CC Minutes - 01/10/07 Process Session

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Ms. Bettman said the way to look at it was that the elected officials were the public face of the City. She averred that when approached with an issue, if a councilor did not know how to respond it did not look good. She thought it was a “no-brainer” that the council should have been notified immediately regarding the shooting. City Manager Taylor stated that if the councilors had questions they should call him. He was available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He underscored that the councilors had his cell phone number, his email address, his office number, and his home phone number. Ms. Shepard asked if the council had issues on council meeting schedules. Ms. Bettman stated that she had two small issues. She wished to emphasize that she did not want to add any more evening meetings. The other item Ms. Bettman wished to bring up was the desire to have an inventory of motions after meetings, what the motions were and how the votes fell, so that councilors could check to ensure things were recorded correctly and also to use as a quick reference. Ms. Walston requested clarification on whether Ms. Bettman meant major motions or all motions, including procedural motions, friendly amendments, and so on. Ms. Bettman responded that friendly amendments could be significant. Ms. Walston noted that with the advent of the Webcast, staff could review the meeting itself to check anything that was not readily understood. Ms. Taylor agreed that knowing who voted would be helpful. She also did not want an increase in evening meetings. She said as councilors, they should attend as many cultural and civic events in the evenings as possible. Additionally, she noted that the Wednesday work sessions had been reduced to 90 minutes at former Councilor Gary Papé’s request. She wondered if the council should shift back to two-hour meetings for those work sessions. Mayor Piercy stated that now that half of the councilors had jobs during the day, it was important to strike a balance. Ms. Ortiz supported the idea of having a summary of votes. She added that she had changed her schedule to work around the council schedule. She said the balance of work, children, and being a councilor was a challenge. Mr. Poling stated that Council Coordinator Lynda Rose had done a good job of writing the council summaries. He agreed that a summary of votes would be beneficial, but he thought it should include any specific directions made to the City Manager over the course of the meeting. Ms. Bettman also wanted to reduce the number of process sessions in which the council engaged. She thought three sessions were too much. She suggested they change the number to two or one per year. Ms. Taylor recommended that the council get rid of the extra Monday meeting dedicated to public hearing meetings. Ms. Solomon pointed out that the council had just instituted the public hearing meetings. MINUTES—City Council January 10, 2007 Page 4 Process Session