Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-11-12 TranscriptionNovember 12, 2009 City Council Page 1 Council Present: Bailey, Champion, Correia (left at 7:OOPM), Hayek, Wilburn, Wright Council Elect: Susan Mims, Terry Dickens Council Absent: O'Donnell Staff: Helling, Karr, Dilkes Special Work Session With Council Elect/Orientation: Bailey/ So I think we can get started then, right? Great. So, um, Dale, Marian, Eleanor (mumbled) Eleanor? Great! Dilkes/ (away from mic) um, I'm going to pass these out (away from mic) (several talking) Dilkes/ The one on public records (several talking) Bailey/ Oh! Got it! Dilkes/ The one on public records (away from mic) meetings. Sure you want to read it in detail. Um...okay, starting with open meetings. Generally, or if four or more of you are discussing a matter that is within the purview of the City, or the City Council, uh, that constitutes a meeting under the Open Meetings Law, um, that means that notice has to be given to the public that you're going to be having that discussion. The public has access to that meeting, and minutes must be kept. Um, I'd advise you to err on the side of concluding that some things within the purview of the City rather than otherwise, cause a lot of this is, you know, just perception too, um, people see four of you talking...with the conclusion that you're talking about something, involving the City. Um...if...if you're at asocial gathering, the...the law does not apply so that's...that's not a problem. Just keep your conversation to things other than City topics. Um, sometimes you'll be invited, you've heard this so many times (laughter) um, sometimes you'll... Wilburn/ And you deliver it well every time! (laughter) Bailey/ Maybe you could do the harmony for (laughter and talking) Wilburn/ I could do the doo-oops! Dilkes/ Really need to make it more exciting! Um... sometimes you'll be invited to, uh, a meeting, like a neighborhood meeting. Um, and we will determine whether four of you are going...if it's on a City topic, and it usually is, we'll determine whether four or more of you are going and if you are then we'll post it as a meeting and Marian will be there to...to keep minutes. Dickens/ And where is that posted (mumbled) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 2 Dilkes/ Um, they're posted... Karr/ ...we'll go through the posting requirements. Dilkes/ Yeah, there's...there's avariety of places where we're required to...to give notice. Um, the other thing...what we often do with those kind of, um, at those kind of places is just follow (noise on mic) Bailey/ That was me. Sorry! Dilkes/ ...what we call, um, well, a lot of times just have three of you go or less, or we'll do what we call the stump rule, which is if four or more of you are there, um, I think this phrase was coined by Patrick White, um, you just have to pretend like you're tree stumps and not say anything, and (laughter) and not talk to anybody there. Um, a lot of times that doesn't make a lot of sense because if four of you are there it's likely a significant issue and we might as well post it as a meeting so that (both talking) Karr/ And people aren't real happy when you sit there and don't say anything. (laughter) Dilkes/ So, we try to rely on that as little as possible. Bailey/ Although if they've received forewarning, it's taken a little bit better I mean, we did that this summer, so...with that neighborhood meeting. Hayek/ Makes for better meeting for us too! Sorry, can't comment! Dilkes/ Yeah! Um...the exception to open meetings, or what we call executive sessions, and they...the code allows in a number of instances for the Council to talk, um, in closed session. The public can't be present. Um, litigation is often one that we go into closed session for. Um, property acquisition is one we go into closed session for. We can go into closed session for bargaining. Um, and there are a number of other exceptions, but those are the ones we use most often. Um, notice still must be given of those meetings, what they... you know, for instance, if we're going into talk about a... a court case, we'll give notice that we're going in to talk about litigation, using the language of the statute. Um, and Marian has to keep minutes at those, um, meetings. Um...generally those meetings...the minutes of those meetings are not open to the public at all, as a, uh, because they're closed meetings. That does not mean that nobody will ever see those. If we have litigation where a court determines that, um, the conversation that... in that room is relevant to the litigation, um, and not privileged, uh, attorney-client privilege, which it often would be, but if...the Court may determine that and so what you say in those rooms could be seen by...by the public, so you always want to remember that when you're in there. Um, and... and with property acquisition, if, um, once the transaction is complete, those minutes are available under the Open Meetings Act to the public. Um, let's see, subcommittees of the...of the Council. Of course you're...you're...the boards and commissions that you appoint are also subject to the Open Meetings Law. With respect This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 3 to Subcommittees of the City Council, the law isn't completely clear there, that's when, um, for instance we have an Economic Development Committee that's appointed by the Council, and there's three Members of the Council on that Committee. That is considered to be, um, a, um, governmental body and is...we do post and keep minutes, etc. Um, we have a list of committees that, uh, that you'll make appointments to when you have your organization meeting. Some of them are called committees. They're really (mumbled) representatives, and those obviously (mumbled) open it when you're talking to yourself (laughter) so, um...they (several talking) the longer you're here probably even more of that will happen! (several talking and laughing) Helling/ There was legislative proposed that came awfully close to that (laughter) Dilkes/ Yeah, and...and, the other good reason to err on the side of caution when it comes to open meetings is because it leads to bad legislation, um, the whole mess that the University had with their email communications and their...when they were doing their search, um, is...did not help (mumbled) legislature. Um...oh, on executive sessions I...what you'll...what'll usually happen is you'll get a, uh, a memo telling you what the subject of the executive session is, so you know what your vote...you have to vote to go into executive session, so you know what you're voting on when you chose to close the meeting. Um, and...it's almost always a memo from me, or a member of my staff, and we will tell you that we, in our opinion you're entitled to go into closed session and that protects you from...from liability for the most part. Um...public records. This wasn't specific on here, but I just thought I'd just mention it. Um, quickly, uh, citizens of course have the right to request and copy, uh, public records, um, that includes electronic records, um, and it also may include, uh, records that you generate outside of the City system. Uh, just because you're using a City, or a non-City email service...server, for instance, doesn't mean that you're not having a conversation about City business, and therefore, that can become a public record. Um, it's...it's...whether it's a public record or not is more related, at least cases that have looked at it, have generally determined is...is more related to the subject matter of the communication, as opposed to where it is. Um...I think that...that takes us into...most decisions about open records are made by staff. We get numerous requests for records and...and we make decisions about what we're going to release and what we're not going to release, because there's a number of confidential records that we don't have to release, such as personnel records. Um, we have had a number of instances where we get records requests for the Council records, Council communications, um, etc., um, and in that... situation we have to, um, determine what records each of you has relating to that subject. For instance, when um, Mr. Lombardo was terminated we got records requests from the media, which included communications between the Council Members and from the Council Members to Mr. Lombardo, etc., and so we had to work with each Council Member and figure out what they had. Now the Council Members who don't have email, didn't have much. Council Members who keep email, um, have and communicate frequently on email, are more likely to have those types of records. Um, and that's...that's one of the reasons that we advised that you...use a City email and try as much as you can to segregate your...your, um, emails to the City email. If you don't, if you use your, uh, a private email, you need to figure out some way to, um, to file either by hard copy or in your file system your City This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 4 documents, so that we can find them if we need to. Um, it's very arduous to go through emails one by one and determine, you know... if you use the City email, we can search for, we have the capability...I mean, it's not perfect, and I wish it was better; but um, we have the capability to search, um, for...for those. The other...the other problem with emails, or one of the problems with emails, there's a lot...first of all, the best advice is just pick up the phone. Um, people put far too much in emails, um, it just...they just are constantly coming back to haunt them. I find that both in, you know, some of the volunteer work I've done, as well as the City, so use the phone if you can. I know that...people like to communicate by email so it's really unavoidable in some circumstances, but if you're not willing to have that email posted on the board out here, then you shouldn't be (mumbled). Um... Karr/ Just to interject, just because you may not keep the email the sender or the receiver may keep the email. Bailey/ Or send it to a million