HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Workshop Minutes 01.22.2000 LAUREL CITY COUNCIL /OFFICIALS WORKSHOP
Saturday, January 22, 2000
Attended by: Gary Temple, Chuck Rodgers, Peg Arnold, Bud Johnson, Ken Olson,
Norm Orr, Mark Mace, Larry McCann, Lauren Van Roekel, Smokey Staudinger, Gay
Easton, Mike Zuhoski, Jim Stevens, Cal Cumin, Jan Faught, and Mary Embleton
Conducted by: Dr. Ken Weaver and Judy Mathre of the Local Government Center,
MSU, Bozeman.
Topics:
City's organizational chart
Roles and duties of mayor, council, and judge (elected officials) in relation to
the city's working committees and department heads (appointed officials)
Volunteer fire department vs. paid fire department — discussed requirements if the city
changes to a second -class city
Business licensing — purpose is for assurance of public health and safety
Great Falls changed to "Certificate of Public Safety Inspection"
Green River Ordinance — can't restrict free trade — 14 Amendment
Home Occupations — pros and cons — not to be confused with zoning
Zoning is a land use issue, not a health and safety issue
Public right to participate — Article 2, section 9 of the Montana Constitution
Open Meeting laws — Section 2 -3 -201 through 203 of Montana Codes
Discussed what constitutes a quorum
Applies to city council as well as boards and committees of the city
Public Information — Article 2, section 9 of the Montana Constitution
Very few types of city documents are confidential and not public
Agenda — Mayor is presiding officer that announces and implements the business of the
Council
Council can bring motion to the floor, but takes supermajority vote
Mayor can veto, but council can bring it back at a subsequent meeting
Roberts Rules of Order — table a motion — becomes a privileged motion — not debatable
Motion must be cast in a positive manner
Mayor is both presiding officer of the council and chief executive officer of city
If mayor is gone, only role that is automatically passed to President of the
council is the "presiding officer of the council"
Need to have a policy in place stating how to handle Chief Executive Officer
duties when mayor is gone
Conflict of Interest — If the bidding process was used, and member of council is
the owner of successful bid, then no conflict.
If not bid, then owner is in conflict and should declare interest
Employee is not the same as ownership
Maximum "gift" value is $50.00
The following is a listing of "What is Good About Laurel ":
Grooming Openness Pro- active Problem Solving •
Public Safety Library funding
Accessability Consistancy trend
Department heads Staff working relations
Water Project Public trust
Equipment replacement Pro - active planning
Small, helpful city government Recycling center
Teamwork Inter - governmental communication
Water quality Open door to government
Structure Pro - active land use planning
Hiring top quality people Progressive — change
Code enforcement New computer
Quality of administration Empathy between dept. heads
Community involvement City- School relationship
GIS Pro - active public works
Public curiosity
The following is a listing of "What Needs Improving in Laurel ":
1. Space 11. Long -range mangement
2. Public negative /apathy 12. Marketing /Educating services
3. Communication between departments 13. Crisis Planning - prevention
4. Law Enforcement FTE 14. Liability problems — alcohol
5. Infrastructure replacement (sts, sdwlk) 15. Staff training
6. Repair & Maint. schedule 16. Communication to public
7. Rate structures — wtr, swr, gbg 17. Land acquisition
8. Cemetery space 18. Complaint management — citizen
9. Negative vibes in shops 19. Committee report process
10. Pool/ Parks & recreation 20. Records Management
The councilmen were asked to vote on three items above as the most important or needing
immediate attention. The following are the results:
# 5 & 6 combined — Infrastructure & Repair 8 votes
#1 Space 3 votes
#7 Rate structures 3 votes
#8 Cemetery space 3 votes
2
#11 Long range management planning 3 votes
#4 Law enforcement FTE 1 vote
#10 Pool/Parks & rec 1 vote
#14 Liability problems — alcohol 1 vote
#16 Communication to the public 1 vote
This concluded the workshop. Now it is up to the council to set priority items based on
these results and to come up with a plan to implement: "who, how, what, and when"
guidelines need to be formalized. It would be a prudent act to involve the community in
setting these priorities.
3