Special City Council Meeting

Mayor SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING Amáda Márquez Simula Councilmembers City Hall—Council Chambers, 590 40th Ave NE John Murzyn, Jr. Monday, August 01, 2022 Connie Buesgens 5:30 PM Nick Novitsky Kt Jacobs City Manager MINUTES Kelli Bourgeois The following are the minutes for the Special Meeting of the City Council held at 5:30 pm on Monday, August 1, 2022, in the City Council Chambers, City Hall, 590 40th Avenue NE, Columbia Heights, Minnesota. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Mayor Márquez Simula called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm. Present: Mayor Márquez Simula; Councilmember Buesgens; Councilmember Jacobs; Councilmember Murzyn, Jr.; Councilmember Novitsky Also Present: Bourgeois, City Manager; Jim Hoeft, City Attorney; Sara Ion, City Clerk; Scott Lepak, Assistant City Attorney ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION 1. City Council Consideration of Ordering an Investigation into Allegations Against Council Member Raised at the July 25, 2022 Open Forum. City Manager Bourgeois stated that this is a Special City Council Meeting for the City Council to decide how to move forward with the concerns brought forward at the July 25, 2022 City Council meeting. She stated that this is an open meeting, with members of the public attending but not a public hearing. She introduced Assistant City Attorney Scott Lepak as she has asked him to assist with the procedural concerns moving forward. Attorney Lepak introduced himself and stated that staff is looking for direction on next steps and for how to proceed with this concern. Currently for review the Council has the statement from the Citizen at the July 25th open forum, the statement from the Councilmember and the memo that he has compiled. All of this information becomes a part of the record. As proposed in his memo the next steps are: Option one is to take no further action, Option two is that Council feels that there is enough to proceed with acting on the information that has been gathered to date related to a code of conduct violation, Option three is to investigate the issue further. Mayor Márquez Simula asked if any councilmembers had questions. Councilmember Buesgens asked if all parties would be personally interviewed as part of the investigation. Attorney Lepak stated that all parties would be invited to be personally interviewed. City of Columbia Heights MINUTES August 01, 2022 Special City Council Meeting Page 2 Councilmember Novitsky asked if the interviews would be voluntary. Attorney Lepak stated that this is not a criminal or civil matter, and the interviews would not be mandatory, and the interviews are done on request. A negative inference can be made when an interview is denied. Councilmember Buesgens stated that the community still has a lot of questions, and she still does as well. She would like to take a vote on an investigation. Councilmember Murzyn stated that he thought it would be a good idea to go with option three. There would be transparency for citizens and council. He agrees with Councilmember Buesgens on going with an investigation. Councilmember Novitsky stated that transparency is key in what we do for our residents. We should go forward with an investigation for transparency and to give peace of mind. Mayor Márquez Simula stated that settling for less than an investigation would be a disservice to our community and the people involved. Motion by Councilmember Buesgens seconded by Councilmember Murzyn Jr. to authorize and direct the City Manager to engage an outside investigator to be selected in consultation with the City Attorney, to investigate and determine if the allegations raised at the July 25, 2022 open forum and related actions thereafter violate the City Council Code of Conduct or reasonable expectations of conduct by a Columbia Heights City Council member. All Ayes, with Councilmember Jacobs abstaining. Motion carried 4-0. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 5:45 pm. Respectfully Submitted, ______________________________________ Sara Ion, City Clerk/Council Secretary