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1985 City Council RetreatCITY OF EDMONDS CITY COUNCIL/STAFF RETREAT APRIL 13 & 141 1985 SUMMARY REPORT 1 nif1 ►�'T�y f TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Letter of Transmittal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Retreat Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Open Discussion/Friday, April 12 . . . . . . . . . . 3 Council/Staff Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Budget - Preparation, Time -Table & Process . . . . . 6 Salary/Benefit Presentation - Saturday, April 13 . . 7 Miscellaneous Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Reclassification of Community Services Managers . . . 8 Discussion By City Attorney . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Wrap Up and Close . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 EXHIBITS: 1 Salary/Benefit Presentation Document (Available in the Personnel Department) 2 Articles From The Herald - April 13 & 14 April 19, 1985 MEMO TO: Council President John Nordquist Retreat Participants FROM: Dia Bock, Retreat Coordinator SUBJECT: 1985 CITY COUNCIL/STAFF RETREAT Attached is a Summary Report of our Seventh Annual City Council/ Staff Retreat at Sudden Valley. All of the sessions (except the opening discussion of the City Council only) were taped and are available upon request. I appreciated the opportunity of coordinating the Retreat for you and commend you for your fine spirit of effort and cooperation. The City as a whole, and each of us individually, have benefited. db Attachments -1- RETREAT PARTICIPANTS CITY COUNCIL: John Nordquist, President Steve Dwyer Jo -Anne Jaech William Kasper Lloyd Ostrom Jack Wilson MAYOR: Larry S. Naughten STAFF: Peter Hahn, Community Services Director Art Housler, Administrative Services 'Director Dan Prinz, Police Chief Pat LeMay, Personnel Manager Scott Snyder, City Attorney Jack Weinz, Fire Chief COORDINATOR: Dia Bock, Executive Secretary IPAI EDMONDS CITY COUNCIL/STAFF RETREAT Sudden Valley Conference Center April 12 & 13, 1985 I. FRIDAY. APRIL 12 - OPEN DISCUSSION/CITY COUNCIL ONLY Council President John Nordquist opened the first session of the Retreat by thanking those present for attending and expressing the group's wishes for a speedy recovery for Councilmember Hall's son who was recently injured in a hit-and-run accident in California. For that reason, Councilmember Hall was not present. The Council had agreed to begin the Retreat with an open discussion and no particular agenda. The two hour morning session involved spontaneous discussion of the following subjects. Included is a summary list of comments and conclusions: POTENTIAL USE OF COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR CITY COUNCIL New Council Resource Person should investigate needs of Council and potential for computer use. MEADOWDALE MORATORIUM/COVENANT ISSUE Council reiterated a past request that no new agenda material be submitted to them the night a particular item is on the agenda. Strengthening of the Committee system could provide more thorough and long-range planning on similar issues for Staff and Council alike. Make 4th Tuesday Committee Meeting night. Invite community leaders to meet with the City on an on- going basis for complex, long-term issues. Suggestion that Council packet material be made available to the public at Council meetings - not re -read to Council. Staff work is very good but Council is not getting their input on all issues. Committee system could help in this area. POTENTIAL CUTS IN GENERAL REVENUE SHARING FOR CITIES . Need to posture toward no GRS. -3- Keep legal counsel associated with Disability Board and be aware of inflationary trends. Stop pattern of dipping into Reserve Accounts. Public Safety Committee should review and monitor Police costs. Council requests a monthly report on the Council Contin- gency Fund. Council should control spending at the Budget level not the Administrative level. Mayor should manage Budget. SUGGESTION FOR POSITIVE LEADERSHIP PROJECTS BY COUNCIL Continue to recognize and reward individuals and groups for beautification. Spend some time developing ways to encourage citizens to take care of some community problems themselves, i.e. tree topping issue. ORDINANCES SHOULD BE ON THE COMPUTER SYSTEM Council Resource Person should set up a tickler system for items such as "junk" cars, as a follow up system for issues of concern. COUNCIL SHOULD PHILOSOPHIZE ABOUT WHERE THEY WANT EDMONDS TO GO IN THE NEXT 15 YEARS AND SET GOALS. II. COUNCIL STAFF RELATIONS Council President Nordquist welcomed the Mayor and Staff who joined the Council during the remaining afternoon session. At this point the Staff introduced a Pacific Institute film facilitated by Lou Tice called 'Pygmalion'. The film dealt with human relations and how what we expect from others has a great deal to do with how they respond and perform. General discussion followed regarding communication between the Council and City Staff. The following pertinent points were made: Staff stated they are here for the betterment of the City and love the City and want as much for it as the Council does. Communication is essential. Things that are left unresolved and/or unsaid can be the most destructive to our common goals. -4- Mayor wants to promote and foster the working relationship between the Staff and Council. Committee system has helped and we are working to improve that. Council requested to call Mayor or Staff when they have ques- tions as opposed to going to the public arena. Council has experienced frustration with lack of communication. They would appreciate a call from the Staff occasionally. Committee system could help ease the "surprises" the Council experiences at times. Staff would like the opportunity to work in the "Pygmalion" environment with the Council. At