Board of Commissioners Workshop Meeting - BOC Planning Session

MINUTES BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WORKSHOP MEETING - PLANNING SESSION APRIL 15, 2020 12:00 P.M. A workshop meeting of the City of Madeira Beach Board of Commissioners was held at 12:00 p.m., April 15, 2020, in the Patricia Shontz Commission Chambers at C ity Hall , located at 300 Municipal Drive, Madeira Beach, Florida. MEMBERS PRESENT: John B. Hendricks, Mayor Doug Andrews, Vice Mayor/Commissioner District 3 Helen " Happy" Price, Comm issioner District I Nancy Hodges, Commissioner District 2 John Douthirt, Commissioner District 4 (via telephone) MEMBERS ABSENT: CITY STAFF PRESENT: Robert Daniels, C ity Manager Clara VanBlargan, City Clerk Patty Kordis, Deputy C lerk Ralf Brookes, City Attorney (via telephone) 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Hendricks ca lled the meeting to ord er at 12:00 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL City Clerk Clara VanBlargan ca lled the roll. 3. PUBLIC COMMENT Mayor Hendricks opened to public comm ent. Curt Preisser, Public In format ion Officer, read comments received by email: William Gay, 423 I 50 th Avenue, stressed concern that because the Board terminated the City Attorney last night at its meeting, the City could be returning to the same patterns of behavior that led the C ity into chaos a few years back. He commented that he was not in favor of re-appointing Attorney Tom Trask and his firm to serve as City Attorney. Carol Gay, 423 150 th Avenue, com mented she was not in favor of re-appointing Attorney Tom Trask and his firm to serve as City Attorney. April 15, 2020, BOC Workshop Meeting Minutes - Planning Sess ion Page 1 of 5 4. TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION A. Goals, Objectives, and Priorities for FY 2021-Board o/Commissioners Vice Mayor Andrews explained why he asked for the meeting and distributed a list of 17 items to the Board that he would like discussed. He said he provided the same list to the Board when first coming on board as a Commissioner, and that he added new items to the list. The items on the list derived from talking to people on the streets when campaigning for his seat, and from things he had noticed for himself. He had given the list to former city manager Jonathan Evans and asked that the items be discussed at a workshop meeting and was told that could not happen unless approved by a majority of the Board. Elected officials should not need a vote to discuss an item. The items on the list that were not discussed was because the past administration felt uncomfortable talking about them. The cure is not to do anything to feel uncomfortable talking about in the future. He does not want to relive the past, but sometimes it is necessary to clean up some of the past to move forward in the future. Vice Mayor Andrews suggested that a good starting point for the Board is to go through their policy handbook and make the changes they would like made. They could have a series of the meetings, if necessary, and move forward. Going through the handbook will help them know what their roles are. They will make mistakes, but they must address the issues together inhouse. They should not be sending a letter with the assistance of their City Attorney asking for an opinion on a mistake made by a Commissioner. That should not happen. The City Attorney works for the entire Commission, as a group, and not for one Commissioner. The Board consented to starting with the handbook. Commissioner Price said she ran on three key issues she would like added to the list and those are how they would raise more money in the City, how they would unify the City, and how they would streamline their building and permitting processes because people complained that it took up to six months to get a permit approved to get home improvements. Vice Mayor Andrews said from the beginning of his term as Commissioner the City Manager has individual meetings with them to go over each agenda in its entirety. For the City Manager to have individual meetings with the Commissioners and tell them how to vote should not be happening. It defeats the purpose of them receiving the agenda information to read before the meeting. A Commissioner should only go in and speak to the City Manager about an item on the agenda if they have an issue. The Board should be reading the information and coming up with their own ideas and not be told how to vote. The Board is supposed to discuss items in the Sunshine, which is the law, and not be having private discussions. April 15, 2020, BOC Workshop Meeting Minutes Page 2 ofS The Mayor moved to the handbook discussion. He said they would work until 2:00 p.m. on the handbook and schedule another meeting to continue. The Board welcomed the City Manager and the City Clerk to provide input and suggestions they