Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 08/20/2002 - RESOLUTION 2002-083 ABOLISHING THE COUNCIL FINANCE AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY ITEM NUMBER: 38 DATE: August 20, 2002 FORT COLLINS CITY COUNCIL FROM: John Fischbach SUBJECT : Resolution 2002-083 Abolishing the Council Finance,Governance,Growth Management and Health and Safety Committees. RECOMMENDATION: The Governance Committee recommends adoption of the Resolution. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: At the July 9, 2002 Study Session, Councilmember Hamrick requested that the Governance Committee review the duties of each City Council committee. On July 16, 2002, the Governance Committee met and,following discussion about the various committees,unanimously recommended that the Council disband the Finance Committee, Governance Committee, Growth Management Committee, and Health and Safety Committee. The Governance Committee recommends that the Ethics Review Board,Legislative Review Board, and Transportation Funding Committee remain in existence. 7ACKGROUND: Since the late 1980s,the City Council has established a variety of committees of the Council for the purpose of reviewing specific topics including financial issues, governance matters, growth management, issues relating to public health and safety, proposed state and federal legislation, etc. Originally, these committees were intended to relieve the Council of extensive time demands by conducting in-depth research and review and providing a recommendation to the Council regarding formal action on various issues. At its July 16,2002 meeting, the Council Governance Committee,at the request of Councilmember Hamrick,discussed the functions and role of these committees. The Committee unanimously agreed that most of the Council committees no longer provide the originally-intended benefit of relieving the time commitments of the Council as a whole. Therefore, the Governance Committee recommended that the Finance Committee, Governance Committee, Growth Management Committee, and Health and Safety Committee be disbanded. The Ethics Review Board is established by the City Code and is necessary to address issues pertaining to ethics as established in the Code and Charter. The Legislative Review Board reviews pending legislation and ensures that the Policy Agenda adopted by the Council is carried out through the legislative process. Therefore, the Governance Committee has recommended both of the committees remain in existence as originally established. DATE: August ITEM NUMBER: 38 The Transportation Funding Committee is an ad hoc committee that was formed in 2001 for the purpose of working with the City Manager on recommendations for a comprehensive funding proposal that would address the long-term capital transportation needs of the City, as well as other capital needs of the City, and to formulate recommendations as to which, if any measures, should be placed on the November 2002 ballot. Pursuant to its creation resolution, that committee will be dissolved upon its submission of recommendations, absent further action of the Council. The Council has also created, and/or made appointments to, other committees which interact with other governmental entities such as Colorado State University, Poudre School District, Larimer County, and Platte River Power Authority. Those committees are not affected by this Resolution and will remain in existence. • RESOLUTION 2002-083 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS ABOLISHING THE COUNCIL FINANCE, GOVERNANCE, GROWTH MANAGEMENT, AND HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEES WHEREAS, the City Council Finance Committee was established by Resolution 88-76 for the purpose of reviewing critical financial matters and making recommendations to the Council;and WHEREAS,the Council Governance Committee was established by Council Resolution 93- 83 for the express purpose of reviewing the City Charter and other governance matters and making recommendations to the Council; and WHEREAS, the Council Growth Management Committee was established by Council Resolution 93-186 for the purposes of: (1) clarifying expectations and the products of growth management related policy agenda items; (2)monitoring the progress in accomplishing such items; (3) improving communications between the Council,the Planning and Zoning Board and staff; and (4) providing an integrated forum to address growth management issues; and WHEREAS,the Council Health and Safety Committee was created by Resolution 88-80 for the purpose of reviewing policies and issues directly related to public health and safety and making recommendations to the Council; and WHEREAS, the Council Governance Committee has recently reviewed the functions and roles of these Council committees and believes that the purposes served and issues addressed by said committees are more efficiently addressed by the Council as a whole; and WHEREAS,the City Council agrees with the recommendation of the Governance Committee and wishes to abolish the foregoing committees. