Additional City Council Announcements
March 30, 2010
A. Information Needed by Council Staff
1. UPDATED announcement re: Streamlining Council Office processes
Below is an updated announcement to provide Council Members with more information about options for streamlining.
In an effort to streamline the processes in the Council Office and use staff time more efficiently on Council priorities, the following approaches have been suggested by Council Members or staff and advanced by the Chair and Vice Chair for full Council consideration:
a. Eliminate full Council review of routine thank you letters and letters of condolence written on behalf of the full Council and signed by the Chair (suggested by Council Members).
b. On other documents distribute to Council Members and allow 24 hours for response. Re-distribute for another 24 hour response period if policy-level or message-changing modifications are recommended to the text. Under this scenario staff would not call Council Members - it would be up to each Council Member to respond. (suggested by Council Members -- 4 Members have mentioned this) The Council would need to consider how to address this on 'rush' items such as letters on bills before the Legislature.
c. Since Fast Facts currently reflect very basic agenda language and staff report information and do not attempt to express the Council's position or provide 'context' that may be subject to interpretation, consider eliminating or altering the Council review process:
Allow them to go out with the review of just the Chair and Vice Chair; or
Allow them to go out as prepared by staff; or Distribute to Council Members and allow 24 hours for response. Re-distribute for another 24 hour response period if policy-level or message-changing modifications are recommended to the text by Council Members. Send out when 4 Members have responded and the 24-hour period has concluded. Under this scenario staff would not call Council Members - it would be up to each Council Member to respond. All Council Members were in favor of the recommendation for reviewing letters. Councilmember Martin said no comment would be considered a yes. Council members were in favor of the Chair/ViceChair acting as an ad hoc committee.
2. Council staff is in the process of setting up the next quarterly meeting with the School Board with Council’s leadership (Council Chair / Vice Chair, RDA Chair) Potential agenda items:
Non-discrimination
Equalization?
Redistricting
Are there other items that Council Members are interested in having the Council leadership discuss with the School Board?
B. For Your Information
1. As a reminder, the Council’s monthly policy meeting is scheduled for this Friday, April 2, at 1:30 p.m. Per the Council’s request, items from each Council Member will be listed on the agenda as a potential topic of conversation. The agenda will be posted this Thursday by noon. Please send your items to staff by Wednesday evening. Cindy Gust-Jenson reminded the Council of their policy group discussion. She said there was an e-mail which went around about with Councilmember Turner’s suggestion to list the topics of conversation on the agenda. She said there were four people who responded and they wanted to see that. She said if the Council could get staff their topics by Wednesday then staff would post the agenda Thursday before noon.
March 30, 2010
City Council Announcements
March 30, 2010
A. Information Needed by Council Staff
1. Streamlining Council Office processes: Would Council Members consider changing the process for reviewing outgoing correspondence? Two suggestions:
a. Thank You / Condolence / Congratulatory letters could be just reviewed by the Chair & Vice Chair rather than by the whole Council.
b. For other items (other letters, fast facts, etc.) for which full Council review is still necessary, allow a 24-hour window for Council review and then proceed according to the feedback received. (This would mean that if a Council Member is unable to see the email and provide feedback within 24-hours, the item may be otherwise approved and sent out anyway.)
If the Council is in favor of these two suggestions, staff can draft any updates to the Council’s policy manual. Answer on next page.
2. Council meeting schedule during the budget – The April to June schedule for Council Meetings is below. Please note, as in previous years, each Tuesday in May is scheduled (four meetings).
Would the Council be able to start meetings at 2:00 p.m. through the budget? Council Members were in favor.
April
(No meeting April 6 – due to travel considerations for the ULCT Mid-Year Conference. April 7-9, 2010 St. George UT)
April 13, 2010 – Tuesday; 2:00 p.m.
April 20, 2010 – Tuesday; 2:00 p.m. – RDA MEETING
April 27, 2010 – Tuesday; 2:00 p.m. (Mayor scheduled to present the annual budget.)
