HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004 02-23 City Council Manager Workshop PacketAGENDA
CITY COUNCIL/MANAGER WORKSHOP
Monday, February 23, 2004
Maplewood Room, City Hall
6:00 p.m.
A. CALL TO ORDER
B. ROLL CALL
C. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
D. NEW BUSINESS
E. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
1. Advisory Boards and Commissions
F. FUTURE TOPICS
1. Sidewalk Study-Overall City Plan
G. ADJOURNMENT
City Council/Manager Workshop
Agenda #E1
MEMORANDUM
To: City Manager
FROM: Assistant City Manager
SUBJECT: Commission and Board Appointments and Policies
DATE: February 17, 2004
INFORMATION
At the February 9, 2004 CounciVManager Workshop, staff reviewed with City Council
policies relating to our advisory boards. We reviewed and discussed how appointments
are made, chair rotations, term limits and other issues. Following is a summation of the
discussion and an attempt to note where there was consensus and when there was not on
specific issues.
1. City Council will hold the interviews for commission vacancies and make the
appointment. The council will accept prepared questions from the advisory
boards to use during the interview process if provided by the appropriate board. 1
believe everyone except council-member Koppen agreed with this. Mr. Koppen
prefers the existing system.
2. There was some discussion about whether or not to ask the chair of the applicable
board to sit in on the interviews. Staff did not note a preference on this issue?
3. Issues relating to the chair were also discussed. Rotation every two years seemed
to work for everyone. There was not consensus on the chair being appointed by
the Council. Council-member Rossbach was opposed to chair appointment made
by City Council.
4. Term limits were discussed and most council-members seemed to agree that there
might be increased flexibility and enhanced recruitment if service limits were
imposed. There was discussion about limiting terms to two with the following
provisions: that the City Council could appoint an individual to serve more than
two consecutive terms if the Council made findings that there are extraordinary
circumstances that make such an appointment desirable and if at least 3/4 of the
Council votes to make such finding. Council-member Rossbach was undecided
on this.
5. Another topic discussed related to changing the holding of public hearings to be
the responsibility of the Planning Commission. A$er a lengthy discussion, it
seemed that the council would be open to this after some input and discussion
with the Planning Commission.
6. Removal of board members was not thoroughly addressed but staff suggests that
the council consider the following: absences from 1/3 of the duly called meetings
of the board, commission or task force shall constitute an automatic resignation.
Special circumstances could be considered and reinstatements shall be the
decision of the city council. If the council is interested, staff could also develop
language about dismissing members for un-ethical behavior, misconduct or other
inappropriate behavior. This has not been addressed in the existing policies to my
knowledge.
7. Staff noted that the Civil Service Commission has rules ofprocedure that are
governed by State Statute. Because of this, some of the proposed policy changes
will not apply to them. For example, this commission is required to have each
member serve as president (chair) for the last year of their 3 year term so this
provides for automatic rotation every year.
SUMMARY
This summarizes staff s review of the discussion onboard appointments and other policy
issues. Please review and prepare to give specific guidelines on these items. With
council direction, staff will make corrections to city council policies and inform the
boards of the any changes that are made. It is possible that the advisory boards rules of
procedure will also need to be amended. If you so direct, staff will discuss the public
hearing matter with planning commission to get their feedback as soon as possible.
P: ComDvpt.memo.advisorybd.policy.mc