Agenda
1. Potential modification of the Council business meeting agenda regarding
placement of Audience Participation and response to citizens
Mayor Cawley suggested that the Council may want to consider adjusting its
business meeting agenda in order to provide appropriate opportunity for Audience
Participation while not unduly affecting the flow and length of meetings. Mayor
Cawley said that one alternative would be to move Audience Participation to the end
of business meetings just before Other Business. The committee discussed another
option which would involve setting aside a specific period of time for Audience
Participation without adjusting the current order of the Council business meeting
agenda. If Audience Participation was not concluded within the designated time
period, it could be resumed later in the meeting. Committee members agreed that
the current business meeting agenda order should remain as is, but that
establishing a designated 15- minute time period for Audience Participation with an
option to continue Audience Participation after business items are concluded should
be considered.
CED Director Morales also suggested that the Council amend the current practice of
requiring a staff response within 2 weeks to Citizen Service Requests made during
Audience Participation. Morales said that many citizen concerns raised during
Audience Participation would typically be addressed through normal City
procedures, but are given precedence simply because they are presented to the
Council during a business meeting. Morales also said that a 2 -week response
requirement is actually more akin to a 1 -week response requirement given the
existing time frame for preparation of Council business meeting agenda packets.
Committee members agreed that many issues raised by citizens during Audience
Participation would be more appropriately addressed through. normal City
procedures, and for issues that cannot be addressed in that manner, a staff
response within 4 weeks would be more practical.
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Committee Action: The committee agreed by consensus to recommend to the full
Council that its business meeting agenda order remain as is, but that the Council
establish a designated 15- minute time period for Audience Participation with an
option to resume Audience Participation if necessary after business items are
concluded.
The committee also agreed by consensus that issues raised by citizens during
Audience Participation primarily be addressed through normal City procedures if
possible rather than be given precedence simply because they were presented to
the Council during a business meeting. Additionally, the committee agreed to
recommend to the full Council that a staff response to issues raised during Audience
Participation that cannot be addressed through normal City procedures be required
within 4 weeks rather than within the currently established 2 -week time period.
2. Other Business
Mayor Cawley referred to a recent Council discussion regarding the City's annual
lobbying trips to Washington, D.C. during which the City Manager recommended the
Council consider adjusting the time frame for such trips to early February instead of
the traditional mid -March time frame which coincides with the annual National
League of Cities ( "NLC ") conference. During that discussion, the Council decided
not to authorize expenditures for 2011 related to the NLC conference. Since no one
from the City will be attending the 2011 NLC conference, Morales suggested that
City lobbying efforts would still be effective if visits to federal elected officials and
federal agency representatives were to take place in early February, given the
normal appropriations schedule followed by Congress. Mayor Cawley also
reminded the committee that Council Member Ettl was unable to be part of the 2010
Washington, D.C. lobbying trip due to illness, but that a plane ticket that had already
been purchased for him can still be used until March 2011. Mayor Cawley
suggested Council Member Ettl be one of the 2 Council members which the Council
authorized to be included in the 2011 lobbying trip.
Assistant Mayor Coffey also reminded the committee that the City, Manager had
recommended that the Council may consider authorizing a second lobbying trip in
2011, likely in late spring or early summer, given the savings that will be realized
due to no one from the City attending the NLC conference next year. Assistant
Mayor Coffey emphasized the value of such trips in building relationships between
the City, federal elected officials, and federal agency representatives.
Committee Action:. The committee agreed by consensus to recommend to the full
Council that Mayor Cawley and Council member Ettl represent the Council during a
February 2011 lobbying trip to Washington, D.C. and that the Council consider
authorizing a second lobbying trip in late spring or early summer 2011 which would
include 2 Council members (potentially Mayor Cawley and Assistant Mayor Coffey).
The meeting adjourned at 10:27 am
p wit.
Mayor Micah Cawley — Committe6 C air
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