Alright well go ahead and get started, Lauren is still going to be running around and grabbing
any final paperwork from you all but just want to make you aware that starting at 5
30 every evening that we're in here the mics will be hot so we're not utilizing any hand
held mics, the room is mic'd and the meeting is live streamed so they'll pick up on you
you know even the littlest things so just be mindful of that whenever you come in every
evening and then whenever you are intending to speak speak you know with some projection
and loud enough so that the whole room can hear you so we'll go ahead and get started
and seeing that we have a quorum present I'll call the regular meeting of the charter review
committee to order at 5 37 p.m. the first item on our agenda is CRC 24001 welcome remarks
and introductions of the committee members and staff good evening everyone and welcome
to the first meeting of the charter review committee I'm Christy Fogel I'm the chief
of staff at the city of Denton and I'll be the staff liaison for the committee throughout
its work I want to start out by thanking you all for agreeing to serve the city in this
capacity the charter is the foundational and guiding document of the city and the opportunity
for us to review it is and revise it is should not be taken lightly whether it's immediate
or obvious or not the decisions the committee will make over the next couple of months will
have a lasting effect on the city and its people and we rely heavily on engaged residents
like you all to weigh in and lead the city in the right direction so before we jump into
our agenda I'd like us to go around the room and introduce ourselves so we can get acquainted
if you can please share your name and then something that you love about Denton we're
all here to serve the city and I think we can all agree it's a great place to be and
we're working towards a great future so I'll start Christy Fogel I just moved back to Denton
from Austin born and raised here but moved back in January for this job so really excited
to be here and one of my favorite things about Denton is the food specifically Fuzzy's tacos
which cater tonight so shameless plug just my favorite I get I'm not sponsored by them
so yeah if we want to go around the room starting over here and just introduce yourself and
anything that you love about Denton and activity you like doing here or you know favorite restaurants
etc.
My name is Margarita Banegas and I work for UNT I went to school here left for several
years and then came back and one of my favorite things about Denton is the public parks and
recreation options available I love Clear Creek when it's not completely flooded is my favorite
place to be.
My name is Waver McClure I'm on education and pharmacy I've been here since 1989 and
it's always been pretty much about the people how nice they are how to get along with them
working with the city at times with some things or projects I've had.
I'm Jane Siegel and I'm originally from Delaware most people don't even know where that is
I came to Denton in 1978 and went to then it was North Texas State now it's UNT I got
my master's degree there I lived and worked in Denton since that time and I'm now retired
and what I love about Denton is Denton Boys baseball because my parents have played.
I'm Brian VanBalk from Peterbilt and others I've been with Peterbilt for 19 years that's
what brought me to Denton basically grew up in West Texas but relocated here after being
in the Marine Corps so I got a job at Peterbilt so I've been here for been living in Denton
for 15 years so the thing a little about Denton is just the community and just the mix of
big and small businesses as well as the square and the hearts it's everything it's just a
very unique community that I think is very close for the size that it's right so it's
even bigger but you still have a very family atmosphere my name is Nathan Johnson I was
born and raised here in Denton and what I love about Denton is home no matter where
I go in the country visit always come home so that's my name is Gabriel Kirkpatrick
or Gabe as the sign either is fine I was born in Texas moved around a little bit growing
up in fact when I went off to college at Florida State I thought my Texas days may be over
but then my niece was born and took a job at UNT I've been back ever since one of the
things that I love about Denton is just that even though we do have that small townfield
there's so many people here and I'm meeting new people every day and it's just I've always
liked the vibe here this is home it's been home since 2003 and this is I see this is
a great opportunity to give service back to the community that I love I'm Michelle Jones
and I started practicing law here in 1993 and moved here in 2004 and I've always loved
it and I love the food I love the community I love music I love that it's a college town
it's been a great great place my name is Jesse Davis I'm also a hometown person I see so
many of us in the room it's really cool and I'll start off but that's kind of my favorite
thing about Denton is like you said you go away and you come back you travel and you
run into people who know where your hometown's from and not everybody gets to be you know
to grow up in a place that is as special and as unique as Denton is not that all y'all's
other hometowns aren't great but Denton is a very special mix of people it's a really
different mix of people than you run into in other places even other places in Texas
so I grew up here went to Denton high school I went to UNT got a poli sci degree there
worked in DC for a couple years my wife and I got married and we went to Waco where I
went to law school and then I got my dream job right out of school here at the DA's office
in County County so I've been doing the public service thing ever since.
