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.
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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,
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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