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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022/05/09 - ADMIN - Minutes - City Council - Study Session Official minutes City council study session St. Louis Park, Minnesota May 9, 2022 The meeting convened at 8:30 p.m. Councilmembers present: Mayor Jake Spano, Tim Brausen, Sue Budd, Lynette Dumalag, Larry Kraft, Nadia Mohamed, and Margaret Rog. Councilmembers absent: none. Staff present: City Manager (Ms. Keller), Interim Deputy City Manager (Ms. Walsh), City Attorney (Mr. Mattick), Interim Information Resources Director (Ms. Smith), City Clerk (Ms. Kennedy) Guests: none 1. Council rules & procedures – discussion Ms. Kennedy presented the topic of discussion. Meeting minutes Councilmember Brausen stated he is comfortable with the current level of detail in the minutes, noting they are not meant to be verbatim. He stated more detail is available by watching the video recordings. Councilmember Rog agreed and noted staff often goes back to look at minutes as a historical record adding that can be useful in terms of context. She supports keeping the current system in place. Ms. Kennedy stated staff does refer to minutes when researching past policy decisions. She noted the level of detail provided in historical minutes varies. She added ultimately the minutes reflect the council as a body, so staff is looking for direction on the preferred level of detail. Councilmember Kraft noted there was a comment he made about speed limits, and staff did review the meeting minutes for context. He asked if there is a problem with the current approach. Ms. Keller stated any changes to minutes approved by council are incorporated by staff after the meeting, which does take time. She noted it does, at times, seem that councilmembers want the minutes to be more verbatim than not. This has been a question raised in the past by several members. Again, however, this is a decision that is made by council. Mayor Spano stated he typically does not make changes to the minutes. He noted substantive changes do need to be made when appropriate, particularly if something is not accurately reflected. At other times there appear to be changes that are not substantive. DocuSign Envelope ID: 2FEDDF4B-154A-4EA5-94B5-7C6A4AAEF4B5 Study session minutes -2- May 9, 2022 Councilmember Rog stated she agrees wordsmithing is not a good use of anyone’s time and noted if we are going to have minutes, they should be as accurate as possible. Ms. Kennedy agreed that accuracy is extremely important. The question is not one of accuracy, it is setting an expectation on if the council wants the minutes to be verbatim o r if they want the minutes to capture the discussion and action taken by the council, but not be a word for word recitation. Councilmember Mohamed stated since meetings are recorded and broadcast there is no need for the minutes to be verbatim and she is fine with the flow of the conversation as minutes. Ms. Kennedy clarified that the official record of council meetings is the written minutes. Video recordings of meetings are only required to be kept for 3 months after the minutes are approved. She noted the city keeps the recordings for 6 months. A video is not a viable permanent record as every time technology changes the city would be responsible for ensuring the video remains accessible. Councilmember Kraft stated he proposes changes only if they are substantive. He stated he has never seen a councilmember make changes because they wished they had said something different. He stated he likes the current level of detail in the minutes, which has been useful, but is not in favor of going to a transcript as it is not necessary. Councilmember Dumalag noted she typically doesn’t make many changes and is in favor of capturing the spirit of the discussion and the action taken in the meeting minutes. She is not in favor of going to a transcript. Councilmember Budd stated she defers to the other councilmembers preferences. Councilmember Mohamed stated she would like some balance around this and that all will agree to hold themselves accountable to the minutes reflecting the spirit of the discussion and the action taken. Councilmember Rog asked if staff prefers to have changes to the minutes from council prior to the meeting. Ms. Kennedy stated yes, that is helpful. Mayor Spano stated he is not a fan of the minutes as they are written . He stated the council treats them as a transcript, but then do not want a transcript. He stated he would like to know how much a transcription service costs. He reiterated substantive changes are fine, especially if there is an error in the minutes, however he has heard councilmembers read full paragraphs into the record and he does not think the recording secretary missed that much or reflected the entire statement in error. Councilmember Rog noted her larger changes to the minutes are when something she said is highly complex, and it’s not necessarily summarized correctly, and therefore change s the meaning of her comments. DocuSign Envelope ID: 2FEDDF4B-154A-4EA5-94B5-7C6A4AAEF4B5 Study session minutes -3- May 9, 2022 Ms. Kennedy stated the current rules of procedure do not currently reflect how the minutes are approved and staff proposes updating to reflect current practice . She noted the minutes should be approved by a vote of the council, whether there are changes or not . Order of business at regular meetings Ms. Kennedy stated council has suggested that approval of the agenda and consent calendar be combined into one item. Staff