1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:19,360 Okay, after determining that a forum is present, the charter review committee will convene in a regular meeting on September 5th at 5.32 p.m. in conference rooms 3, 4, and 5. 2 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:24,880 I will now call the regular meeting of the charter review committee to order at 5.32 p.m. 3 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:40,320 Our first item for consideration is item A, number CRC 24-015. Received comments from members of the public, members of the public to which the seat must be present at the meeting and submit a speaker card that the staff liaison prior to the meeting being called. 4 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:50,560 Up to five speakers may speak for two minutes each on any items on the agenda. I have two cards in front of me and two other comments, just two cards in front of me. 5 00:00:50,560 --> 00:01:16,160 Our first speaker is Liam Gwong-Whitefield. If you could step up to the podium at the front and make your comment. 6 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:36,400 Hello, my name is Liam Gwong-Whitefield. I'm out here to speak on several points. First one is on like the, on the stipend it's people, it's called public, being in an elected office is called public service for a reason because it's often difficult and expensive to get into. 7 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:58,320 So that limits the amount of people that can run for office because whether or not they can afford to, whether or not they win, but whether or not they can afford to be in office, because it's a job that takes a lot of time and bandwidth, like meeting with constituents, staying long, working long nights at city council meetings. 8 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:08,080 But so an increase in that would increase the amount of people that could run for office because if they win it, they'd be able to afford to be in office. 9 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:20,880 The second one, the second item I'm going to speak on is moving the elections to November. I did some work on that one earlier, but a few years ago, I think Jesse may have been still in office at that point. 10 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:37,440 But like, sadly, the post COVID bump from engagement with voters from like 40%, 44% in 2020 to 15% in 2022 and we're back down to the regular 8% now. 11 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:49,040 So I think there is, we have enough data to say that the turnout differences is major and I think that's worthy enough to move our elections to November. Thank you and I can see the rest of the time. 12 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:51,040 Thank you. 13 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:55,920 When they get up and speak to this question for you, do they say their name and address or just the name? 14 00:02:55,920 --> 00:02:57,920 Just the name. 15 00:02:57,920 --> 00:03:00,720 Okay, so do we know if their existence is a dent or not? 16 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:02,720 No, I don't believe so. 17 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:08,720 Our next speaker is Charles Lee. 18 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:10,720 Here. 19 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:31,360 Good evening, my name is Charles Lee. I live in council district number two. I just want to speak about a couple of things that are on the agenda. 20 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:39,840 Like I heard you guys debating about how you want to change the districts in the at large and in the district level. 21 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:51,280 I want to say this is something that the founders discussed in federal paper number 10, where they said the most efficient government is really a dictatorship. 22 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:57,520 The most inefficient government is really a pure democracy because everybody is doing their own thing and they always try to strike the balance. 23 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:08,160 That's why they came up with the Senate and the House of Representatives to strike a balance in between so everybody has a voice but still the government has enough power to do so. 24 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:16,080 I think the balance that we have currently is good and we shouldn't try to tinker with that because we could mess up the whole balance of power in the town. 25 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:27,280 I'm also split on the issue of moving the elections to November and May for the same reason, they didn't want to have one straight election. 26 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:33,920 They wanted to have a lot of little elections because they didn't want one faction to win one election and take over all the government. 27 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:46,160 That's why we have so many elections in this country between spring, fall, run-offs, all these little elections because they never wanted one faction just to win one election and it will take everything over. 28 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:50,960 You have to be very careful when you are changing the structure of this government. 29 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:56,400 After that, I heard some things about one year of residency requirement, I'm fine with that. 30 00:04:56,400 --> 00:05:00,240 After that, I really don't have too much to say. People have a nice day. 31 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:14,640 All right, we will move on to item B, number CRC24016, consider approval of the minutes of the August 22nd, 2024 Charter Review Committee meeting. 32 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:19,120 Are there any additions or corrections to the meeting? Minutes? 33 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:31,040 Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion. Councilmember, or committee member Molina Ford. 34 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:35,120 I motion to approve the minutes of the August 22nd Charter Review Committee meeting. 