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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-06-17 Charter Review CommissionCHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION Monday, June 17, 2024 5:30 PM Emma J. Harvat Hall, City Hall 410 East Washington Street 1. Call to Order and Roll Call 2. Adopt Draft Minutes as Presented or Amended • Draft minutes for 05/23/2024 3. Motion to Accept correspondence (if any) 4. Continue discussion of Review of City Charter: Preamble 5. Continue discussion of Review of City Charter: Article II — City Council 6. Tentative Meeting Schedule — 2nd Tuesday and 41h Thursday @5:30pm, upcoming tentative meeting dates as follows: • Thursday, June 27 • Tuesday, July 30 • Tuesday, August 13 • Thursday, August 27 (Harvat Hall reserved by HRC) 7. Community Comment Charter Review Commissioners cannot engage in discussion or debate in accordance with open meeting laws. Individuals will be provided 3 minutes to speak. The Community Comment period will last no more than 15 minutes. The Chair reserves the right to reduce the 3-minute period based on the number of individuals desiring to speak. Additional comments can be sent to the Charter Review Commission via ICCharter@iowa- city.org . 8. Adjournment If you will need disability -related accommodations to participate in this program/event, please contact Kellie Grace at 319-356-5041, kgrace@iowa-city.org. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs. DRAFT MINUTES CHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION May 23, 2024 — 5:30 P.M. EMMA J. HARVAT HALL, CITY HALL Members Present: John Balmer, Susan Craig, John Deeth, Makenzie DeRoo, Matt Hayek, Molly Kucera, Bijou Maliabo Members Absent: Gerene Denning, Jennifer Patel Staff Present: City Attorney Goers, Deputy City Clerk Platz (Videos of the meetings are available at citychannel4.com typically within 48 hours) ►100TIV 1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL 2. MOTION TO ADOPT DRAFT MINUTES AS PRESENTED OR AMENDED Moved by Craig, seconded by Deeth to approve the April 25, 2024, draft minutes as amended. Commissioner Hayek noted a typo in the last page, last paragraph, 4th line down. Motion carried 7-0, Denning and Patel absent. 3. Motion to Accept Correspondence Moved by Deeth, seconded by Maliabo to accept correspondence from Rod Sullivan and Commissioner Hayek. Motion carried 7-0, Denning and Patel absent. 4. Review of City Charter: Article II — City Council Section 2.06 Mayor Chair Balmer introduced item 4, Article II - City Council, starting with Section 2.06 relating to the Mayor and advised commissioners there would only be discussion at this time and they would not take any action. Commissioner Hayek started the discussion noting his memo to the commission which was included the meeting packet stating the thoughts mentioned came from his background serving on Council appointed commissions, City Council as a Councilor, and as Mayor. Hayek stated he was advocating for maintenance of what is already in place, noting that the system in place makes sense and creates a stronger Council as a whole. Hayek stated true representation of the public should come via a majority of the Council which is best for the entire public and less power vested in a single individual. Chair Balmer mentioned his experiences as Mayor and wanting to lead the Council but also have the body working together. Hayek also added that in many of the communities where the Mayor is elected, they are also non -voting. Hayek stated having a voting Mayor was good for accountability and equalizes the Council if all members have an equal vote on a measure. Charter Review Commission May 23, 2024 Page 2 Commissioner Craig shared feedback from the public who want to vote for the Mayor and understands those views but also sees that the public votes on all seven positions knowing that one of them will be elected Mayor. Craig advised she didn't want a four-year term Mayor and preferred 2-year terms because a change could be made in the elected Mayor if one was needed. Commissioner Maliabo agreed with Craig as her preference was a two-year Mayor, stating it gives someone else an opportunity to serve. Commissioner Deeth felt that the choice of Mayor should go to the public rather than the Council and liked the two-year term for Mayor and the Mayor to be a voting member of Council. Commissioner DeRoo stated she agreed with most of the views already stated and there did not seem to be a strong desire to change how the Mayor functions or to create a more powerful Mayor but to retain a two-year Mayor that is a consensus builder and can effectively run the meetings. DeRoo noted that the current structure has seemed to cultivate that type of person and