supports the proposed change. Councilmember Kraft asked about moving items off the consent agenda and procedures moving forward. Ms. Kennedy stated the council can comment on an item on the consent agenda without removing it and placing it on the regular agenda . If a separate vote is needed or requested for an item on the consent agenda, the item should be removed and placed on the regular agenda. EDA agenda Ms. Kennedy explained a few housekeeping changes are suggested to the EDA bylaws, so the order of business reflects current practice and is more consistent with the order of business for council meetings. This would be a separate item brought back to the EDA for approval. Public comment at council meetings Ms. Kennedy stated this was a council-requested study session topic. Currently, the rules of procedure allow for anyone to speak to an item that is on the agenda. Additionally, the order of business reflected in the rules of procedure has space for requests and communications from the public, however all procedures for placement of items on the agenda still apply and require coordination prior to the meeting. If the council is interested in implementing a public comment period, staff would suggest additional research and development of a recommendation for future council consideration. Councilmember Brausen stated he is opposed to the “open mic” option for the public as it is subject to abuse by an individual. He stated there are significant opportunities already for the public to comment, and they can also submit items directly to councilmembers to bring them forward, through staff. He also noted public comment should be kept to 3 minutes, however, noted the rules state 10 minutes. Ms. Kennedy stated the inconsistency will be corrected when the rules of procedure are updated. Councilmember Kraft asked if the public wants to speak about something and request it in advance, it can be added to the agenda. Ms. Kennedy stated that was correct, it must be added to the agenda. She noted when this happens staff works to see if the item can be addressed in conjunction with something that is already scheduled to be on an agenda or if it can be handled directly by staff, or staff will assist with placing the item on the agenda. Mayor Spano asked what the issue is they are trying to address. DocuSign Envelope ID: 2FEDDF4B-154A-4EA5-94B5-7C6A4AAEF4B5 Study session minutes -4- May 9, 2022 Councilmember Kraft stated when he was not on council, he found that St. Louis Park had a more involved procedure on how to speak at council meetings, compared to other cities. He also noted it was not easy to figure out and there was no clear process. He would like to see it be clearer and easier for the public to be able to speak to council and get items on the agenda. Councilmember Rog agreed and noted it can be difficult to explain how people can address the council on items that may not be on the agenda but that are important for council to know . Ms. Kennedy stated staff has discussed developing tools to help the public better understand council processes and opportunities for public participation. Simple, clear resources that make it the process more transparent and easier to understand . Councilmember Rog asked if the council has an obligation to allow those voices to be hea rd. Mr. Mattick pointed out there is no public comment section on the agenda, but anyone can comment on something that is on the agenda. Ms. Kennedy reiterated if council wants to explore this further, staff will look at how other communities handle this and come back with a proposal. Councilmember Brausen stated while he doesn’t approve of public comment during council meetings, he does hear from constituents and directs them to staff, and items can then be added to the agenda. He stated this is the nature of a representative democracy. Councilmember Kraft added he recommended to students in the past to not speak to councilmembers first and that speaking at the meeting would be a better approach in order to gain more exposure. Councilmember Dumalag had a business owner ask about speaking at a meeting related to restrictive parking, and there is a process already in place, so she directed them to staff to follow the process. Councilmember Mohamed added she does not approve of an “open mic” style, where council is not aware of the topic or unprepared. She likes the idea of constituents speaking to councilmembers or staff and then finding a way to put their topic on the agenda, so the council is not caught off guard. Mayor Spano stated this can be a double-edged sword, noting that 3 minutes is too short of a time for public comments. He noted referring people to staff can be educational for them, especially if they find out the city is already addressing their issue . He likes the idea of the community coming into a meeting to express their thoughts but would want to rely on staff as it relates to the agenda. He would like to talk to other cities about what they do and allow for participation without barriers. He added the council needs to think about their goals. Councilmember Budd asked for clarification on public hearings v ersus public comments at the meeting. Ms. Kennedy explained a public hearing is something is required by statute for specific action items and there are associated public notice requirements. Public comment involves DocuSign Envelope ID: 2FEDDF4B-154A-4EA5-94B5-7C6A4AAEF4B5 Study session minutes -5- May 9, 2022 anyone being able to comment on an item that is on the agenda. The question is if council wants to explore