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skepticism about polls. She said most people had answering machines and caller identification and would <br />not take a call from someone they did not know. Because this would restrict who would take the call, she <br />questioned the validity of polls. <br /> <br />Ms. Ortiz commended Mr. Ruiz and staff for doing a good job of getting information to the council ahead of <br />the newspapers. <br /> <br />Mr. Ruiz said the City conducted a lot of polls and used the information “constantly.” He had thought the <br />policy direction staff had received was to have a public process and public input. He related that, as part of <br />following this directive, staff had engaged a company to conduct a poll. He felt that it could cause concern <br />if the council started wordsmithing a survey because it could make the survey more political. He had no <br />qualms about informing the council that staff would be conducting a poll. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka did not think anyone was interested in wordsmithing. He added that he did not believe a poll <br />could be unbiased because they were “always trying to get at something.” He averred that where this <br />intersected with policy would be where it became part of the council’s purview. He thought determining <br />what they were trying to “get at” through a survey would be a legitimate conversation to have. <br /> <br />Topic: Process to Honor Staff and Community Members <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka related that he had wanted to honor some of the people from his neighborhood but he had not <br />known how to undertake such an activity. He observed that there were a lot of “cool” things happening. He <br />thought they should have a formal process to celebrate what the community did well. <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy related that a lot of people requested proclamations. She said they needed to be careful not to <br />grant this to too many people, though it would be good to find a way to honor them nonetheless. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark agreed. He thought a process for honoring the good things would be an appropriate way to <br />celebrate them. He noted that he kept a stack of stationery and cards in order to send people in his ward <br />notes of congratulations, etc. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor observed that such things could be brought up during the ‘Items’ portion of the work sessions. <br /> <br />Topic: Maximizing Use of Council Work Session Time <br /> <br />Ms. Medary stated that this item had arisen from comments made during work sessions regarding the <br />different levels of need for information different councilors had before starting a discussion on an item. She <br />said staff also wanted feedback on the amounts of time allotted to various items and the materials provided <br />to councilors. <br /> <br />Mayor Piercy commented that even if she had read information and was familiar with it, there was an aspect <br />of presentations that sought to educate the public. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—City Council September 23, 2009 Page 7 <br /> <br />