12/10/2002 - City Council Special (2)N
2003-2004 Council Orientation Meeting
FACILITATOR'S COPY
Dec,mber 10, 20U —6:30 PM
Fire Administration (Lower Level Conference Room)
Agenda
Part I-6:30 PM—Setting the Stage for 2003-2004
1. Welcome and Introductions
2. Meeting Procedures and Logistics
a. Seating arrangement
b. The Council's working relationships
i. With each other
ii. With the public
Ili. With department heads and staff
c. City Administrator Hedges' role
3. Meeting Etiquette and Expectations
Part II -7:30 PM—Parliamentary Procedures and Legal Requirements
(City Attorney Dougherty will be present)
4. Robert's Rules of Order
5. Open Meeting Law Summary
a. Address any questions about the law
Part III -8:00 PM—Council Functions and Tasks
6. Council Agenda Process and Procedures
a. Adding or deleting items to/from the agenda
b. Consent agenda
i. Purpose
ii. Pulling items for discussion
7. City Council Committees
a. Identify standing Council committees
b. Discuss the desire to form subcommittees as needed
8. Tasks/Goals
a. Setting goals --desire for a February Goals Setting retreat
b. Task lists
9. Chamber of Commerce State of the City Address
a. Establish date (Chamber has suggested January 16)
b. Mission and "what the City of Eagan is all about"
c. Setting the tone for 2003
d. Preparation of Address (i.e. Power Point)
10. Advisory Commissions
a. The role of the advisory commissions
b. Recruitment, Interview, and appointment process
11. Open Forum (any items the Councilmembers wish to discuss)
a. Cellular phone usage by City Council
December 10, 2002
2003-2004 Council Orientation Retreat
Fire Administration
Facilitator: Bill Lindberg
Present: Mayor -elect Geagan, Councilmember-elect Maguire, Councilmembers Carlson,
Fields, and Tilley; and City Administrator Hedges, Facilitator Bill Lindberg, and
Assistant to the City Administrator Lord.
Hope and Expectation for the Year:
• Get off on the right foot and be on the same page!
In response to questions by Facilitator Lindberg, the following comments were made:
What kind of Councilmemher or Mayor do you strive to he?
• Be a straight -shooter
• Strive to be more patient
• Be knowledgeable on issues and be an asset to the Council as a whole
• Take on new challenges
• Be an "expert" in some area to assist the Council
• Focus on the big picture and don't get bogged down by minutia
• Inclusive, not exclusive
• Don't tune people out when I disagree
• Be representative of the entire community and the greater good, recognizing that it is
not always easy to do so.
How do you want this Council to he perceived by the Public?
• As an efficient Council that agrees to disagree
• Disagree without being disagreeable
• Show courtesy to others by listening when the speak
• Let people speak their mind (this includes fellow Councilmembers, City staff, and the
public)
• Show civility, decorum, and a bond
• Agree to accept results, outcomes, and decisions
What kind of culture do you want for your Council?
• Treat everyone as an equal (citizens and fellow Councilmembers)
• REALLY agree to disagree—hold other Councilmembers accountable if this doesn't
happen
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What are your expectations of how the Mayor, Council, City Administrator,
Department Heads, and Department staff function together?
• Need to develop close relationships
• Recognize that everyone can be on different pages
• Improve the ability to know what the "other side of the table" is doing
• There is a need to recognize that some areas the Council should not be involved in
(i.e. staff's responsibility) and other areas, the Council should involve itself.
• The City Administrator's role is to keep everyone informed
• Communication is necessary between all groups
• All persons need to stick to the ground rules
• A base level of professionalism is needed and everyone needs to recognize their roles
• Council should be able to trust the information they are getting from staff
• We have a qualified staff and should rely on their recommendations and questions
• If you beat me in a debate, so be it!
• Staff's role is to present options to the City Council for consideration
• Each of the Councilmembers are competent and bring their own expertise—we
should recognize that expertise
• Department heads should do their jobs, keep the Council in the loop on projects, and
meet deadlines
• Currently, Councilmembers visit during the meeting, which can be very distracting.
The Council should be paying attention at all times (if a Councilmember needs to ask
a question of another Councilmember, turn off the speakers' microphones)
• The department heads encourage the Council to bring issues to their attention.
Disagreements are OK as long as the discussion is productive and not hurtful.
CONFLICT
CARING
HONEST
• Attack the issues and not the person!
How do City Councilmembers make requests of staff?
• If a Councilmember has a small request for research (e.g. What time do APrC
meeting playback on cable? What is the City's policy on barking dogs), contact City
Administrator Hedges and he or the appropriate staff member will get you the
information.
• If a Councilmember has a large request (e.g. Can staff survey all metro cities on how
they issue building permits? Could staff research the history of the Civic Arena and
present five budget scenarios for 2003? ), City Administrator Hedges will tell the
Councilmember to bring their request to the Council as a whole in order to get
direction form the Council on how to proceed.
