CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD
WEDNESDAY,
NOVEMBER 5, 2008
REGULAR
MEETING
8:00
P.M.
1. ROLL CALL. Mr. Fix called the meeting to order at 8:00 P.M., with roll call as follows: Mr. Sabatino and Mr. Fix were present. Mr. Smith was out of town due to business. Others present were Mayor O’Brien, Cristie Hammond, Tim Hansley, Lynda Yartin, Phil Hartmann, and others.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF October 1, 2008, Regular Meeting. Mr. Sabatino moved to approve; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino and Mr. Fix voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 2-0.
3. SCHEDULED MATTERS:
A. Review and request for motion to appoint an individual to the Parks and Recreation Board vacancy. Mr. Fix moved to appoint Christine Adams to the Parks and Recreation Board vacancy; Mr. Sabatino seconded the motion. Mr. Fix stated they had interviewed some excellent applicants, however, he felt Ms Adams would be an asset to the Board. Mrs. Hammond inquired what qualifications she has and Mr. Fix stated she is a public relations expert and she has a business dealing with nonprofit organizations. He stated she had a lot of ideas on how we could communicate with our constituents in general to enhance participation in our recreation programs and the parks in general. Mr. Sabatino stated Mrs. Sanders who is Council’s representative to the Parks and Recreation Board sat in on the interviews and she concurred with this recommendation. Mrs. Hammond stated she felt Ms Carter would have been an asset as she has done a lot of work through the years and has done a lot of things for the parks that no one ever notices. Mr. Fix stated they had expressed their appreciation to Ms Carter during her interview and he felt she was a very good advocate for the City. He stated, however, they felt Ms Adams would brings things to the Parks and Recreation Board that would be a benefit. Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 2-0. Mr. Fix asked Mrs. Yartin to notify Ms Adams of the Committee’s recommendation for her appointment.
B. Review and discussion of amending the Administrative Code regarding introducing issues to Committees. Mr. Fix inquired if Mayor O’Brien would like to discuss this specifically or as part of the overall Administrative Code discussion. Mayor O’Brien stated he would like to know the history of how we got to where we are and he has not had a chance to review the draft Code Mr. Hartmann had distributed this evening. Mr. Fix stated this Committee had spent many months last year reviewing the Administrative Code line by line, and had held work sessions with Council. He stated when the Code was brought forward to Council it was unfortunately an earlier version than what was agreed to, and since that time it was recognized there were other opportunities in the Administrative Code to bring the Code in line with the Charter and potential changes to the Charter. He stated this Committee had requested Mr. Hartmann to combine the changes that had been approved, but did not make the voted on Administrative Code and any other changes that it would be prudent to bring forth out of the Charter review. Mayor O’Brien clarified the version in the packets was the new version and what he had distributed this evening was a redline of that clean version.
C. Review and discussion regarding Administrative Code. Mr. Hartmann stated the first major change was with regard to the City Seal, Section 204.01, that was removed from the Code and then Council as a whole requested it be put back in. Section 206.06 regarding advance notification of other meetings was removed and then was put back in because it is a requirement of the Ohio Revised Code. Mr. Sabatino stated Chapter 208 just contains the heading “General Fee Schedule” but there is no body to the Chapter. Mr. Fix stated the General Fee Schedule is adopted separately, and Mr. Hartmann stated it can be removed from the Code if that is what Council desires. Mr. Sabatino stated he did not see any sense in having just the heading in the Code.
Mr. Hartmann stated the next section that contains changes is 220.01, Definitions. He stated right now as Council works it is all with hard numbers, if there are five persons present and you need three-fourths of Council to vote, you cannot do it. He stated under this change, if you have five members present and you need three-fourths you could do that because it would be three-fourths of the members voting, not three fourths of all of Council. Mr. Sabatino stated if you have five people and two abstain, then three-fourths would be three. Mr. Hartmann stated that was correct. Mr. Hartmann stated the Charter does require hard numbers for emergency legislation and that has not changed, it would still require six members of Council at all times to pass something as an emergency. Mr. Sabatino clarified that suspension of rules would not change because the Charter requires approval of three-fourths of the members of Council.
Mr. Hartmann stated Section 220.04(g) with regard to Mandatory Referral did not change a lot. He stated the issue came up about deciding whether an issue could go to a different committee and how that happened, so language was put in to answer that question. He stated the initial placement of matters is done by the Mayor. Mr. Fix stated currently things appear on Committee agendas based on the flow from staff or the whim of the Chairman of the Committee or something that comes out of Council and is sent to a Committee. Mr. Hartmann stated normally it is easy to decide which committee something is sent to and staff just does it. Mr. Fix stated it is done informally now. Mrs. Hammond stated occasionally we have things come up in committees that do not start out on the agenda. She stated normally the purpose of “Other Business” or “Chairman” is to bring things up, not to demand that we start working on legislation or something of that nature. She stated if a subject comes up and all seven council members are not going to agree that it needs to be changed, why would we waste money having staff or the legal counsel work on something that the majority of Council would not approve. Mr. Sabatino questioned if there was an instance when a Committee chairman decides to introduce legislation dealing with a pet project of theirs that no one else is interested in pursuing, how would we deal with that. Mr. Sabatino stated if a topic is discussed in Committee that is one thing, but if they are creating legislation and incurring costs by utilizing staff’s time and the law director’s time only because the chairman of one committee wants to do one specific thing, and no-one else wants to go there. Mr. Hartmann stated every council member, under the Charter, has the right to present any legislation they want, and when that person went to the Clerk and informed her there was legislation they wanted presented, the Mayor would have to decide what Committee it goes to. Mr. Fix stated this paragraph says that if proposed legislation comes up, it is the Mayor’s responsibility to decide which Committee it is assigned to. Mr. Sabatino stated he understood that, but shouldn’t there be a go/no go procedure for something that is going to incur costs and time.