felt would be helpful while going through the handbook. The Board worked through Article I and Article II of the handbook and made the following changes: ARTICLE I - OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS AND REPRESENTATION OF THE CITY PROTOCOL (pp. 1-12) II. GUIDELINES RELATED TO COMMISSION COMMUNICATIONS (pp. 1-3) 1. Ceremonial Events Add a bullet point at the bottom to read, "All Commissioners are encouraged to show up and positively represent the City without violating the Sunshine Law." 3. Public Communications Combine bullet points three and four to read, "Commission members frequently are asked to explain an action made by the Board or to give their opinion about an issue as they meet and talk with constituents in the community. Commission members may give a brief overview of a decision made by the Board or City policy and to refer to City staff for future information." III. COMMISSION CONDUCT WITH CITY STAFF (pp. 3-4) 3. Do not attend meetings with City staff unless requested by staff Change the title of#3 to read, "Do not attend meetings with City staff unless requested by a department director through the City Manager." IV. COMMISSION CONDUCT WITH THE PUBLIC (pp. 5-8) 1. In Public Meetings April 15, 2020, BOC Workshop Meeting Minutes Page 3 of5  Change the first bullet point to read, "The Board of Commissioners will refrain from the use of personal electronic devices on the dais and/or in a public meeting unless authorized by the Board of Commissioners." 6. Government Access Channel Change the title of 6 to read, "Government Access Channel or Alternative Measure." 7. Video Live Streaming Add a one-sentence paragraph at the end to read, "Candidate forums will be video live streamed on the government access channel even if it involves City personnel." V. COMMISSION CONDUCT WITH OTHER PUBLIC AGENCIES (pp. 8-9) 2. Correspondence shall be equally clear about representation Remove the sentence within the paragraph that reads, "However, if City letterhead is used to express an individual opinion, the official City position shall be stated clearly so the reader understands the difference between the official City position and the viewpoint of an individual Commission member." ARTICLE II - COMMUNITY RECOGNITION A WARDS POLICY (pp. 13-15) Remove Article II in its entirety. Vice Mayor Andrews received confirmation from the City Clerk that after the Board approves their new policy handbook, they can make changes at any time by resolution and then include those changes in the handbook that gets approved the following year after the election. Following the handbook discussion, the Board discussed the need to meet with the City's advisory boards regularly and if they have any issues the Board can address them. It was mentioned that members serving on an advisory board should have the required professional qualifications and expertise to serve, and to diversify the membership on the committees as much possible so everyone serving on a committee does not reside in the same district. The City Manager said he could report on behalf of the committees that are not able to make it to the meeting. Commissioner Price suggested that when they begin discussing the order of the agenda in the handbook, they could add committee reports, so when there is a report, there would be a place on the agenda for it. The Mayor suggested adding it somewhere at the beginning of the agenda, so they would not have to wait very long to report. April 15, 2020, BOC Workshop Meeting Minutes Page 4 of5 Following discussion, the Board scheduled the next workshop meeting for April 2 1, 2020, at noon. Vice Mayor Andrews said today he had spoken to form er city attorney Tom Trask. He said he wou ld be interested in talking to the C ity Manager or the Mayor about serv ing as the interim city attorney. He worked with Tom Trask in the past at the C ity and had no issues. Mr. Trask is a professional attorn ey, and his firm has many different areas o f expertise, so they would not have to go out and get multiple outside attorneys to do other types of work li ke rea l estate, labor attorney, etc. Mr. Trask was told that someone with the C ity wou ld get back to him. Mayor Hendricks said they do need to get a fi rm that has multiple skills regard ing legal advice. He did not mind meeting with Tom Trask, and he would like all Commissioners to meet with him individually to see if that is the firm to use on an interim basis. The C ity Manager can set that up. Vice Mayor Andrews said the interim city attorney could help with the RFP fo r city attorney profession legal services. 5. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Hendricks adj ourned the meeting at 2:04 p.m. j ' John - ~B~icks, <.a{,~._ Mayor ATTEST: & ~ j)U-<-,_ J_3j_~ ,, Clara VanBlargan, MMC, MS M, City Clerk April 15, 2020, BOC Workshop Meeting Minutes Page 5 of 5