other closest friends. Karr/ Or send it...so just remember that once you hit send, it's gone. Dilkes/ The other, and...you really shouldn't use email to communicate among yourselves, except maybe one-on-one, um, the other...communications, or email communications can raise open meetings issues, because there have been decisions...Court decisions that have determined that simultaneous email communication by a quorum of a body is a meeting that the public should have had access to, etc. And the problem with...you can never..until you have the facts of the situation, you never know whether you had a meeting or not, because...you know, if...if Council Member A sends to Council Member B, Council Member B immediately sends to C, and C immediately sends to D, and D sends back to A...you might not all that's going on, but that may...when you look at it after the fact, look like four of you were having a conversation. So you just have to be really cautious of that. The other, um, issue with...with email is that, um, and...and with any other electronic use of the City's system is that when you...if you are using a City system (mumbled) some don't, um, you... you want to... City hardware, the City system has to be used just for City business. Um, and you'll have to sign...if you do chose to use the City's email service, you'll have to sign...I think I...we included it in here, the Internet, Intranet Policy, which basically says that it's not your system. It's the City's and the City has access to it. So because of those issues with email, the...my October 22, 2007 memo that's in here, I think is...is still all pretty valid. Karr/ Page 23. Dilkes/ Right, um...the City will only disseminate your, um, your City email address. Um, again, you should combine your email...your, um, City related business to your email address provided by the City, but if you don't, you need to figure out a way to segregate your City documents. Um, Council replies to emails should advise folks despite a tag at the end that...that, um, that may be a public record. We've had a number of situations where people write in and, Marian gets it and then they find out that it's going to go in the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 5 packet and they want to take it back. We don't let them do that. Cause once Marian's got it, it's...um, public record. Karr/ It's on the bathroom wall! (laughter) Dilkes/ Um...okay. That...um, there's a Council...people often write not to...sometimes they write to you individually, and sometimes they pick and chose which of you they want to write to, individually, but sometimes they will just write to "Council." Marian gets all those; she includes them all in the packet. Um, I think one of the...I think we have a pretty good relationship with the press in that we make as much information available just as a matter of routine, um, and I think they know that. Um, they have...there's a folder in Marian's office where if you get, um, Council correspondence, even prior to it's distribution, it goes in that folder, and the press can see that, and I know we're going to have some conversation later about what system you want to use for that. So, um, if you... if you reply to an email that is sent to the Council, it's a good idea to copy in Marian so that, or copy in the Council, or reply to all and... so that she can include a copy of your response in the... in the packet. Wright/ We don't ever actually get the ones that are sent just to Council, do we? (several talking) Dilkes/ You don't get them electronically. Bailey/ Sometimes they do Council, plus our individual (both talking) Wright/ Right, only if they put our individual names in there and...yeah, I'd really like to be able to get the ones that go to Council. Okay. Helling/ If I could just interject, um, in terms of responding to mails, sometimes if it's something that, uh, asks for specific information or... or questions that can be answered, uh, and we're comfortable that your policies or whatever are...are clear enough, then staff will make a response and... and copy Council on that response, and so sometimes when you see that in your packet, you'll see the response is also included. Uh, like I said, asking for information, just...just questions, uh, not rhetorical questions, you know, how could you be so stupid - we don't try to answer that (laughter and several talking) um...or if they're (several talking) sometimes you'll have issues that a lot of people write in about, like the, you know, northside historic preservation, they're just opinions, and we don't try to respond to those. But everybody who does send one gets an acknowledgement that it was received and so they know that...that the email got here. Uh, and when we respond we traditionally tell them that, uh, you don't receive those directly, but they will be included as part of Consent agenda at an upcoming meeting. So, hopefully to the extent we can we've had those (mumbled) sometimes they want specific contact from Council Members, and then it's up to you whether you want to follow up with that or not. Bailey/ And I usually, if I see two or three other Council Members now it, I just forward it to Marian and delete it. I mean, then it's part of our records and she takes care of putting that in correspondence. So...and I think that's an easy way to handle it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 6 Dilkes/ Which raises another issue. I think...there's no obligation to keep your emails, except when we...except when...well...um, if...if we get notice of a claim, or notice of litigation, we immediately send out a...what we call a litigation hold, telling people anybody within the City, and that may include you all, that if they have any documents, they have to keep them. That includes electronic documents. Um, but except for...and then you're under an obligation to keep'em. Um...but except for that situation, there's no law that says you have to keep your emails for...two weeks or one week or an hour or a day, and so what I think is a good idea is to set up a...uh, a delete system for yourself. Decide when you're going to routinely delete, um, your emails. Now, you may have put some of them in files, and... and keep 'em that way, but if you're just keeping a running list of emails, it's nice to be able to say to the people who are requesting documents that, um, you know, Suzanne Mims deletes every two months, and doesn't have those emails. So...um, it's a good idea. I've...we don't have a City...City-wide rule on when to delete and there are a number of issues with...with that, but set up one for yourself. Karr/ Dale, did you want to do travel policy? Helling/ Yeah, I'll do that. Um, we'll talk about travel policy a little bit first, because that's one...that's the written policy. Um, and Council Members' travel is basically according to the same travel policy that we've used for...for, uh, employees for the most part. Um, generally registrations are...are...set, and there's no...there's no, uh, negotiating that or anything, so you just take that into account. Air fares, we hope that, uh, you'll try to get the best air fare you can, and since Marian generally handles that for Council Members, uh, she knows how to go shopping online, and usually comes up with some pretty good deals. Um, and they're, you know, they're...the planes are safe! (laughter and several talking) Karr/ I'm not that cheap! (laughter) Helling/ We don't go cut rates, but... Karr/ Most of the time they have two engines! (laughter) Helling/ Most of the time, yeah, and sometimes they (several talking) Champion/ And a sober pilot, I hope! Helling/ Uh, lodging, more often than not there's a..there's a conference center or something, you can do some shopping sometimes and get better rates, um, than you might ordinarily at a hotel, but generally we'll check and often find that...that the conference rates are lower cost than...than, uh, maybe the competitors, even that are normally lower cost, those competitors can't, you know, can't beat the costs of the conference hotels, in many cases, and the meals, we use the federal form, it's per diem, um, and with...with few exceptions, and that is if a meal is provided as part of...of a conference, then we expect you to...to, uh, eat there rather than claim the per diem for that...that particular meal. Um, there are This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 7 some... some, there's some flexibility for Council Members. Um, and because sometimes, depending on where you are, there may be either a meal that's provided but there may be a group, like if it's a legislative thing or something, there may be a group that's meeting that you want to meet that's going off separately and... and having a lunch, for instance. Uh, and in cases, that's an example, but in cases like that, uh, we...get a receipt and we'll reimburse for that meal. Uh, at... at the actual cost, rather than the per diem rate. Um, same thing for lodging, uh, usually the conference hotel is fine, but um, maybe there'll be a group who's staying at a certain hotel and you need to network with them, and so you go to that hotel, rather than the conference hotel. Um, generally, um, you will advise Council and get Council approval for going on major conferences, that type of thing, unless it's already in the budget, and sometimes it's that the Mayor or the Council Representative such-and-such would go to this specific conference, but otherwise if...if, for like the Iowa League of Cities or something, we generally...we budget for three, four, five Council Members, whatever, and then you know can decide, and again, it's only a projection, so if there's something going on that's close by or something, and all seven of you want to go, uh, you know, that's fine too. Uh, we can amend the budget to...to cover those costs. Um, I guess the only thing...other thing I would emphasize there again then is make your arrangements through Marian. In terms of special, uh, functions, those could be things like, uh, banquets, celebrations, any other