Mr. Hartmann stated Section 2.06 of the Charter states that “Any member of Council or the Mayor may introduce any ordinance or resolution at a special or regular meeting which shall be in written form and which shall contain a precise title.” Mr. Hansley stated the ordinances being discussed now start at Committee and come to Council and they only have one or two votes coming out of Committee. He stated what the Charter really says is it goes to Council first and if there are four votes that say you want to deal with that topic, the Mayor would then decide which Committee it goes to. Mr. Hartmann stated the problem is this has come up; he has drafted ordinances for three or four different council members because they have the right to bring it forward to Council. Mayor O’Brien stated in the next section of the Code dealing with the agenda, there is a section for Referral to Committee that we are not currently using. He stated we can use that section and vote to refer something to Committee and then he could make a decision on which Committee to refer it to. Mr. Fix stated he felt it would be appropriate for Mrs. Hammond, as President Pro Tempore of Council, should send a memo to all of Council explaining the process for Committee referral. Mr. Hansley stated he felt it would be appropriate for Mr. Fix as Chairman of Rules Committee, and Mrs. Hammond, to send a joint memo to Council. Mayor O’Brien questioned if the memo should explain the difference between staff generated agenda items. Mr. Fix stated he would like to draft a memo with Mrs. Hammond and have the City Manager, Mayor, and Law Director review it before sending it to all of Council. Mr. Hansley stated this process is dealing with Council generated items, not staff generated items. Mr. Fix summarized that items brought forward by staff would go on Committee agendas, items brought forward by Council members will be brought to Council and during the referral part of the agenda Council would decide whether or not it should be assigned to a Committee and if so the Mayor would decide which Committee it should be assigned to.
Mr. Hartmann stated Section 220.11(b) Abstaining Vote had been removed, but was then added back in during Council review so a member does not have to explain their reason for abstaining. He stated Section 232.06 and 234.01 were both sections that were removed and then put back in.
Mr. Hartmann stated Section 236.03 was removed because it seemed odd to have it in the administrative rules. Mayor O’Brien inquired if it was placed in the Planning and Zoning section of the Code and Mr. Hartmann stated he would check with the Planning and Zoning Director to see if it was placed elsewhere in the Code.
Mr. Hartmann stated in Chapter 238 the duties of the law director were removed, and Mr. Sabatino stated he felt the Chapter heading for 238 and 240 “Engineer” should be removed as there was nothing in those Chapters. Mayor O’Brien stated Chapters 244 and 246 were also empty Chapters and Mr. Hartmann stated he would remove those as well.
Mr. Hartmann stated Section 274.01 regarding the Parks and Recreation Board was completely revised based on what the Board actually does, and Section 274.02 was removed because it is a part of the fee schedule.
Mr. Hansley stated with regard to the Personnel Appeals Board, Chapter 276, the Charter simply says they are required to handle reviews and administrative actions, and by the Code that is in place now you have given them the ability to handle the initial hiring, appointments, promotions, and everything else. He stated normally the City Manager or the professional HR director would do this. Mr. Hansley stated he felt this was a conflict with the Charter because the Charter says the City Manager appoints everyone except those appointed by Council. He stated the Board has created a very lengthy process to fill positions and he wanted to let Council know that he and Mr. Hartmann are working on this to see if Council wants to adopt a different process or a different assignment for the Personnel Appeals Board, and that will be coming forward and may require a change. Mr. Hansley stated we are required to have a Personnel Appeals Board to hear appeals on administrative actions, but not to do all of the things they have been doing over the past ten years or so. Mr. Hartmann stated he read the Charter section that Council gave the Personnel Appeals Board, by ordinance, any authority they want. Mr. Hansley stated in reading his duties in the Charter it says that the City Manager appoints people. Mr. Sabatino stated if that is what it takes, we should create the ordinance that gives this authority to the City Manager. Mr. Fix clarified that the intent is to amend Section 276.01 and Mr. Hansley and Mr. Hartmann will work together to come up with the language that reflects the intent of this committee. Mrs. Yartin stated there has been discussion to put the duties of the Tax Appeals Board under the Personnel Appeals Board and Mr. Fix stated that was correct, it was determined earlier that those duties would be placed with this board.
Mr. Fix moved to forward the changes to the Administrative Code to Council; Mr. Sabatino seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Fix and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 2-0.
D. Review and discussion regarding proposed revisions to the City Charter. Mr. Fix stated he would like to continue this discussion on the agenda for the next meeting.
4. CHAIRMAN: Mr. Fix stated had nothing further to bring forward.
5. OTHER BUSINESS: Mrs. Yartin stated two appointments to the Planning and Zoning Commission will be expiring in February of 2009. She stated the first is the unexpired term that Paula Evans was just appointed to fill and the second is the term of Mark Nicholas. Mrs. Yartin stated both individuals have expressed a desire to continue serving on the Planning and Zoning Commission. Mr. Fix stated Ms Evans has only been a member for a couple of months and he felt she should be reappointed to a full term and Mr. Nicholas is a very valuable member of the Commission. Mr. Sabatino stated he concurred with Mr. Fix. Mr. Fix moved to reappoint both Paula Evans and Mark Nicholas to the Planning and Zoning Commission; Mr. Sabatino seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino and Mr. Fix voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 2-0.
6. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Fix moved to adjourn; Mr. Sabatino seconded the motion. Mr. Sabatino and Mr. Fix voted "Aye." Motion carried, 2-0. The Rules Committee adjourned at 9:25 P.M, November 5, 2008.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
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