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How do City Councilmembers get an item on the agenda?
• If a Councilmember has something to put on the agenda, a second Councilmember
needs to be in support of placing the item on the agenda.
• In consulting the League of MN Cities, there are no State statutes regarding the
Mayor's ability to place an item on the agenda without a second Councilmember's
support; rather, the formation of the agenda is dictated by City policy and procedures.
Currently, the City of Eagan operates off a policy that any Councilmember, including
the Mayor, must get the support of a second Councilmember before an item will be
placed on the agenda.
• If a citizen asks to be on the agenda (for an item not already scheduled), ask them to
come to either the City Council listening session or visitors to be heard—the regular
City Council meeting agendas are for ACTION items.
• If you speak to a citizen who plans on attending the listening session, contact staff
with the person's name and issue so that staff is prepared to answer any questions that
may arise.
Committee Notes
• There was Council consensus to have meeting notes take at all Council committee
meetings. The meeting notes will be included as part of the Informative.
Task List—Manalzement by Objective
In the past, using the Management -by -Objective (MBO) philosophy, the Council and
staff used a task list to keep track of Council directives.
City Administrator Hedges noted that setting goals establishes the big -picture vision,
while task lists are specific and show anticipated completion dates.
Beginning in January, staff will extract action items from the minutes and keep an
ongoing task list to be included in the Council packets.
Role of the MaN or
The Mayor acts as the 'gatekeeper—if a Councilmember wishes to be addressed,
he/she should address the Mayor, who will then choose to recognize a speaker.
Councilmembers should address each other as Councilmember name or Mayor
Geagan.
Robert's Rules of Order—Mike Douahert-%-
Purpose: to get through the meeting in an organized fashion
The Mayor runs the meeting, recognizes who can speak, and answers questions
regarding parliamentary procedures.
According to Robert's Rules, a motion and a second needs to occur BEFORE
discussion on an item—a motion is made and seconded, discussion is opened,
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discussion is closed, then the Council votes (a Councilmember CAN vote against a
motion that he/she originally moved approval)
• A Councilmember can make a motion to amend (amendment requires a second)—
first discuss and vote on the amendment, and then proceed to discussion on the
motion
• Unanimous consent—A tool the Mayor can use and a Councilmember must object if
he/she wishes for the Mayor to call the question (i.e. require a vote)
Open Meeting Law
• Any information obtained by the City Council or City is available to the public,
including Council packets, information requests of the Council, and a -mails (there are
exceptions in regard to protected data under the data privacy law)
• ANYTIME three or more Councilmembers are present, open meeting laws apply
(including social events)
• Although Council committees are only made up of two Councilmembers, they are
appointed by the City Council and therefore committee meetings are open to the
public.
• Every public meeting requires 72 -hour notice (the City notices the local newspapers,
and also posts meetings on the City website and bulletin board)
• Councilmembers cannot e-mail more than one member at a time, nor can a
Councilmember e-mail another Councilmember and ask him/her to pass on the
information to another Councilmember (linkage)
• The Council is free to attend social events together; however there can be NO
discussion of City business, as that would be a violation of the Open Meeting Law.
Gift Law
Councilmembers cannot accept gifts, regardless of the value (i.e. there is no
diminimus value)
If a gift is open to everyone (i.e. raffle), a Councilmember may accept the gift
If a Councilmember has any doubt regarding a gift, please contact City Administrator
Hedges.
Seating Arrangement
Mayor Geagan
Tom Hedges
Councilmember
Carlson
Councilmember Councilmember
Fields I Tilley
Councilmember
Maguire
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Page 5
City Council Committees
Acting Mayor: Peggy Carlson
Finance
Peggy
Pat
Public Works
Mike
Cyndee
Personnel
Pat
Peggy.
Transit (MVTA�
Meg
Advisory Commissions Liaison Assi=, nments
EDC—Pat
APrC—Peggy
ARC—Cyndee
APC—Mike
BETC—Meg
Goals Retreat
Communication
Mike
Peggy
Partnerships
Meg—chair
Pat
Legislative (Municipal Legislative
Commission (MLC
Pat
School District
Cyndee
Meg
Discussion needed: overall goals for the next two years, budget issues, the slowing growth in
the community, and new issues that this Council will face
Direction: The Council will have a two-day retreat, with the first day being for the Council to
discuss overarching goals, expectations, etc. The second day the department directors will
also be invited to further discuss the goals and the year to come.
The Council was asked to provide City Administrator Hedges with dates they are available in
late January and February (for a Friday -Saturday retreat)
State of the Cite
• There was Council consensus that the Council will not be ready for the State of the City
Address in January or February; rather, the Address will need to take place after the goals
retreat.
• City Administrator Hedges will contact the Chamber regarding the change in date.
Mayor -elect Geagan thanked everyone for their participation and looks forward to the ease
of the transition!