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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 04/17/02 Process MINUTES Eugene City Council Process Session Garden Room-Public Works Engineering, 244 West Broadway April 17, 2002 Noon COUNCILORS PRESENT: David Kelly, Gary Pap~, Nancy Nathanson, Scott Meisner, Betty Taylor, Gary Rayor, Bonny Bettman. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Pat Farr. CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Mayor James D. Torrey called the meeting to order. A. Work Session: Council Process Session Jan Bohman of the City Manager's Office distributed copies of the minutes and ground rules from the February 4, 2002, process session. She summarized the areas on which the council had reached agreement during that session: 1. The council will make every effort to give the City Manager clear direction. 2. Staff responses to councilor requests for information, under the two-hour rule, would be distributed to the full council. 3. Any councilor can, in advance of a meeting, request that a vote be postponed. 4. There are parliamentary procedures that can be used by a councilor without reproach from the other councilors but it would be preferable to avoid them if possible. Mayor Torrey called for roundtable comments from the council on the order of items discussed on the meeting's agenda. Ms. Taylor suggested discussions on the Metropolitan Policy Committee, taking action directly following public hearings, and not scheduling council meetings during the spring United Front trip to Washington, DC. Mr. Pap~ suggested discussions on council information requests, "Praise in Public" (PIP), and time management at meetings. Ms. Nathanson commented that PIP was not worth spending time talking about since either it would be done or it would not. MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 17, 2002 Page 1 Process Session Mr. Meisner agreed with the outlined list but reiterated Ms. Nathanson's comments regarding PIP. Mr. Kelly said there were some simple steps to take on PIP that would not take much time to discuss. City Manager Jim Carlson said he and the executive managers were the most interested in discussing the council requests for information, since that had a direct impact on staffs ability to do work for the council. Regarding council requests for information, Mr. Rayor commented that if a councilor was strongly opposed to something they could throw out a "gauntlet" of tasks that would tie up and waste staff time. He suggested that there be a rule that requests for information might have to have the agreement of three councilors. He raised concern that the council was taking on an analyst role rather than an oversight role. Mr. Meisner expressed a desire to have a discussion on moving the Monday regular sessions back to 7:30 p.m. rather than 8 p.m. Council Information Requests Mr. Carlson said he wanted clarification around existing operating agreements. He noted that requests for information that would take more than two hours of staff time needed approval from the council as a whole, and added that requests that would take less than two hours of staff time needed to be routed through the City Manager. He stressed that all requests needed to come through the City Manager to allow him to make sure that the entire council was getting the same information. He noted that some councilors were calling staff members and asking for information. He said that if a call was just a clarification of a minor item, then it was appropriate, but if the information request would take a significant amount of time, the councilor was providing direction to a staff member of the organization, which was not allowed under the City Charter or the council's own Operating Agreements. Mr. Carlson noted that there was an exception to that rule in that a councilor could contact the designated staff member regarding an agenda item summary. He stressed that the questions to staff still needed to follow the outlined rules regarding time or else the request needed to be routed through him. In response to a question from Ms. Bettman regarding what kinds of questions would be inappropriate to ask staff without going through the City Manager, Mr. Carlson cited crafting alternative motions from staff recommendations and comparisons with other cities. Mr. Kelly said his goal was to comply with the charter while being as efficient as possible. He noted that the previous city manager had no problem with him requesting staff information as long as he received a copy of the e-mail at the same time. He said he would have no problem making the request through the City Manager with a "cc" to the particular staff person and noted that this MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 17, 2002 Page 2 Process Session would limit confusion of the requests for information being handed down from the City Manager. He stressed that direct communication was much more efficient. Mr. Carlson stressed the need for all councilors to receive the same information. He said there would be no loss of efficiency/translation issues by the City Manager forwarding e-mailed requests to staff. He added that the same rule would apply to requests for information from the Eugene Budget Committee. Ms. Bettman raised concern that the rules about information requests to staff were a formal way of constraining the council. She said she needed more clarity on what kinds of questions were inappropriate to ask staff. In response to a question from Ms. Bettman regarding whether the same rules would apply to the mayor, Mr. Carlson confirmed that the same rules did apply. Ms. Bettman raised concern that members of other organizations in the community would have easier access to information than the council would have. She stressed that the same constraints should also apply to other organizations. Mr. Carlson said that the council played a different role in the City than other organizations. He stressed that the City Charter assigned a role to the City Manager who was the only employee of the council and that the council could not direct the work of other City employees. He acknowledged that if an answer could quickly be provided on the phone by an employee, with no additional work, then that would be an appropriate question to ask without routing the request through the City Manager. Mr. Meisner noted that sometimes it might be difficult to distinguish what would be an appropriate question but agreed with the points raised by the City Manager. He stressed that the policy was not a constraint but a gate keeping function that would allow all councilors to share the same information. In response to a question from Ms. Nathanson regarding e-mail confirmation of