Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-26-2014 SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING AGNEDACIYOF A WASHINGTON I. CALL TO ORDER II. DISCUSSION ITEMS Special City Council Meeting June 26, 2014 - 5:00 PM Council Chambers AGENDA A. Transition from Standing Committees to Study Sessions* Presentation by City of SeaTac Mayor Mia Gregerson. III. ADJOURNMENT Agendas and minutes are available to the public at the City Clerk's Office, on the City website (http: / /www.auburnwa.gov), and via e -mail. Complete agenda packets are available for review at the City Clerk's Office. *Denotes attachments included in the agenda packet. Page 1 of 9 IY (F , * AUBURN \ VA S111 NG [ C7[ r AGENDA BILL APPROVAL FORM DI.A Agenda Subject: Transition from Standing Committees to Study Sessions Department: Administration Attachments: SeaTac White Paper Administrative Recommendation: Background Summary: Reviewed by Council Committees: Councilmember: Meeting Date: June 26, 2014 Date: June 23, 2014 Budget Impact: $0 Staff: Item Number: DI.A AUBURN * MORE THAN YOU IMAGINED Page 2 of 9 Working Paper. - City Council Committees ESTABLISHMENT OF COUNCIL COMMITTEES The City Council has established seven standing committees of the. City Council, each consisting of three. Councilmembers. The procedures for member selection, as well as the identification of the seven standing committees and their areas of responsibility, are set forth in the City of SeaTac's City Council Administrative procedures. Those standing committees consist of the following: 1. Transportation Committee, 2. Administration and Finance Committee, 3. Land Use, Zoning and Economic Development Committee, 4. Intergovernmental Relations Committee, 5. Public Safety and Justice Committee, 6. Public Works Committee, 7. Community Development Committee. INITIAL REASONS FOR COMMITTEES The initial creation and use of Council Committees by the City of SeaTac made good sense from the standpoint that the City, being a newly incorporated city, initially had no staff members to handle matters which were of importance to the City. As staff was added, the City Council was still involved in many day -to -day matters, including not just activities of the newly hired staff but also determinations of what future municipal functions should be expanded and added to the City's increasing role. These Council Committees obviously served a very valuable role in shaping the direction of the new City, and interfacing, with the initial limited staff personnel. This use of these committees was particularly appropriate and understandable in light of the limited initial level of municipal services, activities and functions of the City. CHANGES SINCE COMMITTEES CREATED Now that the City is over three years old, and now that the City has hired a relatively full complement of municipal employees to handle the day -to -day activities of City operations, it is appropriate to evaluate the need for and use of Council Committees. in addition to the increased number of City employees available to handle administrative matters of the City regarding the various activities and functions which, had initially been addressed by the Council Committees, the City Council has adopted ordinances establishing a number of boards and commissions which further assist the City Council in various functions of municipal government, acting in an advisory capacity to the City Council. Those boards and commissions currently include the following: 1. Planning Commission, 2. Human Services Commission, 3. Arts Commission, 4. Human Relations Commission, 5. Americans With Disabilities Act Citizens' Access Committee, 6. Youth Commission, 7. Civil Service Commission, 8. Library Board, 9. Parks and Recreation Commission, 10. Solid Waste. Advisory Board, Page 1 DI.A Page3of9 In addition to the above Boards and Commissions, the City has several ad hoc boards (including the North SeaTac Park Advisory Board and the International Boulevard Center [IBC] Advisory Group). There are also other groups which are operating within the City and which provide advice and assistance to the City Council in a Tess official way, including the SeaTac Apartment Manager's Association, the Chamber of Commerce and other such groups. As staff has been increased, as has the operational workload of rurming the City of SeaTac, the need for City Councilmembers to be as involved in the day -to -day operations of the City has decreased. Similarly, with the increased number of city boards and commissions, and the increase in their activity to provide advisory information to the City Council, the need for Council Committees has, likewise, been decreased. In that regard, it should be noted that a number of the boards and commissions of the City cover overlapping if not identical issues to those addressed by a number of the Council Committees. In order to allow the boards and commissions to effectively operate in their advisory capacity, and to avoid what would otherwise be a duplication or redundancy of effort, it would be appropriate to let matters that could be handled by these advisory boards and commissions to be so handled, rather than have them ALSO handled by a Council Committee. When it gets right down to it, the current structure results in a committee (i.e. Arts Commission) reporting to another committee (the Community Development Council Committee) which then reports to another committee (the entire City Council). COUNCIL