35 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:38,240 I'll second. 36 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:47,040 Second from Commissioner Gantthoff. I have the motion and second. Let's vote. All those in favor of approval of the minutes, please raise your hand and say aye. 37 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:59,680 And for this meeting, if everybody could please hold their hands up for a little bit longer so staff can be sure to mark down everyone voting on the motions. Let's do that again. 38 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:02,640 We're voting on everybody, right? 39 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:04,640 Everyone in favor? 40 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:08,640 13-1. 41 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:15,280 All right, we are now going to move on to item C, number CRC020Review, 42 00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:17,920 consider committee procedures and rules. 43 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:24,640 Can I have a report from staff recapping some of the procedural confusion from last meeting? 44 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:27,840 Whether that would be you? 45 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:49,600 So I will attempt to leave this conversation with staff to correct me when and where I might be wrong. 46 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:56,880 So at the end of the last meeting, I think there was some confusion among many members of the body, myself included. 47 00:06:56,880 --> 00:07:00,560 We hit a little bit of a weird spot in Robert's rules of order. 48 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:09,520 So the charge for the committee says that in order for something to pass the committee, we have to have eight votes for that to pass. 49 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:20,480 We had a motion that came in at 7-4, and so that was not enough to pass despite the motion having a majority. 50 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:28,000 And I believe it was some people's assumption that that item would automatically be pushed to this meeting. 51 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:35,200 That is not the case. However, that item will be coming back at a later date because it did not receive a majority, 52 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:38,880 but however, it was not automatically pushed into this meeting. 53 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:40,880 Does anyone have any questions on that? 54 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:42,160 Commissioner Davis? 55 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:49,840 Yeah, so can you explain the part about it coming back and what rule of procedure will it rely on? 56 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:57,600 So my intention there is I believe that there's going to be some items that we discussed that are more contentious 57 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:05,520 and might receive six, five votes or seven, given the absence today, or any absences at this time. 58 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:16,400 And so rather than perhaps bash our heads at those every meeting, I'm going to kind of copy what happened with the 2023 bond committee 59 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:24,000 and use the procedure where the items were discussed, but those items then came back and were all kind of voted on as a slate. 60 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:33,920 Items that seem to have committee support, such as a good reminder for everyone to silence their phones. 61 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:43,040 Items that seem to have a majority of support, for example, maintaining the term limits of two years, 62 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:48,400 which received a 10-1 vote at this meeting. We'll just vote on those as they come up. 63 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:50,000 So it was the chair's discretion? 64 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:50,800 Yes. 65 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:57,440 So the chair has chosen that we will vote out a final report at the end. That's a slate of all recommendations. 66 00:08:57,440 --> 00:08:58,160 Correct. 67 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:06,320 So when an item has failed to receive an affirmative vote, either recommending or not recommending one way or the other, 68 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:16,640 you know, we've had some intense 7-7 votes. Is the chair's intention to keep bringing those up until there's vote one way or the other? 69 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:25,600 My intention would be that those items that get perhaps a 7-7 vote would come back as a slate at the end. 70 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:33,840 Should the committee be unable to achieve any resolution on a 7-7, I'm not going to keep us here until the year of our Lord, 2028, 71 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:45,280 until we can achieve an 8-6 or something on those. At that point, I would give space for every commissioner to voice their thoughts and their recommendation. 72 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:52,400 And then that would go up to council to consider, because ultimately council does have a final say over what's produced by this body. 73 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:58,880 So what was presented from staff at the beginning was that we would go kind of one by one through these items. 74 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:09,120 We'd post a, you know, two, three, four, whatever per meeting, and that if something needed to come back, 75 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:14,800 that the body would be consulted in the same way that we're going to be consulted about adding to our charge. 76 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:25,040 So what was presented was if something needed to come back, that it would be a consensus basis like these additional items. 