this point the Council shared with the Staff some of the dis- cussion and conclusions arrived at in the morning session including the following: Council's biggest problem is getting new material or informa- tion on an item the night the item us being discussed or heard. Fourth Tuesday of the month will be set aside for Council Com- mittees only, so that issues can be thoroughly reviewed by Council and Staff together prior to the time for decisions. The Council would like stronger leadership and more direction from the Staff on issues like Meadowdale. The Staff works on issues 8 hours per day. It might help for the Staff not to expect the Council to be experts. The Staff work is good but it is those cases where the Council doesn't get information enough ahead of time that are the problem. When issues overlap in the various departments they must be properly coordinated. The Council must take the lead in identifying the groups they should be talking to on particular issues. Secondary Treatment will be the next critical issue. Try to anticipate community reaction and necessary communication. A general concensus was reached on reorganization of the City Council Committees. Beginning in May, the Finance and Personnel Committees will be abolished and the following committees will meet during the 4th Council Meeting of every month: -5- Administrative Services Committee - 2 Councilmembers Community Services Committee - 2 Councilmembers Public Safety Committee - 2 Councilmembers The Council President shall serve as an ex-officio member of all three Council Committees. Each Committee will publish an agenda. Council Committee assignments and meeting places will be determined at the Council Meeting of April 16. III. BUDGET - PREPARATION, TIME -TABLE & PROCESS A great deal of discussion revolved around the Budget process and ways to improve that process. It seemed to be the general concensus of the group that the new Committee system will benefit the Budget process for a lot of the same reasons discussed earlier, i.e. time to present detail to Council Committee members, and elimination of the need the for the entire Council to get involved in line item decisions for all departments. The group agreed on the following time -table for the 1986 Budget process: August - During the Council Work Meeting - Pre -Budget Conference With Mayor & Staff September - Mayor/Management Staff Prepare Preliminary Budget October - Council Committee Budget Review November - Mayor's Budget Message . December - Budget Hearings & Passage The meeting adjourned for the day at 5:00 P.M. I. SATURDAY, APRIL 13 - SALARY AND BENEFIT PRESENTATION 1985 Pat LeMay stated the purpose of the presentation was to assist the Council in arriving at a decision on the direction the City should take in labor negotiations and Salary/Benefit Policy for 1986. The presentation involved a detailed presentation of the following subjects or areas: SPECIFIC PROBLEMS/CONCERNS Difficulties Encountered in Executive Sessions on Salary/Benefits Statements Made During Budget Process About Salary/ Benefits Perceptions by the Public About Salary/Benefits Employee Perceptions PRESENTATION . Salary/Benefits Determinants . Salary Survey Comparisons . Considerations For Salary/Benefit Policy The documented Salary/Benefit Presentation was distributed to all Retreat participants and will be included in the permanent record of the two day meeting. Copies of the Presentation are available upon request in the Personnel Department. Following the presentation, Mayor Naughten reviewed his cover memo which had been attached to the Salary/Benefits document. Discussion concluded that the Mayor and Management Staff will present their specific recommendations regarding 1986 Salary/Benefit Policies to the City Council in an up -coming Executive Session. (Individual Councilmembers made some specific requests for additional data during this presentation. Those requests have been forwarded to Personnel Manager, Pat LeMay) II. MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION The past question of verbatim minutes for City Council Meetings was discussed briefly. The concensus reached was that the minutes are very good the way they are and should continue to improve if the same minute taker is retained. Individual Councilmembers may occasionally -7- request verbatim minutes on certain items but it was not felt this should require any change in present procedures. In response to Council President Nordquist's question about what is being done about the issue of retention and retrieval of City Council Minutes, Mayor Naughten and Art Housler responded the City Clerk has worked out a draft program with regard to the storage of minutes. The Minutes will also be indexed by subject matter and are being stored in the computer sytem at the present time. III. RECLASSIFICATION OF COMMUNITY SERVICES MANAGERS (EXECUTIVE SESSION) IV. DISCUSSION BY CITY ATTORNEY Scott Snyder discussed the following items with those present: ROBERTS RULES OF ORDER - To be provided & reviewed with Mayor and City Council. COMMENTS BY THE PUBLIC - 3 minutes limitation originally applied to public comment. Concensus was to continue procedure in most cases. MEADOWDALE - City Attorney discussed his perspective of the issue. Councilman Kasper suggested the Attorney review the newly proposed ordinance with the Community Services Committee. CITY ATTORNEY BILLING - Councilmember Jaech suggested a pro- cess for reviewing or auditing bills be established. V. WRAP UP AND CLOSE Council President Nordquist thanked those in attendance for their participation and contribution. Councilmember Wilson stated he en- joyed the weekend and felt it was particularly good for the Council and Staff to meet in an atmosphere other than the Tuesday night Council meetings. 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