I'm Julie Romsky we relocated here from Dayton Ohio in 2010 no excuse me 2014 we started
looking in 2010 okay.
Needles to say Denton won out as to where to relocate because we are retired it's very
interesting meet location what with having two major universities learning that UNT has
a world-renowned music center which we partake in when they have things and just all in all
like it's been said it was very unique interesting wonderful people that we've met and we were
rather active in civic affairs and that back in Dayton and we appreciate the opportunity
to continue this by say being on this committee and hopefully something else in the future.
My name is Angela Brewer Isma I am also a hometown girl I grew up in Denton two-time
graduate of the University of North Texas and I currently teach at UNT and there are so
many things that I love about Denton like some of you I was here and I went away and
I came back and I went away and I came back and I came back because this is where I wanted
to raise my son and so once we had a kiddo this is where we decided we wanted to settle
down there's so many things I love about this town and the mean green part of my heart wants
to say UNT is one of my favorite parts of Denton Texas but this afternoon I was at a
Harry Potter library program over at South Bridge library so I'm gonna go with library
parks and rec as my favorite Denton stuff.
My name is Peter Mungiguera I'm originally from Flyermount Texas which is where I met
my wife Bailey we went to high school we both went off to Baylor University together where
I studied polysci in undergrad and then also went on to law school Baylor University came
back to Denton to raise or Denton County to raise our family you know when it came time
to buy our first home we knew the city of Denton was going to be the best place to raise
our young son who's 11 months old and what we really like about Denton is that similar
to Waco it's got a good small town feel but it's got big city amenities so we love that
it's still small town like everybody knows everybody but there's plenty of stuff to do
so happy to be here.
Hi my name's Leslie I moved to Denton in 2016 after college met my husband and now are raising
two kids here Denton is the first place I lived as an adult and sort of come home really
quickly I just love the vibe getting to experiences like a young person and now is more I'm an
adult I love just like the spectrum of events or something for everyone here and my favorite
thing about Denton is the tree lighting I love getting to live through the replacement
of the tree and the drama that that was and now getting to watch the new tree grow up
with my kids like the tree gets bigger my kids get bigger and that's just something
that's like a really awesome core memory for me.
My name is Christine Frey I moved to Denton a couple of years back I've since been on
the zoning board of justice mobility committee, bond committee last year I enjoy a lot of
so much of what you guys have said about Denton but one thing that I really deeply appreciate
is as a transgender person there's a lot of places that just are not safe for me I recently
did a trip where I stopped in a town and waited in line at a Popeyes and the man behind me
stared at me stared me down for the entire time I was lying and figured it was gone.
I can say that's never happened to me in Denton so that's something that's very important
to me about Denton and that I very much appreciate.
My name is Jeremy Fikes I moved to Denton in 1992 both my parents worked at Peterbilt
they've since retired but went to North Texas went to Denton High went to Calhoun in reverse
order.
I got my undergrad and masters at North Texas went into banking while I was in college still
in banking to this day I'm the market president for parent banking trust here in Denton I've
grown to enjoy you know the college sports in Denton the business community just working
in the fellowship and all the people that we see out you know restaurants at night and
also you know it you get work with them during the day so I just enjoy the people of Denton.
Thank you thank you all for sharing a little bit of your you know personal likes with us
and we'll be getting to know each other more and more as we spend more time together.
I do want to give our other staff a chance to enter introduce themselves so Amanda.
Hi I'm Amanda Brown I'm the deputy dean here for the city of Denton I think my favorite
thing about Denton is the people that I work with here and the amount of community engagement
that the residents here provide I mean there's a lot of that so it's been very interesting
it's very fun so I'd be really happy to be here.
Lawrence Modell, the city secretary recently moved to Texas from New York so it's a bit
of a big move but happy to be here excited to be raising my family here I absolutely
love the people I work with I love the citizens here the involvement is incredible and it's
very welcoming and I do appreciate the transparency that the city of Denton has and the engagement
that they have with the citizenry that's actually what in part drew me even to apply for the
position at the outset so I'm not licensed yet here in Texas I am also an attorney in
New York.
It's fun to learn different law I'm Jesse Kent I'm an assistant to the city manager
like many of you I've also lived in Denton and moved away went to UNT my wife and I had
our first date at Jupiter House back when it used to say be nice to the hipsters they're
doing the best I can so excited to get to meet you all and learn more about what you
all do for the city.
Thanks.
