LEE S SUMMIT CHARTER REVIEW COMMISSION DECEMBER 11, 2006

Transcription

1 Notice was given of a meeting to be held by the Charter Review Commission for the City of Lee s Summit, Missouri, on Monday, December 11, 2006, at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council Committee Room at City Hall, 220 SE Green Street, Lee s Summit, Missouri. OPENING ROLL CALL Commissioner Mel Aytes Present Commissioner Ed Stoll Present Commissioner George Mann Present Commissioner Brian Whitley Present Commissioner Garey Reeves Present Vice Chairman Mark Bredemeier Present Chairman Christine Bushyhead Present Commissioner Dave Mosby Present Commissioner Nancy Dean Present Commissioner Norman Dexter Absent Commissioner Shawn Kane Present Commissioner John Ulett Present Chair Bushyhead called the meeting of the Charter Review Commission for the City of Lee s Summit, Missouri, to order at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, December 11, 2006, in the City Council Committee Room of City Hall, 220 SE Green Street, Lee s Summit, Missouri. Assistant City Administrator Mr. Brian Scott, City Attorney Mr. Robert Handley and City Clerk, Denise Chisum, were also present. APPROVAL AGENDA OF Chair Bushyhead continued with approval of November 27, 2006 minutes. Motion made by Commissioner Whitley to approve the minutes. Commissioner Ulett seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously. Chairman Bushyhead noted press member Seann McAnally from the Lee s Summit Tribune was present. Discussion of Charter: With no public comment at this time the Commissioners moved into discussion. Chairman Bushyhead reviewed the balance of power chart Commissioner Mosby revised with Ms. Chisum to reflect changes proposed from the November 27, 2006 meeting. Items previously voted on include: The title of City Administrator will be changed to City Manager; The Council will still appoint City Attorney and also City Manager; The Council Committees and Park Board liaison will be appointed by the Mayor Pro Tem, with advice and consent of the Council; Under the Mayor, the State of the City Address will be given within the first quarter of the new fiscal year; and The Mayor will now vote without veto power and not be included in the definition of Page 1

2 Council. WHEN THE MAYOR HAS VOTING POWER: Commissioners then moved on to the topic of clarification of when the Mayor s position votes. Does the Mayor vote with the Council whenever there is a vote? Commissioner Whitley asked for any examples when it may be trivial. Vice Chairman Bredemeier also asked what types of parliamentary activities go on. The distinction between a resolution and ordinance is unclear. There has been a dispute since the original Charter on the tie breaking vote and if that was intended for just ordinances or also resolutions. Appointments are also an issue. If you have a full time voting Mayor appointing people, do you have a Mayor voting on the appointments that the Mayor makes? Does the Mayor vote on appointments someone else makes, such as the Mayor Pro Tem? Vice Chairman Bredemeier was unsure what other types of activities the Council votes on, so if there is a voting Mayor that is not defined within the City Council, whether they vote on those items or not is not clear. Chairman Bushyhead mentioned there is the consent agenda. Commissioner Ulett asked about recalls with regard to the Mayor voting. Chairman Bushyead clarified that in order to put a recall on the ballot an ordinance must be passed. Chairman Bushyead said that consent agenda s items generally award contracts to build roads and sewers, etc. and appear on the consent agenda, a motion and a second are made for the entire list of items, and the Council votes. Vice Chairman Bredemeier noted they are most commonly also uncontested. Commissioner Reeves asked if it would be possible to make exceptions by wordsmithing the term exceptions into the Charter in the applicable areas versus having the Mayor, for instance, vote on all issues. Chairman Bushyhead suggested another way to accomplish it, for example, if the Council Committees are appointed by the Mayor Pro Tem, state with the advice and consent of the Mayor and City Council, if you wanted the Mayor to vote on that issue. Vice Chairman Bredemeier referred to Section 3.13 C (voting within the Council) and 4.4 A (Mayor), as being good places to make the changes in the language with the wordsmithing on what is and isn t intended to be voted on by the Mayor. Commissioner Reeves reiterated his point about adding an exception to those places to make the amendments easier to list, versus listing out all items Mayor would vote on. Commissioner Aytes: The only problem is, when you say specific instances when the Mayor votes, are you then going to apply that to the Mayor Pro Tem? Law would say you cannot do Page 2

