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From:Julia Trude To:Cry of Mounds Mims C/26J96 at 13:40:34 Va'r.5 41 DRAFT POLICY - II. Policy defining council direction to staff 1. Council direction is defined as the consensus or majority vote of the council at a council meeting to take a certain action. In limited situations, when time is of the essence because of an emergency event or unforeseen circumstances, council direction may be determined by the clerk-administrator taking an informal poll of councilmembers. In no event should the requirements of the Open Meeting Law or any other law be ignored. 2. Council direction to staff occurs only at council meetings. The clerk-administrator's job includes carrying out council directives and communicating council directions and policies to the staff and public. 3. The mayor or individual councilmembers do not have the legal authority to act on behalf of the council or represent the entire council unless they are authorized by a council resolution,motion or council consensus conveyed to the clerk-administrator. The council relies on the clerk-administrator to communicate their directives to the staff. Likewise, staff should turn to the clerk-administrator for their work directives. If the mayor or a councilmember directs a staff member to take an action, the clerk-administrator should be consulted to determine if the requested action has been authorized by the council. Staff members preparing reports to the council should also note mayor/councilmember input or directions that affected the background, research, preparation of the report or recommendations; this type of statement would be an item of information for the entire council's consideration. 4. Staff should assist councilmembers seeking information for use in • decision-making. Councilmembers and the mayor should be assisted in reasonable requests for information. When a request would conflict with meeting work priorities that are based on council direction, then the request should be reviewed with the clerk-administrator who assists staff in prioritizing their workload. Requests that seem extraordinary should be reviewed with the entire council by the clerk-administrator. 5. Staff should assist councilmembers in providing constituent services. Councilmembers may directly contact staff requesting assistance in responding to a resident complaint or issue such as a code violation or problem with a city service. Any staff person uncertain of the action they should take should review the request with their department head. When a department head is uncertain about handling such a request, the clerk-administrator should be consulted for direction. •