All right here's just a quick recap of our meeting agenda we'll review the purpose of
the charter committee as well as the charges set forth by council and the Denton City Charter
Committee and then we'll hold an election for a chair and a chair pro temp of the committee
and then lastly we'll review just some housekeeping committee procedures so we're all on the same
page moving forward and while we operate momentarily without a chair I'd like to ask that you just
write down any questions you have as I go through this first part of the presentation
and I'll open it up for questions at the end and we can have a discussion about that.
So next on our agenda is item CRC 24002 receive a report and hold a discussion regarding the
creation and purpose of the charter review committee and review Denton City Charter and
committee charges.
A little bit of background here the proposal to conduct a charter review started as a two
minute pitch back in August of 2023 and from there council directed two work sessions on
the topic and in January 2024 council provided direction on the process and timeline that
we're working off of now in February council identified several priority provisions to
receive a work session presentation on and those items shaped what eventually became
the committee charges from March to May council received those presentations on various sections
of the charter and directed provided direction during those work sessions and that's what
became the final charges.
In your plethora of spare time I encourage you to go back and watch each of these work
sessions so you can review the discussions and kind of the precipice of where some of
these charges came from and where what the intentions of council were and those actions.
And then finally council approved the creation of the committee and issuance of charges in
June and began the appointment process which brings us up to speed to today.
Some additional background just for reference Denton's last charter election took place
in 2017 with a committee process similar to this one.
These are the amendments that were submitted to the voters of note modifying the recall
petitioner threshold from 25 to 35 is the only proposition that did not pass and Prop
D required the adoption of the city's very first ethics movements and Prop E established
a council stipend for the first time both of those items are on the charges for review
by this committee today.
So moving into the creation and makeup of the committee council passed resolution 24
1158 on June 4th which created the charter review committee to consider and advise the
council on whether and in what manner to revise the charter based on the charges set forth.
The resolution stipulates that the committee consists of 14 members nominated by respective
council members that a quorum of the committee shall be eight members and that all committee
recommendations be made with a majority vote of the whole committee.
The committee will elect a chair and a chair pro tem upon convening and the chair will
have the authority to appoint subcommittees as needed.
Digging a little deeper into the committee charges the first three charges are charter
perfecting items they include resolving any conflicts with state law resolving vague or
unclear language and replacing all instances of gendered language with non gendered language
legal will be working on these charges throughout the committee process and then will present
all applicable changes to the committee at the October 17th meeting.
The book of the committee's work will center around these seven charges which are to consider
and advise the council whether and in what manner to revise current charter provisions
to as to modify the mix of single member and at large districts increase the two year term
for council members to either three or four year terms the addition of new council seats
based on population size and projected growth modifying the mayor and council stipend requiring
a statement less than 200 words on the grounds of removal for recall petitions increasing
the two year term of the municipal judge to a four year term and modifying the ethics
ordinance requirements.
I mentioned earlier each of these items is discussed in a council work session meeting
so feel free to go back and look at those to get more context as to why they were brought
forward.
And then the final charge of the committee is that the committee has the discretion to
review additional sections of the charter not listed in these charges and consider and
advise council and whether and what manner to revise them individual committee members
can submit additional sections they'd like to propose the committee review to staff before
the August 22nd meeting all of these submissions will be shared with the full committee and
then items will require a majority consensus from the full committee to move forward with
consideration of those items any sections that receive majority consensus will be considered
by the committee at the September 19th and October 3rd committee meetings.
Here's just an overall timeline for the charter election from now until November the committee
will meet review the charges create recommendations based on the committee's work those recommendations
will be presented to council in the form of charter amendments in November and December
and then council will consider the recommendations and approve the final amendments to the to
be submitted to the voters in January 2025 council will call the election and initiate
an informational campaign the campaign will be coordinated by city staff but will rely
on committee members to during this time to help us share information with the public
and then the election will take place on May 3rd 2025 following the election the committee
will be dissolved.
This is just a high level review of the articles of the charter the articles highlighted in
yellow are the ones that committee charges that we have committee charges coming from
as you can see the charges only cover a fraction of the charter so I encourage you to review
each section of the charter as you're able to and with that I will take any questions
that you guys have on that and then we'll open it up to for a nominations and chair
and chair pro tem elections.
