City Council Oversight Committee Meeting

CITY OF NORMAN, OK CITY COUNCIL OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEETING Municipal Building, Executive Conference Room, 201 West Gray, Norman, OK 73069 Thursday, August 12, 2021 at 4:00 PM MINUTES The City Council Oversight Committee of the City of Norman, Cleveland County, State of Oklahoma, met in Regular Session in the Executive Conference Room on the 12th day of August 2021 at 4:00 p.m. and notice of the agenda of the meeting was posted at the Municipal Building at 201 West Gray and on the City website at least 24 hours prior to the beginning of the meeting. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Hall called the meeting to order. PRESENT Councilmember Ward 4 Lee Hall (Chair) Councilmember Ward 1 Brandi Studley Councilmember Ward 2 Lauren Schueler Councilmember Ward 7 Stephen Holman ABSENT None OTHERS PRESENT: Ms. Kathryn Walker, City Attorney Mr. Darrel Pyle, City Manager Ms. Brenda Hall, City Clerk Ms. Rendy Martin, Admin Tech Mr. Jason Olsen, Director of Parks and Recreation Director Mr. Anthony Purinton, Assistant City Attorney Ms. Christina Owen, Chair of Human Rights Commission Ms. Ashley Morrison, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Consultant for Rootism & Resonator Institute CITY COUNCIL OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEETING - Thursday, August 12, 2021 Page |1 AGENDA ITEMS ITEM 1: DISCUSSION BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES Ms. Kathryn Walker, City Attorney provided the following information and recommendations from the Charter Review Commission to be reviewed and considered for change. Discussions on Boards, Committees and Commissions has been ongoing since 2019 and have included consolidating, eliminating, increasing committee membership and making some ward specific to ensure the interests of all areas of Norman are represented. There are currently 36 Boards, Commissions and Committees 21 Established by Ordinance 4 Established by Charter 5 Established by Resolution 2 Established by virtue of State Statute and/or Contracts 1 Established by Contract only 2 by Mayor Appointment 7 of the Committees were created as Ad Hoc Committees (Ad Hoc-committees formed for a specific task and designed to be dissolved upon completion of the task). All but 6 of the 36 Boards, Commissions and Committees are staff supported, with staff preparing the agendas, back up materials, minutes and attending the meetings. A summary of the proposals discussed at the November 2020, April 2021 and August 2021 Council Oversight Committee and the resulting comments for each proposal as listed below. REVIEW RECOMMENDATIONS: Proposal One: Consolidate Greenbelt Commission and Planning Commission and Make Planning Commission Appointments Ward Specific This would require an amendment to the charter and code, as the Planning Commission is set forth in the Charter and City Code. The necessary Greenbelt Commission duties would need to be included in the Planning Commission language to make sure Greenbelt needs were still being addressed and heard. Include in proposed Charter/Code Language: “Two of the Planning Commission appointments shall be made based upon their interests or expertise regarding open-space preservation”. If this is passed, the Greenbelt Commission would be eliminated and the duties would become part of the Planning Commission. Proposal Two: Consolidate Tree Board, Bicycle Advisory Committee and Parks Board Tree Board set up by Code, Bicycle Advisory Committee by Resolution, Board of Parks by Charter. This change would require an amendment to the Charter and City Code. It would require two appointments be based on their interests or expertise in urban forestry and two based on their interest in cycling, including residents from cycling and transportation groups, health promotion organizations, OU, Norman Schools, interested business that support bicycle groups and other interested residents. CITY COUNCIL OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEETING - Thursday, August 12, 2021 Page |2 ITEM 1: (continued) DISCUSSION BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES Proposal Three: Rescope the Animal Welfare Oversight Committee This was set up as an Ad Hoc Committee by resolution, but since it has become vital to the oversight of the Animal Welfare program, Resolution R-0203-11 needs to be rescinded, codify the Committee and include requirement for rural representation and facilitation of regular education through various medias. Proposal Four: Eliminate the Children’s Rights Coordinating Commission This will be repealed during the recodification process of the entire City Code. Proposal Five: Increase Committee Membership on Board of Adjustment Currently the committee requirement is five members, with a three-member vote to approve anything. Recommendation is to increase to seven members. Proposal Six: Increase Committee Membership on Norman Election Commission Currently the membership is five, recommendation is to increase to seven members. Proposal Seven: Create the following new committees – Senior Issues Committee, Youth Advisory Committee, Transportation Committee, Budget Committee, and Core Norman Development Committee These committees were proposed and would need to be codified, duties outlined, meeting frequency set, determine desired representation and work with City Manager to identify the Department that will be charged with staffing the Committee. Proposal Eight: Change every committee appointment in Chapter 4 to 3-year terms, 3 term limit. Recommendation