HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/16/2010 04A Draft Minutes 01-23-2010 City Council Retreat • YAKIMA CITY COUNCIL RETREAT
JANUARY 23, 2010
YAKIMA CONVENTION CENTER
8:30 A.M — 2:30 P.M.
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 (absent after 10:28 a.m.)
Staff: • City Manager Zais, Assistant City Manager Zabel!, Community Relations
Manager Beehler, and City Clerk Kloster
Facilitator: John Cooper, President and CEO of YVVC
John Cooper gave opening statements and defined his role as facilitator. Each Council
Member introduced themselves for the benefit of the television audience.
2. Retreat guidelines and desired outcomes
Council Member Lover commented that he believes in government by majority not by
consensus and felt that if they were going to discuss policy issues he expects there to
be debate. Mayor Cawley commented that they were not going to discuss the issue of
• "lingerie" baristas at this meeting, but were hoping to determine what venue will be used
for that discussion, e.g. a study session or a Council meeting. Following discussion it
appeared to be the consensus to hold a study session on this issue.
ACTION STEP: Schedule a study session on the Adult Business Ordinance.
Mr. Cooper described the recommended procedure for the retreat and the goal to
establish action steps from the discussions.
3. Roles and responsibilities of the City Council, City administration, and City
staff
Discussed throughout the retreat.
4. Yakima City Council Rules of Procedure
Assistant Mayor Coffey pointed out that, according to the "Standard Motions and
- Rules of Procedure of Yakima City. Council," a motion cannot be withdrawn by the
mover without majority approval. That is different than the way the Council has been
handling withdrawn motions. Also discussed was "a call for the question" noting it
requires a super majority vote to stop debate. It was suggested that Mayor Cawley,
Assistant Mayor Coffey, Community Relations Manager Beehler and City Attorney
Cutter take time to review and discuss Roberts Rules of Orders and how they apply
to Council meetings.
It was also noted that the City Council Rules of Procedure was last updated in March
2007. Having the Rules and Procedures Committee review the rules and procedures
and make recommendations to the full Council was suggested. They will schedule a
work session with Randy Beehler and Jeff Cutter.
ACTION STEP: — Review the rules and procedures at the committee level and
recommend any necessary revisions to the full council.
JANUARY 23, 2010 — COUNCIL RETREAT
5. Council member priorities
The following priorities were listed when each Council member was solicited for
input: (note: the issues of gang violence and budget challenges were set aside as they have already
been established as high priorities for the Council)
Dave Eftl - To be in touch with Yakima, champion things from the people to the
Council. Be a source of communication and facilitation; an ombudsman. Also clean
up the garbage on the highways around the city. He asked how we can use the
media to get information to the public.
Maureen Adkison — More collaboration with other cities, other departments and the
County so we are not replicating services or reinventing the wheel. She also sees a
need to develop a plan to replace City Manager Zais when he retires in the future.
Bill Lover — Fair Avenue and N. 1 Street. We need an interconnector between
downtown and the fairgrounds. Those are in addition to the list of fifteen future
challenges and opportunities all of which he considers as priorities.
Micah Cawley Aquatics program, a street bond, and privatization.
Dave Edler — Sustainable funding, e.g. reformation of government; regionalizing,
e.g. possibility of a park district or fire authority; infrastructure, public safety
Rick Ensey'— Common codes between City/County, clean up N. 1 Street, and fix 4111 .
the broken culture at City Hall.
Kathy Coffey — Coordinate and maximize City-owned public facilities such as the
Southeast Community Center and Police Athletic League building. Revitalize N. 1
Street. Renovate historic homes in east Yakima. We need to develop a 3-5 year
plan to look at infrastructure issues.
Council Member Ensey elaborated. He believes the organizational, culture at City
Hall is broken and that both Council and staff are responsible. There is a
misunderstanding as to roles and there are respect issues that need to be improved.
He clarified that, as electeds, he sees their roles are 1) policy makers setting
strategy with staff carrying out the taCtics, 2) representing constituents, 3) oversight.