Yes Mr. just out of curiosity with 14 members how would a tie be resolved because generally
I would have thought that there would be a lot of members yeah I think I think ultimately
I'll defer to legal on that if there's any precedent there but I think ultimately a tie
would be a failure great question now can you send out links to the I know you get the
dates of those council meetings but can you send out links to those absolutely meetings
and then I think you can link even to the timestamp yes so you don't have to watch the
whole meeting not that you shouldn't watch the whole meeting but but I think it is really
informative that would be really helpful yeah that's a great idea we'll do a summary email
after each meeting so I'll include that in tomorrow's email any other questions so looking
at the 2017 election charter elections this do formulates from our recommendations like
how those turn into propositions is it similar to the bond or the kind of people by light
yeah well we'll be working with legal on kind of creating the language for the propositions
so and Amanda will be at all of our meetings so she'll be working through that with us
yeah so will the committee will present to council and three work sessions in November
and December what the committee's recommendations are all of those recommendations will be things
that the committee has received consensus on and then council will have the opportunity
to review and potentially send something back to the committee and you know that sort of
thing so council does ultimately improve what makes it to the voters okay great so with
that we'll move into electing a chair and chair pro tem that is item CRC two four zero
zero three the chair will preside over the meetings and we'll have the ability to appoint
subcommittees as needed and the chair pro tem will reside in the absence of the chair
and then provide additional leadership support as needed so with that I'll open it up for
any motions and discussions the process you can nominate yourself or someone else then
you'll need a motion and a second we'll open it up for any discussion and then we'll hold
a voice vote Peter's hands hands up first I'd like to nominate Christine Bray for the
chair position we have a second is that how that forgive me what's the procedure on that
yes yeah we have to vote that and then if there's another nomination wait or correct
yes so we can't make another nomination discussion yeah but we will we will open it up so nomination
motion second discussion so we have a nomination in the future whenever there's a you need
to have your hand up before you finish talking I mean I'm just curious it is a race to get
your hand up yes whoever made the first nomination was obviously whoever she picked on first whoever
she saw hand go up first and I'm not complaining about who that it or you know I don't have
any idea I don't know very many I'm just saying that's a little bit and the lawyer in these
screaming so first we'll just take nominations and then we'll move from there so we have
a nomination for Christine Bray okay I have a nomination that I don't know these people
at all but I know Jesse Davis you've been on the City Council before so you know how
to present stuff and Michelle Jones is an attorney so you know I look like a proteome
above all the guidelines so that's my recommendation give me are we just doing the chair right
now or are we doing both we can do both we can go ahead and do more initially he's doing
the chair so I would also nominate Jesse Davis as chair I think with his experience in I
mean on City Council number one obviously his educational background in political science
as I mentioned earlier and he's the attorney or a attorney for you know with all the legal
aspects of the charter I would think he would be a good candidate for that and his experience
on council yeah I guess the second if that's where we're at I thought they were just asking
as chair as chair or chair protect so we're doing chair and pro chair yes yes any and
all nominations speak now and then we'll move on to seconds and pro 10 make chance second
that I appreciate the nomination but even that this is my first time here and on board
this magnitude I'm just here really to learn process see how it goes how everybody directs
it and really appreciate any other nominations for chair same reason I think you keep us
on track I know personally I struggle with Robert's rules of order and all the different
things so that could be probably have something with that background make us more efficient
does that nomination need a second now for Robert's rules yeah we'll just take nominations
and then we'll go down the list and and ask for a second do that momentarily yes you have
any nominations for vice chair vice chair we just have Michelle as mayor protect our pro
them currently okay I'd like to nominate myself as vice chair okay so our first nomination
for chair was Christine Bray is there a second second and then we just vote I showed hands
Christine Bray for chair that's six so that fails to requirement next we had a nomination
for Jesse Davis for chair you have a second and show of hands is that seven okay so also
that's a 15 people that's a good question earlier yeah so yeah we had Michelle as a
chair drive a second second okay and show of hands this is chair this is chair yeah
this is why I don't let's let's go we drop one and then and then see if the vote changes
if there's only two options because there was there were some people that voted for
the third candidate that was least high number that might vote for one of the other candidates
if they didn't have that option yeah absolutely I think we should go forward with the chair
pro tem and then see if that gets us somewhere so there was a nomination for Michelle for
chair pro tem is there a second okay show of hands all right that's eight so we have
Michelle solidified as our chair pro tem so we'll do another vote for chair the first
nomination was Christine there was a second show of hands okay seven and chair for Jesse
Davis show of hands seven yeah sorry the last vote was seven for Jesse Davis and seven for
Christine right I agree we didn't make it to discussion so let's open it up and maybe
Jesse and Christine if you each want to say a couple of words I would like to do this
