RULES
COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD
MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 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: Judy Gilleland, Lynda Yartin, and others.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF December 6, 2004, Regular Meeting. Mr. Hackworth moved to approve; Mr. O’Brien seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino abstaining, and Mr. O’Brien and Mr. Hackworth voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 2-0.
3. SCHEDULED MATTERS:
A. Review and request for motion to authorize the Municipal Clerk to advertise for vacancies throughout 2005 as necessary. Mr. O’Brien stated the practice in the past has been that if an individual was filling an unexpired term and desired to serve a full term, Rules Committee would recommend they be re-appointed. He continued that should advertising be necessary, the Clerk must be authorized by Rules Committee to do so. He stated he would like to continue the practice of authorizing the Clerk to advertise as necessary throughout the year without having Rules Committee authorize each advertisement. Mr. O’Brien moved to authorize the Municipal clerk to advertise for vacancies throughout 2005 as necessary; Mr. Sabatino seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mr. O’Brien, and Mr. Hackworth voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.
Mr. O’Brien stated Mr. Doug Blake was appointed to Planning and Zoning Commission to replace Mr. Sabatino and that term is now expiring on February 28th, and he has applied to serve a full term. Mr. O’Brien further stated Mr. Chris Smith was also appointed to an unexpired term that will also expire on February 28th, and he has not indicated if he will not be applying for a full term. Mr. O’Brien stated due to the fact that there could be two vacancies on Planning and Zoning Commission he felt it would be appropriate to recommend Mr. Blake be reappointed to a full term. Mr. O’Brien moved to recommend Mr. Blake be re-appointed to a full term on Planning and Zoning Commission; Mr. Hackworth seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Hackworth, Mr. O’Brien, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.
B. Review and discussion regarding adoption of Council Rules. Mr. O’Brien stated all Committee members had received a copy of the Rules of Council and a copy of the Charter in their packets. Mr. O’Brien stated in reading through the Rules of Council he found there were some inconsistencies. Mr. O’Brien stated further there was also the question of whether we should continue the practice of having the police deliver council packets. He stated it might be a better practice to have Council members pick their packets up at the police department. He stated he questioned if this were a valuable use of a police officer’s time. Mr. Sabatino stated he did not see where this took a great deal of time and other communities have their police officers deliver the council packets. Mr. Sabatino stated should there be a special meeting or some other notice that Council needed, they would not necessarily know to go pick it up at the police department. Ms Gilleland stated the police find it burdensome to deliver the packets at times, and the Chief has expressed a concern on this. She stated further it is a fairly common practice for cities to use the police to deliver the packets. Mr. Sabatino stated if it is so critical that we cannot have an officer deliver six or seven packets, then perhaps we need more officers. Mr. O’Brien stated this was just something he wanted everyone to think about. Mr. O’Brien further stated he would like to have the Committee members review the Council rules and see if there are items they would like to see addressed. He stated this would remain on the agenda for the next Rules meeting.
C. Review and discussion regarding Council Agenda. Mr. O’Brien stated there has been a suggestion to have a change in this area. He stated Ms Gilleland has suggested we add department head reports and any department head can report to Council during that section when necessary. Mr. Sabatino stated he noticed there is a section for communications and we do not use that. Mr. O’Brien stated he thought this could be used by Council members to address issues that are not on the agenda or that could be coming up in the future. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt this was something that has been missing on our agenda. Mr. O’Brien stated also Mayor Shaver and Ms Gilleland has asked Rules Committee to address the issue of allowing a staff member to speak during the initial reading when an ordinance comes out of their department. Ms Gilleland stated she thought that once the Clerk reads the legislation, the Mayor would call on the Manager for a report on that agenda item. She stated she would introduce the department head who could give a one or two minute synopsis. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt this was an excellent idea. Mr. Hackworth stated as he understood it this would be just as necessary, a staff member would not have to brief on everything. Ms Gilleland stated the Committee Chairperson could give a report, however, she felt we would see this happen more often than not. Mr. O’Brien stated it is a double edged sword as some may feel the sponsor should know about the legislation they were introducing and not put it off onto the staff member. Ms Gilleland stated staff are the experts and they know all of the details and can answer questions Council may have. Mr. O’Brien stated our Rules call for votes by either “Aye,” “Nay,” or “Abstain.” He stated we use “Yea” for an affirmative vote so perhaps this is a change that should be made. Mr. Hackworth stated that is a conflict because our Charter states the vote will be “Yea.” Mr. O’Brien stated he would like everyone to review these two documents and bring up anything that could be better or changed. He stated if they would e-mail those concerns to him he will put them into an order for discussion on the next Rules Committee agenda.
4. CHAIRMAN: Mr. O’Brien stated he had nothing further to bring up at this meeting.
5. OTHER BUSINESS: Mr. O’Brien stated he would like to have Rules Committee authorize Mr. Hackworth to begin an investigation and review of possible changes to the Personnel Appeals Board. He stated further he would like to get the history of this Board for the committee to review. Mr. Hackworth stated he has reviewed the Personnel Appeals Board Rules and Regulations and he felt there could be a conflict with other rules. Mr. O’Brien stated this is a Board that Council does not really know much about. Mr. O’Brien moved to authorize Mr. Hackworth to investigate the duties and responsibilities of the Personnel Appeals Board; Mr. Hackworth seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. O’Brien, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. Hackworth voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.
Mr. O’Brien stated he also thought we should investigate the requirement that all new department heads be residents of the City. He stated, of course, the department heads employed currently would not be effected, but should we hire a new department head we should consider it. Ms Gilleland stated there were pros and cons to that. She stated she would usually make that an informal policy, however, she would hate to see us limit ourselves by ordinance. She stated she felt it should be a requirement for the Manager, and currently it is also a requirement for the police chief. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt the department heads should be accessible locally. Mr. O’Brien stated he was thinking more that if we hired someone from out of the area he would expect them to move to Pickerington and not to another municipality.
6. ADJOURNMENT: There being nothing further, Mr. Hackworth moved to adjourn; Mr. Sabatino seconded the motion. Mr. O’Brien, Mr. Hackworth, and Mr. Sabatino voted “Aye.” Motion carried, 3-0. The meeting adjourned at 7:29 P.M., January 10, 2005.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk