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Home My Public Portal About02) 7A1 CCM1204121. CALL TO ORDER CITY COUNCIL TEMPLE CITY, CALIFORNIA SPECIAL MEETING APRIL 12, 2012-7:00 P.M. AGENDA ITEM ?.A-1. Mayor Yu called the City Council Special Meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. in the Council Chambers located at 5938 Kauffman Avenue, Temple City. 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Yu led those present in the Pledge of Allegiance . 3. ROLLCALL PRESENT: ABSENT: Councilmember-Bium, Chavez, Vizcarra, Sternquist, Yu Councilmember -None ALSO PRESENT: City Manager Pulido, Public Safety Officer Ariizumi, Deputy City Clerk Kuo, Parks & Recreation Director Burroughs 3. PUBLIC COMMENTS -None 4. NEW BUSINESS ITEMS A. City Attorney Review of City Council Rules of Order and Protocols City Attorney Vail provided a power point presentation with an overview of the City Council Rules of Order and Protocols adopted by the Council on November 16, 2010. The Protocol sections reviewed were: Section 11 Agenda: "Individual Councilmembers may place an item on the Agenda by contacting the City Manager. The City Manager will make every effort to place the item on the next succeeding Agenda. However, should the City Manager determine the Agenda item would require significant staff resources or be received late in the agenda process , the City Manager may elect to place the item on the Agenda as an "Informational and Directional" item to ascertain if the City Council concurs with the allocation of staff resources or to provide sufficient time to research the agenda item and present said research to the Council." Council expressed concerns over not being able to add an item to a meeting agenda. City Council Minutes April 12 , 2012 Page 2 City Attorney Vail stated that the language of the section could be changed , to enable a councilmember to instruct staff to expend resources to prepare an item to be added to the agenda. However, the Council would need to determine if its majority vote would be needed prior to committing staff resources to a particular item. Council decided that they would also like to see a reasonable time frame added to Section 11, so that they know when an item of interest could be put on the agenda. Section 4.3 Disclosure of Information: Prior to any deliberations on a project or matter at a public meeting, members shall publicly disclose information about the matter that they have obtained from sources, not presented in the staff report (e.g., their own site visit, from the public, from the applicant, etc.), which may influence their decision or that members . City Attorney Vail explained that this provision is consistent with State law requiring specific evidence in the record to support Council's decisions . Should a Councilmember or Commissioner individually gather information that may influence their decision or another member's decision, that information must be made available to all other members , prior to the scheduled meeting if possible. The purpose of the provision is to require actual disclosure of the information obtained. Sect 4.4 Consider All Sides : Members should consider the various viewpoints related to a project or matter and afford project applicants and interested persons an adequate opportunity to comment upon a project or matter before action is taken . However, redundant comments or abusive or uncivil conduct will not be permitted. City Attorney Vail complimented the Council on allowing the public to speak. However, Council does not have to allow redundant remarks from the public. City Attorney Vail offered to provide Rules of Order and Protocol training to all City Commissions. Section 5.1.2 You May Need to Refrain from Participating: Conflict-of- interest issues are complex and opaque to the public . Some situations are not "legal" conflicts of interest, but may, nevertheless, pose the "appearance of impropriety" to the public. In such situations, the member should not participate in the matter. City Attorney Vail explained that Council and Commissioners as a whole would want to go beyond the minimum legal level of fair political practice . This provision is difficult to apply in practice but sets a tone for the Council, Commission & the public. City Council Minutes April12, 2012 Page 3 Section 5.2.1 Be A Good Steward : Good stewardship of the public's interest must be the Member's primary concern . City Attorney Vail stated that Councilmembers' and Commissioners' primary concern is to be good stewards of the City. Sect 5.2.8 Appearing before Council: Members shall not appear before the City Council or other City board or commission representing any private interest or community group. Members are permitted to speak as a member of the public on any matter that affects them personally, but may not participate in the matter as a Member. City Attorney Vail stated that under the law, everyone has a right to speak as a member of the public on any matter that affects them personally. Sect 6.1.1 Basic Noninterference Rule: The basic non-interference rule is stated in Section 609 of the City Charter: "No member of the city council shall interfere with the execution by the city manager of his powers and duties; nor shall any councilman direct the city manager to appoint or remove any officer or employee of the city. Except for purpose of inquiry, no councilman shall deal with the administrative services of city except by and through the city manager; nor shall any councilman give any order or direction to any subordinate officer or employee of city . This section shall not apply during period of disaster proclaimed by the governor or city council, nor during such times as there shall be no council designated city manager acting in that capacity ." City Attorney Vail stated that this section appears in the charter of every chartered city. It preserves the Council/City Manager form of government and also preserves employee rights and privacy. However, problems arises when an inquiry blends into direction and order from Council to staff. City Attorney Vail suggests that Council make their requests to the City Manager and allow the City Manager to delegate to the staff. Councilmember Chavez suggests a language change on Section 6.1.1(c)(i), to address the type of request Council is making from staff. City Attorney Vail suggested that language should be added to this section to require Council to direct their requests to the City Manager and applicable department heads, except for routine or readily available information. Section 6.1 .2 (c)( ii & iii) Responses & Notifications : Responses to member inquiries or notifications where the City Manager or Department Head provides general facts or information about the City, a program, or a City event to one member, it should be provided to all members of the same category (e.g., a response to a request by a Councilmember will be provided to all Cou ncilmembers). City Council Minutes April 12, 2012 Page 4 City Attorney Vail re-emphasized that if an inquiry is made, all responses should go to the members of the same category. Section 6.1.2(d) Work for Outside Committees: Members serving as the City's representative to an outside agency may interact directly with the City employee assigned to that effort by the City Manager. Council has no problem with this section Councilmember Vizcarra left the meeting at 8:47p.m. and returned at 8:51 p.m . Sect 7.2.1 Training & Education: The City Council will sponsor periodic training opportunities for members to become more familiar with the Protocols and the legal framework (See Appendix A) Councilmember Chavez suggested that language be added to all commission applications to state Rules of Order and Protocol training is mandatory for all appointees. Missing the training could be cause for removal. City Manager Pulido expressed the importance of this training and that it should be a requirement for the department heads as well. Sect 7.4.3 Enforcement: The City Council shall enforce these protocols against members depending upon the extent and severity of the violation by means of either (i) a warning; (ii) a written reprimand; (iii) censure; or (iv) removal from office. The following procedure shall be utilized: City Attorney Vail explained that the City Council would determine the severity of the enforcement. Council can sanction another Councilmember but not remove another Councilmember from a position they were voted into. City Attorney Vail reminds Council that should he/she decide to respond to a commercial solicitation they should provide a copy to the Mayor and the City Manager. However, the best thing to do is to forward the solicitation to the City Manager. 5. ADJOURNMENT The City Council Special Meeting was adjourned at 9 :07p.m. to the City Council Regular Meeting of Tuesday, April 17, 2012, at 7 :30 p.m . in the Council Chambers, 5938 Kauffman Avenue. Mayor City Council Minutes April 12, 2012 Page 5 ATTEST: Deputy City Clerk