because well I have immense respect for Jesse we've talked many times I I do find it perhaps
imbalancing that Jesse has been on council I don't have any disagreement with his ability
to run meetings but given that this board relates to the functions the duties of council
I think that having a former council member be in that role is perhaps unbalancing and
while I'm certainly glad to have your insights on this board at large just it's that that
leadership role I've done committees like this before I've done bond committee last
year I'm on the Board of Adjustments where I've led several votes in there so I believe
that I'm capable of executing this role thank you likewise want to reciprocate your respect
I'm glad we're serving another committee together the I think the I take the opposite view but
the council experience because what we're talking about is something that we will be
recommending perhaps contrary to the wishes of some of the council members there was none
there were very few of these items that are coming to us that were unanimous that also
all seven council members wanted to see on this chart so whatever did the recommendation
this committee is it will be part of the role of this committee to go and put that in front
of the city council it's for clear to your point you said well how's the how's the wording
work you know what's it going to be city council will set the wording they will not take our
wording directly they'll take what the attorney's advice is and our recommendations and they
will craft the wording just like what happened with the bond committee the bond wasn't presented
exactly like the committee really put forward the council kind of crafted a little bit one
of those things didn't pass so I think that's an important aspect that I bring is how to
liaise with the council council members that are there my former colleagues and then I
I'm in the uncomfortable position of having to kind of give you my resume a little bit
but I do have degrees in government in law I have a lot of experience long state experience
chairing bodies like this where you have frank tough conversations and you have to do so
in a way that is respectful of everybody's time and expertise and that whether you have
a law degree or whether you don't your voice is just as important on this committee and
the community that you represent is just as important on this committee and I think that's
a really maybe a different or a unique aspect of a committee like this is that you have
to in a city like Denton at a time like today pull all of those perspectives together and
make sure everybody's well represented and that's a particular experience that I have
here. Thank you. Is there any other discussion on that? Yes. Having also been on the most
recent body committee and knowing how that process during committee presenting it to
council and finally got on the ballot etc. As Jessie relates you have to I'm not going
to say coach words but I may say a word that says upstart and someone else may totally
take it different on council. So his past expertise with knowing those initial nuances
which is so that things can progress and we can meet the needs of the directive I think
would be beneficial. I just want to say for Christine when you talk about being prepared
and doing homework I don't know anybody and I'm not saying that this is from my experience
in this community who does more homework who is more out there in their community doing
the work to have those conversations to a lot of experience on boards I just know that
if we slip Christine will bring us back up to the table so that's why I support Christine
first of all. I'd like to also say as far as the expertise goes I personally trust city
staff and our city attorneys to do the work make sure that we're prepared and to properly
prepare all of us and fill the gaps of information so I'm not so concerned of that I think it's
wonderful that we have an attorney as our vice chair I think it'd be great if our chair
could not be an attorney since we have a disproportionate amount of attorneys on this committee someone
who understands the average experience of somebody in debt because at the end of the
day this has to be a cross-section of the community and we've got two attorneys sitting
as our chair and vice chair that doesn't necessarily look like our community. I say that as an
attorney. Well you know my opinion is that there's going to be a lot of legal stuff that
happens and we have to come up with all the wording and all that stuff so I'm not afraid
of having another attorney to run it because they're used to looking at all this stuff
all the time so that's my opinion. Given that we do have all these attorneys on this committee
wouldn't the chair have to run that information about the committee as a whole and be able
to overlook whatever the verbiage is that needs to be said to the city council and I
think that giving somebody without the attorney's perspective to lay it out on what they think
and what they feel and then give it to the attorneys to look over to make sure that it's
what needs to go in front of the council with them to work together. Two people with the
same goal or two different perspectives making them one. I think that would be good. Just
another quick thought too we have legal here so I mean I you know and I'm not whatever
profession or whatever you're in but that's going to be my when I'm looking for the legal
I'm looking there. That's the way I look at this so I I like a little bit of diversity
too. So if I can speak I would when Jesse talks he spoke more about what his qualifications
were forget the legal piece of it I think his experience with municipalities government
agencies working in them not alongside the fact that he's been on council and understands
things that there's probably a lot of people in this room are not aware of or have not
experienced I think that gives you know him a little bit of a leg up to to try to help
us navigate through that process and just for that reason I think he would probably
be the best. Not to mention I didn't really hear a lot of reason why you know I'm pursuing
what the qualifications were for for the chair position necessarily I mean more heard of
the of an issue of why someone else should not be in it as opposed to why they shouldn't
