Charter Review Committee

February 11, 2016 Minutes – 2016 Charter Review Committee A Charter Review Committee Meeting of the City of Everett was held on February 11, 2016 in the 8th floor Hearing Room of the Wall Street Building located at 2930 Wetmore Ave. The meeting was called to order at 4:37 p.m. and was presided over by City Committee Liaison Bob Bolerjack. Attendees: Committee Members Christopher Adams Reid Shockey Terrie Battuello Angie Sievers Megan Dunn Michael Swanson Dave Koening Erica Temple Tom Norcott Michael Trujillo Clair Olivers Walter White Excused Members Steven Graham Jo Metzger-Levin Guests Mayor Ray Stephanson City Attorney Jim Iles City Staff Liaison : Bob Bolerjack Admin: Lee Brandt 1. Mayor Ray Stephanson and Council President Scott Murphy welcome the Committee Members Mayor Stephanson thanked the members for volunteering to review the City Charter in a relatively short period of time and noted that recommendations must be submitted to City Council by June 1, 2016. Council President Scott Murphy thanked members on behalf of the Council and spoke to the City Charter as being a foundation and basis used to guide the City’s operations. 2. Mayor introduces other Council members in attendance, support staff, City Attorney Jim Iles and Bob Bolerjack, liaison between the Committee and City. The Mayor introduced City staff members Bob Bolerjack as committee liaison, and City Attorney Jim Iles. The Mayor and Council President left the meeting at 4:39. Bob Bolerjack continued the meeting by explaining the materials (notebook) and indicating that Assistant City Attorney Ramsey Ramerman would be present at a future meeting to go over the included memorandum on the Open Public Meetings and the Public Records act. He then reviewed the meeting agenda. 1 City of Everett, Washington | Submitted by:LBrandt  February 11, 2016 Minutes – 2016 Charter Review Committee 3. Committee selection of 15th member and procedure for doing that. Bob Bolerjack explained the procedure for selecting the 15th member of the Committee. Members discussed several people who had applied for appointment to the board, but who had not been chosen; and discussed appointing Jim Langus (a past employee of the City who served as Chief Administrative Assistant prior to his retirement) who had not applied, but was known by reputation. Greg Lineberry, an applicant who was present at the meeting, spoke on his qualifications and desire to work with the Committee. Committee members selected Jim Langus, by a majority show of hands, as the 15th member; and Greg Lineberry, by a majority show of hands, as an alternate. Bob Bolerjack advised he would contact Jim Langus the next day and then notify Greg if Jim did not accept the position. 4. Committee selection of officers. The following officers were selected by the Committee: Chair: Reid Shockey by majority Vice Chair: Megan Dunn by majority The Committee discussed appointing members to the positions of Treasurer and Secretary but decided to postpone appointments to those positions until a need was determined. The meeting was turned over to Chair Shockey. 5. Additional support for the Committee: Council allocated up to $25,000 for support expenses including the services of an independent attorney and administrative support staff as needed. Discuss using City Attorney or outside counsel and clerical staff. [This was originally agenda item No. 6, but was moved here] Attorney Iles advised of funding allocated in the convening resolution. City Attorney Jim Iles reviewed the process for using outside counsel and clerical staff. After discussion the Committee: 2 City of Everett, Washington | Submitted by:LBrandt  February 11, 2016 Minutes – 2016 Charter Review Committee  Asked staff to procure administrative support for taking and formatting minutes for the meetings. Jim Iles agreed to help find a suitable person. As the meetings will be recorded for broadcast, minutes will be general in nature.  Agreed to use the City Attorney’s staff for general guidelines primarily; but if necessary, contact outside counsel.  Asked the City Attorney’s Office to provide them with a list of qualified attorneys and other professionals with the needed expertise – so they would be ready to act if and when issues arise.  Asked the City staff to schedule a presentation to the Committee by Municipal Research Service. Although attorneys are on the Committee, it was noted that they serve as citizens and Committee work is outside their areas of expertise. 