Agenda - Council Work Session - 09/24/2019

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CC Work Session 2. 4. Meeting Date: 09/24/2019 Information Title: Continue Discussion Regarding Processes and Procedures for Council Meetings Purpose/Background: The purpose of this case is to continue discussions regarding processes and procedures for City Council meetings. At the last work session, the City Council discussed minutes, citizen input and the related Charter language, as well as consent agendas. Minutes The City currently uses summary style minutes. Staff would like to continue the discussion of the pros and cons of more detail, or less detail, as alternatives to our current practice for regular Council meetings; the current level of detail in the work session minutes seems to be working well. As discussed, going forward, if there are technical corrections to be made to the minutes, staff will make the corrections; however, if narrative changes are desired those changes should be brought forward to the full Council for discussion. Citizen Input With regard to the Charter language which states "during any of its public meetings, the council shall not prohibit, but may place reasonable restrictions upon citizen's comments and questions and citizen input shall be provided for at the beginning of each council meeting" City Attorney Langel explained that statement applies to the open forum portion of the meeting. He stated that each City allows residents to comment in open forum for things not on the agenda. He stated that there is no regulation on the comments related to items on the agenda and that is an issue the City Council would have to discuss and resolve. He noted that this is an area of the Charter that could use clarification. City Attorney Langel stated that he has seen instances where Councils have allowed or disallowed public comments, depending on the agenda item and that almost all cities in his experience place a three to five minute limit for public comment. The question was asked, if a recommendation made to the Charter Commission to amend the Charter would need to come back before the Council and require a 7-0 vote. Staff is awaiting the City Attorney's response to this question. Consent Agenda and Agenda Format At the last work session, it was agreed by consensus that if Councilmembers wish to have a consent agenda item moved to the regular agenda, the deadline will be noon on preceding Friday; or items can be moved at the beginning of the regular meeting. With regard to the order of the agenda, Attorney Langel followed up with staff and stated that right now, the agenda item Approve Agenda comes after the consent agenda and recommended putting it between Call to Order and Presentations. Staff looked into this format and discovered that prior to implementing Agenda Quick for publishing the City's agenda, the order was just as Attorney Langel suggested. Staff proposes going back to the previous order as suggested by the City Attorney. Timeframe: Up to 15 minutes