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RELEVANT LINKS: IV. Councilmembers and city employees While the council handles the mission and policy objectives for the city, staff handle the administrative and management side of things. Sometimes, these roles unintentionally get blurred in city government. Relationships between the council and city employees can create situations where councilmembers may overstep their proper role, causing potential liability for the councilmember and the city. Generally, councilmember duties include upholding their oath, modeling respectful behavior, participating in council meetings and votes, working with staff to get educated on issues, and serving as a liaison between the city and residents. Individual councilmembers do not have administrative authority and they cannot directly give orders or otherwise supervise city employees, unless specifically directed to do so by the council. Councilmembers should remember that staff work for the entire council (as a whole), not for one individual councilmember. Occasionally, councilmembers (including mayors) can lose sight of their collective role and try to handle matters individually. In doing so, those city officials' actions can cause discord on the council, can make staff feel untrusted or unappreciated and, in some instances, can subject councilmembers and the city to liability for taking unauthorized actions on the part of the city. City employees face the unique challenge of working for an entity governed by a collective body, the makeup of which can change from year to year. Many cities have found that adopting clear practices or policies regarding the below and frequently communicating them to elected officials have led to better governance: • Elected officials follow a common, communication method for them to get information to or from staff. • Staff check -in with the elected officials after packets go out but before council meetings to gather or answer questions. • Elected officials provide staff with a heads -up, when feasible, about concerns or additional questions prior to the meeting. • Elected officials use a designated staff person to distribute information to other elected officials before the meeting to ensure more robust discussion during meeting without violating the Open Meeting Law. • Staff realize that Council may not always follow staff recommendation and, in those instances, accept and implement the Council decision. League of Minnesota Cities Information Memo: 4/14/2020 Role with It: Individual Versus Council Authority Page 3