3 that and take away the Mayor Pro Tem s vote since they are an elected Councilmember regardless if they are serving as a chair. If Mayor Pro Tem offers appointments, then that Mayor Pro Tem must be allowed to vote since they ve been elected just like the other Councilmembers. Chairman Bushyhead: But the Mayor doesn t vote on their appointments and during the original Charter the Commissioners took away the Mayor Pro Tem s ability to vote twice. Under the Fourth Class Model the Mayor Pro Tem, if acting as Mayor, could cast their alderman vote and also cast a Mayor vote (which was taken away in the original Charter). Commissioner Reeves: I thought when we talked about Mayor Pro Tem appointing the Committees was because they re working with the group so it wasn t so much advice and consent, but the feeling was the Mayor Pro Tem would be working with the Councilmembers and trying to come up with a nomination. In my mind, the Mayor Pro Tem still should vote. Now that the Mayor will be voting on that, the Mayor should still have some input. Up to this point, the Mayor has been appointing the Council committees and liaisons, with advice and consent. I think it s still reasonable to ask the at large member, if you will, to still be voting on at least the Council liaison. Vice Chairman Bredemeier asked if the practice has been for the Mayor to get Council advice and consent of the majority of Council on the liaison appointments, legislative committees and chairman appointments? Chairman Bushyhead said that is currently the procedure, although has not always formally been done that way. Commissioner Aytes clarified if the Mayor currently appoints the liaisons to the boards and commissions with the advice and consent of the Council? Chairman Bushyhead confirmed. Chairman Bushyhead: Another example of how this would play out is the selection of the Charter Review Committees. It s the Council that makes those appointments. The way it was done this year is the Council decided what they would do and passed a resolution, which is how they implemented that section of the Charter. So if Mayor is voting on all items, in particular ordinances and resolutions, then the Mayor position would be able to cast a vote on the Council s appointments in that instance too. Vice Chairman Bredemeier: If we don t make the Mayor a member of the Council body, then the way that provision sits now leaves it to the Council to define a process. It does not say that only Councilmembers can nominate people. Down the road, conceivably, the Council could give the Mayor some appointment powers as well. MOTION: Commissioner Reeves made a motion that the Mayor votes on all items with the exception of mayoral appointments. Commissioner Whitley seconded the motion. Motion passed on a vote of 10 "yes", 0 "no", and 1 "abstain" (Vice Chairman Bredemeier). Page 3

4 TERM LIMITS FOR MAYOR: Chairman Bushyhead noted she had missed the meeting when term limits were discussed and asked Vice Chairman Bredemeier to recap. Vice Chairman Bredemeier: We did have some discussion on Mayor and the public input that had been received was mainly in favor of some type of term limits. What was essentially agreed on for City Councilmembers was to maintain the four year terms, maintaining the staggered terms between Councilmembers within districts (not going to any at large positions) and no more than two consecutive, four year terms, although the language still needs to be determined. The issue is still on the table of whether to apply the same restriction to the Mayor. Also, keep in mind, the only other elected city officials we have are judges which will need to be dealt with as well if we apply term limits on everyone or make distinctions. Commissioner Whitley asked if any other municipalities have restrictions on judicial terms? Staff was uncertain at this point until research is done. Commissioner Stoll felt the same rules should apply for Mayor as for Councilmembers as the same logic applies. Vice Chairman Bredemeier agreed. Commissioner Dean spoke with Councilmember Randy Rhodes after the Commission discussed City Council term limits. Councilmember Rhodes believes the Mayor and Councilmembers are different and he was not opposed to the Mayor having term limits. Commissioner Whitley asked about the transition issue, if someone is in two terms now, will they be allowed to finish this term and run once more before the restriction would apply. Vice Chairman Bredemeier noted that was a topic still on the table for discussion (regarding the Councilmembers and Mayor position, if deciding on term limits). Mr. Handley: When I looked at all the cases, the only time there was ever any litigation was if new Charter provisions were simply unclear. Commissioner Bredemeier: The bottom line is, no elected officer has a legal right to that office beyond the term in which they re already elected. Chairman Bushyhead stated she has gone back and forth on term limits. One persuasive argument for term limits is, are there that many people interested in running for elected office when running against an incumbent. Commissioner Reeves felt it was important to have some type of transition clause giving the elected official the right to at least serve one more time. Chairman Bushyhead: I think term limits may or may not be personality driven as an agenda item here. Personally, I think it s hard to distinguish between an agenda item because of personality and an agenda item because we actually have a fact happening in our community. Do we want the executive power position to be indefinite, especially when you do get into a machine backing of that position, which is not unique to Lee s Summit. You see that in other cities, too. People spend thousands of dollars to beat an incumbent in that executive mayor Page 4