things, uh, generally locally, but maybe at a state level, that Council Members are invited to, and maybe it's a blanket invitation to the Council, and for those...those types of things, uh, again, we would ask that you advise Council if you're going to attend. Sometimes it's a local thing...it's, uh, you know, like ICAD banquet or the Chamber banquet or something, basically it's understood kind of any Council Member that wants to go can go. Often times we'll buy a table, um, and then you can just sit there and...and it's covered. Um, we can, you know, certainly...understand that maybe all Council Members will want to go somewhere. Generally we also want to make sure that Marian is aware, so that if there's...stump rule applies, make sure that everybody understands that. Um, and it's something that normally we have in the budget, so if it's...an event or something that's...that maybe that we don't routinely attend, then let us know that and, uh, we can make sure and keep track of that, so if we have to do a budget amendment (mumbled). There are a lot of things you're invited to, uh, probably more than you'll ever be able to go to. Most of them don't have a cost associated, but if they do, you know, particularly local event, uh, we'll cover that for you. Any questions? Karr/ Posting, uh, to follow up with Terry's question on where it's posted. We do have state, uh, requirements for posting of materials. We also have an internal policy of how we do handle, uh, those, and we do try to be consistent with all of our boards and commissions, as well as the City Council. Um, we really accelerated that, uh, over the past year, year and a half, because it's difficult enough for citizens to try and understand how it's done, much less times eighteen boards and commissions if everybody did it separately. Very simply - um, there is a requirement of 24-hours notice to post an agenda. We rarely, rarely go that tight. Um, it's just...it's too easy to get too close, and as Eleanor said, we have a great relationship with our media. We expect coverage. Our citizens expect knowledge of...of information. What we do with Council agendas is, um, the Council agendas are out, uh, and posted 3:00 Thursday afternoon, prior to your Monday/Tuesday This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 8 meeting. They are posted hard-copy in our lobby, as well as at the Library. Um, they are available electronically on the City web site, uh, City government channel, uh, has them as well as the Library channel. Um, you can subscribe to council, uh, agendas, as well as all boards and commission agendas, and we have a new feature on that too. Um, that allows you to not have to get all or none. Um, before with boards and commissions in order to get the Airport Commission you had to subscribe to all boards and commissions. Now we've changed the feature, just in the last week, that you can subscribe simply to get the Airport. Um, so I think that's a benefit to citizens, as well. Um, by doing this we have...by doing it on a Thursday rather than, uh, a Friday, we also have some latitude should technology give us a little bit of a glitch. We still have plenty of time, um, then a business day Friday to correct anything or to, uh, make any adjustments. We can add to the agenda and post it on Monday, uh, prior to your Tuesday night meeting, and we do that occasionally when there's some time-sensitive issues...that do have to get added, or are very routine issues that's easier to take care of than wait two weeks. Okay? Voting procedures...did you want to do anything with that, or the consultation with P&Z? Dilkes/ Yeah, um, there's a memo in the packet about that, page 27. Um, you don't need to know the details of what a motion, resolution, and ordinance are. Generally staff will put it in the form we think it needs to be in, and that's how it'll appear on your...on your agenda. Um, but just very generally, we don't use a lot of motions, um, that's really just direction to the staff, that kind of real simple thing. We...we use mostly resolutions or ordinances. Ordinances are essentially City law, something that governs the behavior of people outside the City, um, and that's, you know, whether it's a speeding, uh, law or a water rate or those kind of things are all done by ordinance. Resolutions are a statement of policy. We adopt all our agreements by resolution. All our Council policies by resolution, that kind of thing. Both resolutions and ordinances require for passage a majority of the Members of the Council, not the majority of the Members present. So always...it always takes four, unless there is a conflict... somebody abstains for a conflict of interest, and in that case where you don't count that person in determining who the...the Members of the Council are. So if you had two people abstaining for a conflict of interest, um, and you had five, then in that case you'd only need (mumbled). The other...the other situation is when the state code requires asuper-majority, um, and then obviously you need to, in order for something to pass, you need to meet that...that super-majority. The most common one we have, there are zoning decisions where there's been a protest, uh, by the person's neighbor in the area to be rezoned, and if you get a certain amount, 20%, within that area, um, it requires a...a, six votes of the Council to pass. Um, we do have a rule, a standing rule, that was adopted by resolution. We had a number of years ago, um, a gentleman on the Council who abstained (several talking) abstained when there wasn't a conflict of interest, really just not wanting to vote, um, and so, and it wasn't completely clear in the law what that meant, um, for the...whether something passed or not, and so we just adopted a rule that says if you abstain for a reason other than a conflict of interest, then you're counted with...with the majority (mumbled) Champion/ It's a positive vote, right? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 9 Dilkes/ Yes. Well, it's...if it's a tie it's in the affirmative. If, you'd only say one person, so you got three/three. They would be counted as the affirmative, but if... if it's five-two, they'd be counted with the five. Um, with respect to conflicts of interest, if, um, if you feel like you...you may have a conflict, I'm the person to call...and you want to talk about it, I'm the person to call about that. Um... Dickens/ Say like the downtown...ped mall, no smoking. I'm located right there, and part of the Downtown Association. Does that become a conflict there? Dilkes/ We...we probably should talk about that. Um, no, I don't think so. Um, generally, um, but conflict analysis is very fact-specific, so you have to just kind of, you know, keep an eye on it, and as facts change and circumstances change. You need to look at it, but...but no, unless generally unless...your business was impacted more significantly than other businesses downtown, that kind of thing. Um...but anyway. I can...I can give...we can just talk about it on the phone if you have an issue and I can...I can tell you what I think. If it's a bigger issue you can...and you can always request me to do a formal opinion. Oh, um, the consult policy for Planning and Zoning, um, the City has for years had a policy. It is now a part of our Zoning Code, but for years it was just a policy, that...that if you, if a recommendation comes out of P&Z, and it appears by informal consensus that the Council is inclined to vote against the P&Z recommendation then there's a requirement that you have a consult with P&Z before you actually vote, or at least take your final vote. Karr/ I'm going to very quickly run through B, C, and D (unable to hear person away from mic) Yeah! (laughter) Helling/ Put this back on! (laughter) Okay, just general in contact...a Council Member's contact with staff, you know the arrangement -the staff works for the City Manager, and the City Manager works for the Council, and so, um, the City Manager's responsible for the staff, particularly department heads, but for other staff too, to make sure priorities are...are followed and that work loads are reasonable, uh, according to those priorities, and...so if there are major kinds of, uh, issues or things that require more than just routine responses or a little bit of, you know, or a little bit of research that a department director, or their staff, might have to do, then you know... it's... it's, uh, I would prefer and I think most managers would prefer that you come to them, and indicate what it is...what you want. A lot of that stuff will come up at a Council meeting where...look to see if a majority of the Council wants that kind of a...a research project done and what we're...or whatever it might be. Um, but having said that... again, you know, I encourage Council Members to...to speak directly with and have direct contact with department heads and division heads, and sometimes, uh, other people in, you know, single offices like for instance Marcia and the Neighborhood Services' office, uh, to have that one-on-one contact, get to know staff. They can answer your questions...you know, do a...get you information maybe a little bit of information that they don't have at their fingertips, uh, it's just those major things that...it would constitute a major assignment or whatever that is, but uh, would demand appreciable work on the part of the department director or the staff. Uh, on other kinds of issues, you can use your own judgment. I don't want to know every This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 10 time a Council Member contacts a staff person and asks questions, but I would like to know if there's, you know, there's an ongoing sort of project or something that's going on, uh, and...and be aware of that and...and updated on that. So, it's really a judgment kind of thing, but I do want to stress again that, you know, I would like you to have that regular contact to the extent that...that you need to with the staff, particularly with the department directors, and get to know them and that's one way