Friday, January 24, 2025

My 1.21.25 Meeting Summary

On Tuesday the Council met to discuss a couple significant items.  While I was unable to attend due to schedule conflict, I did watch the recording and wanted to provide an update as to what was discussed and decided.

- The Council approved several organizational changes including eliminating two positions, adding three positions,  updating job descriptions for many roles, and changing the reporting hierarchy within the City staff to better align with those changes. The result is a modest annualized increase of approximately $70K and a much better aligned staff to the roles and responsibilities that the City needs.

What was presented by staff was the culmination of a significant amount of analysis and work by City staff, our new City Manager, and the Budget and Audit Committee.  Starting back as early as March 2023, there were various voices suggesting that much more staff was needed, and at significantly higher rates. Instead of taking significant action without sufficient analysis, myself and Mayor Trupiano as part of the Budget and Audit Committee, worked with staff to bring forward a more needs based staffing model.  

The updated organizational structure has a flatter structure - reducing the instances where a management level position only has one direct report.  We also focused on the compensation ranges for the positions we needed and aligned them with both market rates and the duties they'd be performing.  Our City Manager has stated that these updates "would be amazing".

- The Council also approved the application of a grant to assist in funding bicycle lane improvements on Mountaire Parkway in connection with potential street striping changes.  The substantive discussion around the street work will occur at our next meeting on 2.4.25.

Monday, January 20, 2025

Upcoming Meeting 1.21.25

At the next Council meeting, there will be discussion regarding two significant items:

- Council will discuss a proposal for organization and staff redesign, eliminating two positions, adding 3 positions, and updating the job descriptions of affected roles.  The proposal reflects the changing needs of the city focusing more roles on areas that need support and reducing staff in areas that need less support.  There is an increase in cost associated with this change of approximately $70K on an annualized basis, however this is an estimate as the benefit load which consists of over 30% of compensation is variable and assumptions are being used to forecast.  We will need to do further analysis in the next month through our mid year budget review.

- Council will discuss a grant application for the Mountaire Parkway area.  The grant has an application deadline and if successful, funds could be used towards the restriping project that will be discussed at our 2.4.25 meeting.

I will be absent from this meeting as I have a scheduling conflict but will update after reviewing the video.  If you have any thoughts or questions on the above, please let me know.

Wednesday, January 8, 2025

My 1.7.25 Meeting Summary

Last night the Council met to discuss and take action on several significant items.  

With the new Council being seated last meeting, these actions were primarily administrative in nature and intended to increase the overall efficiency of our meetings, reduce the administrative burden on staff, and add clarity for the public.  The overall theme of our actions was to look at items that aren't designed for discussion and move those items to a written format.  

By having things in writing, rather than just verbally stated, it provides a clear report of actions taken and thoughts expressed.  This also makes it more accessible to the public - rather than having to watch extensive video to obtain information, more will be in writing which can be easier to consume.

The first action we took was to cease the taking of remote public comments.  Over the past several years, the practice of taking remote public comments has ebbed and flowed at various municipalities.  In some instances, this ability has been used to berate, curse at, or attempt to derail Council meetings.   In other instances, technical or user challenges has come into play and impacted the meetings as well.  

We will continue to live stream our meetings, and people will be able to make comment in person at the meetings themselves.  In addition, as our agendas are posted  in advance, anyone is able to submit public comment in writing prior to each meeting.  These submissions are sent to each Councilmember and included in the public record.  By ceasing the taking of remote public comments, our meetings will be more efficient overall for both the Council and the staff.

There is often confusion as to the purpose of our meetings and the place of public comments.  Council meetings are designed so that Council can discuss among ourselves and conduct the business of the City.  It is not, and cannot be a dialogue between Councilmembers and members of the public.  Our meetings are open to the public and recorded so that the business of the City is conducted transparently, not to hold a dialogue between the full Council and members of the audience.  We are restricted in our ability to respond to public comment in general, so much of the time when a comment is made, there may be an expectation that Councilmembers respond, however this often leads to disappointment or confusion.  

This is one of the main reasons I try to inform the public of what is going to be discussed prior to any meeting - to provide residents with an opportunity for such a dialogue, or to share their thoughts.  I have been writing a pre-meeting introduction and post-meeting summary for each meeting since first being elected in 2018.

We also updated our Council guidelines.  These guidelines document how the Council operates and it gets refreshed from time to time.  The updates were non-substantive and were administrative in nature.  We clarified the order of the meetings, and consistent with the overall theme shifted items that aren't up for discussion to being in writing.  This will result in more efficient meetings as well as provide additional clarity to the public.  

We also discussed and approved City Council committee assignments for the year.  A list of these assignments can be found in the minutes.

There is quite a bit of work that needs to be done - from addressing staffing vacancies, to tightening up our budget analysis, and all the regular activities of the City.  It is my goal to do the people's business in the most efficient and effective manner and reduce the administrative burden on staff where possible.  The actions we took at this meeting will further that goal.

Sunday, January 5, 2025

Upcoming Meeting 1.7.25

I hope everyone had a restful holiday season.  Our first meeting of the year will be on Tuesday, 1.7.25 and we will be discussing several significant items:

- We will discuss whether to continue the use of hybrid meetings that allow remote participants to offer public comment during meetings.  We discussed this item at our 11.7.23 meeting and at that time the Council did not take any action.  We are revisiting this item for similar reasons that were raised at the time, and in an effort to reduce administrative burden on staff.

- We will discuss updates to the City Council guidelines and procedures.  This was last discussed at our 5.2.23 meeting.  It is fairly routine that the guidelines are updated to reflect the desires of the current council and it is important that these guidelines be written for clarity.  The proposed changes reflect an update to the regular agenda order.  There is also clarity added around how things are agendized, though there is no substantive change in that regard.  In addition, in an effort to provide more transparency and reduce staff administrative burden, the proposal contemplates that council reports shall be provided in writing to be included in the minutes of each meeting.

- We will discuss City Council Committees and assignments for standing and ad-choc committees and liaison positions.

If you have any thoughts or questions on the above, please let me know.