Minutes - Parks and Recreation Commission - 02/08/1996 - Joint with CC

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Vice-Chair Cook noted that in the past, Council has looked at who the Commission felt was the best candidate. When the Commission recommended re-appointing Ron Hetiand, if Council did not agree with the Commission, they should have let us know. We would like to have been able to share our feelings and reasons rather than not. If we had known in advance, we could have had a workshop. Councilmember Peterson stated that, in this particular appointment process, comments were made by applicants. He (Peterson) suggested a joint meeting but there was no consensus. Based on the information he had and what he had heard, he felt that Council's action was justifiable. Councilmember Beyer reported that Council voted to have depositions taken so we could look at what was said. Mayor Hardin asked where are we going from here and noted that Mr. Schroeder had offered something would be on the agenda. Mr. Schroeder stated that the discussion of this issue will be at the Personnel level. On the issue of depositions, he had conversations with a couple of the candidates. He stated, with regard to the recommendation he will make to Council, is that he has some opinions, but a lot of the case will be based on the input heard tonight. That's why no agenda item has been prepared for this evening. It's my inclination that, based upon discussions I have had, there needs to be a more formal interviewing process. There needs to be some involvement by the Administrative Services Manager. It does not mean that person has to conduct the interviews but has to organize the process. I will be weighing out options, advantages and disadvantages. Mayor Hardin inquired of the timeline. Mr. Schroeder responded that Council will have a case memo in their Council packet this weekend that discusses what this process should be. The second part of that is there needs to be significant thought as to what criteria it takes to be seated as a commission. I will not have that criteria. The Administrative Services Manager will probably come up with that from talking with others. Is tenure good? bad? indifferent? Should there be different criteria? This will all take time to develop. Mr. Hetland felt it would be difficult to have the criteria different from or tougher than that required for running for Council which is basically you have to be a resident of the City. Mr. Schroeder stated that the Commission is an advisory board and City Council can choose to accept the recommendation or to do something different. Commission Skinner commented that if there had been proper communication, if City Council was having a problem with the Park and Recreation Commission, wouldn't it be correct to address the Commission before an issue comes up. Councilmember Beyer stated she did not know about the interview process until just last night. She stated she has always been an advocate of joint meetings which finally got started in 1995. She added that there had previously been a discussion about an RYAA member being on the Park Commission and it seemed that it was affh-med. Vice-Chair Cook stated the Commission could not say they would take open applications and then say they would only take members of the RYAA. He added that the Commission would be open to joint meetings anytime. Councilmember Beyer felt that quarterly meetings would be good. City Council/Park & Recreation Commission/February 8, 1996 Page 12 of 15