Special City Council Work Session

Mayor SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Amáda Márquez Simula Councilmembers Public Safety Bldg—Training Room, 825 41st Ave NE John Murzyn, Jr. Wednesday, June 09, 2021 Connie Buesgens 4:00 PM Nick Novitsky Kt Jacobs City Manager MINUTES Kelli Bourgeois CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Mayor Márquez Simula called the work session to order at 4:05 pm. Present: Mayor Márquez Simula, Councilmembers Buesgens, Jacobs, Murzyn, Jr., and Novitsky Also Present: Kelli Bourgeois, City Manager; Pam Whitmore, Facilitator from Eckberg Lammers WORK SESSION ITEMS 1. Collaboration Session with Pam Whitmore Introduction & Opening Exercise Facilitator Whitmore introduced herself and provided an introduction for the session. She led the City Council in an opening exercise. Each Councilmember was asked to discuss what they think they or the Council do well for Columbia Heights. Communications Styles/Perspectives Facilitator Whitmore led a discussion on communication styles/perspectives. The group reviewed their communication styles as determined by the online questionnaire the Council did on their own, including how they learn and what their frustrations are with meetings. The Council discussed the excerpt from Difficult Conversations regarding perspectives and that people bring their own perspectives and life to actions. Roles as an Elected Official/Group Decision Maker Facilitator Whitmore led a discussion on roles as an elected official and group decision maker. Additionally, they discussed communication tips as a group employer, best practices for meeting management, and best practices for engaging in interest-based dialogue. Pam gave an overview of the differences between charter cities and statutory Cities and the roles of the Mayor and Councilmembers under the Charter. The Council discussed concerns and ideas regarding members holding events outside of meetings in their official roles. The Council agreed that they would notify other members of their events through the city manager even though they may not want the other members present. City of Columbia Heights MINUTES June 09, 2021 Special City Council Work Session Page 2 Elements of a good meeting are: having a good agenda, commitment to leadership duties as members, rules of process, understanding of elements for productive dialogue, and utilizing listening with curiosity skills. Pam reviewed good listening tips and tips to avoid interaction road blocks. Social Media as Friend, Not Foe Facilitator Whitmore led a discussion on using social media. She recommends using social media to celebrate the things happening in our city. The Council discussed the differences between and the restrictions related to campaign pages, personal pages, and elected official pages. The group discussed first amendment protected speech with regard to public comments and that deletion of negative posts is typically not permitted unless the comments are language not protected by the First Amendment. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Márquez Simula adjourned the work session at 8:18 pm. Respectfully Submitted, __________________________ Kelli Bourgeois, City Manager *A meeting summary provided by facilitator Pam Whitmore is attached to the minutes as an exhibit*  Exhibit to 6/9/21 Special Work Session Minutes City Council of Columbia Heights Summary of the Collaboration Workshop Background The Columbia Heights City Council met on Wednesday, June 9, 2021 to participate in a team building/communication workshop facilitated by Pam Whitmore. The summary below is the facilitators’ understanding of some of the goals and agreed upon next steps arising out of those discussions. Readiness for Collaborative Problem Solving • Members of Council have an ongoing relationship with each other and with staff. • Individual members of Council expressed a willingness to work together better, present more as a team to staff and community, and engage in more productive dialogue during meetings. • Members of Council and staff expressed a willingness to gain additional insight into their roles and relationships and to discuss how to best communicate with each other, as well as how with staff, vendors, and public. • Many members of Council utilize social media and had some questions around best practices for social media use. • The City benefits when Council and staff work together. Communication Styles The Mayor and individual Council Members started off the meeting with an opening exercise which involved selecting a card that, in their perspective, represented the Council’s role or an event that Council handled well. These included: A storm Weathered COVID well A light Collectively bring ideas together for public benefit Birds on a wire Welcoming all people to the city and to being involved, especially to Commissions & Boards Page 2 A heart Acting out of love for the community and legislating for the City from the heart. Holding dear the importance to pay back A sun Making Columbia Heights “shine” which will attract businesses and people. The Mayor and individual Council Members then shared with each other their communication styles, discussing how they process information and sharing with each other what frustrates them in meetings. 1) Types of Communicators: the make-up of the Council was split between connectors and planner/thinkers, with some commenting that their communication style changes based on the context. For purposes of the exercise, we limited the scope to communicating within meetings or when getting information for meetings. Overall, most participants indicated that they learn visually, as well as from written material, and consider their approach as big picture. a) A couple of the council members identified as Planners/Thinkers. Planners are very purposeful, appreciate detail and generally like to follow policy. They appreciate when members of a group come prepared, stay on topic, engage with details but respectfully, and don’t interrupt. Thinkers like facts and information as well, and consider their approach logical and focused on the big picture. Thinkers learn through question asking and generally appreciate time to ponder issues or situations. b) A few of the council members identified with the Connector communication style. Connectors generally are more expressive with emotion when they communicate and like to use metaphors to make their points. Connectors appreciate communication in groups where the participants have patience with each other, include everyone and show appreciation. 