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HomeMy WebLinkAbout131 - 09/04/2001 - AMENDING CITY CODE PERTAINING TO EXECUTIVE SESSIONS ORDINANCE NO. 131, 2001 OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS AMENDING SECTIONS 2-31, 2-33 AND 2-73 OF THE CITY CODE PERTAINING TO EXECUTIVE SESSIONS WHEREAS, the City of Fort Collins, as a home rule municipality, has adopted, in Article II, Section 11 of the City Charter and Chapter 2, Articles II and III of the City Code, certain rules governing the conduct of meetings of the City Council and boards and commissions of the City, as well as committees of the same; and WHEREAS,the provisions of§2-31 and§2-71(b)of the City Code relate to the purposes for which executive sessions may be held and contain certain procedural rules relating to such executive sessions; and WHEREAS,the State of Colorado has also adopted laws pertaining to the executive sessions of local public bodies, which laws are contained in Title 24, Article 6, Part 2 of the Colorado Revised Statutes; and WHEREAS, the State Legislature has recently approved amendments to the state law governing executive sessions for both state and local public bodies, which amendments require, among other things, that a record of executive sessions be made and maintained for a period of ninety days, so that a party having reasonable grounds to believe that a violation of the state executive session laws has occurred may apply to a district court for the release of those portions of the executive session that violated the state law; and WHEREAS, the City Council believes that the principles of open government and accountability that underlie this recent change to the state law warrant a similar change to the City's local regulations. NOW, THEREFORE,BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section 1. That §2-31 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby amended so as to read in its entirety as follows: Sec. 2-31. Executive sessions. (a) The City Council, and any committee of the City Council, may, by two-thirds(2/3)majority vote of those members present and voting,hold an executive session upon announcement of the topic for discussion in the executive session, which announcement shall include a specific citation to the provision of this Section that authorizes the Council or Council committee to meet in executive session, and shall identify the particular matter to be discussed in as much detail as possible without compromising the purpose for which the executive session is to be held. Said executive session may be held only at a regular or special meeting and only for the purpose of considering any of the following matters: (1) Personnel matters restricted to those described in subparagraphs (a) through (d) below. Except as provided in subparagraph (c) below, "personnel matters" shall not include discussions concerning any member of the City Council or members of city boards and commissions,or discussions concerning the appointment of persons to fill such positions, or to discussions of personnel policies that do not require the discussion of matters personal to particular employees: a. Matters involving the hiring, appointment, dismissal, demotion, promotion, assignment and discipline of city personnel, and the review and discussion of the performance and proposed compensation and benefits of the City Manager, City Attorney or other direct City Council employees. b. Consideration of complaints or charges against individual city personnel, provided that such matter shall not.be considered in executive session if the individual concerned requests that the matter be considered in open session. C. Consideration of actual or hypothetical situations involving potential conflicts of interests with individual Councilmembers or city board or commission members, provided that no executive session shall be held for the purpose of concealing the fact that a member of the City Council or of a city board or commission has a financial or personal interest in the purchase, acquisition, lease, transfer or sale of any real,personal or other property interest from the city. d. Consideration and discussion of strategy matters relating to negotiations with employee groups including unions. (2) Meetings with the City Attorney or other attorneys representing the city regarding litigation or potential litigation involving the city and/or the manner in which particular policies, practices or regulations of the city may be affected by existing or proposed provisions of federal, state or local law. (3) Consideration of water and real property acquisitions and sales by the city, restricted to consideration of appraisals and other value 2 estimates and the consideration of strategy for the acquisition or sale of such property. (4) Consideration of electric utility matters if such matters pertain to issues of competition in the electric utility industry. (b) No final legislative action shall be taken by the city in executive session. Such final legislative action may be taken only in an open meeting. (c) Executive sessions shall be closed to the general public,but the City Council may permit any person or group to attend such sessions. Section 2. That Section 2-33 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby amended so as to read in its entirety as follows: Sec. 2-33. Minutes of meetings. (a) Except as provided below with regard to executive sessions,minutes shall be maintained of all regular and special meetings of the City Council and of all meetings of City Council committees, and such minutes shall be open to public inspection.The minutes of meetings at which executive sessions are held shall reflect the topic of discussion at the executive session. (b) An audio recording shall be made of all discussions that occur in an executive session of the City Council or a City Council committee; provided, however, that no recording shall be required of the part of an executive session discussion that constitutes a privileged attorney-client communication,so long as the audio recording of the executive session discussion reflects the fact that no further record was kept of the discussion based on the opinion of said attorney that the discussion constitutes a privileged attorney-client communication. (c) If a court finds, upon application of a person seeking access to the audio recording of an executive session of the City Council or a City Council committee in accordance with the provisions of the Colorado Open Records Act,and after an in camera review of the record of the executive session,that the City Council or City Council committee engaged in substantial discussion of any matters not enumerated in § 2-31 or that the City Council took final legislative action in an executive session in violation of§ 2-31(b),the portion of the record of the executive session that reflects the substantial discussion of matters not enumerated in § 2-31 or the taking of final legislative action shall be open to public inspection. No other portion of the record of any executive session of the City Council or City Council committee shall be open for public inspection or subject to discovery in any administrative or judicial proceeding, except upon the consent of the City Council. 3 (d) Any person seeking access to the audio recording of an executive session under this Section shall,upon application to the district court, show grounds sufficient to support a reasonable belief that the City Council or City Council committee engaged in substantial discussion of any matters not enumerated in§2-31 or that the City Council took final legislative action in the executive session in violation of § 2-31(b). If the applicant fails to show grounds sufficient to support such reasonable belief,the court shall deny the application and,if the court finds that the application was frivolous, vexatious or groundless, the court shall award court costs and attorney's fees to the prevailing party. If an applicant shows grounds sufficient to support such reasonable belief, the applicant cannot be found to have brought a frivolous, vexatious or groundless action,regardless of the outcome of the in camera review. (e) The record of an executive session of the City Council or City Council committee recorded pursuant to Subsection (b) of this Section shall be retained for at least ninety (90) days after the date of the executive session. Section 3. That Section 2-73 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby amended so as to read in its entirety as follows: Sec. 2-73. Minutes of meetings. Minutes shall be taken of any meeting of any board or commission of the city, or any committee of such board or commission, at which the adoption of any proposed policy,position,resolution,rule,regulation or formal action occurs or could occur. Such minutes shall be open to public inspection and shall be filed with the City Clerk upon approval by such board, commission or committee. Such approval shall occur no later than the next regular meeting of the board, commission or committee, except in those instances when an audio or video recording has been made and maintained by the city of the board, commission or committee meeting which is the subject of the minutes. Discussions that occur in an executive session of a board or commission, or any committee thereof, shall be subject to the same audio recording requirements and related procedures and regulations as are contained in §2-33 pertaining to executive sessions of the City Council and its committees.The minutes of a meeting during which an executive session is held shall reflect the topic of the discussion at the executive session. 4 Introduced and considered favorably on first reading and ordere4published this 21 st day of August, A.D. 2001, and to be presented for final passage on the 4th of September, A.D. 2001. Mayor z ATTEST: City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading this 4th day of September,A:f. 2001. Mayor _,.•v, ATTEST: City Clerk 5