Council does not relinquish responsibility when they refer matters to staff, but
continues to oversee the issue. Staffs major role is an information resource. He
said he doesn't always believe the information he is given; that some is omitted and
other information is biased in order to influence policy. He gave examples:
• EMS levy — a sunset clause in particular. He felt we could have been more
successful if there had been a sunset clause. Staff should have come to
Council with a variety of alternatives and, let them make the decision.
Instead, they said this was the only option.
• The question on ambulance response times — he didn't think Council ever got
a straight answer.
• Priorities of Government budget model — he had the overall feeling that staff
dragged their feet because they didn't want to change the current process.
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JANUARY 23, 2010 — COUNCIL RETREAT
S . • He referred to the recent article in the Herald Republic about the exchange
between Bill Lover and Police Chief Granato at the recent Public Safety
Committee meeting regarding the crime analyst position. The Chief said he
is the one responsible for what happens in his department. Rick did not
agree. He believes Council is to oversee staff to ensure tactics used are in
line with what they want: He thought the Chief and Deputy Chief have both
been out of line in dealing with the Council.
Assistant Mayor Coffey commented that she believed it was not the Council's place -
to publicly question department heads or staff. They should direct their issues to the
City Manager. Council Member Ettl expressed concern with having to go through
the City Manager first.
Council Member Lover explained his view of what happened in the Public Safety
Committee meeting.
Council Member Ensey stated that because we are going to replace the City
Manager soon, the most important thing this Council can do is set the culture in City
Hall. He said we need to determine how we want our government to relate to its
citizens and then choose a City Manager that can do that. .
Council Member Lover left at 10:28 a.m.
The North First Street priority was discussed in more detail. Assistant Mayor Coffey
suggested an architectural study and streetscape be prepared in case anything can
40 be done during the legislative session. She also suggested preparing a request for
funding from SIED to do the study; assisting the North First Street Association with
organizational issues, and having the Community and Economic Development
Department research potential funding sources for the streetscape and economic
development. Mayor Cawley and Council Member Edler noted the need to seek
input from area business owners. A question was asked about whether there was
something the City could do to help sell the old Lariat drive-in restaurant that is such
an eyesore. Mayor Cawley and Council Member Adkison spoke about the potential
of putting a physical presence of City government into the area,
ACTION STEP:
• Determine what steps can be taken immediately
• Seek input from area business owners
• Continue/accelerate public safety emphasis in the area
• • Provide technical/organization support to North First Street Association
• Pursue potential funding (SIED, state, etc.) for initial streetscape design
and eventual implementation
• Explore potential physical presence of City government in the area
• Conversation then turned to street failures and the need for a street bond. It was
suggested that we need to identify for the voters the top ten areas needing attention.
This may be an item for the Bicycle/Pedestrian Committee or part of the Six-Year
Plan. The Council then discussed infrastructure. City Manager Zais spoke of the
• 'multiple layers of public infrastructure of which many plans have been adopted but
not been reviewed together.
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JANUARY 23, 2010 — COUNCIL RETREAT
ACTION STEP: Hold a study session to look at the various capital
facilities/infrastructure plans, determine what exists, where they are in the
updating process and then have Council determine their priorities.
The priority of reqional collaboration was discussed and the need to eliminate
duplication of services. It was suggested that we need to work towards coordinating
with the County on quality of life issues for the valley.
ACTION STEP: Seek opportunities for regional collaboration with Yakima
County, other cities, and other agencies in order to maximize available
resources.
The next priority discussed was communication between citizens and the City. We
should look at some best practices to see what we can do to improve
communications and impact accurate media presentation.
ACTION STEP: Explore potential improvements to City
communications/outreach efforts.
The culture at City Hall as a priority and a transition plan for replacing the City
Manager was the next discussion topic. The importance of the decision was
identified. Council discussed the potential of using a professional search firm, and
emphasized the need to determine what the Council expects the "culture" to look like
in order to develop a transition process. Council Member Ensey clarified what he
meant by "culture" as the general feel of the environment; shared beliefs; buy-ins;
acceptance of operational methods for the good of all; and respect for customers.
Les Schwab and various hotels were used as examples for good customer service.
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Council Member Ensey suggested the need for a philosophical conversation on
corporate culture and the potential of having a college professor or some successful
people in our business community provide free advice.