2) Tips for this combination of Communicators. The group brainstormed on how they, as a group and now knowing their individual communication styles, could improve dialogue. The ideas included: a) Following rules of process more and doing so collectively - as a group. Running discussion through the Mayor, with the Mayor running the meeting; but with each individual member being intentional to self-monitor their own participation. This includes being mindful to follow public comment policies, as much as possible. Some cities will close the loop with public by adding a “reports back” to the council agenda for future meetings. b) Being intentional about respectful listening, as well as staying on topic during meetings. Sometimes the group feels that dialogue gets off topic and, on occasion, turns personal. c) Building in tools to allow members more time to think and provide feedback that is based on the issue, but that provides more details. The group committed to increasing their Page 3 awareness to not talk over each other so that all could engage in better dialogue and listening. d) Reminding each other and themselves that staff, under City Manager’s directive, manages the day to day business. Council discussed how it should strive to keep questions at a policy level and not go too deep into the weeds. e) Acknowledging that debate can be healthy but the tone of dialogue or form of question can create defensiveness of others during the course of any discussion. Considerations as Group Moves Forward The below summarizes some key points that arose out of the discussions. Certainly, other action items or topics arose during Council’s time together, so the below is not intended to represent an exhaustive list, but rather a few key action items. 1) Listen with interest and authenticity. Be curious about the other person’s perspective. Clarifying or summarizing another’s viewpoints will help with listening. This also will help with direction to staff. Mayor, after Council action, may want to summarize next steps for staff and consider asking staff to repeat the direction so that everyone hears the understanding of direction and is on same page. 2) Substitute the assumption that you have all the information with the assumption that you do NOT have all the information and ask the other person what information you are missing. “Tell me more” should become a common question. 3) Remind yourself that regardless of how you voted, the ultimate decision made is the direction of the Council to staff that staff implements on Council’s behalf. Clearly communicate that positioning to public to better represent the feeling of team. 4) Be thoughtful about using a positive tone in question asking to avoid giving appearance of getting personal. Transition away from using “you” statements or “why do you” statements. These will just escalate conflict or put people on the defensive. 5) Limit comments or information to the issues, rather than making statements about the person. Then use your vote to express your opinion. 6) Watch body language and side conversations. It can be distracting for each other, staff and public and can make presenters feel unheard. 7) Develop or commit to a common practice for information sharing between Councilmembers and staff. Continue to make an intentional effort to review packets and provide staff with questions ahead of the meeting or, in the alternative, give staff a heads- up about topics or information about which there is confusion so that staff can better prepare for meetings and Council can more efficiently govern. 8) Work collectively as a Council during meetings, even if using rules of process, to help keep everyone on track in discussions, to keep the discussion on point to the agenda items, to allow for relevant policy debate and to stop debate when it feels personal about each other, vendors, public or staff. 9) Act as a body, accept the Council’s decision and, although perfectly fine to say you voted against something, recognize that it was the Council’s decision. Page 4 Events Outside of Meetings • Columbia Heights is a vibrant community with a mix of marginalized and non-marginalized groups represented in the community. Each participant in the room expressed their pride and love for the City of Columbia Heights. • Each elected official has an interest in meeting with members of public and, indeed, the ability to do so makes up a part of every elected official’s role. The group acknowledged each individual’s freedom to do so (within parameters of the Open Meeting Law, of course) as long as no one represents that they are acting or that their decisions are that of the city or council as a whole. • Participants shared the desire to feel more like a team. The group agreed that any individual elected official would let City Manager, Kelli, know when they were doing an event in the community so that Kelli could let the rest of Council know that the event is happening. All involved committed to appreciating the heads up and respecting any request for the other council members to not attend. • Group talked about importance of celebrating, caring for and appreciating the community, staff and each other. My time with you showed to me how much each of you care about Columbia Heights. Social Media • The group spent time at the end of the session to learn more about social media best practices, as well as some of the legal things to think about with respect to social media. • Social Media is a great tool for outreach and is here to stay. Participants recognized how public can confuse comments as an individual with positions of city or in official role. • Best Practices include: pushing information out to public about things such as events, government, public works, and construction; showing off city services, programs and beautification efforts; offering public an opportunity to share feedback; and encouraging others to show their love for where they live, work and play. • Group discussed legal issues such as blocking people; removing or editing comments and posts; copyright concerns in some instances; open meeting law and data law restraints, and the frustrations with possible limitations by campaign laws. I hope you found the session useful and this summary a reminder of the evening. Again, thank you for participating in the workshop. Please let me know if we can be of further assistance.