to change member terms to three-year terms, with a three term limit for consistency among the boards, commissions and committees through ordinance amendments. Current non-expired appointments will be addressed with this change. Committee would like to include flexibility for members with expertise. Ms. Walker said this is the summary to date and turned it over to Chairman Hall for further discussion. Chairman Hall said the Human Rights Commission submitted a letter requesting a “Persons of Color” committee be created. The letter received from the Human Rights Commission was entered and read for the record. Ms. Christina Owen, Chair of the Human Rights Commission, presented information to the committee on the request for the creation of a “Persons of Color” committee and answered questions from the members. CITY COUNCIL OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEETING - Thursday, August 12, 2021 Page |3 ITEM 1: (continued) DISCUSSION BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES Councilmember Studley asked if the Norman Housing Authority membership will rotate out or stay as is. Chairman Hall said NHA is responsible for creating housing opportunities in Norman. Their Board has five members, one of which is required to be a resident of the Section 8 Community and it may need to be increased to be in line with other board representatives. COMMITTEE DISCUSSION ON RECOMMENDATIONS: Proposal One: Consolidate Greenbelt Commission and Planning Commission and Make Planning Commission Appointments Ward Specific Chairman Hall recommended the Greenbelt Commission remain intact, because the limited amount of members if merged with the Planning Commission, would not be adequate to meet the needs and demands of the Greenbelt Commission moving forward. The impact they have had on the greenbelts in Norman has been very beneficial for the City. The Greenbelt Commission has recently been instrumental in encouraging developers to create greenbelts within their development as well as connecting trails between two private neighborhoods. The Greenbelt Commission is made up of nine members and they make preliminary recommendations to the Planning Commission. Consolidating them would reduce the Greenbelt representation to two and would increase the workload on the Planning Commission. Councilmember Holman said he feels it is more efficient to have dedicated boards to meet the specific needs of the City. Proposal Two: Consolidate Tree Board, Bicycle Advisory Committee and Parks Board Chairman Hall asked Mr. Jason Olsen, Director of Parks and Recreation, for his input on the consolidation recommendations. Mr. Olsen said the Tree Board and Bicycle Advisory Committee fit better with Parks than Planning Commission. Parks has a staff member that attends all the Bicycle Committee meetings and activities. Councilmember Holman said he feels the Bicycle Advisory Committee would fit best with Transportation, as it is part of the multimodal plan for Norman. City Clerk Hall said the Bicycle Advisory Committee is a sub-committee of Transportation. Proposal Three: Rescope the Animal Welfare Oversight Committee Animal Welfare Oversight Committee was set up as an Ad Hoc Committee by resolution, but since it has become vital to the oversight of the Animal Welfare program, Resolution R-0203-11 needs to be rescinded, the Committee codified and requirement for rural representation and facilitation of regular education through various medias needs to be included. Chairman Hall said this needs to be dissolved as an Ad Hoc Committee and made a formal committee, but more review is needed before anything is finalized. There also needs to be standardized language for each Committee, Board, Commission, Advisory, Oversight, etc. CITY COUNCIL OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEETING - Thursday, August 12, 2021 Page |4 ITEM 1: (continued) DISCUSSION BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES Proposal Four: Eliminate the Children’s Rights Coordinating Commission The consensus is this commission needs to be eliminated as it has not met in more than four years. The Committee met mostly with the school system and got a report on issues of concern. The school system continues to meet monthly outside this commission, about a lot of the same children’s issues and many of the same members are involved in the school meetings. Proposal Five: Increase Committee Membership on Board of Adjustment Increase members from five to seven, with terms consistent with other boards, committees, commissions. Proposal Six: Increase Committee Membership on Norman Election Commission Increase members from five to seven, with terms consistent with other boards, committees, commissions. Proposal Seven: Create the following new committees – Senior Issues Committee, Youth Advisory Committee, Transportation Committee, Budget Committee, and Core Norman Development Committee Chairman Hall said it was discussed at the April 2021 meeting to not create the Core Norman Development Committee. Councilmember Schueler asked what the Youth Advisory Committee would encompass. Chairman Hall said it was Mayor Breea Clark’s suggestion to refine the current Youth Council to encourage more input related to youth, instead of just training and field trips to educate the members on City functions and facilities. Councilmember Holman said he envisioned the membership would include middle and high school students, with only 1st year students receiving the training and field trips on city functions and facilities. Chairman Hall said Mayor Clark is also