to do that, and... and get your questions answered (mumbled) same time. Generally if it's something I should know, if you don't let me know they probably will. Okay. Dilkes/ Oh, I had one thing to say about contact with staff. I put in, um, in your packet of materials the list of the attorneys in my office and what their assignments are. Um...you know, we...anybody will cover anything, depending on who walks in and who's available, but generally these are who...these are the assignments for each of these attorneys. Karr/ That's on page 56. Dilkes/ ...and your, um, you're free to contact, you know, sometimes you know for instance you'll get a memo from them, um, that describes what's happening in a certain...in a court case and I encourage you to call them if you have questions. They'll let me know what they think, that I need to be involved. I, um, work a 60% schedule, um, or I have a 60% appointment. Um... (laughter and several talking) um... and my general office hours...I'm generally in the office on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I am often in the office on Thursdays and Fridays, but it's more sporadic, um, and so the best time if you want to reach me is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, um, I certainly (mumbled) that's not a problem. Oh, and...when I am not there, Sarah Holecek who is the First Assistant City Attorney (mumbled) things. Karr/ Decided not to be short with B, C, and D, and be long (mumbled). Um, when we talk about many of these items, most of them are flexible and determined by you and your schedules. Um, very few of them cannot be altered or tweaked, as the case may be. Um, one of them that cannot be, by our Home Rule Charter, is the organizational meeting, and that must be between January 2nd and noon on January 6th, and that is in our, um, Home Rule Charter. Uh, we...and as we talk about the schedule that's one thing that we...we try and, um, take a look at. We do have that flexibility between the 2nd and noon the 6th, um, the organizational meeting is very simply, um, a time to, uh, that among yourselves you elect the Mayor, the Mayor Pro-Tem, and make your committee appointments. It is a special formal meeting. Other items can be added to it, um, traditionally it has not been more than that, but that is only been, again, uh, a tradition, or because of the time of day that was decided to do it, rather than having a longer period of time available to us. Um, so having said that, um, the work sessions and the formals are established by you. I did put a brief memo on the history of work sessions, um, in the packet for you. We have held work sessions a number of years now at 6:30 on Mondays, preceding your Tuesday meetings at 7:00. We have a resolution that establishes the first and third Tuesday at 7:00 P.M. Again, it is a resolution, um, and you can decide to continue or change that as the case may be. The order of items on the agenda is also established by resolution. Again, I This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 11 included that in there. There are some reasons why we do the things we do, and before you change them -not to talk you out of it - I would like to share that history with you should you...should you be interested, and if not I won't bore you. Um...so...given that, uh, before we look at the schedule...I know, Dale, did you want to talk about little bit about the, uh, the current resolution on 1 and 3? Tuesdays, first and third Tuesdays? Helling/ Oh, yeah, that's...that is and has been for quite some time, but my experience has been and, you know, it's...this is not scientific, but my experience has been that it's often changed...we're probably meeting on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays just about as much as you meet on the first and third, um, overall the...the conflict with holidays, Monday holidays in particular, um, probably over the year there would be one or two less conflicts if you met on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday. Uh, however, Council has always adapted fairly well and with the combining of meetings, uh, it seems to have worked out, but if you want... if you want a standard, uh, meeting time that probably will have at least one or two fewer conflicts during the year with holidays, then probably the second and fourth Tuesdays would...would work best. Bailey/ We can do that. Helling/ Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of reasons why (mumbled) Karr/ Just food for thought, um, now I'm going right into one of my goals for tonight is (laughter) the sooner we determine the, uh, "regular" meeting schedule for January, February, March, um, the better. We are heading into the last part of November, obviously. We will be setting public hearings on some projects and things coming up very quickly. We won't...we don't have...we don't know the schedule on how that relates until you determine your schedule for the regular meetings. Um, I drafted something, starting on page 41, again, it's a draft. It's a target. We can move. Um, I don't know how you wish to approach it, um, I would suggest that we concentrate primarily first and foremost on those regular work sessions and formals. And get those nailed down, and then we can back into, uh, any changes we want to make with the organizational meeting or budgets, which are a little bit...certainly the budget's a little bit more fluid. Um...so I guess, was there anyone that had any problems or any reasons to change the work sessions and formals. They start on page 41, they start with the 11th and 12th. Champion/ I have a complaint. (laughter) Karr/ You have a concern, yes! Champion/ Oh, it's actually a complaint! (several talking) The 11th, 12th, and 13th...I really resent three nights in a row of meetings, for myself and staff and the rest of us. And I'm just wondering if it's possible to combine the work session with the 12th. I mean, I know you don't know what's going to be on that work session. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 12 Karr/ It certainly is possible. It...we can do any...and knowing ahead of time is the key. Uh, we can do anything you want. We certainly can combine it. You can move the 13th. Champion/ Yeah, I'm just saying I don't like three nights in a row. I love all of you, but not that well! (laughter) Karr/ We, again, I...that's where it gets a little bit hazier on whether you want to...we can move the 13th or we can combine the 1 lth and 12th. Bailey/ I would rather move the...would you accept the 14th? If it's not three nights in a row or... Champion/ No, that would be all right. Karr/ Move it to the 14th? The 13th to the 14th? Bailey/ (several talking) that wouldn't work (mumbled) Karr/ Yeah, we certainly could do that. Hayek/ Combining the 11th and 12th kind of gets us to that part of the conversation where we need to determine whether we want to continue with separate work sessions and... Bailey/ Yeah, should we talk about that first? Karr/ Sure! Bailey/ Do we want to continue our... Karr/ (both talking) Wright/ Combining the meetings, you mean? Bailey/ I like the Monday, Tuesday, just because it gives you time to look into things. But...I think that's why it was set, right? Wright/ Inevitably I think the work session gets shortchanged when we have a combined meeting. Bailey/ I do too. Champion/ Oh, I think the work session's been, uh, pretty short since we don't discuss Planning and Zoning items at the work sessions anymore. Um, I mean, I'm not for combining them - I'm not saying that. When we do it...we do combine them a lot if there's a conflict with somebody. We try to make the schedule so everybody will be there, um, I just personally don't like three nights in a row. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 13 Bailey/ Did you want to combine? Hayek/ No, I mean, it's tempting because, you know, for obvious reasons, but uh, in my experience...first of all it makes for an extremely long night. Second, it squeezes down the work session, you know, and a lot of questions come up at a work session that are related to the Council...the formal meeting, and we'll want a...some additional information from staff, and... and they can do it if it's 24 hours later. They can't do it if it's 20 minutes later. So all things equal, it's probably best to stick with (several talking) Bailey/ I think it allows us to do better work. Wilburn/ And sometimes it's helpful to mull something over night, having received the new information or something (several talking) Bailey/ Or even, yeah, initial discussion, I mean, if it's on a zoning item, initial discussion on colleagues is helpful for...okay. There you have it. Karr/ Okay, so...we've decided we're going to keep the work sessions and formal (both talking) Mims/ No, I would agree. I think that sounds better to me. Karr/ And did we decide that the 11th and 12th are fine, but move the 13th to the 14th was what I believe we heard? Bailey/ (mumbled) Karr/ Is that... Wright/ That's what I heard. Karr/ Okay. Dickens/ I will be gone the 25th, but trying to fly back the 26th. Karr/ Okay. Dickens/ Savannah, Georgia. Karr/ Okay. Um... Bailey/ Did you want to go through this or how did you want to... Karr/ Again, I...I can do it... approach it any way... as I said, concentrating if I may at the work sessions and the formals, 11th and 12th, 25th, 26th...Terry just shared with us he will be gone the 25th, and is attempting to be back the 26th. Um... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 14 Champion/ So we can combine those two meetings. Karr/ That's...that's up to you...you all. Bailey/ That's our general practice is to have everybody here. I mean, are we in agreement of that...continuing that attempt? As...as much is as possible? Wright/ (mumbled and several talking) we do shortchange the work session. Bailey/ We don't want to shortchange colleagues either. Wilburn/ I think, um...as much as is possible, but I think there's also something, um...I mean, there are going to be times when...I don't want to slow the wheels of government down, if I...if I can't...I mean I'm looking right away at, uh, I have to do the 26th, 27th, and 28th I'm going to be doing a site review for the Bettendorf School System, so I'm just going to be gone and...I wouldn't want to hold... Bailey/ Well, do you want us to...I mean, I think that then becomes up to the individual Council Member too, if they're willing to say, I'm willing to miss. Wilburn/ Yes, yeah. Bailey/ (mumbled) Wilburn/ Um... Bailey/ Do you want us to switch it to the 19th combined? Wilburn/ No, I'm not asking...I'm not asking for that. Bailey/ So we're combining the 26th potentially, and Ross will be gone potentially. Is that... Karr/ So we're combining, okay, we'll combine the 25th. So we've got 11/12, and 26 for formals, right? Champion/ Yeah, 1 think it's a good thing to do, especially since we have a new Council Member and he's going to miss a work session. Karr/ Okay. Then we can... do you want to continue with the regular work sessions through March? You want to stay in January? Bailey/ I'd like to nail a month at a time. Karr/ Month at a time? Okay. I have right now I've got tentatively planned for 6:30 P.M. the organizational meeting on the 5th. I did that for a couple of reasons, and... and Regenia This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 15 also had mentioned the possibility of maybe starting with the budget that same evening if we do an evening, rather than a noon meeting or something that... so rather than coming twice, trying to utilize the time spent for the organizational meeting and going right into the overview of the budget. It's a little different than we've done in past years, but...okay? Wright/ I'm fine with that (several talking) Karr/ Okay. And then we'll go right into the 6th. Now I need some direction on the 6th. That's the capital projects, as staff...there's alot of staff involved in that. There's a lot of overlap. It's a good idea also for you I think to have all the projects put out in one day. It does take a day. So I guess I need some input on whether you want to do an 8 to 5, a 1 to 9, you know, what works best if we're looking at a day for capital projects and if that day were Wednesday the 6th. Bailey/ I defer to people who are less flexible. Champion/ 8 to 5. Wright/ Just from an energy perspective, 8 to 5. Wilburn/ That's fine (several talking) Champion/ 1 to 9 is not... Dickens/ Otherwise I get to work from 7 (mumbled) Karr/ Okay. 8 to 5. And we'll firm up the schedule with you. Then we've got, um, 11th, 12th, 14th the next week. We've got the holiday the 18th. Continue with budget discussions the 19th and 20th, and at this point that's a look at trying to wrap up the 20th, uh, with the budget, so that that would give staff the following week to put fine details and adjustments, and if they need to have something else for budget we can still work it in later that week, because we are setting public hearing on February 2nd on the budget, and once we set it, we have figures nailed down. Bailey/ And I just did want to note, I mean, that the joint meeting, we still have scheduled on the 20th, right, which would be at 4:00. Karr/ Uh-huh. Bailey/ So that might be a... Karr/ That's in North Liberty on the 20th. No, the joint meeting with Coralville (mumbled) boards and commissions would move to the 14th. Helling/ (mumbled) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page l6 Karr/ Yep! Helling/ Okay. Hayek/ We, uh, how do we feel about the 6:30 start time for work sessions? I'm okay with it (several talking) Bailey/ ...earlier or later or.. . Champion/ I wouldn't want 'em any earlier! Hayek/ That's fine. No, I think the question would be would we do it at 7:00 or... Champion/ 7:00 would be perfect. I could actually eat before I got here! But I've been bitching about that for a long time (laughter) Bailey/ There's going to be some (mumbled) with this group! (laughter) Wright/You can tell we waste a lot on decorum! (laughter) Bailey/ Was there any interest in going to 7:00 for work sessions? I don't care. Wright/ I don't really care. Karr/ We can always change it! One way or the other! (several talking) Um, February, right now you've got I and 2, and 15 being a holiday, and 16. You also have then that second week, which I did not put on here, which you'll be discussing is, uh, the DC lobbying trip. But it does work into the budget just fine to go with the 2nd and the 16th. 16th, um, we'd have a combined, again, because of the holiday, and I think those are the type of situations Dale was referring to that... if it were a 2nd and 4, versus a 1 and 3, and that's the public hearing on the budget. Traditionally you don't vote the same night. You certainly can, but you have not. You've done that and then saved it for the next time to vote, and that goes to then the 2nd of March... for your adoption of the budget, and that's the first quarter that I'm proposing. Bailey/ The one thing I would note, and I mentioned this to you, Marian, is, um, we also have another task of, uh, a search, and... Karr/ Yep, I've got that on the agenda as well. (both talking) no, no that's all right. We can talk about it now. Bailey/ Well, we might want to stick in a meeting, or add it to a work session, and expect to have a longer work session to talk a little bit about setting, laying that out, and how we want to proceed. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 17 Karr/ I think, um, speaking for staff, you certainly...at the last time you discussed the City Manager search, you wanted to wait for the new Council, until "after the budget." Well, you've got a...two and a half months that you're saturated with budget, but if there's anything staff could be doing, as a result, you know, that's down time that we could be ready for you to approach it then after you're finished with the budget. (both talking) Bailey/ ...planning discussion we wanted to have, either add it to a work session. We know that we'll spend some time on it, or add a special meeting...or an additional work session meeting. I would be inclined to add it to a work session and just have a longer evening, but... Champion/ (mumbled) think it's important that we give the new Council people enough time to kind of understand how the City operates and works before we send them on a manager search. (laughter) Bailey/ But having an initial discussion about what...what is our...what kind of timeline might be preferable, are we going to use the PAR Group again. Wilburn/ An organization meeting for it. Bailey/ yeah, just laying it out so... Dilkes/ I think one of the key things is that if...if...is deciding whether you're going to use the PAR Group again. Um...because if you're not going to use the PAR Group again, we have to...there's a whole process about hiring a consultant that precedes the... Karr/ And that definitely affects your timeline. Dilkes/ And so that...that's something that we could be working on while you're doing budget, if that's (mumbled) Bailey/ Well, and it seems reasonable potentially to add it to the February 1st work session, because the...the last work session in January is combined. If we could add it to that work session, I don't know...I don't know what our load is looking like, but...we could target that. Karr/ Okay. Put it on the pending list, with that date in mind, the February 1? Bailey/ What do others think? Wright/ I think that (mumbled) Bailey/ Okay. All right. Dickens/ just a question on that January 26th, do we start earlier then when we have the (mumbled) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 18 Karr/ We do, and we...we don't always know, Terry, how much earlier, cause we don't know what the agenda's like. We tentatively look at 5:30. And we look at 5:30 just because it allows. people... and again, that's another thing I guess we need to talk about is, when we do have a special need to do this, what works is can you start as early ass 4:30. We've had Councils that could start at 4:30. We've had others that couldn't start till 5:30. Is there a preference so that we know as staff when we do need to combine, or to call a special meeting, what time works for you generally speaking? Dickens/ 5:30 generally (several talking) Karr/ Yeah, don't let me out early to go back to work. I want to (laughter) Bailey/ The other question... Mims/ I could go as early as 4:30, I mean, so...I'm flexible. Karr/ We tentatively put in 5:30, and then adjust it... Dickens/ If need be I can...my brother's there so...he needs to work once in a while! (laughter) Wright/ 4:30 is going to get problematic with me as a "single parent." Karr/ Yeah. Wright/ I gotta get home at some point and make sure that dog gets outside, which sounds trivial, but... Karr/ No, and that's (several talking and laughing) so generally 5:30 is what (several talking) Bailey/ There's one question I have about March that the second meeting, is that spring break, and does that have an impact on anyone? Karr/ It is...I know the wrestling tournament is that week. It starts Wednesday in Omaha. I do know that! Um...(several talking) you'll be okay on that one? Bailey/ Okay, I just wanted to double check. Sometimes that... Karr/ Sometimes spring break does...thank you. Champion/ When is spring break? (several talking) Oh, I don't think we should meet on spring break. We never have before. Wright/ I don't see why that would matter. Champion/ Cause I take my grandchildren on spring break. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 19 Bailey/ Well, that's why I was asking...who, I mean, sometimes spring break...