RULES COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
CITY
HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD
WEDNESDAY,
JUNE 2, 2010
REGULAR
MEETING
9:05
P.M.
1. ROLL
CALL. Mr. Fix called the meeting to
order at 9:05 P.M., with roll call as follows: Mr. Fix, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr.
Blair were present. No members were
absent. Others present were Tricia
Sanders, Brian Sauer, Cristie Hammond, and Lynda Yartin.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF May 5, 2010, Regular Meeting. Mr. Blair moved to approve; Mr. Fix
seconded the motion. Roll call was
taken with Mr. Blair, Mr. Fix, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.
3. SCHEDULED MATTERS:
A. Review and request for motion to approve
draft ordinance adopting a policy for the naming of streets, parks, and other
City facilities. Mr. Wisniewski clarified
the draft ordinance provided to the Committee combines the naming policy with
the criteria for sale of naming rights for City parks and recreational
facilities. Mr. Blair moved to approve and forward to Council; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mr.
Fix, and Mr. Blair voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.
4. CHAIRMAN:
A. Review
and discussion regarding potential changes to the Administrative Code. Mr. Fix stated his desire was that the
strategic plan be more than just something that sits on the shelf and unless we
change the structure of our committees it will be nothing more than 20 pieces
of paper. Mr. Fix stated in the last
nine months the only thing that has been done is the hiring of a PIO and a Development
Director, which was done by staff not by Council. Mr. Sauer stated road paving has been done,
and Mr. Fix stated that was correct, a couple of things have been done by
staff, but there doesn’t seem to be any Council
accountability for it. He stated he had
spoken with Bret Sciota again, and he had reiterated the only way this will
work is if Council aligns their
committees. Mr. Fix stated he had
requested the law director put together two suggestions based on the
conversation at the last meeting. He
stated it seemed like Economic Development was the one committee that had the
most meat to it as the Parks were handled by parks and the communication could
be handled by another. He stated the two
possibilities were to create an Economic Development Committee or to go to the
other end of the spectrum and create a Committee of the Whole where all seven
of the key critical areas of the strategic plan could be addressed by a
Committee of the Whole on two separate nights.
Mr. Fix stated he was not asking for a decision tonight as he did not
see a tremendous sense of urgency on this.
He stated he had spoken with our incoming City Manager and he is fine
with a Committee of the Whole. Mr. Fix
stated he was asking all of Council to
consider these options and to be prepared to come back to Rules Committee in
July and put something forward to Council.
Mr. Wisniewski
stated our City Manger will have just started that week and he felt it would be
reasonable to let him get his feet wet before Council
started restructuring. Mr. Fix stated he
had that concern as well and that is why he spoke to him about it. Mr. Fix stated Mr. Vance had stated he has
done Committee of the Whole, he is fine with that, and however Council
decided to structure it was fine with him.
Mr. Wisniewski asked how Mr. Fix felt a Committee of the Whole would be
structuring according to the strategic plan.
Mr. Fix stated a Committee of the Whole could set the agenda according
to the seven pieces of the strategic plan or they could add an Economic
Development Committee to the current committee structure. Mr. Fix stated the other option is to stay
how they are now and that was not acceptable to him and he would like to know
how the rest of Council feels about it. Mrs. Sanders stated most council members
attend all of the committee meetings anyway.
Mr. Fix stated he was not advocating either solution. Mr. Wisniewski stated he was not in favor of
Committee of the Whole and Mrs. Hammond stated she was not in favor of that
either. She stated as an example,
Finance Committee tonight spent two hours on one issue. Mr. Wisniewski stated there have been times
when Service Committee lasted for two to three hours. Mr. Blair stated he did not know how much
longer a Committee of the Whole would take and it would get them out of the
Sunshine issue. Mr. Fix stated he was
just asking Council to consider the issue and
be prepared to discuss it and send something forward in July.
Mr. Sauer
questioned if Council were to put together a
special committee and took the strategic plan and went through it and assigned
different tasks or goals in that plan to particular committees; and it would be
that committee’s job to work on that particular issue. Mrs. Sanders stated she thought that was
something that should be covered in a retreat or work session. Mr. Fix stated in his conversation with Mr.
Sciota that is exactly what he suggested because without setting up a committee
structure, there is no accountability for council members because they would
never take any responsibility for any of the strategic plan. Mr. Wisniewski stated Service Committee just
assigned tasks from the strategic plan to the Economic Development
Director. Mr. Sauer stated that is what
he is suggesting for the rest of the items.