5 position. In a city this size, that s a huge amount of money for even someone with a small name, let alone a no name, qualified person, trying to run for that position. This is more of a concern with the Mayor position than a Council position. Commissioner Kane: If that person stay in office one more term, I d be curious to know how many Councilmembers would be lost. After asking around, the issue of term limits is a big concern amongst the citizens. A lot of people are for it but there are just as many against it. When you discuss that machine that keeps the incumbent in office, that machine will still find a replacement to fill that position. With term limits, if someone is in office and they know they can t run for the next election, then there is not a vote for them at the next election to hold them accountable to their position/seat. If a person has an issue with the City, whether it be their road or a storm water issue, and can t get the City to do what they want them to do, then what keeps that person from running to get into office just so they can get their issue fixed and not being focused on the rest of the position s primary function. When you get someone really good in office, then why try to take someone out of that position if they re truly there for the city and not their own ulterior motives. It s a tough decision either way. Commissioner Mosby confirmed that in that last meeting they were discussing two consecutive, four year terms, with one additional term for those already in office. Vice Chairman Bredemeier: You d have the language we discussed previously, although it hasn t been voted on yet. As an example, for Mayor, There shall be no limit to the number of terms a person may serve as Mayor, provided no person shall be eligible or qualified to be elected to more than two consecutive four year terms, as Mayor. Council would be the same. In another provision would be added titled Schedule or Transition. The provision in that section would have the language such as not withstanding the provisions of Anyone on the Council or the Mayor could run one more term. Commissioner Aytes was concerned with the government becoming too complex and having a transition would help soften the complexity. Vice Chairman Bredemeier stated term limits do not insure great government, although for the reasons previously discussed, the accountability issue is important. The reality is if someone has served on the Council for six or seven years, they have been serving for an entirely different set of reasons. To me the biggest issue is to encourage involvement of people. Incumbency is difficult in that you don t need an entire party or political machine behind you if you still have a name. This is what you call a rotational concept. Two years later, you can run again. This is not a form of punishment but is rather a way to break that chain to allow more input. A distinction could be made for the Judges as they are lawyers and trained differently with different expectations. If a Mayor and Council are voting together, the decision on term limits should be identical for both. Commissioner Ulett felt if term limits was up for vote, it would pass. Commissioner Mosby was unsure about the reason and/or benefit for term limits, or if the current system is working. On page 6 of the Model City Charter, they recommend to not have Page 5

6 term limits on re-election. The citizen s opportunity to keep in office, Councilmembers who they approve, unlimited terms allow voters to provide a vote of confidence for Councilmembers who represent majority sentiment and a vote of opposition for members in the minority. Finally, the City benefits from the institutional memory of re-elected Councilmembers. A Councilmember that has only been in office two years could probably attest they are still learning a tremendous amount and only have a year and a half left. Whether we like to think or not, their sentiment/effort may change for better or worse. For a two term type cycle, there would be an impact. If we get everyone on a two year term with a transition period, we need to think about how that will roll and how they ll do their job. To throw out an option, is there a possibility to have more than two terms? Chairman Bushyhead: There is the human nature side. Complacency exists in elected officials and I think it is horrible for a community wanting to stay alive and progressive. I think it s fair to say a majority of people do not like change and don t freely embrace new ideas. If you have a Council that has been in office a while, you don t have many people throwing them new ideas or being creative. You have complacency. You learn how to be a Councilmember in the first six months. It s a completely different role and no one is every totally prepared for it. By the same token it s wonderful to see a new Councilmember come onto board that is driven, enthusiastic and has an energy that is infectious. That keeps you away from complacency and helped challenge people that don t easily embrace new ideas. Part of the reason people don t run over and over again is because they can t commit the energy level they believe the job deserves. Vice Chairman Bredemeier: When the original Charter was done, the Commission looked at two year terms for Aldermen and the Mayor. By extending the length of terms to four year terms, the idea was it would change the concept of the learning curve. It wouldn t take the entire four years. The learning curve is still expected to be done fairly early in the process in the first term so you are substantially productive through the balance of that first, and possibly only, term. Chairman Bushyhead: After that first year you have three whole years left. Vice Chairman Bredemeier: The thought on this was eight years would be like four re-elected terms under the old model. Prior to 1996 those are all two year terms you re dealing with. That was part of the compromise of extending it to four. We didn t do term limits then but we discussed it. Chairman Bushyhead noted it was a close 7-6 vote on the original Charter. MOTION: Commissioner Stoll made a motion of identical two consecutive, four year term limitations for Council and Mayor, with the one term transition. Chairman seconded the motion. A roll call vote passed the motion 7-4: Commissioner Aytes: Yes Commissioner Mann: Yes Commissioner Reeves: No Page 6