(several talking) Karr/ Do you want to move it to the 22nd, 23rd? It's...when we got the budget passed the 2nd, it's not as critical, you know, if we know ahead of time. You've got five week...five Tuesdays that month. Do you want to move it to the 22nd, 23rd? Bailey/ I don't. I don't have a preference. I was just checking. So if that has an impact... Champion/ It would on me. I mean, I...just because I always take grandchildren somewhere on spring break. Bailey/ Let's do the next week then! (several talking) Karr/ 22nd, 23rd. And then, again, we usually go a quarter at a time, and I'll be back to you probably in February. We'll take a look at it again. Okay? Bailey/ Hardest work we do -the schedule. Karr/ Um, packet...let's see, Dale, was there anything...no, I think you're okay for the (mumbled). Um, packet preparation, distribution - as we mentioned earlier, um, we try and have a tentative agenda prepared, uh, by Tuesday for a staff meeting we have internally on Wednesday morning. By that time we like to have pretty much a... a rough draft skeleton, uh, of the agenda. Uh, the City Manager will, um, then make assignments as necessary, take care of loose ends. We go to print on the agenda at 9:00 Thursday morning. So that's why it's critical that if we want something done, to start it late...the finished product is definitely affected by the tardiness. Items that have to be reviewed by the City Attorney, which is all legislation that you're acting upon, uh, we do have a schedule, as well, that the City Attorney's office would like it, uh, previous Monday so that they have time to review it, and again, have it ready to go to print at 9:00 A.M. Uh, we...by going to print very simply it means that...that it is compiled, it is scanned, and while we're linking - we have an outside printer pick up the originals and return the bound copies here - uh, for distribution then at 3:00, along with the, uh, web link...capabilities as well. Um, those are our deadlines. Late items, as I mentioned before, we do have to adhere to the 24-hour, uh, meeting, um I... we generally as staff will, when you're meeting on Monday night, we will give you aheads-up of any late, last minute agenda items, and we also then will post it as well, uh, on the same sites that we've identified earlier. Um, board and commission applications, uh, and gender balance. We do have, uh, 19 boards and commissions, and if you've got...looked at your agenda recently this is the time of year that we have a lot of them due, but we also are seeing certainly a lack of interest in our application procedure. Um, in addition to that, we have another opportunity that the legislature afforded us on gender balance. Dilkes/ I put a (several talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 20 Karr/ Well we...we're kind of hoping by getting a jumpstart on it quite frankly, Susan, we're hoping by getting a jumpstart on it, and by that it doesn't go into affect and Eleanor will go through that till, but we're hoping that we can maybe show the legislature by practice some of the maybe things they didn't consider about the practicality of it. Mims/ ...one person is just ridiculous to me! Champion/ We do pay attention to gender balance. Mims/ Well, I know, but I... Champion/ ...of the commission. Mims/ Yeah, well, but to have it within one person just seems extreme to me. Dilkes/ Um...I put the memo, or we put the memo in the packet, page 49, about the new House, or law that goes into effect in 2012, which is why we're hoping to get as much gender balance as we can before 2012 so we're not, um, not too difficult once we get there. Um, essentially what the law says is you have to have gender balance on boards and commissions that are required by a state code, unless you've made agood-faith effort to appoint a qualified person to fill a vacancy. Um, the law does not require that you...that you fill a vacancy with someone you believe to be unqualified. Um...that's going to be an interesting discussion, if we ever get there, because I don't recall, I mean, there's always a...there's some discussion about who would be the better fit and what the...that commission needs, but we don't have a whole lot of qualifications for our City boards and commissions. So, um... Karr/ Breathing...breathing and living in town. (laughter) Dilkes/ Um, and so what Marian and I are doing right now is trying to work through the procedure so we can give you three months to try and make it...make a gender balanced appointment and then... Dickens/ Do you leave the board unfilled then if you don't get... Karr/ For 90 days. Dilkes/ So what we're trying to do though is back up, you know, from where we might have advertised, and I'm just using these as examples, we might have advertised a month in advance or two months in advance. We're going to advertise earlier and bring it to you earlier to that we've got three months before the opening occurs. That kind of thing. Um, and then the other decision you'll need to make that we'll be talking about is whether you want to just do this on the ones that are required, which are the state requirement boards and we'll give you a list of what those are. Or you want to extend it to...to everything else, so... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 21 Dickens/ So this law doesn't go to every board, just state boards? Dilkes/ No, it doesn't. Just the state required ones, which is a lot of'em. Karr/ We'll provide you with a list of both so you can see that, and then make that decision. Dilkes/ The...the down side to not applying it to every...every board is then we've got two different, um, procedures... Karr/ And when somebody applies for this one we handle it differently than that one. Dilkes/ (several talking) put that on your agenda (mumbled) yeah. Um, I did want to mention one more thing about zoning, cause we were...I had a note to myself. Um...a few years ago the Iowa Supreme Court characterized, uh, rezoning decisions as "quasi judicial." Um, which means that...you know, some of those, um, impartiality rules that...that attach to judicial decisions, and that kind of thing, apply to your rezoning decisions, and so we put a process in place after that decision, and we do not talk about rezonings at the work session. All the discussion about rezonings is done at the formal, um, and so presentations by both, for instance the developer and staff are all done at that meeting, um, the tedious part about it is that if you have communications about a rezoning, um, your...what we call ex parte communications, you have to disclose that you've had those communications at the time of the, um, public hearing, and then first, second, and third consideration if you've had more. Dickens/ Often a developer will come to you with something or... Dilkes/ Right. Right. Um, the...the decision we were making...could have given you...you had two options at the time. One was just to say don't have 'em, don't have any ex parte communication. There are some cities in Iowa that have done that. That's the advice that's been given to, um, and the other option is to do what we're doing, um, and you're...when you disclose your ex parte communications you need to just disclose who it was with and generally the substance of it. The idea is that everybody should know what you all know so that they can respond to it. Um... so.. . Karr/ Okay? Um, one thing that, uh, we touched briefly on, and I just want to mention it and see if, again, there is any interest to make, uh, any changes or to further explain why we do what we do, um...again, a quorum is four. Whenever...electronically allows people to simultaneously send a letter to all of you, via email. You can't talk on the telephone to a quorum of you at once, but...and you can't post...put a postage stamp on a letter going to all of you at once, but on email it's very easy, and this is proven then some challenges as far as management of those files, and also assisting you in not only that management, but in the protection of correspondence and responses. What we do currently is as alluded to is if it comes in to Council, as a block -just Council, City Council as a block - we will get it, the City Manager's office gets it. We will print a copy. You will get it in the next packet. Uh, as Dale has alluded to, if there's a response or a staff direction, they wi11...Dale will take it from that point, um, if it goes to you at your individual addresses, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 22 I don't get it. Um, if it goes to a quorum of you at the individual addresses, uh, you've been very good about sending me a copy. We put it in the packet, and that includes even when you respond. Many of you then have responded back, but then will include that response. That has resulted in the potential of a, um, someone else seeing it, like a media person coming in and asking for it before you would see it in your packet. Packets come out on Thursdays. Um, and so if a media person came in, or a lot of times what else happens is the individual will send it to the four of you, or even council, and then they'll see... see the Press-Citizen. And you know, because again, it's just the same button, and so you'll get a call from the Press-Citizen before you've ever seen the letter, or the Gazette or whatever. Um, it...this method is not foolproof, but we do it, again, so we can track it, so we can archive it, we can log it in and we can protect you from getting into a discussion and then as...as Regenia pointed out, you respond back, they then take an excerpt out, send it to another Council Member, said Regenia said this and then you get into a whole chat room type of a thing. That's what we do right now. There is a downtime. You will get it. Worse case scenario, you will get the...the letter a full week behind. If it came in at 2:00 on a Thursday, the packet went to print at 9:00, you'll get it the following Thursday...unless you meet on Monday or Tuesday of the following week and it's something on your agenda. Then you'll get... anything on your agenda, we hand out Monday night to keep you informed. If it is a concern or something that is not time- sensitive, it's not on your agenda, you would not get it until the following one. Questions? Wright/ So, an individual though can still send an email to Matt and me and Regenia and Susan and Terry and Connie, all our individual email addresses, and Ross, I'm sorry (laughter) at our individual email addresses. Bailey/ Just like they can send a letter to your individual home. Karr/ Yes. Wright/ Yes. So what you've...is in effect the same thing as sending it