HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-01-2012 10-1-2012 C�TX01 Council Operations Committee
October 1, 2012 - 5:00 PM
City Hall Conference Room 2
WASHINGTON MINUTES
I. CALL TO ORDER
A. Roll Call
Chair Nancy Backus called the meeting to order at 5'00 p.m. in
Conference Room 2 on the second floor of Auburn City Hall located at
25 West Main Street in Auburn.
Members in attendance included Chair Nancy Backus, Vice Chair Rich
Wagner and Member Bill Peloza. Also in attendance were City
Attorney Dan Heid and Deputy City Clerk Shawn Campbell.
B Announcements
There was no announcement.
C Agenda Modifications
There was no change to the agenda.
11. CONSENT AGENDA
A. June 6, 2012 regular meeting minutes
Vice Chair Wagner moved and Member Pelota seconded to approve
the June 6, 2012 minutes.
Motion carried unanimously 3-0
III. DISCUSSION ITEMS
A. Guidelines for Councilmembers' implied or direct endorsement of
entities that do business with the City
Vice-Chair Wagner explained his concern with providing a reference or
endorsing a company as a councilmember He asked if the City could
create a guiding policy to help councilmembers respond appropriately
in the future.
City Attorney Heid stated a councilmember does not lose their position
as a citizen by being elected to the City Council. The councilmember
can always state an opinion, but he recommended the statement be
prefaced with the term "as a private citizen. " or "in my opinion., " If
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any member of Council would like to represent the opinion of the full
Council or the City the approval must first be given to that member by
the full Council. Chair Backus requested modification of the Council
Rules and Procedures to include guiding policies on endorsements.
Vice Chair Wagner asked for the City Attorney's opinion on a
councilmember giving personal references and requested the policy
also be added to the Council Rules and Procedures. City Attorney
Heid stated if there is not a specific_policy in place a Cou,ncilmember
can give a reference as a private citizen. Chair Backus stated she
believes all letters of reference should be routed through Human
Resources or Legal.
B. Frequency of the Council of the Whole Meetings
Chair Backus suggested the Council set six Council of the Whole
meetings each year The meetings could be every other month.
Member Peloza said he is concerned the Council would be having
meetings for the sake of having meetings and suggested five meetings
per year Vice Chair Wagner stated if the Council has an item that
requires discussion by the whole council outside of a regular meeting
a,workshop could be set up Chair Backus said she will work with the
Clerks office to set a policy for scheduling the Council of the Whole
meetings.
C Junior City Council
Vice Chair Wagner asked for a status update on the Junior City
Council. City Attorney Held said the School district is working on their
concerns to bring back to the City Chair Backus requested a
representative from the school district attend the next Council
Operations Committee meeting to discuss their concerns.
IV ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5 38 p.m.
Approved this 5th day of November, 2012..
MOO Rnt4ij ,
Nancy acl us, Chair Shawn Cariipbe l, Deputy City
Clerk
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