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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-30-06 Minutes, Study CommissionMINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CITY OF BOZEMAN, MONTANA LOCAL GOVERNMENT STUDY COMMISSION January 30, 2006 The Study Commission met in a scheduled meeting in the Conference Room, Municipal Building, at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 30, 2006. Present were Chair Loren Olsen, Marilou Turrentine, Brian Close, Bill Hayward, and John Trull. Also present was Secretary of the Study Commission Celeste Janssen. The meeting was called to order by Chair Loren Olsen at 7:08 pm. Public comment Loren Olsen welcomed the three present members of the public: Dawn Smith, Harold Fryslie, and Jackson Cyr. Remaining charter topics discussion At the previous meeting, the Study Commission developed a list of topics that still needed to be discussed: directly electing the mayor, chairman vs. mayor, time commission term begins/end, number of commissioners, staggered times of boards, multi -year CIP/budgets, a board of ethics, and the size of charter. Staggered boards Brian Close explained the Planning and Zoning Boards are not staggered. The old city/county Planning Board used to be staggered, but when Bozeman started its own Planning Board everyone was elected at the same time, and since then there has been almost 100% turn -over come elections. Brian Close suggested having boards stagger terms in order to lend stability to very important boards. Some boards that are two, three, and four years so therefore it is not necessary to change board terms. Loren Olsen said that in past discussions, it seemed as if all five Study Commissioners were in favor of staggering boards, and he thinks there shouldn't be opposition to this idea. Members of the public were asked for input. Dawn Smith said that her board is staggered, and the two year terms in all begin in June. She said that because of turn over, people just aren't sure when they are up. When incumbents rerun, the board becomes more stable. Harold Fryslie said staggered boards work better. Jackson Cyr said his previous board experience has always been on staggered boards, and they have worked well. Time City Commission terms begin/end Brian Close gave the history on this topic. He suggested that the terms end/begins at a particular date. Harold Fryslie said that terms ended at the end of the year and new commissioners were seated at first meeting. The group discussed scenarios where urgent decisions were necessary between the last meeting the first meeting. Loren Olsen said he trusts the commissioners and this is not an important issue for him. John Trull said there should be some sort of cut off. Bill Hayward pointed out that NCL language that would most likely support December 31st / January 1st change of power. All five Study Commissioners agreed December 31st will be the last day of the old commission and January 1st will be the first day of the new commission. Capital Improvement Plan The Capital Improvement Plan is a long-term plan that should be updated annually. The NCL uses language saying it is a "multi -year" capital program, and the issue is that multi -year could mean as little as two. Loren Olsen feels strongly about the City including expensive, long-term Capital Improvements like Water and Sewer Treatment Plants in an ongoing Capital Improvement Plan. This should also include probable sources to finance these expensive Capital Improvements. The City could then raise Page 1 of 4 service fees years in advance to partially, if required, pay a portion of the Capital Improvement. The Study Commission discussed how to have varied, scheduled dates for both big and small items. Loren Olsen is cautious about using a vague term like multi -year, but said would rely on Mr. Hayward's advice. Bill Hayward said that he believes a multi -year budget will work. Jackson Cyr said that his prior budgeting experience took into account the lifetime of assets. Mr. Cyr said that people usually only budgeted on expenses, and often had problems when they didn't include looking at assets already acquired but with a lifetime. After rereading the NCL, the Study Commission found language that referred to this idea. John Trull, Harold Fryslie, and Bill Hayward stated agreement with the language. Loren Olsen said that three or four Study Commissioners seemed to be okay with "multi -year" and therefore Mr. Olsen will drop any issues against the current language. Board of Ethics Loren Olsen said he is okay with this idea as long as the Board of Ethics wasn't too powerful. Brian Close mentioned that he is still waiting to hear from Paul Luwe on who has jurisdiction over ethics violations. Bill Hayward suggested deferring this topic until the Study Commission hears from Mr. Luwe. John Trull said that if there is a Board of Ethics, he hopes that there will be at least one lawyer or judge. Brian Close responded that the board would have legal council to help them. Loren Olsen said the board could be good, but he feared politically motivated cases. Brian Close responded with stating the county attorney or city attorney would still have the decision as to prosecute or not. Loren Olsen said that in general, he thinks everyone is favorable on having a Board of Ethics and he asked for public input. Dawn said she is a bit uncomfortable with the idea, but as Bozeman grows more issues take place. Harold Fryslie says the Board of Ethics appears to be more about internal oversight because anyone can use the court system and any citizen can file litigation against the City. Mr. Close pointed out that if you loose, you must pay the other side's legal fees. Jackson Cyr sees a Board of Ethics as a good watch dog board to have. Marilou mentioned that neighborhood councils weren't on the list the Study Commission made. Loren Olsen asked Celeste Janssen to add INC to the list. Bill said that if INC designed two pages with nice words that the people wanted, he saw no problem with it. The Study Commission took a five minute break. Directly -elected mayor Loren Olsen said that he is open, but he believes that this issue should be a sub -vote on the charter. He pointed out that the Study Commission really doesn't know how the community would feel about