creating space for people to be able to speak to the council about any topic, even if it is not on the agenda. Councilmember Kraft stated he agreed with developing a way to make it clearer to the public how to get items on the agenda. He stated restricting comments to 3 minutes is doable and he would like to review the city having an “open mic” at council meetings, erring on the side of more transparency and allowing for public comment at each meeting . He would like to see staff research this further. Mayor Spano stated he is open to public comment, but not to council making decisions after comments. Ms. Keller suggested staff work on enhancing the transparency of the current process to see if that addresses some of the concerns. Additionally, staff will research what other cities do and collect feedback on their experiences and bring the topic back during the next set of community and civic engagement system discussions. Consent agenda – read aloud Councilmember Brausen noted the agenda should be shown on the screen so folks watching from home can see the consent agenda, otherwise , he feels it should be read aloud for transparency. Ms. Kennedy stated the agenda is displayed on the live stream, but not on the cable broadcast. Mayor Spano stated every agenda is readily available online and posted at city hall for the public to view. Copies of the agenda are also available at each meeting. He suggested staff look into ways to make sure the public is aware of how to access the agenda. He noted he can also mention at each meeting that the agenda is available on the website. Councilmember Budd agreed with Mayor Spano that the agenda can be found on the city website and copies can also be requested from staff . Ms. Kennedy stated staff will look into options to display the consent agenda on the cable broadcast. Should resolutions be read aloud at meetings Ms. Kennedy stated the charter currently requires all resolutions and ordinances be read out loud at the meeting, unless the council unanimously decides to waive the requirement. She noted the standard practice has been that council waive the reading requirement. If council wanted to change the requirement a charter amendment would be required. The council agreed that they would not make any changes at this time. DocuSign Envelope ID: 2FEDDF4B-154A-4EA5-94B5-7C6A4AAEF4B5 Study session minutes -6- May 9, 2022 Adding tools of civility to agenda Ms. Kennedy stated this was a council-requested topic. If council wants to explore implementation, staff will research and bring back options for future council consideration . Mayor Spano stated he would like to see this read before every council meeting . Councilmember Brausen stated if it’s read at every meeting, it might become rote. Mayor Spano stated it may not have to be read but adopting and modeling these behaviors would be appropriate. He stated he would like to head off potential problems. Councilmember Mohamed stated she has concerns being a person of color and something being said that is uncalled for, noting it’s a serious concern of hers in an “open mic” situation . Mr. Mattick stated freedom of speech cannot be censored and the public forum issue can be disruptive as people don’t always come with the best intentions, it’s becoming more and more problematic, and is not always pleasant. Councilmember Mohamed added without structure, she has fear about this, wants to discuss how this will be addressed, and what are council’s options. Councilmember Dumalag added she does not need to engage with someone if they make inappropriate comments. Ms. Keller stated if it is on the agenda, staff can be prepared . Councilmember Kraft asked if there is anything that can be done if there are inappropriate comments being made. Mr. Mattick stated there is little that can be done and in some cases, the meeting takes a recess to de-escalate. Ms. Kennedy stated staff will look into this topic further and develop a recommendation. Recording study sessions and preserving the record ings Ms. Kennedy stated study sessions are now all recorded. The video recordings are available for 6 months. Staff would not recommend permanent storage of the video recordings because it would be difficult to maintain the records in such a way that ensures t he media remains accessible, particularly as technology changes in the future. Councilmember Brausen asked what the statute of limitations is. Mr. Mattick stated not longer than 30 days. DocuSign Envelope ID: 2FEDDF4B-154A-4EA5-94B5-7C6A4AAEF4B5 Study session minutes -7- May 9, 2022 Next steps Ms. Kennedy explained staff will update the rules of procedure and place it on an upcoming agenda for approval. Communications/meeting check-in (verbal) Councilmember Kraft stated he is uncomfortable with the green building policy being used as a justification for TIF. He noted this is one area of investment that generates return, and it is not being fully captured. Councilmember Rog agreed and stated it is to our advantage to move this through quickly. Councilmember Brausen stated using TIF is leverage on getting folks to use our green building policy. Ms. Keller noted the state of the community event to be held on Sunday, May 15, from 1-4 p.m. and with the mayor’s address starting at 1:45 p.m. The meeting adjourned at 10:07 p.m. 2. Green building policy revisions 3. Rise on 7/Common Bond Business Terms 4. EDA property acquisition ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Melissa Kennedy, city clerk Jake Spano, mayor DocuSign Envelope ID: 2FEDDF4B-154A-4EA5-94B5-7C6A4AAEF4B5