He stated so everyone would have a part in it, if Council
were going to make that decision, he would suggest either creating a special
committee or scheduling a work session, something where there would be a vote
and things were assigned to specific committees. Mr. Fix stated he agreed with Mr. Sauer in
principal. Mrs. Hammond stated most of
the issues were money driven and Mr. Wisniewski stated that was correct, but if
it was assigned to a committee it could be something they worked on. Mrs. Sanders stated Mr. Bachman brings
forward a lot of projects that are definitely monetarily driven and we don’t
have those funds, but it is a plan. Mr.
Fix stated Mr. Bachman is out trying to get grants and things like that which has
been driven by the strategic plan. Mr.
Wisniewski stated he just did not understand breaking the committee out again
when they were talking in circles about the same thing. He stated they had just talked about
assigning issues to the Committees that we already have, and the economic
development stuff did not move because we did not have an Economic Development
Director or a City Manager that was acting as the Economic Development
Director. He stated we have only had the
Economic Development Director on board for a short time and those issues have
been added to the Service Committee agenda, so why was there a need to break
out into another committee. Mr. Fix
stated his personal opinion was that economic development was an entire
separate arm of government that needs its own attention. Mr. Wisniewski stated that Mr. Fix was just
saying he wanted to do a Committee of the Whole that throws everything in one
basket, so he did not understand how that was any different. Mr. Fix stated the alternative he put forward
at the last meeting was to create that committee because he felt economic
development is an entire subdivision of government. He stated he agreed that without a City
Manager and without an Economic Development Director nothing happened. He stated, however, that part of who we are
and what we do deserves its own attention.
Mr. Fix continued that short of that, if they could not agree to break
that out, then maybe it did make sense to just put everything, all seven pieces
of that strategic plan, into a Committee of the Whole because otherwise we
would stay where we are today. And, that
is four committees that have not in ten months done anything with the strategic
plan. Mr. Wisniewski stated he totally
disagreed because Mr. Bachman has taken it upon himself as a staff member to do
a lot with the strategic plan. Mr. Fix
stated he was not saying that staff has not done anything with the strategic
plan; he was saying that no council member has done anything with it or even
helped move anything forward. Mr.
Wisniewski council has done what they can, they have hired an Economic
Development Director, and he would like to know what else in the plan council
should have been doing as non-staff members.
Mr. Fix stated he did not have it in front of him but he was sure if
they all sat down and went through it there were several things they should
have been directing or working on or offering their opinions on. Mr. Wisniewski stated Ms Crotty has been on
board as Economic Development Director for two months and she has done a lot
more related to it than anyone was aware of.
Mr. Wisniewski stated he hated micromanaging staff and telling them what
to do about everything, he would like to let them get up to speed, which is
what Ms Crotty has done, and she is now aware of what her tasks are and she has
been working on it. Mrs. Sanders stated
she felt if council were to implement the plan they should have been more
involved. Mr. Wisniewski stated we have
not had the staff to do this, we have been missing the key person, a City
Manager. He stated Council
has hired the City Manager and they have hired the Economic Development
Director, two key parts of the strategic plan.
He stated he would like to know what else Council
should have specifically been working on.
Mr. Sauer stated there are some things that have been done such as the
Refugee Road Corridor Study, and a lot has occurred in the engineering
area. He stated the one thing they have
missed that he felt could have been done was the performance based budgeting,
but not having a City Manager has hurt a little there. Mr. Sauer stated he felt it was Council’s
job in committee to make sure that things are happening and to get updates on
the progress. He stated he felt that was
why committees were for, so that Council is
not operating in a vacuum and they do know that what is occurring. Mr. Sauer stated his point was that without
assigning tasks to particular committees they just get lost so it might make
better sense for Council to have a work
session to go through the strategic plan and assign tasks to the committees so
they can be put on their agendas and will be followed up on each time the
committee meets. Mr. Blair stated by
creating a Committee of the Whole you have created accountability for everyone
across the board and he did not feel that would create that much of a longer
meeting that we already have. Mr. Fix
stated he would ask everyone to think about this and be prepared at the next
meeting to come up with a solution, whatever that solution may be.
5. OTHER BUSINESS: No further business was brought forward.
6. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr.
Wisniewski moved to adjourn; Mr. Fix seconded the motion. Mr. Blair, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Fix voted
"Aye." Motion carried, 3-0. The Rules Committee adjourned at 9:23 P.M,
June 2, 2010.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
________________________________
Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal
Clerk