this issue. John Trull said he understands the concern of loosing a good candidate, but the more he has talked with people, the more he sees the community wanting a directly -elected mayor. Marilou Turrentine said that with a weak -mayor format, the mayor is only a figure -head, and she doesn't think directly -electing a mayor makes since when Bozeman is paying for a City Manager to really take care of the city. Bill Hayward wishes that the Commission would elect a chairman, but he is also convinced that the public wants to elect the mayor. He isn't bothered by loosing the break-in period or by loosing a good candidate. He would prefer to see a race where two people ran against each other and they both really wanted the job. Candidates could campaign on the basis of being a leader, not the administrative duties that the City Manager does. Mr. Hayward isn't sure if sub -options would generate interest in the charter or generate sides. He thinks that changing mayors every two years might be too often. Brian Close said that data from ten years ago points to a public strongly in favor of a directly -elected mayor. He believes public opinion has not shifted. Mr. Close sees the mayor serving a positive purpose. He points out that the NCL claims the mayor is uniquely positoned to be a leader on tough issues. The Study Commission could develop a job description, and that will draw people with particular talents. He sees this topic as a wasted sub option, because the public will vote Page 2 of 4 overwhelmingly in favor of electing a mayor. Mr. Close added that he would like clarification on how agendas are complied. Dawn Smith said the public is largely disengaged and many people don't know who the mayor is. People who she talks to think our current system is very ridiculous, and would prefer to elect a mayor. Mrs. Smith encouraged the Study Commission to realize that Bozeman might not loose a good candidate; they might loose a bad candidate. She also noted that no other political office has a training period and doesn't see this one as necessary. Harold Fryslie said that he has a contrary opinion, but there is merit to what has been said. Mr. Fryslie said that the current system has worked and he doesn't think he could design a better system. People aren't disconnected from city government — they become connected when they want to be connected. Many people in the public aren't active people who sit on boards and become involved. Mr. Fryslie suggested listening to the "silent majority". Personally, Mr. Fryslie said he can live with any system, but he is not in favor of a directly -elected mayor because it builds another fiefdom in the power structure of governing the city. Some individuals have strong personalities, and get rather deeply into administrative part of system, which can be problematic. Jackson Cyr said the current system isn't going to work in the future. Having a directly -elected mayor forces the public to choose and makes them aware of the person and the role. Mr. Cyr also said having that figurehead is important in the leadership of the City Commission. Brian Close said reassured the public that the mayor's duties would not be executive and the Study Commission could clarify paragraph A to make this issue clear. Harold Fryslie, John Trull, and Jackson Cyr, and Bill Hayward all agreed that the Mayoral office should not have City Staff because of our City Manager form of government. Loren Olsen asked if anyone was thinking of increasing pay for the City Commission. Bill Hayward, Marilou Turrentine, and Brian Close all said no. Brian Close suggested working with paragraph A. He also suggested having a survey done to examine the number of commissioners and this issue. Bill Hayward didn't agree that a survey was the right avenue to pursue because of time and money. Bill Hayward motioned that we will have a directly -mayor subject to satisfactory agreement on job description. Brian Close seconded the motion. Loren Olsen stated that is okay with voting to explore the idea, but he is opposed to putting the issue on the charter at this moment. He is still in favor of the sub -option idea. Brian Close said that the job description will make the role of the mayor clear, and if there is a problem we can re-examine this issue. Loren Olsen, Brian Close, John Trull, and Bill Hayward votes for the motion and Marilou Turrentine abstained. Brian Close said he is concerned that five people cannot adequately represent this community, and he reiterated that increasing the Commission to seven isn't tied to wards. Mr. Close sees the swing seat as being very valuable which has lead to some abuse of money. He believes adding two more commissioners would reduce the value/cost of city commission seats. He also noted that having more commissioners might enable them to better fulfill their obligation to be representatives on Bozeman's many boards. Mr. Close suggested at least having a population or time trigger for this increase. Loren Olsen said that within ten years, it is likely that Bozeman will hit a large enough number that could warrent the increase. Harold Fryslie said the trigger idea has merit, and suggested putting the idea in the report if not in the charter. Marilou Turrentine suggested a citizen vote in five years and Bill Hayward agreed. Mr. Hayward also suggested requiring the increase after the 2010 census. Brian Close will email City employees to ask for estimates of Bozeman's population in five or ten years. Brian Close would like to discuss these topics in the future: communication, agenda creation, and Page 3 of 4 commission procedures (what goes onto the consent agenda). The Study Commission has a first draft of the Charter. The goal is to have second draft done by Valentines Day. Loren Olsen acknowledged John Trull's hard work while on the Study Commission and thanked him for his service. New business There was no new business at the time. Confirm date for next meeting February 7th 2006 at 7 pm in the Conference Room of the Municipal Building. Adjournment at 9:30 pm There being no further business at this time, it was moved by John Trull, seconded by Brian Close, that the meeting be adjourned. The motion carried unanimously. LOREN OLSEN, Chair /_raI2NI CELESTE JANSSEN, Secretary of the Study Commission Page 4 of 4