HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022/01/27 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session Official minutes
City council workshop session
St. Louis Park, Minnesota
Jan. 27-28, 2022
January 27, 2022: The workshop convened at 4:30 p.m. at Lenox Community Center.
Councilmembers present: Mayor Spano, Sue Budd, Tim Brausen, Lynette Dumalag, Larry Kraft,
Nadia Mohamed, and Margaret Rog
Staff present: City Manager (Ms. Keller), Deputy City Manager/Parks and Recreation Director
(Ms. Walsh), and HR Director (Ms. Timpone)
Guests: Consultant Jean Morrison
City council participated in a workshop and discussed the following items:
The purpose of council
Why does each member serve and what is important to them?
Review of norms and accountability
o Council discussed and updated norms
Processes and protocols
o Council identified a need for further discussion around a number of key
situations, including: how to strengthen group connections, how council
meeting/study session discussions are facilitated, recognizing ward member in
council discussions, spokesperson/media responsibilities, recusal norms, and
titles/addressing each other
Adjourned at 8:00 pm
January 28, 2022: The workshop convened at 8:30 am at Lenox Community Center
Councilmembers present: Mayor Spano, Sue Budd, Tim Brausen, Lynette Dumalag, Larry Kraft,
Nadia Mohamed, and Margaret Rog
Staff present: City Manager (Ms. Keller), Deputy City Manager/Parks and Recreation Director
(Ms. Walsh), HR Director (Ms. Timpone), City Clerk (Ms. Kennedy), Building an d Energy Director
(Mr. Hoffman), CD Director (Ms. Barton), Engineering Director (Ms. Heiser), Fire Chief (Mr.
Koering), IR Director (Mr. Pires), Communications and Marketing Manager (Ms. Smith) and
Police Chief (Mr. Harcey)
Guests: Consultant Pam Whitmore, Consultant Kori Shingles, Consultant Phyllis Braxton
The workshop continued with a session on Carver governance model and communication styles
with Consultant Pam Whitmore. All council members and city leadership team participated in
the discussion about the structure of a governing council and policy governance in relationship
to other council responsibilities.
In the Carver governance model, council is tasked with creating ENDS policies. The city
manager interprets the policies using her prudent judgment. If council disagrees with the
interpretation, it may revise its policies or provide additional guidance by modifying the policy.
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Study session minutes -2- Jan. 10, 2022
Discussion ensued regarding ENDS vs MEANS. Council concerns themselves with ENDS, or big
picture outcomes for the city. Management concerns itself with MEANS, which are day to day
operations, staffing, methods, practices, personnel, buildings, programs, services, etc.
Ms. Whitmore talked about learning each other’s styles to help aid good communication
practices.
Consultant Kori Shingles led a discussion for council and city leadership team on the True Colors
personality types. Each person has a spectrum of colors, with some being brighter and others
paler. Ms. Shingles led an interactive session on how each color has positive attributes and
perceived negative attributes and illustrated how a team operates best when all colors are
represented.
The city leadership team were dismissed after a lunch break and Consultant Phyllis Braxton led
a discussion about racial equity. Ms. Braxton talked at length about the Intercultural
Development Inventory (IDI) which most council and staff had completed in 2018 -2019. Ms.
Braxton provided background information on how the IDI can provide grounding and support
for additional work to advance racial equity.
Ms. Braxton also provided information about the Intercultural Conflict Style Indicator (ICSI).
This instrument is not a measure of cultural identity, instead it reflects our own learned
patterns for dealing with disagreements and expressing emotions under conflict situations. The
ICSI measures two fundamental approaches for responding to stress and conflict. One is the
degree to which you use Direct or Indirect ways of approaching conflict. The other measures
the degree to which you prefer to use emotionally expressive or restrained approaches to
conflict.
Next steps: Staff will summarize agreed upon norms and work to schedule additional
conversations/check-ins with council on requested process/procedures to address key
situations.
The meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m.
______________________________________ ______________________________________
Melissa Kennedy, city clerk Jake Spano, mayor
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