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Home My Public Portal About2020.12.11 Special Council Minutes MINUTES McCall City Council Special Meeting McCall City Hall-- Legion Hall AND MS TEAMS Virtual December 11,2020 Call to Order and Roll Call Work Session Adjournment CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Mayor Giles called the Special meeting of the McCall City Council to order at 1:07 p.m. Mayor Giles, Council Member Callan, and Council Member Maciaszek all answered roll call. Council Member Holmes and Council Member Nielsen were absent. City staff members present were Anette Spickard, City Manager; BessieJo Wagner, City Clerk; Shay Tyler,Deputy Clerk;Erin Greaves,Communications Manager;Linda Stokes,City Treasurer; Rick Stein, Airport Manager; Meg Lojek, Library Director; Chris Curtin, Information Systems Manager; Traci Malvich, Human Resources Manager; Nathan Stewart, Public Works Director; Jodi Weaver,Public Works Admin;Amanda Payne, Local Option Tax Admin; Sarah Edson,Front Desk Receptionist; Library Board of Trustees members present were Jacki Rubin, Chair; David Gallipoli,Vice Chair; Dawn Matus, Secretary Also, in attendance were; Jim McNall, ICRMP Risk Management Specialist; Kelley Packer, Association of Idaho Cities (AIC) Executive Director; Rob McQuade, AIC General Counsel; WORK SESSION Training on Idaho Library Law and Idaho Ethics Law Jim McNall,Risk Management Specialist at Idaho Counties Risk Management Program(ICRMP), the City's Liability Insurance Provider, presented the training to the McCall City Council and McCall Public Library Board of Trustees on the topics of Idaho Library Law and Idaho Ethics Law. He went through personal liability of a public officials and the ICRMP policy, and discussed library claims. He described the roles and responsibilities of the board, the chair, mayor and council, and the library director. The Library is the only committee called out by Idaho statute that requires a council member liaison. MCCALL CITY COUNCIL Page 1 of 3 December 11, 2020 Special Meeting He explained that for Public Libraries the budget and spending are under the control of the Board, but the city treasurer is the responsible custodian. The board cannot spend in excess of the monies appropriated for the library or for anything not for the library. Library staff are employees of the city but managed by the Board and Library Director. Mr.McNall stated that it is wise to have some expenditures set up to be paid before Board approval so those do not get waylaid by lack of quorum or canceled meetings. In the Board meetings, the chairman is the person who will conduct the meeting; however, the chairman retains the rights to discuss and vote, controls public input when allowed, keeps the discussion to the agenda items, and prohibits personal attacks and discussion of items not on the agenda.Valid decisions are made when the meeting is properly posted with a quorum present,item is on the agenda,a motion made and affirmed,and recorded in the minutes. Inappropriate decisions include polling the board outside the meeting, gathering signatures, decisions made on an item without an agenda topic, and emailing or texting votes. Personnel policy is the responsibility of the city. It is important to follow a familiar policy as claims often come from not following those policies. When issues arise, go to the policy manual, contact the human resource director, and consult the city attorney. Before taking any serious action,know that it is now required to call ICRMP. With the pandemic, keep abreast of Covid related changes to personnel. There is still two weeks paid leave even though it will be coming to an end soon,ten weeks of FMLA partial paid childcare,and flexibility for short notice with school changes.Consult your attorney for special requests. Mr. McNall quickly went over how supervisors are to properly oversee employee issues cautioning to be diligent in documentation and avoid problem words that label the employee. He felt supervisors need extra training on harassment issues and quickly touched on termination procedures. The establishment of meeting rules was covered and staff roles. Common open meeting law violations are late notice postings, discussing topics not on the agenda, improperly adding topics to agenda, communication between board members outside the meetings, and discussing topics in executive sessions that must be addressed in a public meeting. Public records include but is not limited to, any writing containing information relating to the conduct or administration of the public's business. "Writing" includes every means of recording, including letters, words, pictures, sounds or symbols. It is advised to keep private and public records separate. This is done by not using a personal phone, device, or email. Mr. McNall shared some examples of which records are a public record and available to the public. For example, employee personnel records can be available to the public with the written authorization from the employee and texts and emails on personal phones are a public record. Mr. McNall went through ethics and conflicts of interest. He has a list of ethical breaches covering harassment, release of public records without authorization; open meeting violations, failure to follow bid/ public works statutes, inappropriate relationships with employees, inmates, and co- workers. He gave more details regarding who has authority to release public records and bid/public works processes. He clarified that in the City of McCall, the city clerk is the designated custodian and any purchase over$50K is required to go through a bidding process and any building projects over $50K requires a licensed public works contract. City Manager Anette Spickard shared the MCCALL CITY COUNCIL Page 2 of 3 December 11, 2020 Special Meeting procurement policy has been rewritten and is going before Council for approval to be effective January 2021.This will affect the Library building project. Mr. McNall clarified for Library Board Member David Gallipoli that gifts and donations for the library are acceptable but stated working with a contractor prior to going to bid is only acceptable if the contractor will not be bidding on the project. It would be a conflict of interest otherwise. Some types of projects are complicated and require the involvement of the city attorney. Additional ethical breaches are failure to disclose in conflict situations, misuse of public funds such as gas and credit cards, overstatement of expenses or hours worked, and presenteeism (at work but spend all day doing personal things). A conflict of interest is any official action, decision or recommendation by a public official (elected, appointed or staff), which would be to the private financial benefit of the individual or a member of their household, or a business with which the person or a member of their household is associated. It is always prudent to ask the city attorney if uncertain. Prohibition of contracts with appointed officers is any contract made by them in their official capacity, or by anybody or board of which they are members. This means a city cannot purchase or enter into a contract with a member of council or staff. Under the new chapter 6, ballot initiatives or elections cannot use public funds for a candidate or ballot issue. Any information presented must be unbiased, cannot use city staff or equipment to make promotional items or video, and employees on duty must avoid discussing ballot/candidate issues and opinions with patrons. Not listed in the statute but recommended by ICRMP is ballot initiatives need to have a support group which can have library board members, council members, and staff so long their activity is outside of the public meetings and off duty. Mr.McNall answered questions regarding what kind of information can be provided to the public. He expressed caution on using city funds for promotion. Last,he discussed bribery and corrupt influence which covers threats and bribes, compensation or retaliation for past actions, compensation of public servants,buying/selling political endorsement or influence,using city funds or property for economic benefit without specific authorization from the city, using or disclosing confidential information for economic benefit, hiring of relatives of council members within the second degree,and staff accepting gifts over$50 is a crime. However, large gifts to the library is acceptable so long as it is not personal. Penalties could be a year in jail and/or a$1000 fine. Neither the Council, Library Board, nor staff had any further questions. ADJOURNMENT Without further business, Mayor Giles adjourned the meeting at 2:25 p.m. %%J1ltttNq,,,I, ��•`�GG Z,tcCA.1. ATTEST: ? SEA L O Robert S. Gi es, Mayor BessieJo Wa er, City ,,,,fill 110 MCCALL CITY COUNCIL Page 3 of 3 December 11, 2020 Special Meeting