be in it. Christine could you repeat your qualifications for the committee all the different
boards you served on. Sure I've been on traffic safety which no longer exists anymore it's
now mobility at Koch committee with city council that I serve on. I've served on zoning board
of adjustments the bond 2023 program I've done Denton 360 academy Denton citizens police
academy and I've written many many pages of policy briefs for city council to consider
as well on various issues. Thank you. And I you know obviously appreciate the public
service but that's a big aspect of it that you and Jesse both have. I guess I have to
you know the attorney hate oh my gosh and I do hope I concur with Gabe or Gabriel that
I don't anticipate drafting or being involved in the details I do hope that staff I don't
think anybody's looking to to me and I'm not here really in a role as an attorney I'm here
as a citizen and that's what I hope to offer as a perspective of having lived here for
you know 17 20 years 21 years so that's my role and I think you know Jesse was bringing
that perspective also as a citizen somebody born and raised here and so I think it's that
qualification and I do think the being a part of council when we're talking about what is
attractive to people that want to run as a council member you know we're going to be
talking about stipends the term of service what kind of burden that puts on you and I
think he does really offer a unique position perspective having served in that role and
gone through that so I think that makes him uniquely qualified to serve as to. May I offer
this really is a Robert's Rules of Order and now but doing this is electing both a chair
and a pro tem within the same in the nominees to me is a little bit different than anything
else I have partaken in it's usually you elect one and then you go to the other since the
first vote so I will put this out as a since the first vote had Christine having six and
Jesse having seven could we then take it that Jesse would be this is what I'm putting forth
if we can't come to an impasse let's nominate Michelle is I think that's exactly what happens
if there's not a chair elected correct yeah and I wanted to make sure everybody the discussion
everybody had an opportunity to say whatever they wanted to say but moving forward if we
can do it one more vote for Jesse and Christine if we'd like if we're all set with our votes
as are as they are then we'll move forward with Michelle as chair and come back at our
next meeting and we can hold another election if we if we need to or we can just move forward
with Michelle as our chair yes sorry just Christine got a chance to kind of go back
over the resume points a little bit and I don't know who I'm speaking to or persuading
at this point for seven to seven but just just everybody knows the the experience that
I'm trying to put forward here isn't just as a council member as a lawyer but as someone
who has chaired meetings and drafted governing documents as a side hustle unpaid side hustle
for 20 plus years I mean since high school and college student body president North Texas
chair just about every kind of meeting you can think of since then and that's the particular
qualification we're looking for now is not someone who's going to rewrite the chart not
something who's going to pass legal muster on the chart but someone who's going to preside
over the meetings and make sure everybody gets their voice heard and the person who's
going to go in front of council with staff and help present this and when council says
you know gosh I don't know stand up for this committee whether it's the chairs preferred
position or not to go in front of council and tell them this is what the body you put
together had to say and those are the particular qualifications I think we're looking for each
other any other discussion and will hold another vote for chair and if we're at the same impasse
we'll move forward with Michelle as our chair for now as our chair pro tem because that's
the role of the chair pro tem to in the absence of a chair preside over the meetings so that's
how we'll move forward and we can come back at our next meeting and go from there how
does that sound okay so for jesse davis's chair show of hands okay seven and Christine
just for process okay congratulations michelle i appreciate everybody sharing all of their
all of their thoughts and opinions and you know i think even with this you know kind
of pick up we're going to move forward and be thoughtful and kind and respectful and
appreciate that everybody so uh with that we will move forward to housekeeping items
item crc 24 004 attendance and quorum eight committee members will constitute a quorum
per section 2.83 of the debt and city code members who cannot attend a meeting must make
contact must contact the chairperson or staff liaison to inform them of their absence to
make this easy for committee members i'm going to have copies of a notification of absence form
at every meeting and there's a meeting that you're planning on missing if you know ahead of time
ask me for the form fill it out the requirement is for an excused absence you just have to
turn it in within 10 before 10 days before the next meeting notification of absence are subject
for review by council and members that have too many unexcused absences may be subject to removal
by council the texas open meetings act committee members should complete the texas open meetings
act training within 90 days of taking the oath of office please make sure you email your certificate
to the city secretary upon completion and committee procedures now that we've elected a
chair pro tem they will preside over the meeting in the absence of a chair committee meetings will
begin promptly at 5 30 and dinner will be available outside of the room each meeting
and will always be available starting at five so feel free to get here early grab dinner
hang out during the meeting please feel free to step out for a break if you need to we've only
allotted an hour and a half for these meetings so we'll be squeezing in a lot of big information
into that time so um we won't have a lot of time for breaks so please take care of yourselves make
sure you grab food and water drinks and step out as you need to you'll notice you each have a binder