7 Chairman Bushyhead: Yes Commissioner Dean: No Commissioner Kane: No Commissioner Stoll: Yes Commissioner Whitley: Yes Vice Chairman Bredemeier: Yes Commissioner Mosby: No Commissioner Ulett: Yes *Commissioner Dexter was absent and will be put on record at a later time. ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATIONAL PERSONNEL SYSTEM: Chairman Bushyhead moved onto the topic of Administrative Organizational Personnel System (one centralized area to find City documents). Commissioner Mann referred to Section 5.2 (f) regarding the Finance and Administrative Report which states make available to the public and 3.12 regarding Independent Audit states kept in the City Clerk s office and shall be open to public inspection. Commissioner Mann continued: There has to be a place where official, recorded copies of documents reside that cannot be changed, which should be the City Clerk s office. However, in an age where we have websites and other technology, and thinking into the next ten years, to make it easily available for anyone at any time, that official copy should also go on the website. Commissioner Whitley: You could interpret open to public inspection as being on the internet. Commissioner Reeves asked if Commissioner Mann was just referring to all current documents or also all previous documents existing in hard copy at the Clerk s office should also be posted on the website. Ms. Chisum noted that would be a lot of information to put on the website. Commissioner Mann agreed and felt any future documents should be on the website. He believed having the information on the website was a good idea, but he also reiterated the importance of having a central place to keep the official copies so they may not be tampered with. The location needs to be listed consistently throughout the Charter. Ms. Chisum was asked by Commissioner Reeves where the official documents are kept. Ms. Chisum indicated most are on microfilm. The company that does the microfilm has a copy, a working copy is kept at City Hall, and the original is kept at an off-site location. The State recognized microfilm, although not imaging, as imaging can be tampered with. Commissioner Whitley suggested using language of other multi media or electronically available, or otherwise. The exact language was discussed among Commissioners. Vice Chairman Bredemeier referred to Section 11.6 as another area discussing public records that will need to be addressed. Vice Chairman Bredemeier asked Mr. Scott if the City staff was satisfied structurally, institutionally, and fundamentally with the boiler plate language. Mr. Scott stated that much of what is reflected in Article 6 is really reflected in Chapter 2 of the Code of Ordinances and Page 7

8 where it comes into place. It is much easier to change the code, then to change the Charter. MUNICIPAL COURT: Chairman Bushyead noted two items for discussion together: (1) appointment of a full time municipal judge versus having an elected judge position; and (2) possible term limits for municipal judges. A lot of cities have appointed judge positions, appointed by Mayor and City Council or the City Manager through an interviewing process versus an electoral process. Commissioner Dean: Everyone I have talked to, unless you re an attorney or been in trouble before the judge, do not know anything about the judges (including during election time). Vice Chairman Bredemeier: As far as the distinction between election and appointment goes, Kansas City is currently having some major issues because of the appointment problem, particularly racial or gender make up of panels, etc. although that is not foreseen to be a problem in Lee s Summit in the immediate future. It just shows the political problems that come into the appointment process, which could certainly happen in Lee s Summit. There is another implication, although again I don t foresee Lee s Summit as having this as a problem, when a judge is appointed there is always the question, just as in the Police Department, as to whether there are quotas. The tickets that are being written for traffic, are they for public safety or are they there to produce revenue for the City? If judges are elected, they re really beholden to the public that elects them and not to any Mayor, Council, etc. as far as how they do their job in dispensing municipal justice and imposing fines. I don t think we ve had a problem with that up until this point, although I do think the election of judges provides a bit of a safeguard that removes it from the arena of argument. Commissioner Aytes mentioned the Council will have to face the issue of compensation for the judges and/or increase the number of judges as the work load increases, which is happening. Vice Chairman Bredemeier pointed out Section 7.2 (a) where it states that the number of municipal judges and divisions of Court may be changed by ordinance, without amending the Charter. Vice Chairman Bredemeier noted that the municipal judge term was extended from two to four, just as everyone else. They also had a transition in place. Commissioner Mosby asked if there would be willing and eligible people to run if it was appointed by Council. Vice Chairman Bredemeier stated that is the question that makes the judge position different than a Councilmember position. The only qualification you must have to run for Council or Mayor is to be a registered voter although in reality, some experience is helpful to have a reasonable chance for success. We have not been in a position to know what kind of pool there would be of those who would want to run for judge. In Section 7.1(c), qualifications are set forth to become a judge which include being a licensed Page 8