77 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:33,280 So I'm asking again, the authority you're relying on to bring back an item that the body has considered, 78 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:39,200 did not reach an affirmative or negative consensus on because of a quirk in our charge, 79 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:47,200 and that at your discretion alone, you'll be bringing those back in front of the body. 80 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:49,120 - Which one answering? Yes, first. 81 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:51,760 - Is this an addition to his question or? 82 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:53,120 - You can't answer, you don't have to follow up. 83 00:10:53,120 --> 00:11:01,680 - Okay, so it is my understanding that the committee was tasked with coming out with recommendations, 84 00:11:01,680 --> 00:11:07,280 and that in order to do that, we need an 8-6 or better vote. 85 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:13,120 And so we were tasked with considering and producing recommendations on items, 86 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:18,880 and so it is my intention that if we are able to do that, we should do that, 87 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:26,480 especially during meetings where perhaps the reason that we were not able to produce an 8-6 is because of absences. 88 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:29,040 There were several absences at the last meeting. 89 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:36,720 And so I believe that it is this committee's responsibility to produce recommendations where it can. 90 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:43,760 And if something did not receive an 8-6 recommendation or better, in part perhaps because of absences, 91 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:52,880 the committee should try to remedy that, and I will move that with my agenda setting powers as such. 92 00:11:52,880 --> 00:12:03,680 - So the original email that came out from the city this week said that we follow the council rules, 93 00:12:03,680 --> 00:12:11,520 and I asked, it's the council rules and procedure, which we would need a motion to carry, 94 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:16,240 which in this committee, you would need eight votes to pass to reconsider any one item. 95 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:26,320 So in my opinion, we don't have any documentation that shows us that we can just laterally add something back after a decision has been made. 96 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:32,880 In my opinion, another motion would have to carry on a single item to revisit that. 97 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:38,960 And I think the question is, what do you have that shows us anything different than that, 98 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:46,160 and the city has not been able to provide that, nor you have been able to provide that. 99 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:56,480 - If I'm understanding your question, you're saying that the committee has reached a decision on something and that-- 100 00:12:56,480 --> 00:13:05,520 - So to go make a recommendation to council of a change, it has to pass. 101 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:10,320 Okay, so the items that don't pass, those are not being carried forward. 102 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:14,160 And we've already voted on some, so to revisit those at this point, 103 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:21,760 we would all have to have a motion to revisit that single item and get eight to pass to revisit it, 104 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:30,160 is the way that I interpret the council's procedures, which is what we are to follow. 105 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:37,200 And I asked for documentation where we can just unilaterally do whatever we want. 106 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:44,720 And I didn't receive that from city staff or from listening to you, I don't know that I've understood that either. 107 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:48,080 - Would you like to chime in here? 108 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:55,120 - The resolution says that it goes by an eight, so it's eight up or down. 109 00:13:55,120 --> 00:14:02,080 The resolution says it's eight that passes or fails, and it has to be by eight. 110 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:05,920 And so after that is the discretion of the chair. 111 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:09,760 And her interpretation is we didn't have eight. 112 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:14,480 - It's not passes or fails, it's passes. It's eight to pass. 113 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:18,240 - Could we allow our legal counsel to finish her thought? 114 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:23,440 - It's based strictly on the resolution and on the discretion of the chair. 115 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:25,520 - The resolution says eight. 116 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:30,400 - To pass, okay, therefore it did not pass. 117 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:33,040 - The resolution says eight to make a recommendation. 118 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:36,960 - Okay, therefore we cannot make a recommendation. We don't have eight. 119 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:39,440 So we cannot make a recommendation. 120 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:42,000 - You cannot make a recommendation because you do not have eight. 121 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,800 - So that's done, now we move forward. 122 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:51,040 - But the chair has decided that she would like for these to come back until she has eight 123 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:56,080 one way or the other, so that she makes sure that she has a vote from everybody on the bill. 124 00:14:56,080 --> 00:15:00,080 And she does have that discretion. 125 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:03,680 - Can you show me where that's written? That's what I'm asking. 