COMMITTEE PROBLEMS AND CONCERNS As a further, and perhaps more important, incentive to re- evaluate the current Council Committee structure, there are some problems that are occurring or that at least occasionally occur which would indicate justification for reduction or elimination of Council Committees. Those problems include the following: 1. Reduced focus or priority regarding City Council boards and commissions. Particularly where, again, Council Committees may otherwise take action essentially the same or involving the same subject matter as that which would be addressed by a City board or commission (such as making preliminary reviews of proposals and issues of importance to the City, and then making recommendations to the full City Council), the members of the board or commission who would be presenting an advisory opinion to the Council may feel somewhat less valuable if the same process is essentially being done independent of their board or commission, by a Council Committee. In order to give more full utilization and greater efficacy to the City's boards and commissions, and to take advantage of the volunteer - citizen participation and encourage that participation, it would be appropriate to let the board or commission take its action and then make its recommendations to the whole City Council. That would help the members of the board or commission to feel that their board or commission serves a real, independently valuable service to the City Council. 2. Slowed process. The speed with which some matters could be addressed by the City Council is actually hampered by the Council Committee process. This is particularly so where there may be difficulty in those Councilmembers on a particular Committee meeting even once a month. But also, since Council Committees generally only meet once a month, even though the City Council, itself, meets four times per month (two times for regular City Council meetings and two times for City Council Study Sessions), the requirement or expectation that matters should go through a committee review prior to being placed on the agenda for either a regular city council meeting or a study session, creates somewhat of a procedural funnel which slows down the speed with which matters could otherwise be addressed. Especially where some matters may be more time Page 2 DI.A Page 4 of 9 sensitive, those delays could hamper the City's ability to effectively respond to a certain need. Additionally, because of the division of responsibilities among the Council Committees, the "funneling" effect may be amplified by the need for a particular issue to be reviewed by more . than one Council Committee. Even in those instances where two or more Council Committees could conceivably meet at the same time to consider such an issue, the question must then be asked whether it wouldn't be more appropriate: and certainly more expeditious to handle the matter, instead, at a full City Council study session. 3. Promotion of proprietary interests. Even though it would seem that this matter is Tess of an issue in the City of SeaTac than it could be, the committee structure could result in the members of the committee and /or its chair developing a possessory interest in issues coming before his /her /their committee. Worst case scenarios could even result in support bartering for issues of various committees (for instance: "I'll vote for your conmiittee's issue if you vote for my committee's issue "). Even if things don't get to that point, the "ownership" of a particular issue by a committee and its chair and members may result in a reluctance by a Councilmember who is not a member of that committee from addressing challenges or raising questions regarding an issue which has been adopted or endorsed by a committee. Conversely, the Council Committee approach would also likely result in a diminished interest or ownership by Councilmembers who are not members of committees which addressed or dealt with the subject matter involved. 4. Unequal distribution of information. The committee structure, as it currently operates, results in certain City Councilmembers being given. substantially more information about topics that come . before their committees than would reasonably be available to the other Councilmembers. This is particularly so where a subject comes before a committee and goes directly from the committee to the regular City Council meeting where the entire City Council votes on the. issue. At the time of such a vote, those Councilmembers who were on a committee which reviewed the particular subject matter may have a substantially greater understanding of background information, impacts and effects, and their vote on the issue is a substantially more informed vote than would be the vote of those Councilmembers who did not have the benefit of that additional background information. The result of that unequal distribution of information might be that Councilmembers who are less informed about the subject matter involved would develop the need to rely upon those Councilmembers who received that additional information. For that matter, again, a Tess informed Councilmember may be less likely to challenge or even raise questions about an issue which is strongly supported by members of the committee that had previous reviewed information about the subject matter. 