she would have a high bar for changing the structure, not that she couldn't as conversations or public input comes in. Vice Chair Kucera stated that it's the commission's duty to think about what is best for the City. Also saying they need to think about if it is best to have a City -elected Mayor, noting that even if the Mayor did not have a vote, they would still have a voice and that may be better for the City. Kucera mentioned the Mayor has many roles where it does become a full-time job and not everyone has the ability to do that when they are elected by the Council and would like the commission to look into it more. Chair Balmer stated he believed the Mayor should have a vote and with a Council -Manager system it does not have to be a full-time job, and with a professional staff that is given direction by Council it has functioned very well. Balmer noted the term for Mayor is currently two -years and is comfortable with those terms. Commissioner Deeth reviewed the Iowa City Council election history and historically the Council has elected the candidate who received the most community votes as Mayor. Balmer stated that may be true noting he would not have run for Mayor if it was City -elected but after serving on Council and gaining some experience for a couple of years was comfortable being elected Mayor by the Council. Commissioners discussed the additional duties and time commitment by the Mayor. Vice Chair Kucera urged the commission to continue to receive input from the community to get their views. Commissioner Craig gave the example of two Councilors running against each other for Mayor, noting that if the Mayor is City -elected one of those Council candidates running is going to lose. If the Mayor is Council -elected, both could still be on Council if elected and possibly be Mayor. Section 2.12 Prohibitions City Attorney Goers wanted to highlight the nature of the prohibitions in B and C noting City Council cannot intervene or micromanage staff that are hired by the City Manager. Goers wondered if the offices of the City attorney and City clerk should also apply to this. Chair Balmer agreed and asked the City attorney to draft language for the commission to review. Charter Review Commission May 23, 2024 Page 3 Vice Chair Kucera mentioned Commissioner Denning's submittal included in the May 14th meeting stating Denning had added a Section 2.12(D) regarding the library director and airport director. City Attorney Goers pointed out that the airport director is the only employee at the airport and is appointed by the Airport Commission. Goers also added that the library already had some statutory protections preventing Council from interfering with library staff and stated he would prepare language for the commission to review. Commissioner Craig expressed the language in sections B and C should also reflect the library director. Section 2.08 Appointments (E) Commissioner Maliabo asked for clarification on Section 2.08(E). City Attorney Goers advised that City Council appoints the City Manager, City Clerk, and City Attorney and sets the compensation for those employees. 5. Discuss Summer Schedule Chair Balmer suggested taking the month of August off and hold public input sessions in September on a proposed document. Balmer felt the Commission would be able to submit a preliminary proposal to Council for feedback by the first of the year. The Commission moved to item 6 to discuss the tentative schedule. 6. TENTATIVE MEETING SCHEDULE Due to scheduling conflicts, the Commission agreed to cancel July 9'h and July 25th and scheduled a meeting for Tuesday, July 30th. It was also agreed to move the August 22nd meeting to Thursday, August 27th Deputy Clerk Platz will check on room availability for the meeting changes. 7. COMMUNITY COMMENT: The following individual appeared: Dean Abel. 8. ADJOURNMENT: Moved by Malabo, seconded by DeRoo to adjourn the meeting at 6:43 P.M. Motion carried 7-0, Denning and Patel absent. Charter Review Commission May 23, 2024 Page 4 Charter Review Commission - 2024 ATTENDANCE RECORD NAME TERM EXP. o O A 0 O m A 0 N N A 0 N Oh A 0 Cn A John Balmer 4/1125 X X X X X Susan Craig 4/1/25 X X O/E X X John Death 4/1/25 X X X X X Gerene Denning 4/1/25 X X X O/E O/E Mackenzie DeRoo 4/1/25 X X O/E X X Matt Hayek 4/1/25 X X X X X Molly Kucera 4/1/25 X X X X X Bijou Maliabo 4/1/25 X X X O/E X Jennifer Patel 4/1/25 X X X X O/E Key: X = Present O = Absent O/E = Absent/Excused NM = No meeting --- = Not a member CITY OF IOWA CITY MEMORANDUM Date: 4 Chart To: Charter Review Commission From: Eric R. Goers, City Attorney RE: Responses to May 23, 2024 meeting discussions As part of your discussions at your May 23rd meeting, you asked that I draft proposed changes to Charter