2011-04-25 Study Session - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY OF UNIVERSITY CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION April 25, 2011 The Council Budget Study Session was held on the fifth floor of City Hall, on Monday, April 25, 2011. Mayor Welsch called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. In addition to the Mayor the following members of the Council were present: Mr. Stephen Kraft Mr. Terry Crow Mr. Michael Glickert Mr. Arthur Sharpe, Jr. Ms. Lynn Ricci Mr. Byron Price was excused. Also present were the City Manager Lehman Walker, and the City Attorney John Mulligan. This Council Study session discussed proposed changes to Council Rules of Order and Procedures in Rule 12, Rule 13 and Rule 14 of their Rules and Order of Procedures adopted on April 11, 2011. Other minor changes were introduced in Rule 20 and 24. Mr. Kraft said that the changes that are being presented are clarifications overlooked previously as to how members of Council can place items on the agenda. As presently stated in the rules, only the City Manager can put things on the agenda, so the suggestion is for Rule 24 to say that an ordinance or resolution can be placed on the agenda at the request of two members. Mr. Kraft noted that the already-approved change in how the Board and Commission members are now chosen was not reflected in the Rules of Order and Procedure what was distributed to Council. He said the first reason we are revisiting the rules is because there was no way two Councilmembers could put anything on the agenda. He stated that this item just got dropped by mistake during the revision process. Mr. Kraft said in Section VI, Rule 24 the suggested change was to add “An ordinance or resolution will be placed on the agenda at the request of two members.” Mr. Kraft stated that Rule 12 was put in as a new section. He said this section was not really defined in Robert Rules of Orders so it was added to give it some definition. Mr. Kraft said it basically said Council Reports and Business section of the agenda is designed for members to present board and commission’s liaison reports and other items of personal interest that they would like to bring to the Council’s attention for discussion. Mr. Crow said that his only question is that the additions are really not rules or procedures; they are just three general statements in newly proposed Rule 12, 13, & 14. He noted that in reading every other rule or procedure it states we have or shall, not just it a rule to follow. Mr. Kraft said that that is exactly correct in that these are more statements than policies. Mr. Sharpe said that he had a little problem with Rule 12 because of something that has transpired before. He said that he would much prefer that it stayed as it was and that it be used only for Board and Commission reports. He thought that there was another section that was designed for anything else you wanted to talk about as in Council Comments. Mr. Kraft said actually that was his view was but there were others that wanted to broaden it, so it was open for discussion. He said he would strike the second part of it. Mayor Welsch said that the reason she supported the rule as written, and the reason she put this section on the agenda, was because there was no place on the agenda where the Council could have a discussion on an issue that does not require a vote. She said that we have a Council Comments section, but as she understood it that was not designed for discussion among Councilmembers but rather for Council to bring attention to concerns or events.