May
May 4, 2010 – Tuesday; 2:00 p.m.
May 11, 2010 – Tuesday; 2:00 p.m. – RDA MEETING
May 18, 2010 – Tuesday; 2:00 p.m.
May 25, 2010 – Tuesday; 2:00 p.m.
June
June 1, 2010 – Tuesday; 2:00 p.m.
June 8, 2010 – Tuesday; 2:00 p.m. – RDA MEETING **may switch due to budget
(TENTATIVE) June 15, 2010 – Tuesday **as needed for budget
(TENTATIVE) June 22, 2010– Tuesday **as needed for budget; State deadline for budget adoption.
3. Attached for your review are copies of the following:
a. DRAFT policy on Filming & Recording at Council Meetings
b. An abbreviated “Rules of Decorum”
c. Updated “Rules of Decorum”
Do Council Members approve of the attached updates to the “Rules of Decorum” and policy section for filming and recording during Council Meetings? Council Members were in favor of approving these issues.
4. The Utah League of Cities & Towns has noted that there is a vacant spot on the League’s Legislative Policy Committee. The League appoints Policy Committee voting members to at the League’s spring meeting in St. George. The League has indicated it will send application forms to the City Council soon.
According to the League, Legislative Policy Committee voting members are:
Jill Remington
Love (Past-President)
Carlton Christensen (Board Member)
Ralph
Becker
Vacant Spot
The vacancy was created when the League appointed Council Member Christensen to the League Board early this year.
The League also lists the following people as non-voting members of the Legislative Policy Committee:
Council Member
JT Martin
Cindy Gust-Jensen
Kay Christensen
Ben McAdams
Russell
Weeks
Lynn Pace, who this year was the main City lobbyist is listed as a
Policy Committee voting member because of his elected position as a Holladay
City Council Member.
How does the City Council wish to approach filling the vacant position on the Policy Committee? The slot previously was held by a City Council Member Ms. Gust-Jenson said there was a vacant spot and Councilmember Martin had been attending the meetings. Council Members were in favor of Councilmember Marting taking the vacant spot.
5. The Justice Court is required to provide the Council with two reports each program year on the progress of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) grant. The Justice Court first applied for and received this grant in 2003. The grant’s primary purpose is to enhance investigation and prosecution of violent crime committed against women. Averages of 1,100 misdemeanor domestic violence cases are filed each year and 65% involve abuse to female victims.
The grant is currently funding an hourly domestic violence clerk, and will fund a full time domestic violence clerk next year. According to the Administration, the clerk works closely with probation supervisors, treatment providers, and the prosecutor’s office to track compliance and non-compliance of offenders. In addition, the clerk updates a database containing the demographic information of offenders, identifies cases scheduled for probation hearings, contacts treatment providers, and requests reports in order to keep the judge up to date on compliance/non-compliance information. The original grant also funded a contract software engineer who developed a database to collect statistical information on domestic violence perpetrators, and track and provide case history information.
Do Council Members have any questions with regards to the grant? Councilmember Christensen asked if it was posted. If not, he felt the information would be advantageous if it was posted.
B. For Your Information
1. Council Member Simonsen recently traveled to Bentonville Arkansas to visit with Walmart representatives regarding the building at 2705 South Parley’s Way. The travel was approved by the Council, and Council Member Simonsen would like to share with the Council details about the visit. He has also provided you a copy of the letter prepared in appreciation of the visit (see attachment) Councilmember Simonsen gave a report on his visit.
2. Provided the new process the Council utilizes to approve grant funding within the Consent Agenda, an outline of the grant applications is below. The details of each grant are also attached. If you have any objections, please speak with a member of staff.
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Grant Reference Title |
Grant Amount |
Grant Program |
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Emergency Management Performance Grant |
$ determined by appropriation |
Emergency Management Performance Grant |
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