COUNCIL WORK SESSION

CALLED BY RULES COMMITTEE

6:00 P.M.

1. CALL TO ORDER: Mr. Smith opened the Council Work Session at 6:05 P.M., with the following Council members present: Mrs. Riggs, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mr. Hackworth, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino and Mr. Wisniewski. There were no members absent. Other present were: Judy Gilleland, Stacey Bashore, Phil Hartmann, Sean Casey, Rex Myer and others.

2. SCHEDULED MATTERS:

A. Discussion regarding proposed revisions to Administrative Code.

Mr. Hartmann clarified that Section 206.06 would be deleted.

Mr. Sabatino asked if there was an updated version of the ordinance because the minutes indicated there would be one for this meeting. Mr. Smith clarified that there would not be a final version until all changes had been made.

Mr. Smith stated he marked that there was a question on C under Municipal Clerk on page 8 regarding furnishing all transcripts. Mr. Hartmann stated that we are trying to figure out a new section to put it under and he has it marked to find an appropriate section.

Mr. Fix stated that the changes on page 9 Section 220.04 were mainly just word changes. Mr. Wisniewski asked about changing where it said President of Council because President of Council is the Mayor under (c) and Mr. Hartmann stated that we will be changing that to President Pro Tempore.

Page 10- Mr. Fix reviewed section C and stated that this would have legislation come out of Committees rather than with an individual sponsor and it will be presented by the Chair. Mr. Sabatino asked what the reasoning behind that was and Mr. Fix stated it was to try to take some of the politics out of it by having individual sponsors and having the Committee sponsor it. Mr. Sabatino stated he didn't see where the politics become involved and he was trying to figure out why it would be changed. Mr. Smith stated that another way of asking would be what purpose does an individual sponsor of legislation serve since it has to be voted out of a Committee anyway. Mr. Fix clarified that everything is going to come out of committee with an up or down vote. Mr. Hartmann added that the only thing being changed is the sponsorship and any Council member can still bring legislation, but it has to go to a Committee and then the Committee will be the sponsor. Mr. Hackworth asked if there was a section in the Charter that specifically states that individuals can sponsor or introduce legislation. Mr. Hartmann clarified that the Charter states that any Council member or the Mayor can introduce legislation. He further clarified that we added that the City Manger could introduce legislation, because procedurally that is what was happening. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt that the person who makes the motion and is passionate about something should be identified as the sponsor. Mr. Hackworth clarified that the Committee will be listed as the sponsor. Ms. Gilleland stated it was a suggestion to take out individual sponsors because we see a lot of jockeying over who is going to sponsor what piece of legislation and many Cities there is not that political aspect to sponsoring a piece of legislation. Mr. Hartmann stated that most cities don't even have sponsors on legislation and staff usually does the presentation of each one. Mr. Sabatino stated then if that is truly the case why even have the sponsor. Mr. Hackworth stated that it is appropriate to say where it came from as far as the Committee. He stated that his only concern was something in the Charter that talks about individual Council members presenting legislation and wanted to know if this violated that. Mr. Hartmann stated that it doesn't and this is just whose name is on it and any person can still present it. Mr. Sabatino asked if an individual would still be able to do that with a Council manic waiver and Mr. Hartmann stated that if there is a waiver there is no reason it has to go through the Committee and have a name, but if it comes from the Committee it will have their name. Ms. Gilleland reviewed the section of the Charter that said "any member of Council or the Mayor may introduce any ordinance or resolution at a regular or special meeting." Mr. Sabatino stated that if we change the Administrative Code that it would have to go through a Committee first. Mr. Fix clarified that it doesn't change anything in the process other than who is named as a sponsor on the agenda. Mr. Hartmann stated that we can't do anything in terms of the Charter because the Charter prevails. Ms. Gilleland stated that the pros of our current system are that Council members take ownership in the legislation, but on the other hand if it is a politically controversial issue one Council member taking a stand on something could cause some politics to occur, whereas if a staff member introduced something then it would be much less political. Mr. Sabatino stated that if you are going to have more staff involvement could that not expose the staff to potentially probing questions that they would not want to answer. Ms. Gilleland stated it is really the system that we want to work with and in other cities it is very normal for the staff to be the expert and to be able to answer the probing questions. Mr. Hartmann stated that under the way it is written now, we are not changing staff level. He stated that it could be that way if you wanted to go further. Mr. Fix stated that what we are talking about now is the sponsorship of the legislation as it appears on the Council agenda now. Mr. Hartmann stated it takes away a little bit of the political issue and it takes away from the incredible redundancy when you have Committee reports that go through all the legislation and then you have the sponsor saying the same thing. He stated that it doesn't do anything to change if you want to comment on something. Mr. Hartmann stated that he didn't see anything in the Charter that refers to sponsorship. Mr. Smith asked if there was a place where we can change sponsor to the referring committee and Mr. Hartmann will check into that subject to the sections in Charter.