6. City Attorney Jim Iles reviews responsibilities of the Committee. [This was originally agenda item No. 5, but was moved here] City Attorney Iles provided a historical context for the City Charter and information on the existing form on government Everett has in place. He explained the committee’s authority as that of an advisory group, charged with a written report to be provided to the Mayor and City Council by June 1; and how the work could be extended if requested by the Mayor or City Council. Once all work has been completed, the Committee is discharged. The City Council would then make decisions on any changes to adopt as an ordinance for inclusion on the election ballot for voters’ approval. Attorney Iles continued by providing information on the deadline, the necessary number of members needed to move a recommendation forward (10), and the requirement to hold two hearings for public comment. He then explained the basics of public meetings laws applicable to the Committee, including the prohibition of discussion of Committee business by a quorum outside of these public meetings, and avoiding the use of email to discuss Committee business. He further explained that the Committee is subject to the Public Records Act – all documents received or produced are public records and as such must be retained for a 3 City of Everett, Washington | Submitted by:LBrandt  February 11, 2016 Minutes – 2016 Charter Review Committee period of time. He reiterated the Assistant City Attorney Ramsey Ramerman would speak to these matters more in depth at a future meeting. He advised members to use the memo in their binders as a guide. Committee members inquired about the scope or boundaries of their discussion and recommendation. Iles responded that members can make recommendations beyond what is currently in the Charter, that they could use the index as a guide; but if something were absent, they could bring it up. They are not restricted by Charter, state law or any other rules in this regard. Committee members expressed a desire to hear from current City department staff as to what they would like changed in the current Charter. They also requested copies of the report provided to the Council ten years ago. Committee members requested copies of the 2006 report to Council. The Committee discussed having public hearings occurring near the beginning and end of the process so maximum input could be obtained. 7. Open discussion period for Committee members to express their goals, suggestions and ideas for Charter Review. Chair Shockey asked each member to introduce themselves and to provide thoughts on why they are present on the Committee. Committee members went around the room, explaining their backgrounds, service and interests. Director Bolerjack then expanded on his background. 8. Discuss future meetings. The Chair asked for members thoughts on possible strategies they could use to best complete the task in the time allotted. There was some discussion on the topic of City Council districting. Members believe districting will be one of the major priority issues. Vice Chair Dunn will assist in developing contacts and background on this issue. 4 City of Everett, Washington | Submitted by:LBrandt  February 11, 2016 Minutes – 2016 Charter Review Committee There was discussion on using subgroups as necessary, use of municipal resources, meetings with City employees on their perceived updates. They discussed the need to work on multiple issues at one time – doing homework and their own research, gathering employee input, receiving public participation. They recognize the need for public input to set priorities. How to best reach the public was discussed. City Communications Director Meghan Pembroke will be asked to issue a press release on the first public hearing (March 3rd) and submit a legal notice to the Herald, asking for public testimony on Charter revisions. Suggestions were made to include neighborhood representatives and Council of Neighborhoods, to include a short introduction on scope at public hearings to make sure testimony was appropriate to the task, use of the City’s website on-line form submissions; referral of the website form from the City’s Facebook page and Twitter feed. Bob Bolerjack will make arrangements for outreach through various channels that include Media Director Meghan Pembroke. He will also contact Wendy McClure for assistance in reaching neighborhood representatives. Committee members would like to meet Thursday evenings from 4:30-6:30 p.m. They would like set the frequency relevant to need, starting with weekly meetings and perhaps switching to every other week; they have the option of adding other dates and times. Frequency will ultimately be determined by what issues arise and how close the Committee is to the due date. They will need public input to set the priorities. They would like to see draft agendas before they are finalized. Homework before the next meeting was suggested and assigned: read current charter, mark up areas, grammar, spelling, typos, etc. That work would be presented by each member at the meeting on March 3rd. If a member is unable to attend a meeting, they should advise the Chair, Vice Chair, and Director Bolerjack. Bob Bolerjack will provide emails to the members with the reminder not to violate the public meeting rules. 5 City of Everett, Washington | Submitted by:LBrandt  February 11, 2016 Minutes – 2016 Charter Review Committee 9. Schedule next meeting. The next meeting will be held March 3, at 4:30 p.m., same location [since then, this location has been amended to the Human Resources Training Room on the 5th floor of the Wall Street Building] and will include public hearing beginning at 5:30 p.m. 10. Agenda items for next meeting and directions to staff. The following suggestions were made for the next meeting:  Member presentations on individual work (homework) – changes needed to grammar, correction of typos, wording, or content, and members’ perceived priorities Adjourn: The meeting was adjourned at 6:29 p.m. 6 City of Everett, Washington | Submitted by:LBrandt