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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/10/2010 Adjourned Meeting - Study Session 304 YAKIMA CITY COUNCIL ADJOURNED MEETING — STUDY SESSION AUGUST 10, 2010 — 8:00 -9:30 A.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS — YAKIMA CITY HALL 1. Roll Call Present: Council: Mayor Micah Cawley, presiding, Assistant Mayor Kathy Coffey, Council Members Maureen Adkison, Dave Edler, Rick Ensey, Dave Ettl and Bill Lover Staff: City Manager Zais, City Attorney Cutter and City Clerk Kloster Guests: Richard Yukubousky, Executive Director of Municipal Research Services Center (MRSC), and Mike McCarty, CEO of Association of Washington Cities (AWC) 2. Mayor - Council / Council- Manager forms of government ' City Manager Zais gave opening statements and introduced Mr. Yukubousky and Mr. McCarty. Mr. Yukubousky described the services MRSC provides and distributed information that compared /contrasted the Mayor /Council and Council /Manager forms of government. By population in this state, about 56% of residents live in cities that are under Mayor /Council and 44% are under Council /Manager. The reason the smaller cities (population of Tess than 15,000) usually have a Mayor /Council form of government is because they do not have the resources to hire a city manager. He spoke to various comparison points of the two forms: Legislative authority — in both forms, it rests with the Council. They are the policy making body, they set direction, adopt the budget, the capital improvement plan, comprehensive plan, etc. Executive authority — Mayor in the Mayor /Council form; the manager in Council /Manager form. Selection of CEO — In the Mayor /Council form, the mayor is popularly elected. In the Council /Manager form, the manager is selected by Council usually through a nationwide search for qualified candidates. In a mayoral election, the person elected may have good political skills but may not have management and administrative skills. Many times a mayor will hire administrative managers to help with that role. They are hired by the mayor not the Council, therefore there is no guarantee they will have a good relationship with the Council. Removal of the CEO - Mayor /Council form requires a recall or delay until next election. In the Council /Manager form the Council may remove the manager at will. 305 AUGUST 10, 2010 STUDY SESSION — FORMS OF GOVERNMENT Tenure of Executive — Mayor /Council is typically a 4 -year term; in Council /Manager it is indefinite, usually based on performance. Other major differences apply to areas such as the appointment of department heads. It varies with the Mayor /Council plan; the mayor makes those appointments but depending on the Charter it may or may not be with Council confirmation. In Council /Manager there is no Council confirmation. The manager is charged with finding the best people available to perform the functions. Another key difference is veto power. Under Mayor /Council, the mayor has veto power. The Council can override with a 2/3 majority vote. With regard to policy development, the mayor can propose and the manager can recommend, but, ultimately, it is a council decision. In both cases, the implementation is by the mayor or the manager. Mike McCarty explained the role of AWC and detailed the services his organization provides, particularly advocating, education and providing cost - effective services, such as the Employee Benefit Trust. He indicated AWC depends of the expertise from both forms of government to accomplish their goals. He described a new "mayor's exchange" service. It grew out of the strong mayor system when they expressed a need for the opportunity to exchange ideas. He commented that, in the manager form it isn't necessary because that is a technical association with a strong training and education program. Underlying Principles The Mayor /Council form is built upon the notion of a separation of powers, derived out of our federal experience, placing a premium on political leadership. The Council /Manager form places a premium on separation of politics and administration and has been in place only about 100 years. It places a premium on professional management with managers that are trained, usually with credentials. MRSC will not recommend one form over another noting that it is a local decision.. He emphasized the need to look at history, tradition, and experience. Are there problems not being addressed and, if so, are they the result of the form of government or something else? Council Comments /Questions (answers given by Mr. Yukubousky) What is the average lifespan of a city manager? Nationwide it is somewhere between 5 -7 years. What about the pool of people being trained for city management? . There are a number of college graduates that expect to pursue city management. As far as I know, when management positions have opened up there were a fair number of applications. Under the strong mayor format, does the second chair administrator have the same educational training as a city manager? It can be but doesn't always work out that way. I've seen mayors appoint highly competent managers with experience as deputy mayors, and have also seen 2 306 AUGUST 10, 2010 STUDY SESSION — FORMS OF GOVERNMENT them appoint managers with political agendas and not well- trained. You will find administrators are very dedicated and many belong to the same professional associations, therefore ascribe to the same code of ethics. The difference is to whom they report. Under the Council /Manager form, Council provides direction, while under the Mayor /Council form, direction is solely from the mayor. Is there statistical data on how long an elected strong mayor survives? I don't have that information but will ask for it to be supplied. What does a strong mayor do that the manager doesn't do? One of the things the advocates for a strong mayor will argue is that you get more political leadership out of an elected mayor because they are directly accountable to the people and are elected to represent what their communities stand for in various forms. A city manager is really not in a position to take on that role. Their role is based on their expertise and training, experience in management, and to address how to provide services cost effectively or in a way that meets the outcomes that the council is expecting. There is dichotomy when the mayor comes in with political skills but no management training. Because both are