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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 05/21/2002 - Workshop APPROVED'INTINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE, CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP/FORUINI TUESDAY,NIAY 21,2002 CITY CENTER COUNCIL CHAMBER CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens, Councilmembers Sherry Butcher,Ron Case,David Luse and Jan Mosman CITY STAFF: City Manager Scott Neal,Public Safety Director Jim Clark,Public Works Services Director Eugene Dietz,Director of Parks and Recreation Services Bob Lambert, Community Development and Financial Services Director Don Uram, City Attorney Ric Rosow, and Recorder Lorene McWaters Heritage Room II I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER Mayor Tyra-Lukens called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Mosman moved, seconded by Case to approve the agenda. Motion carried 5-0. III. SECOND HAND SMOKE City Attorney Ric Rosow reviewed a draft ordinance his office prepared for discussion. The ordinance includes: • Findings on the health effects of second-hand smoke • A section that defines terms referenced later in the document • A section pertaining specifically to City-owned vehicles • General restrictions,rules of enforcement, and proposed effective date Rosow said the draft was developed for the Council to use as a working document. It is designed to allow the Councilmembers to choose which portions to retain, delete and/or revise. Rosow said the ordinance is based on existing ordinances from other Minnesota cities and municipalities throughout the country. Councilmember Butcher asked how closely this draft resembles Duluth's ordinance. Rosow said he could provide a written comparison to other Minnesota ordinances for later review by the Council. Tyra-Lukens proposed holding a t,.,vo-hour special meeting to hear public testimony on a possible second hand smoking ordinance. Similar to Hennepin County Board Meetings, each speaker would be allowed a maximum of three minutes. Pro and con speakers would alternate. The Council could choose to tale action at the end of the meeting or wait until the nest Council meeting to proceed. Tyra-Lukens said she was hesitant to appoint a task force at this point. She strongly believes that restricting exposure to second-hand smoke is strictly a health issue,and not a topic conducive to debate. She said she could see appointing a task force to help with implementation issues after an ordinance is passed. Luse said smoking is not just a health issue,but a personal rights issue. He was concerned about negative public perception of the Council deciding not to appoint a task force after taking action to do so at the April 16 meeting. He said.if a public meeting is held, three minutes per speaker is probably not long enough. Tyra-Lukens noted that the public has other options for expressing opinions to the Council,including phone calls, e- mails and letters. The purpose of the public hearing should be to hear new information and opinions. Mosman said it would be difficult for the Council to sit through more than a couple of hours of testimony, and that the public should be encourage to write and call as well. Butcher said she was disconcerted by the proposed process. She thought the Council had agreed to discuss formation of a task force at this meeting. She wondered whose idea it was to instead create the draft ordinance that was presented. She said this was"putting the cart before the horse." She said she was not even at the point of deciding whether or not it is the Council's role to regulate second-hand smoke. She said the first order of business is to determine how to get public input, both pro and con. She urged the rest of the Council to consider other options as well, such as holding a referendum or supporting lobbying for a statewide second-hand smoke ordinance. Rosow said that before the April 16 meeting,he had forwarded a draft motion to create a task force to study second hand smoking ordinance to Carl Jullie,who was City Manager at the time. The Council chose not to take action on the motion Rosow had drafted,but indicated a desire to discuss the issue at a Workshop. Rosow and Jullie met to discuss how to best provide the Council with a starting point for discussion of a possible ordinance. They agreed Rosow would create a draft ordinance that would allow for extensive input by the Council and provides choices from which they could pick and choose. Case said if a public meeting is held,it is critical not to make any final decisions that night. He needs time to consider the input before making any decision. He said he was also struggling with some of Butcher's suggestions. His understanding from the April 16 meeting was that staff was directed to come back to the Council with recommendations on how to approach the issue. Case said a referendum works best when the choices are black and white. He said he could not envision how the public could vote on a proposed ordinance when they maybe in favor of portions of it but not agree with other parts. He said this is one of the times when the Council is faced with clear issues of right and wrong and truthfulness. Butcher said a referendum would ask voters only whether or not they favored an ordinance,not what would be contained in the ordinance. Tyra-Lukens reiterated that she believes regulating second hand exposure is a public health issue and that if the tobacco lobbyists are given the chance to throe.,money at the issue,the truth v.rill become obscured. Butcher replied that it is also about public policy and regulating an activity that is legal. Luse said that although the Council's ultimate decisions will probably be based on the interest of public health, they cannot bypass the opinions of a whole host of others who may feel differently. Tyra-Lukens suggested using the draft ordinance as a framework for talking points for the public at a special meeting, and that the Council could announce at the beginning of the meeting that passage of an ordinance is not a foregone conclusion. Luse said the issue is too divisive to be decided by referendum. He would prefer the City conduct a survey of residents. Luse also said he felt the appearance by the"Clean Air on the Prairie"group rushed the Council into taking action on an issue it was not ready to consider. Case disagreed, saying he had been hearing from various groups and individuals on this topic for at least six months. He said the Council has taken up the issue because they feel a resonance with it. Tyra-Lukens said some of the comments made by other Councilmembers lead her to believe not everyone agrees that second-hand smoke really is a health issue. She said health professionals have known for more than 20 years that second hand smoke is detrimental to health, and that's where the role of Council as leaders comes in. It is time to do something about it. Tyra-Lukens said it is unusual as a Councilmember to hear positive comments from constituents,but that she has repeatedly been told that they are doing the right thing in considering this ordinance. Case said that he feels the accusations that have been made by some about the Mayor's alleged conflict of interest stemming from volunteer work she did over 15 years ago shows how dangerous it would be to form a task force that would include tobacco lobbyists. Tyra-Lukens asked if the Council was ready to come to an agreement on what action to take regarding holding a special meeting. Rosow said any action would have to be taken as part of the regular Council meeting. Council agreed to add this item to the Council agenda for further discussion. IV. OTHER TOPICS Council Chamber V. OPEN FORUM (Scheduled participants, 6:30-6:50 p.m.) No one was scheduled to appear at Open Forum. VI. OPEN PODIUM(Unscheduled participants, 6:50-7:00 p.m.) No one requested to speak at Open Podium. VH. ADJOURNMENT