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Home My WebLink About07/08/2006 Adjourned Meeting 93 ADJOURNED MEETING JULY 8, 2006 — 8:30 A.M. — 12:00 NOON YAKIMA CONVENTION CENTER 1. RoII Call a. Present: i. Council: Mayor Dave Edler, presiding, Council Members Ron Bonlender, Micah Cawley, Norm Johnson, Bill Lover, Neil McClure, and Susan Whitman ii. Staff: City Manager Zais, City Clerk in Training Moore 2. Executive Session — Personnel Mayor Edler announced the Council would move into Executive Session. 3. City Council Committees What Role Do Council Committees Play in the Legislative Process? • Advisory role • No decision making — advance items to City Council for decisions • Open access to the public — use as a method for citizen's items to be brought to the Council meetings • Citizens input section at each meeting • Committees prepare agendas • New business section on agenda • Regularly scheduled meetings Review of committee schedules • Public Safety Scheduled monthly • Intergovernmental As needed • Economic Development Scheduled monthly • Council Rules & Procedures Scheduled Monthly ( + / -) • Stormwater Task Force As needed (not Council control) • Downtown. Yakima Futures Scheduled Monthly • Transportation Planning & Streets Scheduled monthly • Transit Monthly • Community Relations As needed • Neighborhood Development Monthly • Aquatics Task Force As needed Utility Code As needed • • 94 • JULY 8, 2006 CITY COUNCIL RETREAT Various committees elicited discussion: DOWNTOWN YAKIMA FUTURES INITIATIVE OVERSIGHT — Council Member McClure suggested this committee be modified to its original intent of a broader working committee that does not participate at stakeholder meetings, but acts as overview management of all stakeholders. TRANSPORTATION PLANNING COMMITTEE — Because this committee also covers street repair issues, it was decided to eliminate the word planning and add and Streets to the committee name. As a result of comments, Mayor Edler said that the discussion was becoming philosophical about how the Council wants to govern. It was suggested that if the Council starts getting involved in the "nuts and bolts ", they would lose track of the vision. The Council is charged having a vision for the community and staff is charged with implementing that vision. Does the committee structure require updating? - Election of Chairs? Should Council members exercise more control over committee meetings? Set meeting agendas? Manage discussion? Mayor Edler commented that part of the reason for this meeting is the concern that staff is driving committee meetings. After discussion, it was the consensus that the committee should elect a chair for a one -year term and the chair and a staff liaison would set up the agenda for the meeting. Council Member McClure stressed the importance of the committee meetings being free - flowing so everyone feels comfortable. Council Member Cawley preferred structure. A compromise was to follow the agenda and then be free - flowing when it comes to Other or New Business. Council Member Bonlender supports the preparation of Committee meeting minutes for the entire Council and the public's review. Council Member Lover agreed that committee reports should be an item on the City Council Agenda. Council Member Cawley feels it is important that a Council representative attend the Agenda meetings and the City Manager's staff meetings. Mayor Edler felt that was not a necessity, but if Council Member Cawley felt the need to attend those meetings, he should attend. City Manager Zais described the process of preparing agendas and Council packets. He pointed out that he and the Assistant City Manager meet with the Mayor and Deputy Mayor weekly to review agenda items and keep them apprised of significant issues. Following a short break, the meeting reconvened at 10:08 a.m. 2 95 JULY 8, 2006 • CITY COUNCIL RETREAT Responsibilities of the committee chair position were discussed. Also discussed was a method to get items on the Council agenda. One method is through the City Manager's office. Also, citizens can raise an issue at a Council meeting and it could be directed to the appropriate committee. Council Member McClure strongly suggests people with an item should approach management, the management then approaches the committee and then the committee decides how to schedule it. Is the committee process an appropriate venue for staff to introduce concepts to the Council and /or to influence Council? Council Members Cawley and Johnson spoke about having too many staff members at committee meetings, and in Executive Session. City Manager Zais explained the necessity of staff at the Executive Sessions. He noted that the City Clerk, by charter, is part of the Council meetings, both open and closed sessions. He will verify that requirement. How can committees provide clearer direction to staff? It was noted that would be a result of this meeting • How can issues /concepts /ideas that are not supported by a committee be brought before the full Council? - Again, Council Member Bonlender suggested a minority report given at the City Council meeting. Mayor Edler again brought up the philosophical idea of our government style. He pointed out that the City Manager is accountable to the Council and staff is accountable to the City Manager. He feels the staff driven idea is something that has been created in a very small section of our media and it is dominating the way we think. He doesn't agree that Council is staff driven. Council Member McClure agreed and went on to say that Council members are not the professionals and should depend on the professionals on staff to guide them. When the public states the Council is staff driven, we need to confirm that staff is doing exactly what we are asking them to do. They are implementing our vision and our vision is to keep our costs down. Council Member Cawley commented that he feels that when something is controversial, staff sometimes approaches him and he's concerned they are trying to influence his vote. 4. City Council Study Sessions Council Member McClure' complained that study sessions are in report format and not in a free flowing discussion mode. They provide us with knowledge but we can't talk about it. Changing the format to a half hour staff presentation followed by Council discussion was suggested. Mayor Edler spoke of the frustration of getting off track during study session discussion. He suggested they be structured with a 30- minute presentation, and then 30 minutes council discussion, 15 minutes staff response, and then 15 minutes public input. 5. General Discussion From today's Executive Session, they will be scheduling the City Manager's evaluation in the next couple weeks. Council Members Whitman and Lover will review evaluation forms from other cities. 3