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Home My WebLink About06-24-2010 * . CITY OF * * COUNCIL OPEFZATIONS COMMITTEE WASHINGTON June 24, 2010 . 5:00 PM CONFERENCE ROOM NO. 2 CITY HALL MINUTES I. CALL TO ORDER Chai:r Rich Wagner called the meeting to (order at 5:00 p.m. in the Conference Room 2 located on the second floor of Aubum City Hall located at 25 West Main Street in Aubum. Members in attendance included Chair Rich Wagner, Vice Chair Sue Singer, and' Member Nancy Backus. Also in attendance were: Councilmember Virginia Haugen, City Attorney Dan,iel B. . Heid, Government Relations Manager Carolyn Robertson, and City Clerk Danielle Daskam. II. MINUTES OF THE JUNE 15, 2010 COUNCIL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MEETIIVG . Committee members reviewed.the minutes of the last meeting held June 1.5; . 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 "an,y" 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 & INTERiVAL COMMUNICATION 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 marority 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 CounciPs 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 attomey in connection with any pending or threafened 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 amonq Councilmembers shall conform to the followinq parameters: A. To assure that communication on aAenda items occurs to the areafest extent possible at the public meetinqs, and to avoid even the perception that email is beinq used as "seauential meetinqs," Page 2 Council Operations Committee June 24, 2010 Councilmembers should refrain from emailinq Councilmembers about such aqenda items. Councilmembers should be prepared to communicate about matters that are on upcoming . Committee aqendas or Council agendas at the public meetinqs. If Councilmembers_ wish to share information with other councilmembers about matters that are on upcoming agendas, the councilmembers should forward that information to the Mavor for distribution in the committee or council meeting packets: B. Councilmembers mav communicate via email to other Cauneilmembers, including to a quorum of a Council committee or the full City Council about matters within the scoqe of the Committee's authoritv or related to City business, but not yet scheduled on uqcominq Committee or.Council aqendas, to indicate a desire that certain items be included on upcoming meefinQ aqendas; qrovided fhat Councilmembers shall notnever ask for responses from the other Councilmembers in that communication. . C. Email communication amonq Councilmembers relatina to Citv operations should also include the Mayor as a recipient/addressee. D. Councilmembers mav email the Mayor about City business without limitations~or restrictions. 17.5 Internet & Electronic_Resources/Equipment Use. A. Policy. It is the policv of the Citv Council that Infernet and electronic resources equipment use shall conform to and _be ` consistent with the requirements of City of Auburn Administrative Policv and Procedure 500-03, "Internet & Efectronic ResourcesfEquipment Use - Elected Officials" adopted here6y and incorporated herein bv this reference. It is important to note that all Jetters, memoranda, and. interactive computer communication involving Citv Councilmembers _ and members of advisorv boards and commissions, the subject of which relates to the conduct of government or the performance of anv aovernmental function, with exceptions stated by the Public Records Act (RCW 42.56), are public records. B. Electronic Communications. Page 3 Council Oaerations Committee June 24, 2010 (1) Informal messages with no retention value and that do not relate to the funetional responsibility of the recipient or sender as a public official, such as meeting notices, reminders, telephone messages and informal notes, do not constitute a public record. Users should delete these messages once their administrative qurpose 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 insqection and copying. (3) Electronic communications that are intended to be shared among : a quorum of the City - Council or Council Committee., whether concurrently or , seriallv, must be considered in light of _the Open Public . Meetings Act. If the intended purpose of the e-Ria4e1ectronic communication is to have a discussion that should be hetd at an open_ meetinq, the electronic discussion sheuWshall not. occur. Further, fhe use of e-R464electronic communication to form a collective decision of fhe Council 4ateshall not occur. (4) €-n%ai~-Electronic communication should be used cautiouslv , when seekinq legal advice.or to discuss matters of pendinq litiqation or other "confdential" Citv business. In general, ema4electronic communication is discoverable in litigation, and even deleted e-ma4electronic communication is not necessarily removed from the system. Confidential e- , ma-4elecfronic communicafions should not be shared with individuals other than the intended recipients, or the attomev-client privileqe protecting the document from disclosure may be waived. (5) €-maElectronic communication befinreen Councilmembers and between Councilmembers and staff shall not be transmitted to the qublic or news media without the filinq of a public disclosure request with the Citv Clerk. Page 4 ~ Council Oaerations Committee June 24, 2010 ~ ,vt h~ ~~a enl fef l ~ e' v~. +-.scc ~r-~fsv ~n~rrc~,-d$ G ,~~-lse (6 . , : . . Goty's. " n (7) As a cautionary note, if an elected public official uses his or her personal home computer to send e-pia+lelectronic communications dealina. with Citv business, the e- n4aAselectronic communications and electronic records mav be subject to discoverv demands and qublic disclosure requesfs. That possibility amplifies the need for caution in how one uses e-ma+4electronic communication for Citv business. 9ercnnal Ir+teFne+ annnUnt nn G' ' ' - . infaFFnation Ceniii+e~ . helnrloc li . f~'~°~v`• . 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 resulfs 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.Oaerations Committee June 24, 2010 The Committee agreed that Department D'irectors 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 dis.cuss preparations for the Council retreat and the Council Rules of Procedure. V. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business to come before the Committee, the meeting adjourned at 6:35 p.m.. _ APPROVED THE DAY OF ~ , 2010. Rich Wagner, air . Danielle Daskam, City Clerk Page 6