HomeMy Public PortalAboutCode Review Group Minutes 2-20-18.docxMunicipal Code Review
Minutes of February 20, 2018 Meeting
1:00pm City Hall
Attending: Shawn Gillen, George Shaw, Alan Robertson
We reviewed the recommendations of the Code Review Group, using the Submittal Letter of the Final Report, delivered to Council at their 12/14/17 meeting:
Type 1: Issues of language usage, grammatical errors, and typographical errors. The Clerk of the Council, can, within the authority of her position, submit these changes directly to
MuniCode for correction.
We agreed we will wait until Jill Jenkins of Bubba Hughes’ office returns from maternity leave, expected end of March, and review all Type 1 comments with her. Expect it will take a
full day at her office downtown to finalize, probably sometime in April.
Type 2: Issues that need to be reviewed by Council. Of these, we identified two sub-types:
Type 2-a: Issues that must be changed to be consistent with changes in State Law and changes in the City’s operating procedures (for instance the change from two year terms to staggered
four year terms). We believe these issues could be approved on a consent agenda, and
These are, for the most part, “clean up” issues across most all Chapters. Make those that are relatively easy and show progress:
- reflect staggered terms of Council members
- reflect change in Committees, omitting those that no longer exist
- outdated provisions (“b-girls”)
We agreed we will compile these for Shawn to present to Council monthly beginning with their March meeting.
Type 2-b: Issues requiring a proposal be brought before Council for deliberation, debate, and decision.
We agreed we will recommend changes that ease administration and budget:
- Chapter 2 Admin
- Chapter 34 Licenses, Permits
- Chapter 46 Personnel
- Chapter 58 Taxation
- Remove all fees and fines and place on a Schedule of Fees
Below are the recommendations:
Direct outside legal counsel to review the respective recommendations:
Type 1 – Clerk can make changes in MuniCode,
Type 2a – City Manager can recommend changes for Council to consider on their consent agenda,
Type 2b – City Manager, with outside legal counsel assistance, can bring recommendations before Council for their consideration.
Remove all fees and fines from the Code and establish a Schedule of Fees, kept by the Clerk of Council, updated annually at budget review, and refer to such in the respective Code Sections.
Remove all policies (i.e. Finance, HR, Taxation) from Code and refer to Policy Statements, to be reviewed and approved by City Council as a resolution rather than ordinance.
Review the process for changing and adopting ordinances to establish standard procedure for drafting, reviewing, and sending to Council for consideration.
Consider keeping a Code Review Group intact to assist outside legal counsel with its review and to assist in assuring future ordinances and changes in ordinances are consistent with
existing Code.