9 member of the Missouri Bar for at least three years immediately preceding their election, reside in said city for two years next preceding election, be a qualified voter and remain a resident and qualified voter of the city. Commissioner Ulett asked how many have been voted out. Commissioners answered none. Vice Chairman Bredemeier: Under the Missouri Plan, you appoint judges in the more populated areas such as Jackson, Clay, Platte, Green, St. Louis City and County. You re appointed through an appointment process by the governor and you re subject to retention elections every six or eight years. The majority has to vote them out. The way Lee s Summit does our municipal judges, just as many smaller rural counties do, you run for the office. That s how the municipal judges are done. Even before the Charter, we have not had a contested municipal judicial election in a long time. If by term limits the current municipal judges were no longer allowed to run, I have no idea in a given election year how many lawyers would be interested in running. Commissioner Reeves: Has the system been broken or have we had any complaints on this issue and, if not, why change it? Commissioner Aytes: The only question that has been raised to me by various people is they think the schedule of penalties imposed by the Court should be studied by someone and made more important. Could you put some language in the Charter that allows the Council to find someone who meets the qualifications, although may not be a resident, if no one runs for a municipal judge election? Chairman Bushyhead: On fines, it s statutory of the Municipal Courts to impose a $500 fine or ninety (90) days imprisonment or both. Mr. Handley: There have been places that have done it and no one has fought it. It is done by ordinance and not challenged, although it is an unresolved question. That position is a risky one with serious questions. Chairman Bushyhead returned to the issue of term limits and asked Commissioners to be thinking about that topic, and ask around for any public thoughts, for future discussion. PARKS & RECREATION: Chairman Bushyhead noted there was an article that needs to be passed among Commissioners that will show the issue of whether or not there is a separate Park Board and she asked to hold off on this discussion topic. Vice Chairman Bredemeier: An enormous amount of time was spent on that issue ten years ago. There were a few technical implementation issues, but the primary issue was that you have a Parks Board with its own levy and some degree of autonomy but the question was whether they had too much autonomy without a check by the elected office holders. We went back and forth on that. I thought a lot of good compromises were worked into that entire Article 8. My question is, without having any involvement with the Parks Department in the last ten years, have there been any problems or issues arisen? Page 9

10 Commissioner Reeves, as a current member of the Park Board, answered they have had one review by the Council in the last ten years. It takes three members of the Council to ask for a review of the Park Board position. He didn t think that issue needed to be looked at and has served its purpose. Chairman Bushyhead agreed it has served its purpose wonderfully. Vice Chairman Bredemeier: Is there anything within the framework of Article 8 that needs to be changed or re-examined? The liaison has been addressed simply because that fell under the Mayor s topic, although nothing strictly Parks related has been addressed. Chairman Bushyhead: The only other thing to consider (going back to Council Management form of government), is this is a one department head position and is not under that City Manager umbrella. It is an administrative board versus an advisory board. Commissioner Reeves: Each time we [the Park Board] build, we still have to go to Council for prior approval with the reasons supporting it. Commissioners unanimously agreed to make no changes on the Parks and Recreation Board section in the Charter. The next two Charter Review meetings were scheduled for January 8, 2006 and January 22, The next three topics up for discussion will be: nominations, initiative and referendum, and financial procedures. ADJOURNMENT: Chairman Bushyhead adjourned the meeting at 9:00 p.m. Amber Arbuckle, Recording Secretary Page 10