at your place these binders are yours to keep throughout this process before each meeting
electronic copies of all meeting materials will be sent to your new city emails feel free to review
the documents before the meeting but staff will provide printed copies of everything in each
meeting and you can plug those printed copies into your binder each week in the first two
tabs of your binder are important contacts and the meeting schedule the city charter and the
resolution creating the charges the committee and the charges and then each meeting has a tab as well
if there are other resources staff will print those and share those with the committee as we go
speaking of your city emails the all committee members the city requires that all committee
members receive a city of debt and email address to utilize for official committee business
please make sure you're regularly checking this new inbox for information after this meeting and
once we get them all set up staff will only use those emails to correspond with the committee
after every meeting you'll receive an email with a summary of the meeting and a link to a brief
survey that's just intended to gauge the temperature of the committee on the topics discussed in each
meeting staff will use this information to capture the committee's perspectives and address any gaps
or concerns with the topics discussed this is also where committee members can submit additional
sections of the charter that what they would like to submit for review it is important to note that
these surveys are not an official vote or position of the committee or a committee member and will be
kept confidential by staff all official business of the committee including votes will take place
in person in these meetings public comment and participation all committee meetings are open to
the public and will be live streamed and available for public viewing on the city of debt and website
additionally each meeting following this one we will reserve the first five to ten minutes of the
meeting for public comment up to five members of the public will be allowed to speak for up to two
minutes members of the public wishing to speak should arrive early and complete a speaker form
and turn it into staff before the meeting is called to order additionally there is an option
for e-comments to be made available to the public should the committee provide direction to do so
e-comment will be made available once an agenda is posted and then all comments would go directly to
committee members city email addresses and then lastly on committee procedures and decorum
we'll be spending a lot of time together over the next several months and I know that none of us
exist in a vacuum external events and influences will inevitably impact us but it's a it's important
that we don't let that undermine mutual respect and the working relationships we have in this room
I ask that as a group we remain thoughtful respectful and kind in our interactions with
each other even as difficult and contentious topics are discussed we're all here because we
care about didn't and our community and I'd like for us to let that be our grounding and guiding
principle as we move forward and then the meeting schedule there's a copy of the meeting schedule
in the front tab of your binder all of our meetings will be held here at the development
services building from 5 30 to 7 in order to respect everyone's time we'll be sticking to the
meeting times and not going over just so you'll have an idea of what our content schedule is
this is the schedule of what charges we'll be covering and when I'd like to note that first
on the list are modifying the mix of single member and at-large districts and the need for
new council seats based on population because both of these items are heavily impacted by state and
federal laws if the committee decides to move forward with modifications to these items the
city will need to consult outside legal counsel to ensure that all election laws are complied with
so we're tackling those big issues first so to allot for time if we need to employ outside council
and you'll also notice that there are three placeholder slots for any additional sections
with committee consensus to review this is where those items that you submit
through the surveys by august 22nd will be placed should they received committee consensus
and then lastly any questions received during the meeting that cannot be answered during the meeting
will be answered within 24 hours following the meeting and will be shared with the entire
committee by email so I know that is a lot of information I appreciate all of your time and
attention and you guys taking the time out of your lives to do this with us if you have questions
um I'll stick around for as long as you need otherwise I will turn it back over to the chair
pro tem to adjourn that's all you have to do today absolutely um my last thing is just a reminder
that our next meeting is thursday august 8th here and those are the topics so questions
I go first okay um so next week we have the section two review right so not knowing exactly
what the schedule was for this kind of looking through stuff ahead of time can we ask can we
get questions down maybe in the in the meeting prior about that topic does that make sense or
we need to keep that in because one of the questions that kind of came to my mind was you know we have
the population I'm sure we have similar cities that have a similar population similar mix like
what's their mix like what's their charter what's that because I think you kind of need to know that
to make a informed decision almost like you know in business we would say well what's the best
practice on that right like what do we think or at least have some reference yeah yeah absolutely so
every meeting when we go over a new topic I'll do a presentation with kind of the basics of what
and for example you know what other cities what comparable cities are doing what recommendations
there are from the national league of cities that sort of stuff so staff will bring that
to you all before we ever ask you to make a decision um and then I think to answer your
question we can have an um an option in the survey that we send out after each meeting that says do