to the Council...email address. Karr/ Except the way that we get it (both talking) yes, and I cannot include that, unless you furnish it back to me, or...yes, that's correct. Bailey/ Yeah, and that's a good point, because if it's sent to individual email addresses, unless cognizant of actually getting it to Marian, then if...if it's just to me, I've got to think about that. Wright/ I think we do need to be cognizant of...of getting a response to you. Um, but that also...kind of negates the value of that Council email address in my book. Karr/ Well, we try as much, for those of you who visited, um, the Council web page recently, we try as much as we can to really play up the Council email address. Right to Council, and that's first and foremost, and that's there and I, you know, it's like you'll click on This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 23 it...however, it doesn't take rocket science to figure out...to follow the picture and underneath it is the, you know. Wright/ And even... Karr/ But that's the same way with phone numbers and anything else, Mike. They mail it to you. Wright/ Even if we want to keep some kind of a time embargo, I'm fine with that. I still would like to get the electronic at some point, rather than just only getting paper. Karr/ Well, my only concern there, and this is a...a good time to discuss it is, previously we didn't have seven Council Members who get electronic email and I'm very cognizant of being fair on the distribution of material in a timely fashion to all seven of you. So certainly for me to hit forward is not the problem. It's whether the seven of you agree that you would not get it at the same time. Responses you would...responses would come...I mean, that's entirely up to you. Wright/ An embargo is fine, if you want to keep it until the packet goes out, but sometimes I really would appreciate having the electronic version. Mims/ Have we had any issues from the public? I mean, questioning why it...if they have realized that it takes us so long sometimes to get emails, questioning... Karr/ I would categorize them as two issues, one of them are those that feel they should get a response to every letter, and that goes to what Dale mentioned earlier. Mims/ Right. Karr/ And I think those are the primary ones we hear from. The other group that, yes, occasionally they'll say I sent it to you a week ago, and I haven't heard from you. Well, it's very possible you haven't gotten it yet. Wright/ That's the case (both talking) Karr/ ...look at what you did to your March schedule, for instance, you went from the 2nd to the 23rd. So you went for two full weeks in there, so if something came in March 3rd, you won't get it... Bailey/ And that's why you want to get it electronically before. Wright/ Yes. Champion/ Well, I'm probably the only one who has the secret email address. Karr/ No, no, I mean, Mike and...Mike did not have email. So Mike didn't either, and it's not secret, because if you go back to what Eleanor said, if we all use our City ac counts, it's This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 24 your name, Iowa-City.org, but it doesn't do any good to send them to those accounts if the majority of you aren't going to use them regularly, or except the fact that those who do use them regularly may have a jump on you as far as correspondence. Bailey/ I prefer to receive correspondence...we're going to get it next week. I'm not sure I want to see it in my...I don't...I don't think I want to see it electronically. Wright/ There's times though when I'd like to be able to respond to some of those that come electronically. Bailey/ Yeah, I get that point. Wright/ Without having to cut sections and paste. Bailey/ Right, of course. Wright/ Well, you can't even cut and paste. It's (several talking) it's retyping. Bailey/ Yeah, you are. Wright/ There are some of those that really deserve a response from Council Members. And it's very difficult to do that. And I do make it a point to try and respond to every email that I get. Karr/ You certainly could, um, attach the pdf to your email, the original letter, and say I'm...you know, when it comes out you could say I'm responding to this...you don't have to retype the letter. You'd attached it. Wright/ If it's in a real pdf and not in laserfiche. Bailey/ You can turn laserfiche into pdf. Karr/ But laserfiche is a pdf if you pdf the file. Wright/ Not to my computer! (laughter) Karr/ Maybe not, okay. Bailey/ (mumbled) There's a command at the top. Wright/ I tried that one time and it crashed. Bailey/ Oh, yeah! Wright/ But that...maybe that was my old computer, so maybe the new one's a little better. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 25 Karr/ You don't have a problem with... Mims/ No, I haven't had a problem. Karr/ But I mean, again...for me to send it is not the issue. I just wanted you to understand the ramifications of some of you who check it more regularly than others, and whether that is something you want to accept. Mims/ Everybody has the City email. It's just a choice if whether they use it or not. Karr/ Once you are, um, sworn in and become a Council Member you do get a City email, yes. Um, yes, and we'll go through that with you, yes, and you also have the availability of a City laptop. Um, some have chosen to keep their own laptops, and utilize it and others...it's entirely on, and again, we're back again to how you wish to respond then as individual Council Members, and so a person may get three or four responses and they may...conflict, but, you know, how you want that then...put that into the record or... Dilkes/ I mean, in some ways there's, you know, it... if someone corresponds with "the Council," the Council cannot respond to that...that email. Karr/ A Council Member. Dilkes/ A Council Member can, so it's only...it's almost more logical to wait for a Council response to a Council question, and if they want to question you individually, then send it to you individually. You know what I mean? And what if they get, yeah, three different responses from three different Council Members. That's not a (several talking) Wilburn/ Which is highly likely! Bailey/ Yeah, it is. Dilkes/ Yeah, right, when you guys haven't talked about it. Karr/ Or I can also see where one would give the response that others did, and another one would check with a staff member to see if there was some...another way to approach it, and then come back a different way and no one is wrong, but it certainly perhaps conflicting to the individual receiving it. Bailey/ That's very different than if somebody's asking you specifically about your position on something, versus a City policy, because then they would get multiple... Karr/ And that's why we have the automatic response that Dale had mentioned earlier that says it will be put on the next agenda, um, so that the individual knows, okay, number one I got it; number two Council as a whole can be talking about it and can respond. Um...but, as I said, it's just our internal policy. It's totally up to you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 26 Mims/ I guess my...I haven't really thought through this, but I guess my preference would be to have it forwarded, if that's not... seen as a negative from other people who aren't going to look at it frequently. It doesn't mean I'm going to respond to it. But simply to be aware, especially when you've got a two or three week lag sometimes with... Karr/Well, you wouldn't have three. That would be very unusual, but you could have two. Mims/ Two, um... Bailey/ Could we have it forwarded with...this is making more work, but an indicator of which packet it'd be in? Right? Karr/ Sure. Oh, yeah, we would know that at the time. Bailey/ Yeah. That would make it easier for me to say, okay, how am I going to deal with this, is it two or three weeks before our next meeting when we're discussing this, is this addressed specifically to a particular Council, I mean, the way one or two, I voted, or...that would help me (several talking) Mims/ ...don't respond necessarily (both talking) Bailey/ ...agenda item on that sort of...that I know that we'll all be discussing and there will be a vote so there will be some...that would help me know how to...how I would file it essentially. Mims/ I don't know. Do others see it as problematic? If it...if it is forwarded, and then we're all kind of looking at it individually? I mean, I... Hayek/ I mean, I don't care particularly one way or the other. Ultimately when we discuss it as a group we will have had it in the written packet that we've all viewed. And so that... catches.. . Bailey/ And you want to get a response, I mean, talk a little bit more about your desire. You want to get a response out, or... Wright/ Um, well in the first place as I said, it's...I didn't even think about the fact that the laserfiche can be pdfd and maybe with the new machine I can do that a little more gracefully. Um, it's...it would be nice if we could work it to even simply have the email, you know, text is text. Bailey/ Forwarded? Wright/ Yeah. Um, I'm perfectly content to, um, not respond in certain situations. Certainly there are some of those I wouldn't want to respond to until after something else had happened, or the Council had met and discussed the issue. But there are other times This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa (;ity t,ity c:ouncii special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 27 when a letter is sent to Council about a specific issue that the Council's not necessarily going to be discussing...that is deserving of a response from Council Members. Dilkes/ But it will be on your agenda as correspondence, therefore you can discuss it. I mean, it's...it's part of your agenda. I think the danger is, if you want to kind of agree that they're going to be forwarded so that you can have an awareness of what's going on, out there...um, is fine. It's the replying to it that I think becomes problematic. If you...if you...if there was one that came to Council and it really piqued your interest and it