promoting a CEO scholarship program for the youth members and this would include additional leadership training for the members. Chairman Hall said the Transportation Committee should encompass the Bicycle Advisory Committee. Councilmember Holman said he sees the Bicycle Advisory Committee being part of the Transportation Committee along with Transit and both may need to be sub-committees of Community Planning and Transportation Committee (CPTC). City Manager Darrel Pyle said these would both be a vital part of the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) plan and need to make sure committee members include representation for each unique function. Councilmember Holman suggested possible name for combined committee: Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee. Chairman Hall said the Budget Committee request came from a Citizen new to Norman and felt it would be nice to have citizen input and participation while creating the budget. This would not be a year round committee and would only function during budget prep time, with representation from each ward. Councilmember Schueler said with the heightened awareness from the community this would fill the need for budget input and understanding among the citizens. Councilmember Holman said the Citizen Budget Committee could be a subcommittee of the Finance Committee. CITY COUNCIL OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEETING - Thursday, August 12, 2021 Page |5 ITEM 1: (continued) DISCUSSION BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES Chairman Hall moved on to the Senior Issues Committee and asked Mr. Jason Olsen what happens to the senior ad hoc committee now that the project is completed and open. Mr. Olsen said that typically once a project is done, the ribbon is cut and the committee is dissolved. It is possible to have a senior group, but the Adult Wellness operator is planning to have a Board of Directors to provide continued senior input and this will be a duplication. The other proposed committees would need to be codified, duties outlined, meeting frequency set, determine desired representation and work with City Manager to identify the Department that will be charged with staffing the Committee. City Attorney Walker said there will be a lot of drafting to get the final changes done and there will need to be additional committee input to make sure it meets legal requirements and language as intended. Proposal Eight: Change every committee appointment in Chapter 4 to three year terms, with a three term limit. Chairman Hall said this will allow for consist terms across the board. City Clerk Hall said she works with the Mayor for each appointment and her office receives and reviews all the applications. Several of the committees do not receive membership applications and recruitment for members has to be done. It would be good to have language that allows members to stay on for an extended time beyond the three year, three term limit. People of Color Committee Chairman Hall introduced Ms. Ashley Morrison, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Consultant for Rootism & Resonator Institute. Ms. Morrison comes before the committee requesting the establishment of a People of Color Committee. Chairman Hall said Ms. Morrison presented her proposal at the Human Rights Commission and they recommended that the Oversight Committee review the request for a Person of Color Committee. Councilmember Studley said she reviewed the Human Rights Committee meeting information and asked about the suggested number of members by Ms. Morrison. Ms. Morrison presented information on the need for the People of Color committee. Membership is designed to be non-white, people of color to provide maximum representation. When asked about the 21-member composition, Ms. Morrison stated that this is the number she feels will give adequate representation for all non-white nationalities. Councilmember Studley said it would be best to have representation from each ward and asked if the 21-member composition includes staffing for the committee. Councilmember Holman said he would like to see what other cities of Norman’s size has on their committee. Assistant City Attorney Anthony Purinton spoke of the need to not discriminate while setting up the People of Color Committee. CITY COUNCIL OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEETING - Thursday, August 12, 2021 Page |6 ITEM 1: (continued) DISCUSSION BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES Chairman Hall said that Ms. Morrison will remain an active part of the People of Color Committee and will be available for assistance as needed. Chairman Hall said the committee will move forward on the People of Color Committee along with the other committee changes and bring it back to the committee for additional review and input. Councilmember Schueler said she has looked at the frequency of meetings for each committee and feels some need to only meet quarterly or as needed instead of monthly. Ms. Owen said the Human Rights Commission feels a monthly meeting is necessary to ensure they are able to dedicate adequate time necessary to address their objectives and/or items. City Attorney Walker said meetings need to be created by the chair and committee with flexibility so that participation may not decline for lack of business and the code needs to address flexibility for member expertise. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 p.m. NO QUORUM CITY COUNCIL OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEETING - Thursday, August 12, 2021 Page |7