section 2.12(B) and (C) to provide the same non-interference protections to the staff of the City Clerk and City Attorney as provided to the staff of the City Manager. You also asked that I draft language accounting for the Library Director and Airport Manager, both of whom are appointed directly by the Library Board of Trustees and Airport Commission, respectively. Below I have copied the present language, along with proposed changes. Section 2.12. Prohibitions. A. A councilmember may not hold any other city office or be a city employee or elected county official while serving on the council nor hold any remunerated city office or employment for at least one year after leaving the council. B. With the exception of the appointment of the chief of the police department and chief of the fire department, which are subject to approval of the city council, neither the council nor its members may dictate, in any manner, the appointment or removal of any person appointed by the city manager, city attorney, city clerk. However, the council may express its views to the city manager, city attorney, or city clerk pertaining to the appointment or removal of such employee. C. A councilmember may not interfere with the supervision or direction of any person appointed by or under the control of the city manager, city attorney, or city clerk. If you also wish to provide similar protection to the Library Executive Director and Airport Manager, and their respective supervisory bodies, I would put forth the following draft: Section Z12. Prohibitions. A. A councilmember may not hold any other city office or be a city employee or elected county official while serving on the council nor hold any remunerated city office or employment for at least one year after leaving the council. B. With the exception of the appointment of the chief of the police department and chief of the fire department, which are subject to approval of the city council, neither the council nor its members may dictate, in any manner, the appointment or removal of any City employee other than the city manager, city attorney, or city clerk. However, the council may express its views to the Library Board of Trustees, Airport Commission, city manager, city attorney, or city clerk, as appropriate, pertaining to the appointment or removal of such employee. Page 1 of 2 C. A councilmember may not interfere with the supervision or direction of any Citv employee other tha Pei Gf the city manager, city attorney, or city clerk. As I mentioned in your last meeting, the Library already enjoys some degree of protection under both Iowa Code and Iowa City Code that the City Manager, City Clerk, and City Attorney lack, but for this Charter language. That said, there is some advantage in the simplicity and breadth of that version. The protections I mentioned come from the following Codes, starting with the Library. Iowa Code § 336. B. The board of library trustees shall have and exercise the following powers: 2. To direct and control all affairs of the library district, as well as to have charge and supervision of the library and its rooms, appurtenances, and fixtures. 3. To employ a librarian and authorize the librarian to employ such assistants and employees as may be necessary for the proper management of the library district. The board shall fix the compensation of such employees. Prior to such employment, the compensation of the librarian, assistants, and employees shall be fixed by a majority of the members of the board voting. Iowa City Code 11-1-2(E): E. Powers And Duties Generally. The board shall have and exercise the following powers and duties: 3. To direct and control all the activities and operations of the library. 4. To employ a librarian and authorize the librarian to employ such assistants and employees as may be necessary for the proper management of the library and fix their compensation; provided, however, that prior to such employment, the compensation of the librarian, assistants and employees shall have been fixed and approved by a majority of the members of the board voting in favor thereof. Likewise, the Airport Commission presently enjoys exclusive control over the airport (other than the ability to sell the airport), and its employees, of which there is only one — the Airport Manager. 13-1-5: POWERS AND DUTIES: A. The airport commission shall have and exercise all the powers granted to cities under the code of Iowa, as amended, except the power to sell the airport_ The commission shall annually certify the amount of taxes, within the limitations of the statutes of the state, to be levied for airport purposes, and upon such certification, the city council may include all or a portion of such amount in its budget. Page 2 of 2