was something you were interested in, then I would advise you to call the person individually or...that kind of thing. But I don't think...I don't think it's wise for individual Council Members to be replying to emails to the Council. Dickens/ Or if we have a question we should call you, or Marian, to see if we should respond. Wright/ I'd be fine with that, even just getting it earlier so that we're aware. Karr/ And just again, the other thing that I can see happening is that then the media will start calling you and some of you...will have it or respond, and the rest of you, if you don't check... your emails for a period of time, you would not have read it. Hayek/ (several talking) I think there's some value though in us, to the extent we can control it, having seven Councilors receive information at about the same time, and you can't, you know, if someone's going to send an individual email to an individual address, you can't control that, but everything else, you know, we can all assume we're picking up our packets, well, we all have an opportunity to pick up our packets at the same time. There's some value on some level to me in... in (both talking) Karr/ You don't have to pick up your packet, Matt, I mean electronically it's online as well. Hayek/ Yeah, I can pick it up online too. Dilkes/ And I think it's important for the citizenry to know that while...while technology is moving very fast these days, the rules about how you all can make decisions are not changing. They have to be done at public meetings, they have to...notice has to be given, etc., and the way you do that is we put the correspondence in the packet (coughing, unable to hear) reading it know about it. Hayek/ And that's a really good point, I mean, the danger of instant email is that people expect instant answers, and...and... Wilburn/ If it becomes instant action then that's when I have the problem. Hayek/ Right. Bailey/ Well, and perhaps we need to, um, more frequently look at those letters and discuss those that we would like to see responses to. I know that we all, on occasion, will bring those This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City c;ouncit special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 28 in, but do you think that that's being thoroughly enough done? I mean, I'm not sure. I mean, I try to flag things that.. . Hayek/ I think we do a pretty good job of...of identifying letters in the correspondence packet that.. . Bailey/ But that's what I was asking, is that...is that a gap that we're... Karr/ Yeah, leave it the way then...we can always revisit it, we can think about it, we can see what else, but yeah, we can...it's your policy. It's not state law. It's...it's here. Bailey/ Okay. Karr/ In the interest of time, computer training, F, um, when I make appointments with both of you, we can sit down and talk about equipment. We'll go through this, um, and as always, if any of you have any questions or anything...call and we can figure it out. Okay? Um, the miscellaneous...there are paperwork to fill out, uh, payroll, these are individual folders, if you have any questions please let me know and you can drop 'em off, maybe when we make our appointments to go through our own training, um, or any time. We just like you to get the paperwork done before the first of the year. Um, if any of you have any changes from your payroll or your insurance or anything else from the last time, this is the time. Okay? Um, we will a1so...I'll have a proof of a typical business card that the City does, uh, for Council Members and um, I'll have that proof and we can talk about that at the time, as well. Helling/ Tours, um, we're happy to arrange tours of any or all facilities. Uh, City facilities that you're interested in looking at, um, and we can do it according to your schedule, we can do it in small blocks, or large blocks, we can take a day, we can arrange five of them, or four of them if you want, or you can say, okay, I'll take, you know, a couple hours on this day and maybe next week, um, encourage you to try to...if you want to do that, to do it as soon as possible, but you don't necessarily have to do it before January. It's...it really is, it does take some time. Generally a department head would take you around and...and by the way, this is not just for the new Council Members. Uh, because facilities do change and you know, other Council Members may find it helpful, but department head generally would take you around, and then you'll meet some of the division heads and some of the staff, as well, and see physically what's...what's going on at, for instance, the waste water plant or the...at the water plant where you probably haven't been or...or haven't been there for a while anyway. Uh, so we would encourage you to do that, um...and those would be arranged through our office, with Kathy, and she'll make arrangements with department directors, and as I said before, you can pick and choose, whatever you want to do and we'll do it...try to accommodate your schedule. Um, also, just...this isn't really a tour, unless you, and this is particularly for new Council Members, once the budget comes out in December, if you want to get a tour of the (several talking and laughing) prior to your discussions beginning, happy to do that. Come in and sit down and we can take you through it, or we can just respond to your questions to make...to make sure that you're reasonably clear. It's a very complicated This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 29 document. There's some strange reporting requirements that...that we have that really don't make a lot of sense even to us. But the state says this is the way we want you to do that, so...so we do. Uh, but sometimes it makes the document a little even...more confusing, and...and that's too bad, because it's already very complex. But anyway, we...we're happy to do that and so once you get your budget, you take a look at it, let us know and...and we'll talk with you about that as well. Karr/ Uh, City Code, we do offer, um, you hard copies of the City Code; however, I would really encourage-you to take a look. It's two volume...set, um, don't wait for the movie, um...it is also available electronically, uh, which is a pretty user friendly one, but it does change often and if you're not going to keep it up to date at least six times a year with the supplements, it gets out of date very, very quickly. Um, so I would encourage you, if you like the hard copies, certainly we can provide it, um, and then we'll get you on the list for the supplements. If not, electronically or there's always a hard copy in... in here, in my office, in Dale's office has one, uh, also, the City Council now has an office and the City Council office has a...a, uh, City Code book that is kept up to date, and it's in the lower level, right next to Eleanor's office in the hallway. It is labeled "City Council Office." Um, it...there is a laptop in there, a phone line in there, um, it is, uh, it is not spacious, but it does have, as I said, a very nice work area I think and a couple of chairs, and it does, uh, allow you to meet constituents, and does give you a meeting area whenever you need room bigger than that please let me know, we'll book it, uh, the City Council office isn't new, uh, relatively new thing, um, I would suggest that you let us know when you want to book it. I would hate to have somebody say you're going to meet somebody there and it's being used by somebody else. So it's a very simple thing, um, on Outlook. Just give us a call and say is it free at 2:00. We'll just book you in and then, uh, you'd have it available. I'll be talking to you about parking stickers and things like that when we go through our little time. Membership? Helling/ Membership, just very quickly. We do, are Members of the National League of Cities as well as the Iowa League of Cities, and also the Chamber of Commerce and the Iowa City Area Development Group. Uh, and further, we are now Members of the fairly newly founded Metropolitan Coalition, which is a coalition of the nine of the ten largest cities in the state. Um, generally with our dues and those, uh, organizations with that comes for each individual council members, as well as many staff, uh, access to the, uh, periodicals, the publications that come from, for instance, Iowa League of Cities. Um, or the National League of Cities. A lot...a lot of those are now going to electronic, uh, and we're not...we used to distribute a hard copy in the packet to like the Nation's City Weekly which is a newspaper of the National League of Cities, uh, now that's being distributed, um, electronically, uh, in addition to that, we are also, uh, members of the Iowa, or the International City Management Association. I guess it's City/County Manager Association, not...and that comes by virtue of the City enrolling the City Manager and Assistant City Manager in that organization. It's our professional organization. But there are, again, publications that come with all of that that can be forwarded to you. Uh, again, their newsletter is now electronic so we have access to that and uh, I don't know what you're receiving now. Some of you may be getting, still getting hard copies, some of those, um.. . This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009. November 12, 2009 City Council Page 30 Karr/ Some I haven't transferred over. As they come due I will. Helling/ But we'll, uh, you know, we can arrange so that you can get (mumbled) directly or we can forward it to you. Karr/ And we have two or three more hours of fascinating stuff, but we decided to stop here (laughter). Questions? Helling/ A lot of information (several talking) well, you know, as...you take this home and think about it. If you sit up in bed at 3:00 in the morning (several talking and laughing) Bailey/ So anything else? Thank you. That was helpful... Karr/ And I will have the revised schedule of...for you in the next packet. Bailey/ Thank you. So see you all...Monday. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 12, 2009.