5. Staff obligation to provide information to City Council. Another aspect of the problem of unequal distribution of information is the uncomfortableness that develops when staff does not give information uniformly to all Councilmembers. The Committee structure which creates the unequal distribution of information goes counter to the obligation of City staff to provide information to all Councilmembers. Any time one member of the City Council receives extra /more information on a matter going before the City Council than other Councilmembers, the obligation to the Councilmembers who do not receive the extra /more information is drawn into question. Particularly where one Council Committee is receiving additional information, the question of whether certain topics would justify additional or extraordinary measures to provide that same information to Councilmembers who are not on reviewing committees, or whether those Councilmembers should be left in that "less informed" state need to be addressed. If the answer to that question were in favor of providing additional information to Councilmembers Page 3 DI.A Page 5 of 9 who are not on reviewing committees, then the additional workload and the additional questions and effort to provide that same level of information to those non - committee. Councilmembers begs the question of whether the Council Committee structure is an efficient and effective tool. That is in addition to the previously mentioned concerns about unequal distribution of information. In a related vein to both paragraphs 4 & 5 hereof, according to the CODE CITY HANDBOOK, published by the Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington, and the Municipal Research Council, in cooperation with the Association of Washington Cities, (Report No. 17, . August 1988), in addition to seeming somewhat superfluous, standing Council Committees in Washington council- manager non - charter code cities, such as SeaTac, seem contrary to the provisions of the International City Management Association's Code of Ethics which suggests that the manager should "relate to the council essentially as a collective body rather than as a group of individuals in order to avoid suspicions of favoritism." (See International City Management Association, Managing the Modern City. [Washington, D.C.. 1971], p..99.) The CODE. CITY HANDBOOK also indicates that standing committees "tends to interfere with the city manager's control over administration, thereby disrupting the work of city government. Furthermore, if there is any tendency on the part of the council to follow uncritically the advice . and recommendations of its committees, or if standing committee members try personally to make certain that the departments with which they deal are well administered, the standing committee system is likely to conflict with the principle that the city manager's responsibility is to the council as a body and not to various members and groups within the council," The CODE CITY HANDBOOK additionally points out that these standing committee conflicts could also violate the spirit, if not the terms, of RCW 35A.13.120, which prohibits interference by the council, its committees, or any councilmember with the city's administrative services. 6. Uncertainties of participation. An additional area that is not clearly defined in the current Council Committee structure is the question of what role may be played in committee meetings by members of the City Council who are not members of that committee. Although the committee meetings are open to the public, and any member of the City Council may attend, the levels of committee meeting participation that "non - committee member" Councilmembers vary quite a bit among the current members of the City Council. Some Councilmembers seem to participate in those meetings to the same degree as the regular members of the committee, actively engaging in the discussion and seemingly voting or at least voicing opinions that are considered and incorporated in the "decision" of the committee. It is not clear whether the voice vote or position of non - committee members count or should be weighed equally to those of committee members. The participation by non- committee members blurs the distinction of Council Committee membership, particularly since the levels of participation vary so much among the City Councilmembers. This participation again illustrates the fact that many issues are of interest to a number of City Councilmembers, not just those who are on one committee or another. By taking issues to City Council Study Sessions, where all City Councilmembers could participate on the same footing, instead of taking them to Council Committees, the potential confusion and uncertainty in who can participate and to what level of participation would be addressed. 