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Home My WebLink AboutITEM III-GCOUNCIL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE WASHINGTON MINUTES June 24, 2010 5:00 PM CONFERENCE ROOM NO. 2 CITY HALL I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Rich Wagner called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. in the Conference Room 2 located on the second floor of Auburn City Hall located at 25 West Main Street in Auburn. Members in attendance included Chair Rich Wagner, Vice Chair Sue Singer, and Member Nancy Backus. Also in attendance were: Councilmember Virginia Haugen, City Attorney Daniel B. Heid, Government Relations Manager Carolyn Robertson, and City Clerk Danielle Daskam. II. MINUTES OF THE JUNE 15, 2010 COUNCIL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MEETING Committee members reviewed the minutes of the last meeting held June 15, 2010. Motion by Vice Chair Singer, second by Member Backus to approve the June 15, 2010 minutes with the following amendments: Section 4.1 insert a comma after the word "meeting" (first "meeting" in the sentence) in the third sentence. Section 4.4 delete the word "meetings" that appears after the word "any" in the second sentence. Section 16.6 insert or a majority of the members of the Committee," following "Committee Chairpersons." Council Operations Committee June 24, 2010 Section 16.8 change "Chairpersons" to "Chairperson" and insert or the person who will be presiding over the meeting," immediately following "Chairperson." MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 3-0. III. COUNCIL RULES OF PROCEDURE Committee members reviewed and discussed amendments to Section 17. Motion by Vice Chair Singer, second by Member Backus to approve the following amendments to Section 17 of the Council Rules of Procedure: SECTION 17 - COUNCIL REPRESENTATION & INTERNAL GOMMUNICATION 17.1 If a Councilmember appears on behalf of the City before another governmental agency, a community organization, or through the media, for the purpose of commenting on an issue, the Councilmember needs to state the majority position of the City Council, if known, on such issue. Personal opinions and comments which differ from those of the Council majority may be expressed if the Councilmember clarifies that these statements do not represent the City Council's position. 17.2 Councilmembers need to have other Councilmember's concurrence before representing another Councilmember's view or position with the media, another government agency or community organization. 17.3 Councilmembers shall not knowingly communicate with an opposing party or with an opposing attorney in connection with any pending or threatened litigation in which the City is a party or in connection with any disputed claim involving the City without the prior approval of the City Attorney, unless the Councilmember is individually a party to the litigation or is involved in the disputed claim separate from the Councilmember's role as a City official. 17.4 Communication among Councilmembers shall confarm ta the following parameters: A Ta assure that communication on aqenda items occurs ta the greatest extent passible at the public meetinqs and to avoid even the perceptian that email is beinq used as "sequential meetinqs " Page 2 Council Operations Committee June 24, 2010 Councilmembers should refrain from emailing Councilmembers about such agenda items. Councilmembers should be prepared to communicate about matters that are an upcoming Committee agendas ar Council aqendas at the public meetinqs. If Councilmembers wish to share information with other cauncilmembers about matters that are on upcominq agendas, the councilmembers should forward that infarmation to the Mayor for distribution in the committee or cauncil meeting packets. B. Councilmembers may communicate via email to other Councilmembers including to a quorum of a Council committee or the full City Cauncil about matters within the scape of the Committee's authority ar related to Gity business, but not yet scheduled an upcoming Committee or Council agendas, to indicate a desire that certain items be included on upcoming meetinq agendas; provided that Councilmembers shall f~otnever ask far responses from the ather Councilmembers in that communicatian. C. Email communication among Councilmembers relatinq to Gity operatians shauld alsa include the Mayor as a recipient/addressee. D. Councilmembers may email the Mayor about City business without limitatians or restrictians. 