needed, some cities develop the chief administrative officer to provide the skills the mayor may lack. How much assistance do you give a community if the electeds determine they would like to change their form of government? Change is tough and you must think about it not only from a community context, but also in terms of its impact on your staff. You have a large staff here, dedicated and committed to the citizens of the city. Going through the process of change in and of itself is going to cause noticeable and significant differences impacting all. That needs to be considered as you move forward with your decision. Mr. McCarty offered to provide information on what went right or wrong from other cities. Mr. Yukubousky commented that MRSC has attorneys on staff who would work with Yakima's city attorney on questions of law. There are important choices on how to approach this. It can be done by council referring it to the voters directly or going through a freeholders' process which is more challenging. Under the State constitution the County has to go the through the freeholders process having to elect a group of freeholders to do a study at the same time they are scheduling an election on whether or not to proceed with the study. This causes some confusion. Cities may also use a freeholders' process where they elect people to actually study the different government formats and make a recommendation to the voters. What is the potential of making all Council positions at- large? (It had been noted that the Mayor would have to be an at -large position.) That is a totally different issue that would require a Charter change. City Manager Zais explained that all positions previously were at -large in Yakima; it was changed with the expectation that there would be a more balanced representation from the various locations within the city. 3 307 AUGUST 10, 2010 STUDY SESSION — FORMS OF GOVERNMENT Mr. McCarty clarified that under the Council /Manager format a mayor can be elected by the people or the Council. It is a struggle at times because even the popular voted elected has no greater authority although there is a perception that they do. City Attorney Cutter explained the process of amending the Charter, which is necessary to change the form of government. Council can initiate the change with a resolution, filed with the Clerk, and then it must go through the election process. Another method would be a petition of citizens of the city. Or, a group of freeholders could be elected to study and draft a new Charter or amendments to the Charter. To change from our current form of government would require a significant revision of our Charter. If freeholders were elected to do this, they would have a year to come back with recommended revision of the Charter, which would then go to the people (a second election process). The state provides for approximately six opportunities for elections a year with different preceding notices. Most of the processes can be conducted through a special or general election. Right now we have missed the opportunity to put anything on the November ballot. The next opportunities would be Feb /March /April /May. Picking the date is complicated. It was noted that special elections are more expensive. An explanation of the petition method was given. 3. Audience Comments (9:15 — 9:30 a.m.) Tom Allen thanked Mr. Zais for his thirty -seven years of service to the City of Yakima. He suggested Council not make the decision to change the form of government administratively, but to involve the community's input in their decision. He also commented that making a change to have the mayor an elected position under the current Council /Manager format would just add a layer of confusion. Glenn Rice also thanked Mr. Zais and the Council for their service to the public. He believes there are serious problems and much turmoil in cities that have a Mayor /Council form of government. Our current form of government has worked for many years and we should celebrate that form instead of changing it. Jerry Foy stated he was a former mayor in Aberdeen, Washington under the Mayor /Council form of government. As mayor, his position was not only political, but required him to be a good negotiator with good business sense. He emphasized the difficulty of the job. • Further Council Discussion: In the strong mayor form of government, is the strong mayor a full time paid individual? That is a local decision of the people based on the duties. How much is paid is decided by the process. One resource available is AWC's Annual Salary and Benefit Survey that was recently distributed. • 4 • 308 AUGUST 10, 2010 STUDY SESSION — FORMS OF GOVERNMENT How do we engage the public? Or do we? Council Member Ensey replied that we have to decide if we are interested in changing and if so, develop a process to engage the public. Council Member Edler said he is very interested in getting the community involved in the discussion because he is in favor of changing our form of government. He would like the interaction of the community to determine if changing would cost a considerable amount of time /energy /money. Council Member Coffey also feels the community needs an opportunity to comment through a public hearing. How does the petition method work? The council cannot initiate the petition, they must do it by resolution. The petition method comes from the citizens and it is important to note that the Council has no authority to change any portion of that petition. Whatever is submitted is what must be put to the voters. The third option is the freeholders' method, which also does not allow changes by the Council. EDLER MOVED AND ENSEY SECONDED TO HOLD A PUBLIC HEARING DURING A REGULAR COUNCIL BUSINESS MEETING TO ASK FOR CITIZEN INPUT ON OUR CURRENT FORM OF GOVERNMENT AND THE POSSIBILITY OF CHANGING TO A MAYOR/COUNCIL FORM OF GOVERNMENT. The timing would be based on the ability to communicate with the community. Prior to voting, each Council member gave their thoughts on the various forms. The motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. 4. Adjournment EDLER MOVED AND ENSEY SECONDED TO ADJOURN. The motion carried by unanimous voice vote. The meeting adjourned at 9:35 a.m. READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY A, COUNCIL MEMBER DATE I COUNCIL MEMBER DATE ATTEST: I - CITY CLER MICAH C',WLEY, MAYOR Minutes prepared by Linda Watkins. A CD and DVD of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's Office 5