phone calls, Mr. Carlson noted that a simple clarification would not need an e-mail confirmation but a request for information that would take time to develop would need to be phoned or e-mailed into his office. In response to a question from Ms. Nathanson regarding exploring an issue before making an official request for information, Mr. Carlson expressed his willingness to help clarify issues with councilors. He stressed the importance of his being able to track requests for information so that answers could be shared with the entire council. Mr. Pap~ reiterated Ms. Bettman's comments/concerns regarding outside organizations having better access to information than the council. MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 17, 2002 Page 3 Process Session Ms. Taylor raised concern over the potential lack of time the City Manager would have to deal with all council requests for information. She added her concern regarding not receiving the exact information requested and said a councilor should be able to get information in any way possible. She went on to say that citizen requests for information forwarded to her should go to the Public Service Officer. Mayor Torrey said the process session was being held to define appropriate rules regarding requests for information and noted that some councilors were taking up excessive staff time with their requests. Mr. Kelly expressed his discomfort with the discussion. He reiterated his concern over efficiency and suggested addressing particular instances of abuse of staff time rather than setting more stringent rules for the entire council. He also reiterated Ms. Bettman's concern that outside organizations would have easier access to information than the council. Mr. Carlson stressed that he was not putting any new rules in place but only interpreting existing guidelines. Mr. Meisner noted that he also referred citizen requests for information to the Public Service Officer. Mr. Carlson agreed that specific constituent issues should be taken to the Public Service Officer. In response to a comment from Ms. Nathanson regarding addressing selective abuse of the process and the cumulative effect of information requests, Mr. Carlson noted that requests that took significant time were disruptive to staff and added that there was not a way to raise the issue of abuse. Ms. Bettman said clarifying information with staff made meetings more efficient. She raised concern over a possible logjam of questions going through the City Manager that would delay information that was necessary for a meeting. She said that the process was fine the way it was. Mr. Carlson reiterated that calling staff regarding an agenda item summary without going through the City Manager's Office was perfectly appropriate, as long as it did not require a significant amount of staff time or new research. In response to a question from Ms. Bettman regarding information needed for councilors who were members of particular committees, Mr. Carlson said a councilor's role on another committee entitled them to deal with that committee's staff in a different way. Mr. Pap~ commented that there had been abuse of the process or there would be no discussion regarding the topic. MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 17, 2002 Page 4 Process Session Mayor Torrey reiterated his concern over consumption of staff time and stressed the need for the City Manager to be able to track information requests. In response to a question from Ms. Taylor regarding what would happen if a councilor ignored the rules and bypassed the City Manager while seeking information, Mr. Carlson said the councilor would not get the information requested. Mr. Kelly stressed the importance of councilors using good judgement when requesting information and reiterated his suggestion of addressing specific abuse of staff time. Mr. Carlson said he would take the input offered by the council and clarify the use of the Public Service Officer, appropriate general information requests, and councilor roles on other committees. Time Management at Meetings Mr. Meisner commented that time management at meetings had improved since February and expressed a hope that Mayor Torrey would continue to use the process he had adopted. Mr. Meisner said he was willing to move regular session meetings back to a 7:30 p.m. starting time but raised concern over having too many controversial items on a single agenda. He suggested balancing the items to make meetings more efficient. Ms. Taylor reiterated Mr. Meisner's comment regarding the balancing of controversial items during regular sessions. Mayor Torrey raised concern over Consent Calendar items taking too long to approve. He suggested limiting the time allowed for regular sessions. Mr. Kelly noted that it was hard to predict those items that would be controversial. He said he was willing to have extended meetings as long as topics could be fully discussed. He said he was also willing to move regular session start times back to 7:30 p.m. but expressed a desire to see the extra half hour put back into work session time. He said he would not be in favor of limiting regular session meeting time. Mr. Rayor commented that an earlier start time for regular sessions was better for the public. Ms. Bettman was not in favor of extending the Wednesday work session time. Regarding Consent Calendar items, Ms. Bettman suggested that if an item was pulled, its approval could be postponed until the next meeting. Mr. Carlson commented that items pulled from the Consent Calendar were not a significant impact to meeting time or efficiency. MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 17, 2002 Page 5 Process Session Mr. Meisner noted that the council started to lose its effectiveness after four or five hours. He said he would rather extend the Wednesday work session than have such a long Monday schedule. He commented that the council could do a better job on self discipline in limiting comments and not repeating themselves. He reiterated his desire to see the start time for regular sessions at 7:30 p.m. Ms. Nathanson commented that more discretion could be used when requesting topics for work sessions. Mr. Pap~ expressed his preference for regular sessions to begin at 7:30 p.m. Ms. Taylor was not in favor of limiting regular session meeting time. She stressed the importance of fully addressing items in open discussion. Mr. Carlson said he would summarize the council comments and come back with suggestions based on council input. The meeting adjourned at 1:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, James R. Carlson City Manager pro tem (Recorded by Joe Sams) MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 17, 2002 Page 6 Process Session