7. Open Public Meetings, It is appropriate to consider how the Council Committee structure meshes with the statutory requirements for public city council meetings. Pursuant to Sections 35A.12.110 and 42.30.060 of the Revised Code of Washington, the times and places of Regular Page 4 DI.A Page 6 of 9 Meetings of the City Council must be fixed by ordinance or rule. It appears that this requirement is adequately met by the City Council Administrative Procedures, since the procedures were adopted by Resolution and since they set the time and place for the Regular SeaTac City Council Meetings. However, there are separate procedural requirements for Special Meetings of the City Council, set forth in RCW 42.30.080. The Special Meeting requirements include written notice to all members of the City Council and to members of requesting news media at least 24 hours in advance, and identification of the subject matter to be addressed. These requirements also appear to be met for Council Committee meetings, since the Friday Letter /City Council packets do go to all Councilmembers and to the local newspaper at least 24 hours in advance of the Council Committee meetings, and they do identify the agenda topics. Accordingly, under ordinary, regular circumstances, the City's use of Council Committees does not conflict with the Open Public Meetings Act (RCW 42.30). That would appear to be the case even if additional non - committee- Councilmembers attend and participate in Council Committee meetings, since the prerequisites for the public meeting would have been met. (In that regard, because the Council Committees take action for and on behalf of the whole City Council, including not just reviewing and discussing matters, but also restricting (deciding) what items are to be forwarded to the full City Council and when they are to be placed on the. City Council agenda, the Open Public Meetings Act would apply to Council Committee meetings.) A problem could arise, however, if a Council Committee meeting does not meet the requirements of the Open Public Meetings Act and things occur that mandate compliance with the Act. This could, for instance, occur if a Council Committee meeting is changed to a date different than the date shown on the City Council calendar (included in the Friday Packet) and if notice has not been given to the Councilmembers and the news media in conformity with statutory requirements. Specifically, if a quorum (4 or more members) of the full City Council attends such a Council Committee, and /or if the Council Committee takes action and /or makes decisions at such meeting for and on behalf of the whole City Council, that would be in violation of the Open Public Meetings Act. Because of a more relaxed approach to the scheduling and holding of Council Committee meetings which occasionally results in last minute re- scheduling of such meetings, care has to be exercised to avoid a Council Committee - Open Public Meetings Act problem, particularly since the penalties for violation could include payment of fines and invalidity of City Council action. 8. Public hearings and specific protocols. Some issues need to be considered in accordance with the requirements of specific statutes, rules or regulations. For instance, some issues which are to be considered by a particular board or commission might be, similarly, within the subject matter jurisdiction of a particular Council Committee. Because the boards and commissions of the City operate in an advisory capacity, the process is encumbered where the board or commission may be operating on a different timetable than the Council Committee reviewing the same subject matter. In that regard, and particularly with respect to some Council Committees more than others, the process may be regulated much more strictly with respect to some boards and commissions and corresponding Council Committees than others. For instance, the City's Planning Commission, which is created in accordance with requirements of State statute, has certain responsibilities and obligations to consider matters involving land use and zoning. Those same issues would generally go before the Land Use, Zoning and Economic Development Committee. If the process /handling by both the Committee and the Commission are not kept in consistent sequence, the result could be that the Committee might be tempted to consider some matters before it has received the Commission's advisory recommendations. Particularly since, in that case, the consideration by the Commission often requires a public Page 5 DI.A Page 7 of 9 hearing and compliance with certain statutory procedures, the consideration out of sequence could cause challenges to action taken by the City Council with respect to that subject matter. 9. Increased workloads resulting from Council Committees. The use of Council Committees obviously involves extra meetings in addition to those regular City Council meetings and City Council Study Sessions. The attendance of Councilmembers at those meetings and the efforts to schedule them when they are convenient involve a lot of time. Additionally, the staff efforts to prepare for the meetings and to attend the meetings also involves a lot of time, taking care of such things as preparing agendas, packets and minutes, and scheduling meetings and notifying attending attendees. Particularly where some issues involve consideration by more than one committee, that staff time and the information presentation causes a duplication of efforts. The additional time investment by staff for Council Committees results in a cost to the City, which, although not necessarily as visible, is real and is something which makes it appropriate to consider the effectiveness and efficiency of the Council Committee approach. 