Operations Committee Meeting

MINUTES Operations Committee Meeting Tuesday, July 18, 2023 at 1:00 PM Carnegie Town Hall, 235 West 10th St., Sioux Falls, South Dakota 57104 1. Call to Order Committee Chair Rich Merkouris called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. 2. Approval of Minutes A. Thursday, March 30, 2023 A motion was made by Committee Member Barranco and seconded by Committee Member Selberg to approve the minutes dated Thursday, March 30, 2023. Voice vote to approve. Motion Passed. 3. Topics A. Policies and Procedures Review 1. General Overview By Staff Jim David, Chief of Legislation and Policy, provided a background on the Operations Committee and the City Council Policies & Procedures with the following information: Operations Committee – Sept. 2012; Adopted by resolution – 2014; Serves as a resource guide for the City Council internal policies and procedures; Ex.) Council member seating and voting order, remote meeting attendance, agenda item deadlines, hiring policy, travel policy and others; The 2022 Manual is available on City Council Webpage. 2. Administrative Clarifications David noted the following items were reviewed at the March 20, 2023, Operations Meeting. The following Administrative clarifications were noted: For press releases (pg. 18), the item will be rewritten to read as follows: “Unless there is objection from a city council member, an Office of Policy and Budget employee may initiate press releases, media alerts and events on behalf of the city council as a body. The City Clerk and Internal Audit offices may initiate press releases, media alerts, and media events related to their duties. City Council employees should not assist in a press release, media alert or event that disparages any council member; or promotes or opposes pending legislation not adopted by the City Council. This provision shall not preclude an individual council member from sending a press release or media alert on their own behalf or hosting a media event”. Equipment, Supplies and Allowances (pg. 18) was rewritten to read as follows: Added: “A logo-wear allowance of $150 per calendar year is available to council members and council staff. Logo-wear must be ordered through the Office of Policy and Budget”. Internal Audit (pg. 22) was rewritten to read as follows: Office of Internal Audit: This office consists of an Internal Auditor appointed by the City Council, and an outside internal audit firm. A consensus was taken to adopt the changes as presented, the items passed. Merkouris addressed previous conversations regarding a need for an internal personnel manual for the City Council staff. Merkouris asked if the next 2-3 months could be used to work with the City Attorney’s Office to set up a personnel manual for Council Staff. Merkouris offered to work with the City Attorney’s Office to draft a manual to be reviewed by the Council. Discussion was held about prior direction being received from the Human Resource Office for the City. After discussion, the consensus was to bring a draft back to the Committee in 2-3 months for review. 3. Duties of the Chair and Vice Chair Committee Member Soehl reviewed the following duties of the Chair and Vice Chair: 1. Determine the agenda, with city council input, for all informational meetings and working sessions; 2. Appoint the members of all council initiated ad hoc task forces or committees or standing committees. Unless otherwise provided in ordinance, the chair and vice chair shall designate each committee or task force chair; 3. Serve as acting mayor for city council meetings in the absence of the mayor; 4. Facilitate performance reviews for the City Clerk, Budget Analyst & Chief of Legislation and Policy with input from city council members; 5. Conduct regularly scheduled meetings with council management staff and report back to city council members. 4. Standing Committees: City Services, Fiscal and Regulatory Oversight Committees Merkouris reviewed the following Standing Committees (pg. 9). He asked if these items need to be removed from the manual, define the frequency for these committees or leave them alone for now. Discussion was held regarding the uses for the committees. The decision was made to keep the committees in place, for now. The descriptions of the committees are: Regulatory Oversight Committee: The committee shall serve in an ad hoc capacity, and primarily concern itself with the review, study and/or recommending changes to city regulations. The Chief of Legislation and Policy serves as the staff liaison to this committee; Fiscal  Committee: he committee shall serve in an ad hoc capacity, and primarily concern itself with the review, study and/or recommending changes to budgetary and financial matters. The Budget Analyst serves as the staff liaison to the committee; City Services Committee: The committee shall serve in an ad hoc capacity, and primarily concern itself with the review, study and/or recommending changes to the programs and services provided by the City of Sioux Falls. The Chief of Legislation and Policy serves as the staff liaison to this committee. The next steps are to have further discussion on unclear sections; prepare a final presentation to the Committee for a recommendation to the Council (if necessary); and move forward to City Council consideration. B. Internal Audit Office The updated internal audit office job description was distributed for review. Merkouris stated this will be coming forward to the City Council for formal review and approval in a few months. Merkouris asked the committee to review the job description and bring any recommendations to him or to Jim David. C. Potential City Council Support Staff Addition There have been conversations in the past about adding another staff member to the City Council. The draft job description would be City Council Assistant reporting to the Legislative Operations Manager. The position would provide operational support, scheduling meetings, and also interacting with citizens and providing service to citizen requests. Merkouris would like a consensus for him to move forward with a draft job description. Discussion was held regarding the number of staff the Council has funded (8) and how many we have on board (6). Consensus was for Merkouris to move forward with a draft job description. 4. Public Comment There was none. 5. Executive Session A. Discussing the qualifications, competence, performance, character or fitness of any public officer or employee or prospective public officer or employee. The term "employee" does not include any independent contractor pursuant to SDCL 1-25- 2(1) A motion was made by Committee Member Selberg and seconded by Committee Member Soehl to enter Executive Session at 1:15 p.m. for the purpose of Discussing the qualifications, competence, performance, character or fitness of any public officer or employee or prospective public officer or employee. The term "employee" does not include any independent contractor pursuant to SDCL 1-25- 2(1)  The Committee exited Executive Session at 1:25 p.m. 6. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 1:26 p.m. Tamara Jorgensen, MMC, Assistant City Clerk