Minutes - Council - 09/09/2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councihnember Pearson stated that the goal they are trying to achieve is to speed up the process and reduce the amount of time they have a vacancy on the commissions. Councilmember Kurak explained that the Personnel Committee was not looking to bypass the advertising process, but because they are trying to alleviate the requirement of advertising in the Ramsey Resident they have to proceed with a Charter Amendment. Councilmember Strommen stated that she thought that it probably made sense to change some of the advertisement requirements but she did have concerns about the ranking process. She inquired if there was a certain time frame the ranking would be valid. Councilmember Cook replied that the Personnel Committee had talked about six months or a year. Councilmember Strommen stated that she thought that one year may be too long because people's lives can change a lot in one year. Councilmember Cook agreed. Councilmember Elvig stated that he understood the dilemma they were in, but one of the concerns he has is making sure people are aware of what is going on. In some regard they may be defeating some of the good they are trying to do by changing the process and he was concerned about the precedent that may be set. Councilmember Cook replied that they still would use all the means of advertising and the Ramsey Resident when timely. The Ramsey Resident only comes out every two months and they have to get the information in early for advertising so they potentially have to wait two months before they can advertise a vacancy. Instantaneously they can have the information on the website, newspaper, and cable TV so why wait 10 weeks to include it in the Ramsey Resident. The other issue they are trying to address is that if they have a member that is not functioning properly on a Commission the Chair is concerned about relieving that person from the Commission because the process takes so long to fill the seat. The Personnel Committee was trying to stiffen up on policies and procedures but also give room for commissioners and chairs to properly utilize the policies. Councihnember Zimmerman stated that he thought the Council needed to have more meetings with the commissions to tell them how they stand on issues and discuss any of their concerns. If they have seven members and one quits he did not understand why they could not get by with six lnembers. Councilmember Elvig questioned the City Attorney's opinion on the issue. City Attorney Goodrich replied that he could comment on the procedural process. He explained that in order to amend the Charter it would require an ordinance that would have to be adopted unanimously by the City Council. If that cannot happen it may not make sense to send the issue City Council/September 9, 2003 Page 11 of 16