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section 1. That the Council Finance Committee, the Council Governance Committee, the Council Growth and Management Committee,and the Council Health and Safety Committee are hereby abolished. Section 2. That all Council committees not expressly abolished under Section 1 of this Resolution are hereby retained and shall continue to operate as originally established. Passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council held this 20th day of August, A.D. 2002. Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk Governance Committee -2- July 16, 2002 After further discussion, the Committee decided it would be appropriate to seek input on the development of an item for consideration in a public forum,but it would not be acceptable to test the level of support for an item as drafted. Councilmember Hamrick stated he believes the administrative portion of an e-mail is also important to insure that the public has easy access to e-mail. Assistant City Manager Atteberry continued his presentation by reviewing staff s recommendations on the administration portion of an e-mail policy, including (1) easy access by the public; (2) flexibility for Council members to retain messages; (3) automatic deletion of a-mails based on age of message (60-90 days); (4) that when outside e-mail is used to conduct public business, the individuals City Groupwise mailbox should be copied;and(5)providing individualized training for each Council member based on his/her preferred method of retention; and(6)providing the e-mail policy to the local media. In response to questions, Mr. Atteber y stated this policy reduces the time commitment recently required in addressing an open records request by reducing the number of e-mail messages in individual mailboxes that need to be reviewed before release. If individual Council members have retained messages in paper or other electronic format, each Council member will need to provide those documents. • The Committee unanimously recommended that a policy be drafted that states that e-mail will be kept in e-mail boxes for 90 days and then deleted, and that straw polls will not be conducted via e- mail. Council Committees City Manager Fischbach stated Councilmember Hamrick requested that the Committee review the duties and functions of the various Council committees and highlighted the materials provided in the agenda regarding Council committees. The Committee discussed whether the Resolutions creating the various committees were outdated and whether new Resolutions were needed to generically reflect functions. Councilmember Weitkunat suggested eliminating the Council committees because they no longer serve the purpose for which they were intended,which was to relieve the entire Council of some of the work load associated with researching and evaluating substantive issues. She stated the Ethics Review Board is still necessary. She stated that external committee responsibilities, such as the Platte River Power Authority Board should be continued. Mayor Martinez stated Ms. Weitkunat has made valid points, and stated he agrees most of the committees should be eliminated. He noted that special committees, such as the current . Transportation Funding Committee, can be created as needed. Mayor Pro Tern Bertschy stated he had come to the same conclusion about the committees some time ago,because the committees are not accomplishing what they were originally intended to do. Governance Committee -3- July 16, 2002 Councilmember Hamrick also agreed with Ms. Weitkunat's suggestion. He stated he liked the model used for the Transportation Committee,because it was set up for a specific purpose/project. The Committee discussed the need for the Legislative Review Committee and determined that it should be retained. The Committee unanimously supported the elimination of the internal committees, except for the Ethics Review Board and the Legislative Review Committee. ....�..� Council Expenditures Finance Director Krcmarik stated the Committee received in its packet information on expenditures for the last quarter as well as year-to-date. He distributed additional information with more detail on expenditures in May and June. Mayor Pro Tern Bertschy stated the reason for Council getting this information is for the Council to keep track of its budget. He stated he finds it difficult to determine from the information presented where the budget actually stands. He asked if there would be a more "user-friendly" way of presenting the information. He also asked what mechanism the Council will use to make a decisions about expenditures to avoid overspending. Mr.Krcmarik and Deputy City Manager Jones explained how the Council budget is determined and managed. Ms. Jones explained that the target budget for Council is split into line items based on spending trends. She noted that $50,000 was added to the Council budget in 2002 to address overspending in previous years. Ms. Weitkunat suggested more explanatory information would be helpful to explain expenditures. Due to the time constraints for this meeting,the Committee deferred further discussion until a later date. Travel Policies The Committee reviewed the travel policy for general employees and agreed that the Council policy should be similar to the employee policy. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at approximately 5:15 p.m.