10. Interference with coordination among City Departments. Just as issues may be of importance to various City Councilmembers, so too are a number of issues of importance to a variety of departments of the City. However, the Council Committee review process tends to prevent effective coordination among interested City Departments. This is the case because the Council Committees tend to operate independent of each other. Because the staff persons who represent a particular Council Committee would reasonably be expected to follow an issue as it progresses through that Council Committee, the "cross- over" to other staff or to other departments for their review may not be available until a time when involvement by other staff or departments would be untimely, inconvenient and /or less conducive to an efficient review or evaluation. In order to assure the soonest involvement of all interested staff and departments in issues affecting them, these issues should not be considered in Council Committee, but rather by the entire City Council. Because the interest or importance of an issue to a particular department may not be immediately evident, and in fact may not surface until it is considered and discussed by members of the City Council, the place for such consideration should be at a City Council Study Session. That would also help assure the City Council of a more thoroughly considered review and evaluation of all aspects of the issue, from the perspective of all City Departments. Again, it would enhance the teamwork among City Departments that is so vital to effective City operations. The smoother things. work from a City staff - teamwork perspective, the fewer problems there should be for the City Council to have to address. 11. Limitation on Public Access. It is not possible for interested citizens to always be able to attend all meetings at City Hall, particularly those meetings that are generally held during the normal work day, or that are held Tess frequently and /or scheduled less regularly. That is the case with Council Committee meetings, even though members of the public are welcome to attend such meetings and the meetings are "open public meetings." Often, Council Committees meet during the day, and on a number of occasions the Council Committee meetings need to be re- scheduled and moved to different dates and /or times because of calendar conflicts. That lack of scheduling uniformity, which is different than the scheduling of regular City Council Meetings and City Council Study Sessions, makes it more difficult for members of the public to know when the committee meetings will be held, and therefore harder to be able to plan to attend. Interested citizens who want to watch the process or track a City related issue would be, from a practical standpoint, deprived of an effective opportunity to follow the proceedings of a Council Committee. Particularly since such a significant share of deliberations and discussion involving Page 6 DI.A Page 8 of 9 City issues occurs at Council Committee meetings, interested citizens would likely miss that part of the process. What the citizens would see at the City Council meetings would likely have informational gaps that couldn't be effectively filled without the discussion and the data which was presented at the Council Committee meeting(s). Just as the Council Committee structure promoted an unequal distribution of information to City Councilmembers, it also restricts the information that would reasonably be available to members of the public. Even though City related meetings don't need to have as their first priorities the scheduling convenience of private citizens, nor the widest distribution of information about City action, those are important goals that are hampered by the current Council Committee structure. CONCLUSION Although there may be a need for the City Council to be able to create Council Committees and to have such committees consider and evaluate certain matters on behalf of the whole City Council, it would seem that the Council Committee structure should be amended to reflect the changes that have occurred since the City's initial incorporation, including the increased City staff, increased scope of City services and creation of the various City Boards and Commissions. Perhaps those Council Committees could be utilized to evaluate specific projects, rather than ongoing issues or matters which require action or concurrence by the full City Council. However, because of the problems that have been identified above, it would seem that the time has come for the City Council to utilize City Council Study Sessio -ns instead of the current Council Committee approach. The use of City Council Study Sessions instead of the Council Committees to consider matters would allow the City to respond faster to matters about which it will be taking action, help to assure a more equal distribution of information involving Council action, and promote greater efficiency in City operations. Again, even though the Council Committee structure was created as the only reasonable way to handle City affairs when there were no staff members, and the committees were developed to address specific projects and areas of municipal function faced by the City of SeaTac in its infancy, the City has grown to a point where the issues coming before the City Council may be addressed more expeditiously and efficiently through Study Sessions rather than Council Committees. The development and evolution of the City to a point which prompts a change away from the Council Committee approach should not be seen as a negative commentary on the use of the Council Committees in the past. Rather, it needs to be recognized that the City would not be where it is today without the very important work already done by the City Councilmembers, much of it being done through Council Committees. Page 7 DI.A Page 9 of 9