City Council Meeting Date: April 10, 2024
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Ben Martig, City Administrator
Lynette Peterson, City Clerk
Title
Review of Council and Board and Commission Rules of Business Amendments, New Council Policies for Proclamations and Resolutions; City Attorney Role and Council Liaison and Ex-Officio Members.
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council reviews the amendments to the attached Council and Board and Commission Rules of Business and new draft Council Policies for Proclamations and Resolutions; City Attorney Role and Council Liaison and Ex-Officio Members.
Summary Report:
The City Council annually reviews the City Council Rules of Business and related Appendices and incorporates any amendments as necessary. The Council reviewed and approved initial amendments at the February 6, 2024 Council meeting. After discussion regarding certain sections of the rules of business, council had discussion that it was preferrred to amend the Council and Board and Commission Rules of Business to make certain sections as stand-alone Council policies. These policies have been standard practices in the Rules of Business. The sections include in the Council Rules of Business: City Council Recognition of Citizens/Groups/Events (Council Policy 1.06 Proclamations and Resolution Policy); Role of City Attorney Related to the Mayor or individual City Council Members (Council Policy 1.07 Role of City Attorney Related to City Council and Board and Commission Members Policy); and Boards/Commission (Council Policy 1.08 Council Liaison and Ex-Officio Member Policy). The sections include in the Board and Commission Rules of Business: Board/Commission Recognition of Citizens/Groups/Events (Council Policy 1.06 Proclamations and Resolution Policy); Role of City Attorney related to Boards/Commission (Council Policy 1.07 Role of City Attorney Related to City Council and Board and Commission Members Policy); and Board/Commissions - Council Liaisons or Ex-Officio Members (Council Policy 1.08 Council Liaison and Ex-Officio Member Policy). These draft policies have been included as Exhibits G, E and F of both the Council Rules of Business and the Board and Commission Rules of Business.
A full set of the Rules of Business for both the City Council and Boards and Commissions are attached as redline versions with these changes. Also attached are the new appendices E, F and G. The City Council may discuss other areas of the rules for clarification, questions or amendments to propose.
Also, staff has explored potential alternatives in which public comment is received at Council Meetings. This is in reaction to some input received with an interest to have a more meaningful interactions for the public seeking answers or input as well as more engaging ways to interact with the City Council. Also, the length of time of public comment has also provided challenges to complete business planned at regular meetings resulting in cases where deliberation is limited during the meeting, meetings are extended beyond their end time or items are delayed to future meetings as time has expired. Planning in advance for the upcoming meetings are also challenging with the uncertainty of length of the public comment time period.
One option to consider is the following:
A new “Council Listening Session/Open House Comment Period” would begin prior to the regular scheduled meetings on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of the month. It would be for a half hour. and would consist of a more relaxed, information session where residents could talk freely with the Council and bring up concerns, questions and comments. Pre-registration would be required to speak. A draft redlined version of how this would change the Rules of Business is attached as attachment 6. This is a draft option and will be discussed in greater detail at the work session. Staff will note with this option that the regular Council Meeting may need to be shifted to allow staff to reset the Council Chambers for the regular meeting should it be set up like a work session with the Council sitting at tables versus at the dais. Again, timing details are still being explored as well as other details of how the new listening session/open house comment period would be conducted.
Alternative Options:
The Council could leave the Rules of Business as is and not amend and the current Rules of Business would remain in place.
Financial Impacts:
Not applicable.
Tentative Timelines:
ü April 9, 2024 - Council reviews and discusses changes to Rules of Business and the addition of Council Policies 1.06, 1.07 and 1.08
April 16, 2024 or May 7th - Council approves Rules of Business amendments with the addition of Council Policies for both City Council and Boards and Commissions