17.5 Internet & Electranic Resources/Equipment Use. A Policv. lt is the palicy of the Cit y Cauncil that Internet and electranic resources equipment use shall conform to and be consistent with the reeuirements of City of Auburn Administrative Policv and Pracedure 500-03, "Internet & Electronic ResourceslEquipment Use - E{ected Officials" adopted hereby and incorporated herein by this reference. It is important to note that all letters, memarand_a,_and interactive computer communication involving City Gouncilmembers and members of advisary boards and commissians, the subiect of which relates ta the conduct of qovernment ar the perFarmance of any qavernmental function with exceptions stated bv the Public Records Act (RCW 42.56), are public records. B. Electronic Communicatians. Page 3 Council Operations Committee June 24, 2010 11 Informal messaaes with no retention value and that do not relate to the functional responsibility af the recipient or sender as a public official, such as meetinq notices, reminders telephone messaqes and infarmal notes, do nat constitute a public record. Users should delete these messages once their administrative purpase is served. (2) All other messaqes that relate to the functional responsibilitv of the recipient or sender as a public official constitute a public record. Such records are subject to public inspeetinn and copyinq. (3) Electronic communications that are intended to be shared among a quorum of the Citv Council or Council Committee whether concurrently ar serially, must be considered in liqht of the Open Public Meetinqs Act. If the intended purpose of the e-n4a4electronic communication is to have a discussion that should be held at an open meeting the electranic discussion &4GuIdshall not occur. Further, the use af e-ma+lelectronic cammunication to form a collective decisian of the Council 4ateshall not occur. (4) E-ma-4--Electronic communication should be used cautiously when seeking legal advice or to discuss matters of pendinq litigatian or other "confidential" City business. In qeneral, en4a4electronic communicatian is discoverable in litiqation, and even deleted e4ma-4e{ectronic communication is not necessarilv removed from the system. Confidential e- n4a-4electronic communications should not be shared with individuals other than the intended recipients, or the attorney-client privilege protecting the document from disciosure may be waived. (5) €ffvai4Electranic communicatian between Councilmembers and between Councilmembers and staff shall not be transmitted ta the public ar news media without the filinq of a public disclosure request with the CitV Clerk. Page 4 Council Operations Committee June 24, 2010 6) ( ' C "l b eFS eunG mem Qtv'c "raturn adrlrocc " 71 As a cautionarv note, if an elected public official uses his ar her personal home computer to send e-n,4a4electronic communications dealing with City business, the e- +~ailselectronic communications and electronic records maV be subject ta discavery demands and public disclosure requests. That possibility amplifies the need for caution in how one uses e-ma4electronic communication far City business. , peFGORal Intnrnot anr+niin4 nm (`i+ orYuipmant ic tn bnr+rrr+n ~ho +hrnunh iho IRfnrmntinn Cnnrinac hnlnrlocL and ic cuhinrt_.~n l VV~~lV I Ili thaCiiy, -nnrl nnulrl hn roviowarl ac part nf n Pi~hlir Ronr+rr^Ic r cavr~,r ~ ~ MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 3-0. IV. PLANNING FOR COUNCIL RETREAT AGENDA Committee members discussed preparations for the Council Retreat scheduled to be held September 9 and 10, 2010. Chair Wagner commented that the last two Council retreats were heavily focused on finances. Committee members agreed that this year's retreat should include: • Review and update of Vision 2016 for the next 10-15 year window. The existing vision map projects should be identified as either: ongoing, in progress, complete, on the list but not yet started, and new. • An unbiased facilitator familiar with municipal operations, who would provide a summary of the outcome. • Discussion of legislative priorities. • Discussion of results based budgeting process. There was discussion regarding the Mayor's downtown visioning group and whether the group's results would be available prior to the Council retreat. Page 5 Council Operations Committee June 24, 2010 The Committee agreed that Department Directors and Mayoral staff would be required to attend the retreat. The next meeting of the Council Operations Committee is scheduled for July 15, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. to discuss preparations for the Council retreat and the Council Rules of Procedure. V. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to adjourned at 6:35 p.m. Rich Wagner, Chair Danielle Daskam, City Clerk Page 6 come before the Committee, the meeting