ACTION STEPS:
• Discuss culture of City government; consider getting expert input,
review roles/definitions, models.
• Develop city manager transition process.
6. Policy developments/consideration processes
An attempt was made to define a policy issue. Examples given were: legal
requirements, e.g. adopting the budget or deciding on a new strategic plan for
Police. The overall direction of managing the city is an administrative issue.
Assistant Mayor Coffey commented that sometimes committee meeting agendas
deal with minutia that Council doesn't need to address. If we identified and
prioritized the enormous challenges, we should be able to move the city forward
more quickly. Some committee items should be delegated and not allowed to
take up Council time. Council Member Edler noted that all seven Council
members view items differently and what is minutia to one may be seen as
critical to another. Discussion ensued on whether various committees should be
continued. Committee meetings may be too focused on reporting rather than
recommending action. Also discussed was the need to prioritize and to
determine strategic priorities from today's discussions. Assistant Mayor Coffey
stated she wanted action steps that are narrowly focused, that have benchmarks
and are achievable with results.
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JANUARY 23, 2010 — COUNCIL RETREAT
ACTION STEPS:
• Assign each Council committee to review committee
mission/purpose and make a recommendation to the full City
Council regarding continuation of the committee
• Establish 5-10 Council priorities that will direct policy, including:
o Reducing gang crime and gang violence
O Address continuing economic challenges facing the City of Yakima
Also discussed was the amount of staff time involved in committee meetings and
the methods used for forwarding information to the Council. There were several
suggestions to alert Council to upcoming issues that are being discussed at the
committee level, but are not yet ready for full Council consideration. 1)
committee chair could advise under the meeting agenda heading "Other
Business"; 2) reference in the committee minutes and advise it will be coming to
Council soon; 3) staff could submit a form or an email following the committee
meeting advising Council members of the information; or 4) include the subject in
the Weekly Issues Report prepared by the City Manager's office.
7. Existing City Council committee structure
Discussed above.
*8. Action steps
Identified throughout the discussion.
ACTION STEP: Schedule a six-month follow-up Council retreat to review
status on the action steps identified.
PARKING LOT: (a list of items that came up during the meeting to be discussed
later)
Council and staff relationships
Visioning process
Budget related to economic challenges.
Council Staff Relationships
Assistant Mayor Coffey said if she has a concern or question, it is her
responsibility to inform the City Manager or Assistant City Manager and not go
directly to the employee or the department head. Mayor Cawley agreed. City
Manager Zais referred to the system in place for service requests.
Visioning Process — The Next 20 Years.
City Manager Zais pointed out that it has been twenty years since there was a
comprehensive visioning process for the community. At that time it was a major
undertaking that took about eighteen months. He noted that the process was
created by business leaders, citizens, and constituencies from across the valley
with City participation. Perhaps it is time to encourage the community to develop
a new 20-year vision. Council Members Edler and Adkison suggested the
Economic Development Committee consider the idea.
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JANUARY 23, 2010 — COUNCIL RETREAT
ACTION STEP: 0
• Supply Council with a copy of the last visioning document
• Assign Council Economic Development Committee to explore
potential for initiation of community visioning process
Budget and Economic challenges
City Manager Zais reviewed the current budget situation and economic forecast
noting that circumstances are very challenging and the future looks daunting in
terms of how long it will take our community to recover. He referenced the drop
in sales tax revenue and said if December figures continue to drop, it would
signal the potential for another shortfall in the budget of $800,000 to $1 million.
We would need to take steps to reduce our costs and expenditures for the
balance of this year. If the forecast continues to drop, we would have more
serious choices to make about the services we provide and the priorities of
government model we have created. It is very troubling and overshadows our
capacity to meet community needs.
*9. Adjournment
Council Members applauded Mr. Cooper for his efforts at leading the retreat.
COFFEY MOVED AND ETTL SECONDED TO ADJOURN. The motion carried
by unanimous voice vote. The meeting adjourned at 2:28 p.m.
READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BY
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COUNCIL MEMBER DATE
COUNCIL MEMBER DATE
ATTEST:
CITY CLERK MICAH CAWLEY, MAYOR
Minutes prepared by Linda Watkins. A CD and DVD of this meeting are available in the City Clerk's
Office
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