you have any questions on the topic for the next meeting so that staff can be sure to address those
in the meeting would then that be sent to all of us yes
so to that end we have staff available for research may I provide a question now
because it has to do with the population size of objective growth for the next meeting
can we find out what is the population for umt and twu in regard to student populations
absolutely
out of respect for y'all's time um what would be ideally the best like the last day to send in
a query before we're set to meet in order for you to have and I know you said 24 hours but I want
to make sure you'll have more how to go about your presentations
yeah I'd say 24 to 48 hours before the meeting
when was the deadline to submit new things August 22nd
yes um two two quick things Peter actually that's a I love the way you phrased that you know out of
respect for staff's time one thing I will point out and I don't want to raise too many eyebrows
by saying this but this committee belongs to us and to the citizens so if there's a burning question
that pops up don't expect that you're going to have your answer at the very next meeting
but that 24 hours it is a is a courtesy we don't have to vote on anything we don't have to move
forward to the next agenda item we don't have to this is a template of what we should do but if we
need more time on something if we need to go back to our folks and talk to more people this is this
is a suggested guideline so we shouldn't feel again I'm not freaking staff out we shouldn't feel
dead stuck on this if we don't feel comfortable revising the charter in a certain way we're not
there as a group and we can't expect that the council of citizens to be there other kind of
cautionary thing I would remind people about is we talked about the open meetings act um when you
have to take the training but what they're going to tell you in the training some of you all have
been on boards and stuff a lot and some haven't um that means that you cannot speak with a quorum
of people outside the meeting if you're going to talk with that many people it has to be in the
meeting if seven people meet for coffee great they can't talk about these topics that also
means there's something called a walking quorum that I can't talk to my council member about
something and then have seven six other people seven other people to make a quorum go and talk
to that same council member about the same thing that creates a walking quorum I can't go to staff
I even think it's a passing along I agree like you can't talk to me and then I talk to
Gabe and then he talks to Nate I don't I think that's even a walking one you get that I think
you're right if you get that eight together however they're put together even if you don't
know that you're part of that eight so to that end no reply alls to the email switch that um
no Facebook groups no um conversations with your with your people and your communities vital
but be very very careful that walking quorum because if we do that if we have a lot of table
talk and side talk that really undermines what the people but the citizens think about this community
and the trust that they have in our work that we do and then eventually this is what they're
going to have to vote on so I know that sounds like a lawyer thing to say follow the law but I'm
telling you it's important those laws exist for transparency and people don't have trust in things
you do off to the side I understand that and I heard that but how am I going to know when
I talk to my city council that some other people want to talk to him about the same thing
my advice me personally trust your city council member to make their decision based on their
constituents and the report back from the committee so like they they put us on here and I will tell
my city councilman the city council member this right to her face I'm on I got pointed here to
beat for my folks and represent my community and to work with y'all to come up with a recommendation
not to be my city council member's little robot so I'll report back and all that kind of stuff but
we take our direction from the citizens and then the city council will get their chance to vote on
it and then the citizens will get their chance to move on it I promise you'll learn more talking
your neighbors and I was just wondering how it would work I have a more practical question back
to Ryan's comment earlier so next the next meeting we would anticipate having a presentation
on what say McKinney, Lewisville, other other similar sized cities do as far as the mix of
single members and at large and we would have a presentation maybe on the demographics of
and I would definitely think we want to include our colleges but also if the city and growth
projections would that be also part of that presentation so we're going to receive a lot
of information from staff yeah yeah we're going to give you as much information as you can
specifically on these as we can um specifically on these items there may be stuff that we need to
employ outside council for but um Amanda and I will be giving you everything that we have
and similarly you mentioned the national association of cities maybe or something
I think tml do they also put forward best practices and considerations yes we get all
yes okay that sounds great I just recommend reading they're available freely online so
I'm reading through them um they do address several topics that we have planned for discussion
so sounds good thank you okay what other questions do you guys have
okay if you are going to miss me is available by zoom or
we we will be live streamed I don't know that we have the capability to
have members zoom in so you could watch it on the live stream but it would still be considered an
absence I can check with our team on that and if we know in advance like I know one day just
let you know yep I have the forms so if you if you have a vacation plan holidays whatever
um I have those forms so just ask any time and I'll send it I'll send it to you electronically or
have a personally here okay so I move to adjourn yes yeah I have uh I have a one sheet one major
for you for you to say right here at the bottom if there is no other business I will now adjourn the
meeting at 6 39 p.m sorry I do not need emotion I think