HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/06/2018 18 Council Agenda Preview MeetingsBUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
YAKIMA, WASHINGTON
AGENDASTATEMENT
1
Item No. 18.
For Meeting of: November 6, 2018
ITEM TITLE: Consideration of reinstating Council agenda preview meetings
SUBMITTED BY: Cliff Moore, City Manager
SUMMARY EXPLANATION:
Follow-up on recent conversations about reinstating the Council Agenda Preview Meetings.
ITEM BUDGETED:
STRATEGIC PRIORITY:
APPROVED FOR
SUBMITTAL:
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
BOARD/COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION:
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Upload Date
0 memo 10/30/2018
Type
Coer Memo
2
MEMORANDUM
To: Yakima City Council Members
From: Cliff Moore, City Manager
Date: October 15, 2018
RE: Reinstating Council Agenda Preview Meetings
Council,
Following up on recent conversations about reinstating the Council Agenda Preview Meetings,
and my October 8 email message to Council requesting input, please review this memo and see if
the questions, concerns and suggestions that I have received are accurately outlined. As has been
previously discussed with Council, your meetings are either regular business meetings or special
meetings; even though we call some meetings study sessions, per RCW, they are special meeting
and must meet required notification, agenda and OPMA requirements. Items on the agenda for a
special meeting can be discussed and voted on. Most of the feedback includes the
recommendation that these meetings take place in chambers and be shown on live TV.
If there is Council will for having two of these meetings per month, there are several models that
Council could operationalize. One model could be holding them on the Monday before a
Tuesday Council business meeting or on the morning of the same day as Council business
meetings are held. If the meetings were held on the day before or the same day as a business
meeting, because that agenda would have already been published, there would not be an
opportunity to change that agenda. Council members would have an opportunity to have a final
look at the agenda for that meeting and ask any questions they might have. In addition, Council
could preview the draft agenda for the following meeting and would have an opportunity to add,
subtract or modify an item because the next meeting would be at least two weeks out.
Another model would be to hold the meetings in the off weeks of Council business meetings. If
this were the preference, staff would still respectfully request that no changes be made to the
next meeting agenda, but Council could make changes to the subsequent agenda. It would take a
majority Council vote to change the draft agenda.
One Council member did suggest that Council agree to not take any final votes during these
meetings. Another suggested that these meetings would only be needed one time per month.
There were several opinions on when the best time to hold the meetings would be, including the
morning or afternoon of a business meeting; morning, afternoon or evening between business
meetings.
In addition to previewing agendas, these special meetings could also be used for Council
Members to update seatmates on their outside liaison/committee responsibilities and for the city
manager to update Council on a variety of issues.