Mr. Sabatino asked about striking the citizen advisory members section in C. Mr. Hackworth stated that you may want to appoint some people to volunteer to go out and look at issues. Mr. Hartmann stated he would assume that it had been used in the past as subcommittees or a taskforce and they don't vote but give a presentation on their findings. Mr. Fix stated that this would allow the Committee the ability to put together an advisory board. Mr. Hartmann stated he would leave it where it was and add "with the approval of the respective Committee." Mr. Sabatino asked for clarification on where it stated "but may concur in either the majority or minority reports." Mr. Hartman stated that they can't vote on it, but they can send it to Council with notes that there was a 2-1 recommendation. Mr. Sabatino stated he had issue with that because the person that was appointed is not an elected official and shouldn't have a say if it is something that is going to be voted on. Mr. Hartmann agreed to putting a period after the word committee under H on page 10.

Page 10, Section (f)- Mr. Smith stated an and needed to be added before "take part in any discussion." Mr. Wisniewski asked about where it said "a committee meeting may be cancelled or continued by a majority vote." Mr. Wisniewski suggested that it should say "by the majority of the committee members" and take vote out.

Mr. Sabatino asked why questioning witnesses was taken out under (f) on page 10. Mr. Hartmann stated that from a legal perspective committees are different than the BZA or Planning and Zoning where you might have individual people appealing your decision. He further stated that generally committees are open discussions and BZA is not a committee of Council. Mr. Smith asked if a Committee would have power of subpoena to compel a citizen to attend and Mr. Hartmann stated he would have to look it up

Mr. Sabatino asked about the strike through for the Mayor being the ex officio tie breaker and Mr. Fix stated it was unnecessary language. Mr. Smith asked what gave the Mayor the tie breaker vote and Mr. Hartmann stated he thought that was in the Charter.

Page 11-Mr. Sabatino clarified that the Committee itself collectively decides when to meet during the organizational meeting and Mr. Hartmann stated it could be changed to say "The Chairperson of each Committee with the consent of the majority of the Committee members."

Mr. Wisniewski asked why the committee meetings are regularly scheduled meetings of Council members was struck. Mr. Hartmann stated he didn't understand why it needed to be there and it could be addressed under attendance. Mr. Sabatino stated he didn't think it hurt anything to leave it in there. Mr. Hartmann stated that there is no distinction between regular, special and work sessions because there is no difference when it comes to the rules that apply to you. He stated it was to take any confusion away legally, because when people read it they think there is something special because it is a regular meeting. Mr. Fix suggested that we take it out and if Mr. Sabatino wants to bring it up as an amendment at our Council meeting he can do so. Mr. Sabatino stated he didn't know what it hurt by being there because it makes a simple statement. Mr. Smith stated that it sounds like it doesn't stand on its own. Mr. Sabatino stated that he thinks that the point trying to be made is it is a regularly scheduled meeting. Mr. Smith stated that it tells him that you are expected to attend and attendance will be taken. Mr. Fix suggested that it be brought up as an amendment at the Council meeting.

Mr. Smith clarified that the addition under Mandatory Referrals was to clarify who does mandatory referrals. Mr. Hartmann stated that it was his understanding that this is what happens. Ms. Gilleland stated there was never clarification on who could refer to a Committee, so this clarifies that the Mayor makes the referral to one appropriate committee so that we don't have legislation in two or three different places. Mr. Sabatino asked if there could be language that you can only refer it to one committee one time. Mr. Hartmann stated that it wouldn't work because you might bring legislation back and if it is already in committee, it can't be assigned to another committee. Mr. Fix asked if this allowed for a committee referring a piece of legislation to another committee once they are done with it. Mr. Hartmann stated that we should clear it up if you want to be able to do that. He suggested putting another sentence saying something like "the second committee may review with a recommendation by the previous committee." Mr. Fix clarified that Council can also refer back to another Committee once it comes out of a different committee. He wanted to make sure that it allowed for that. Mr. Hartmann suggested "additional committees may review." He stated that he will add a sentence that says something like "additional committees may review with recommendation by previous committee or Council."

Mr. Wisniewski suggested that the newer changes be added in a different color.

Mr. Sabatino asked why (h) (on page 11) was removed and Mr. Hartmann stated it would be moved under boards and commissions.

3. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, the Council Work Session closed at 7:00 P.M., August 7, 2007.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

Stacey L. Bashore, Deputy Municipal Clerk

ATTEST:

Keith Smith, Council President Pro Tempore