08-03-2009 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION August 3,2009 APPROVED 44 report. Ms. Bartell noted that City Attorney Joseph Langel as well as Attorney Michael Doherty have 45 reviewed the proposed amendment. The subject of the amendment has been found to be an appropriate 46 one for a charter amendment. The attorneys have indicated that they have some questions about the 47 language in the amendment,however. 48 City Attorney Langel stated that an ordinance would need to be drafted but,more importantly,he also 49 believes that some language is not clear enough to avoid future confusion or misread. He suggests you 50 don't want more language in the amendment than you need. The"open mike"portion isn't actually part 51 of the meeting so it should be reworded to identify it as a public comment period. "Council work 52 sessions" is not an official term so that should not be included. He would prefer that this proposed 53 amendment be reworked so that it doesn't run afoul in the future. He suggests that the council ask the 54 commission to take the amendment back for more work knowing that it will be returned. 55 A council member suggested that City Attorney Langel be directed to assist with redrafting of the 56 language. 57 City Clerk Bartell noted that if the commission doesn't agree to take the amendment back,the schedule 58 defined by statute must continue. 59 A council member noted that just the council chambers are television ready and there are other groups 60 that use those facilities. There could be cost implications such as retrofitting other rooms. 61 A council member noted that the quality of production has not been defined by the commission nor is it 62 included in the amendment. Perhaps just a simple single camera filming would suffice. 63 Charter Commissioner Sutherland noted that perhaps a simple recording device may be enough. The 64 goal is transparency. 65 A council member noted that the idea of transparency should also include charter commission meetings. 66 Commissioner Sutherland suggested that the commission would be glad to have the assistance of the city 67 attorney. 68 The suggestion is that the commission should formally withdraw the amendment,reword it and then 69 resubmit it. 70 Commissioner Sutherland asked for clarity on how assistance will be provided to make the necessary 71 changes. 72 The council concurred that the city attorney will work on the matter. 73 Chair Dahl noted that she doesn't have the authority to rescind the action of the commission (there was a 74 formal vote taken on the amendment). 75 A council member suggested that perhaps the commission could allow the council leniency with the 76 statutory schedule. 77 The group concurred that the schedule will proceed as proposed with the understanding that there could 78 be a revision in the language and that language will be provided as soon as possible after the commission 79 considers the matter on Thursday of this week. 80 A council member suggested that there will be questions about the concept of televising all the meetings. 81 City Clerk Bartell reviewed the proposed schedule of consideration by the council. The council elected 82 to schedule a public hearing on the amendment for September 8,2009, 5:30 p.m.,to precede the regularly 83 scheduled work session that evening. 84 2