RULES
COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD
MONDAY, June 6, 2005
7:00 P.M.
1. ROLL CALL. Mr. O’Brien called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M., with roll call as follows: Mr. O’Brien, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. Hackworth were present. No members were absent. Others present were: Brian Wisniewski, Judy Gilleland and Lynda Yartin.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF May 2, 2005, Regular Meeting. Mr. Hackworth moved to approve; Mr. O’Brien seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino abstaining, and Mr. Hackworth and Mr. O’Brien voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 2-0.
3. SCHEDULED MATTERS:
A. Updates on advertisements for vacant positions on various Boards/Commissions. Mr. O’Brien stated the Committee had interviewed a candidate for the Utility Fees Review Committee just prior to this meeting. He stated once this position has been filled we will no vacancies on any of our Boards and Commissions at this time.
B. Review and request for motion to approve draft Resolution appointing an individual to the Utility Fees Review Committee. Mr. Hackworth moved to appoint Kevin Snyder to the Utility Fees Review Committee; Mr. Sabatino seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mr. O’Brien, and Mr. Hackworth voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.
C. Updates on Rules Committee’s findings/recommendations/questions regarding discussion on Council Rules, Agenda, and Charter. Mr. Sabatino stated some Committee agendas provide for Community Comments and others do not. He questioned if this should be allowed for all committees. Mr. O’Brien stated that was discretionary for the Committee Chairmen, however, Rules can recommend it be added to all agendas. Mr. Wisniewski stated as Chairman of the Safety Committee, he had no objections to adding it to the agenda. He stated currently when the public attends the Safety Committee meeting and wishes to address the members, and being as committee meetings are more open than Council, they are allowed to speak throughout the meeting. Mr. Hackworth stated he has added Community Comments to the Service Committee agenda. Mr. O’Brien stated he had no objection to adding it to the Rules agenda and Mr. Wisniewski stated he had no objection to adding it to the Safety Committee. Mr. O’Brien stated he would check with Mrs. Riggs and if she had no objections, it would also be added to Finance Committee’s agenda.
(1) Review and request for motion to approve
draft ordinance amending Pickerington’s Charter Section 2.01 entitled “Number
and Term,” Section 2.04 entitled “Role of the Mayor and Veto Powers,” Section
2.05 entitled “Powers,” Section 4.06 entitled “Manager; Powers and Duties,”
Section 8.04 entitled “Qualifications,” Section 8.07 entitled “Initiative,
Referendum, Recall,” and enacting Section 8.08 entitled “Wards and
Boundaries.” Mr. Sabatino stated this
was prepared at his request, because he has felt for some time that we need to
have the Ward representation. He stated
with this, each resident would have one Councilperson they could personally ask
a question and get an answer from. He
stated with everyone being at large, the residents may not get the follow
through they think they need. Further,
he felt geographically it would spread the representation. Mr. Sabatino stated he had been thinking of
doing this and then he received a call from a resident who wanted to do an
initiative petition for this. He
continued he had informed the resident he was in the process of trying to work
something out through the Rules Committee and recommended they wait and see if
it could be done this way. Mr. Sabatino
further stated this amendment would put the supervision of the manager back
where it originally was, with all of Council, and not with just one person. Mr. Sabatino stated all the other things in
the ordinance are things that are attached to this, but those were the two
concepts he had requested the attorney deal with.
Mr. O’Brien stated he would try to go in order. He stated the draft e-mail version he received had Section 8.08 underlined and questioned if that was because it was a new section. Mr. Sabatino stated the first thing he received from Mr. Hartmann had lines in it and he could not even read it. Mr. Sabatino stated the “Wards and Boundaries” section would obviously be new language and the “Number and Term” would be new language as well. Mr. O’Brien stated he had hoped Mr. Hartmann would be here this evening to answer questions. Mr. O’Brien questioned what the changes were in Section 2.04, and Mr. Sabatino stated he did not see there was anything different. He stated, once again, this was prepared by Mr. Hartmann and he wasn’t sure what he had done. He stated he had not requested any changes to Section 2.04. Mr. O’Brien stated Section 2.05 then, is where the changes begin and that is the change with the manager’s reporting. Mr. Wisniewski stated in Section 2.04, the last paragraph that is currently in that section has been deleted. Mr. Sabatino stated he had requested this be put back the way it was before the change in supervision was done. Mr. Hackworth requested the Committee be provided with copies of the documentation of when this change was made so they could see the reasoning for it. Mr. Sabatino stated this is a rather unique form, most city manager’s are not supervised by the Mayor, they are supervised by Council. Mr. O’Brien inquired if that was the case in partisan or non-partisan councils. Mr. Sabatino stated he did not know. Mr. O’Brien stated he felt it would be very difficult to report to seven people, and Mr. Sabatino stated the ultimate supervision powers would be with whatever constitutes the majority of Council. Ms Gilleland stated she is reluctant to comment on this issue, but if the Committee would like, the law director can attend the next meeting to give additional insight. Mr. Wisniewski stated he was curious as to how this worked in other cities where it is a Council/Manager set up. Mr. O’Brien stated since Council would discipline the manager, would it also be true that Council would conduct the annual performance appraisal and makes the determination of raises, bonuses, etc. Mr. Sabatino stated he would presume so. Mr. O’Brien stated Mr. Hartmann would need a copy of these minutes so he can answer the Committee’s questions. Mr. O’Brien further stated if Council would conduct the performance appraisal, determine raises, etc., then Council will need some sort of training provisions offered. He stated you cannot be objective without training, so he felt we would need to look at the employee manual and see what procedures are in place for determining the ability of a group or a body to do performance appraisals or disciplinary actions, so he felt a certain amount of training would be required. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt there would be experience in other communities that do not operate with the Mayor being the supervisor that could be tapped. Mr. Hackworth stated currently the Manager’s contract is approved by Finance Committee and then full Council. He stated further he was not sure what Council could do at the moment as far as disciplinary, short of dismissing someone. Mr. O’Brien stated he believed the Manager could be dismissed with four votes, but the question was who would initiate disciplinary action. Would it be the Mayor or Council as a body. Mr. O’Brien stated once he gets the answers regarding training, he would need to find out who would pay for it, how much it would cost, where is it available, etc. He further stated if this is passed by the electorate, at what point would it take effect. Mr. Wisniewski stated the draft legislation states it would be effective January 1st. Mr. O’Brien stated all of this would have to be taken into account, so training would have to take place between November 9th and January 1st. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt whatever training would have to take place between November 9th and whenever you had your first disciplinary hearing. He stated not that he saw any on the horizon, but if it was necessary you would want to make sure it was in place before you make any type of decision. Mr. O’Brien stated depending on the election results, disciplinary actions could start very quickly after January 1st. Mr. Sabatino stated he did not see the City Manager being an election issue, and Mr. O’Brien stated he did not mean as an election issue, he meant as a result of the election. Mr. O’Brien stated you could potentially change the majority of Council. Mr. Sabatino stated it is supposed to work that the City Manager carried out the instructions of the majority of Council, so if the majority of Council would change, then she would implement whatever the majority of Council desired. Mr. Hackworth questioned how the Council would transmit that to the Manager, by ordinances and resolutions? He questioned how those policies would be transmitted. Mr. Sabatino stated he did not see how there would be any change there. Mr. Hackworth then questioned why it should be changed. Mr. Sabatino stated this would take the supervision of the manager from one person to a collective body of seven people. Mr. O’Brien stated he would like to revisit this once Mr. Hartmann has had a chance to review the minutes. Mr. Wisniewski stated they also needed to know what was changed and what was new. Mr. Hackworth stated this ordinance said the Wards would be divided up by census data. He stated his concern would be that in a newer neighborhood with two to three children, those children would count as part of the census data versus actual voters in an older neighborhood where a majority of the children have left. He stated this would basically divide the City and give a stronger voting power to one section versus the other section. Mr. Sabatino stated according to the way he read it, the common denominator would be geography striving for as close as you can get to an equal number of population. Mr. Sabatino stated how the mix of a certain neighborhood is could be all the more reason for having Ward representation, because something that is an issue in Ward 1 might not be an issue in Wards 2, 3, and 4. Mr. O’Brien inquired if Mr. Sabatino would like to have Mr. Hartmann here for the next meeting and start over then. Mr. Sabatino stated he did not feel the Committee had the authority to ask Mr. Hartmann to attend a meeting. Ms Gilleland stated if the Committee would like him here, that can be done. Mr. O’Brien stated he has a lot more questions on this, and would Mr. Sabatino prefer that he ask them when the law director is present at the Rules Committee meeting. Mr. Sabatino stated that would probably be a wise thing to do. Mr. Sabatino stated further the ordinance currently at Council dealing with Charter changes, if it went to the ballot, would it be voted on as one comprehensive change or would it be a line item vote. Mr. O’Brien stated that would be a question for the law director. Mr. Sabatino stated he would request that ordinance be tabled until we see how that will go. Mr. O’Brien stated if there are enough votes, it can always be tabled. Mr. Sabatino stated he was asking Mr. O’Brien, as the sponsor, to table it. Mr. O’Brien stated he would take that under consideration because he needs to get a lot of questions answered on this new proposed ordinance.
C. Personnel Appeals Board Review – Update. There was no update this evening.
4. CHAIRMAN: Mr. O’Brien stated he had nothing to bring up at this meeting.
5. OTHER BUSINESS: No other business was brought forward.
6. ADJOURNMENT: There being nothing further, Mr. Hackworth moved to adjourn; Mr. O’Brien seconded the motion. Mr. Hackworth, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. O’Brien voted “Aye.” Motion carried, 3-0. The meeting adjourned at 7:33 P.M., June 6, 2005.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk