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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council - 04/30/1996 - Workshop APPROVED MIMITES SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL/STAFF WORKSHOP TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 1996 7:00 PM, HERITAGE ROOM IV 8080 Mitchell Road COUNCI LAIEMBERS: Mayor Jean Harris, Ronald Case, Patricia Pidcock,Ross Thorfinnson, Jr. and Nancy Tyra- Lukens CITY COUNCIL STAFF: City Manager Carl J. Jullie, Assistant City Manager Chris Enger, Director of Parks, Recreation&Facilities Bob Lambert, Director of Public Works Gene Dietz, Director of Human Resources & Community Services Natalie Swaggert, and Council Recorder Jan Nelson STAFF LIAISONS: Laurie Helling, Scott Kipp, Jean Johnson, John Gertz, Dave Lindahl, and Mike Franzen I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER Mayor called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Councilmember Pideock arrived late. H. PUBLIC HEARING A. APPLICATION FOR NATURAL AND _SCENIC GRANT FOR A�2UISi_TiON OF 15.8 ACRES OF LAND ON THE MZWESOTA RIVER B11JUEES Lambert said we turned back a$50,000 grant last year for this property; however, the legislature has expanded the amount of grant money available. We want to reapply for the larger grant, and a public hearing is required before we can submit the application. He said letters were sent to the adjacent property owners about tonight's hearing. Steve Brown, owner of the property immediately to the east of this property, was concerned about the wash that is occurring on the property. Lambert said that is also a real concern of the City as it will be very difficult to correct. Brown said the wash comes from the side (not from the top), saturates the sandy bank, and causes the wash out. Lambert said it will be a problem to get at it with fill.. Hams said the issue is what is causing the erosion and how to rectify it. MOTION: Thorfumson moved, seconded by Tyra-Lukens, to close the Public Hearing. Motion carried unanimously. CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES April 30, 1996 Page 2 MOTION: Thorfinnson moved, seconded by Tyra-Lukens, to make application for the Natural and Scenic Grant for acquisition of 15.8 acres of land on the Minnesota river bluffs. Motion carried unanimously. The consensus was to have the Parks and Recreation staff investigate the erosion conditions on the land. III. BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS - COMMUNICATIONS Thorfinnson said this is Phase 2 of the Boards and Commissions Workshop. Phase 3 will be held in the fall. A. Commission Work Plans Thorfinnson said the work plans are used where the commission's work is not tied to the development process. The question is whether we want to make them uniform. We are recommending that the work plans contain three elements: the charter/purpose statement; the objectives/key result areas/ and the annual goals. Thorfinnson said we will continue to have joint meetings before the City Council meetings. Next week the Council will meet with the Heritage Preservation Commission from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. prior to the Council meeting. Swaggert said the liaisons could do the standardization work if the Council wants it. She thought it would be important to have some degree of flexibility but with some standardization. Tyra-Lukens said it would be helpful if the boards and commissions would provide information on what direction they want from the Council. Case said it would be helpful if the commissions attached a ballpark timetable to the objectives and key result areas and included short term (annual goals) and other goals beyond one year. Swaggert said they could add some type of timeline as a fourth item. Case thought it would be good to keep long term goals identified for the new people on boards and commissions, and he would like to see mid-term and long-term goals included on the work plans Thorfinnson thought it might be helpful to structure this similar to the review process for the City Manager where there are stated objectives within key result areas. The key areas might stay in place, but the objectives would probably change each year. Harris said the goals will have to be fairly general, and that will get us what we want. Swaggert asked if the Council would like to have the work plans distributed with CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES April 30, 1996 Page 3 the packets at the time the plan is completed or if they would prefer to wait until the joint meeting to discuss the work plan at that time. The consensus was to include work plans with the packets in case there are issues that cannot wait until the joint meeting. B. Joint Council/Commission Meeting Format Thorfinnson suggested the presentation format should include an introduction, a presentation including work plan status and current projects, identification of issues requiring City Council input, and Council feedback and direction. He thought the format would be customized to the particular board or commission, and they should probably include background on the issues for Council input. Councilmember Pidcock arrived at 7:30 p.m. C. Monthly Communication Update Swaggert distributed a draft of the monthly communications update that will be a supplement to the City Manager's Update. The supplement will include information from each staff liaison about the activities and plans of the boards and commissions. She said both reports will go out in the first packet of the month. Case suggested that the name of the person who submitted the item be listed on the supplement in case additional information on that item is needed. D. Commission Member Attendance Thorfinnson said City code does not address the issue of attendance for boards and commissions, except for Section 2.10 that mentions removal by the Council for "just cause," and the Human Rights &Diversity Ordinance No. 4-87 that states three or more unexcused absences as just cause for removal. Thorfinnson said there are several areas of the code regarding boards and commissions that require revision and updating. He noted that we need to identify exceptions to the residency requirements, and to determine whether Councilmembers should be able to serve on boards and commissions. Case thought we should keep removal from boards and commissions within the Council's discretion but should have some teeth in the ordinance. He thought we need to have something to allow the commission chair to go to the Council about absences. Tyra-Lukens thought the policy should allow chairs or staff liaisons to notify the Council after a member misses a specified number of meetings. Harris thought we should establish parameters as operating policy and try to standardize the policy. She thought we need to consider policy regarding conflict of interest and other issues such as dealing with disruptive members. CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION AIINUTES April 30, 1996 Page 4 Pidcock thought we can assume that anyone who applies wants to serve on the board or commission. The Chair should have the ability to caution the individual about the absences. Case was concerned that some people may get on the wrong commission and don't have their hearts in it. Harris suggested Swaggert and Thorfinnson continue to work through the code and return with suggested language, whether in the code or in operating policy. She suggested they also check with the City Attorney regarding the best way to pursue the issue. Dietz suggested that the draft policy or code revision go out to each board or commission before it is adopted. Tyra-Lukens asked if we have any situations where there are non-residents on commissions where voting is an issue. Dietz said they allowed non-residents to serve on the Environmental & Waste Management Commission in order to get expertise, although all of the current members are residents. Pidcock was concerned about putting non-residents on boards or commissions even if they are experts. Case suggested that we require non-residents to hold advisory positions only. E. Commission Expenses/Budget Thorfinnson said there are no line entry items in the budget for commissions and boards except for seminars and the recording secretaries. We may want to discuss budgeting for professional development expenses, promotional materials, operating expenses, and meeting expenses. We may also want to establish a procedure for the use of training funds. Thorfinnson said we could add the boards and commissions to the Legislative budget page, develop a separate commission budget page or add a commission expense line to the department/program budget page. Case thought it should be under the commission budget. Harris did not want it added to the department budgets, but we might put it as a line item to be controlled by the City Manager. Harris left at 8:15 p.m. Acting Mayor Pidcock assumed the chair. Enger said promotional materials, training and seminars would be three big things along with professional publications. He suggested that the liaisons take a questionnaire to the next meeting of the boards and commissions to get information on their needs. He thought we should strive for equity and accountability, and CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES April 30, 1996 Page 5 should budget for projects that the commissions may be involved in. Case thought we should build a training and educational base by allowing up to $1,000 per board and commission per year in the City Manager's budget. The commission would then apply through 7ullie to use the funds. The funds would not have to be spent, but would be available if needed. Pidcock thought we should find out what the costs have been and what is needed. Thorfmnson said the problem is that a lot of expense has been taken care of within the department budget. He will work with Enger to develop the questionnaire for liaisons to use. IV. OTHER BUSINESS I.V. ADJOURNMENT Acting Mayor Pidcock adjourned the meeting at 8:20 p.m.