Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 02/20/2001 - ITEMS RELATING TO AMENDMENTS TO THE CITY CHARTER AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY ITEM NUMBER: 16 A-13 FORT COLLINS CITY COUNCIL DATE: February 20, 2001STAFF• 10 John F. Fischbach SUBJECT: Items Relating to Amendments to the City Charter. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinances on Second Reading. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: A. Second Reading of Ordinance No. 21,2001,Submitting to a Vote of the Registered Electors of the City of Fort Collins a Proposed Amendment to Article IV of the City Charter, Pertaining to Residency Requirements. B. Second Reading of Ordinance No.22,2001,Submitting to a Vote of the Registered Electors of the City of Fort Collins a Proposed Amendment to Article IV of the City Charter, Pertaining to the Definition of Terms. These two Ordinances, which were unanimously adopted on First Reading on February 6. 2001, present separate but related Charter amendments to the voters as part of the regular city election in April. The first amendment would change the residency requirement for division heads of the City so as to permit division heads to live outside of the Fort Collins Urban Growth, as long as they live within five miles of the city limits. The second amendment would change certain terminology in the Charter that is confusing, since it is inconsistent with the City's current organizational structure. AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY ITEM NUMBER: 19 A-B FORT COLLINS CITY COUNCIL DATE: February 6, 2001STAFF• John F. Fischbach SUBJECT: Items Relating to Amendments to the City Charter. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends adoption of kthe�lrdin(anc—es)on First Reading. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: A. First Reading of Ordin ti o mote of the Registered Electors of the City of Fort fins aae�nts. en en Article IV of the City Charter, Pertaining to Residen equir B. First Reading of Ordinance No. 22, 2001, Submitting to a Vote of the Registered Electors of the City of Fort Collins a Proposed Amendment to Article IV of the City Charter, Pertaining to the Definition of Terms. These two Ordinances would present separate but related Charter amendments to the voters as part of the regular city election in April. The first proposed amendment would change the residency requirement for division heads of the City so as to permit division heads to live outside of the Fort Collins Urban Growth, as long as-,,they;live within ft� milesf the city limits. The second proposed amendment would change certain terminology A he' har&r t�t isconfusing,since it is inconsistent with the City's current organiz,t` nal st ture. a3, , '; ,. BACKGROUND: The City Charter presently requires that all directors of City "departments" (today's service area directors), all deputy city managers and assistant city managers, and those "division heads" (today's department heads) who were appointed after March 5, 1985, reside within the Fort Collins Urban Growth Area during their tenure in office. Staff is recommending two proposed amendments to the City Charter relating to these provisions. f , DATE: February 6, 2001 2 ITEM NUMBER: Proposed Change in Division Head Residency Requirement The first proposed amendment is that the residency requirement for division heads be modified so that division heads may live outside the Urban Growth Area so long as they live within five miles of the City limits. Under the revised language, the following residency requirements for other, higher levels of management would still apply: the City Manager would still be required to live within the City limits and deputy city managers, assistant city managers, and service area directors would still be required to live within the Urban Growth Area. The rationale for this propose Ca en Psi b w: 1. A residency requireme' or div' n he dep ment heads)unnecessarily restricts the pool of applicants for is leve mnt. ere have been several occasions where the City's ability to promote from within the organization has been limited by the Urban Growth Area residency requirement. In these examples,the City risks missing out on promoting the most qualified person for the job. 2. The City has as a stated objective the recruitment of a more diverse workforce. Because the population of Fort Collins is over 90%white,a residency requirement significantly hampers the City's ability to recruit and promote non-whites into the department head level of management. And, bec ny le a ositions are filled from within the organization,the r dency irem tF ve nintended effect of impeding the promotion of minoriti to that t el of ament w n vacancies occur. d 3. In today's society, many families have dual incomes with both spouses working outside the home. Residency requirements inhibit the ability of spouses to work in different cities. In order to provide for the most diverse and qualified applicant pool possible,staff recommends that the Charter residency requirement be modified as indicated in the proposed ordinance. Proposed Change in Terminology The second Charter amendmet dea]Owith outd ec�ein c�atped in the Charter. There are two definitions contained in Arti'ele XIII of the N har4er that gre inconsistent with the current organizational structure of the'1%.,,The'word n estion ark.department" and "division." The Charter definition of these are as follows: "Department" means a major city administrative unit headed by a director. "Division" means a primary subdivision of a department headed by a person who is directly responsible to the director of the department. Under the current organizational structure,the major administrative units are called"service areas," and the major subdivisions of these service areas are referred to as "departments." Therefore, in order to make the Charter terminology consistent with today's organizational structure, the term "department" in the Charter should be changed to "service area" and the term "division' should be changed to "department." A number of other companion changes should also be made to those sections of the Charter where the terms are used.