126 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:07,040 And I've asked for that earlier. Where does it show that the chair has that discretion? 127 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:10,640 - That's just part, that's how boards run. 128 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:14,000 If you watch any of our council meetings, the mayor says that all the time. 129 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:15,280 The chair has the discretion. 130 00:15:15,280 --> 00:15:18,880 - We have a specific statutory authority for the agenda. 131 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:22,320 Commissioner Ronski. 132 00:15:22,320 --> 00:15:28,320 - Okay, I believe that I'm going to move my place to let Michelle, because she- 133 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:29,120 - No, no, no, no, no. 134 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:30,160 - Come on in, I think. 135 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:31,520 - No, no, no, go for it, go for it. 136 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:43,520 - My thoughts on this, and again, as you say, watching city council meetings and that. 137 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:56,240 If we do not give a vote up or down for, and I'm going to pick the 138 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:59,360 first item, which is changing the mix. 139 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:08,560 City council has at its discretion, the ability, if I understand correctly, 140 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:15,920 to make their decision and saying, okay, we are going to change the mix. 141 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:21,840 And put that on the vote that will go out in May. 142 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:31,760 Would it not, because of the concern that it's up to the single discretion of the chair, 143 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:42,480 be acceptable for a member of the committee to put forward a resolution or a suggestion, 144 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:50,480 depending on how it goes as to level, that a vote be taken 145 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:59,520 concerning the item number, such and such. 146 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:03,840 I don't know if it will change numbers as time progresses. 147 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:08,880 But take a vote asking how many feel 148 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:22,160 strong enough about revisiting this item that we formally put it on the agenda. 149 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:34,000 So that way you will have a record to enforce, substantiate your position as chair 150 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:39,360 to make the decision that it's going on the agenda. 151 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:49,600 Basically it's, you know, if you ask, how many of, you know, we have yet 152 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:57,840 to pass this based on the count of eight that was required. 153 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:06,240 How many of you still have, I'm trying to formulate for them, how many of you present 154 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:14,880 still have enough concerns, comments, support from your constituent. 155 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:25,520 That you want to take this to another vote, because that's basically what we would be doing. 156 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:32,000 So we're taking a vote on whether or not we want to take a vote. 157 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:41,360 And if we pass that, then that reinforces what you have been saying, 158 00:18:41,360 --> 00:18:47,120 that you want to go to another vote when more people are here. 159 00:18:47,120 --> 00:18:54,160 But one has to put an end at some point. 160 00:18:54,160 --> 00:19:01,280 You know, looking around, we still have, I believe there's two people that are missing. 161 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:04,320 Just one today, not here. 162 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:05,040 Is it just one? 163 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:05,680 Just one, yeah. 164 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:16,960 Okay, so that is my question to you, my question to council. 165 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:23,760 So as I stated earlier, it's not my intention to run meetings at an item. 166 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:39,360 And I think that the cleanest procedure in terms of not then having odd and finite votes 167 00:19:39,360 --> 00:19:44,880 about whether or not we want to call an item back, is to just say, well, these will all return. 168 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:48,080 At the end, we'll have one go at it if that fails. 169 00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:57,840 I will proceed to a question about that, just for my information. 170 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:06,640 Are you saying that at some point you would vote on those items as a slate, 171 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:08,720 or you would vote on them individually? 172 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:16,720 My intent is to use the bond committee procedure where the items came back, 173 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:23,600 or in bond's case came for the first time, but have them be individual. 174 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:35,680 It's important to point out that what it actually says in our charge is that 175 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:41,040 committee recommendations will be made by a majority vote of the whole committee. 176 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:46,720 That doesn't mean that every negative vote of the committee must also be eight votes. 177 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:52,320 Parliamentary procedure, there are many ways for an item to die. 178 00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:57,120 It can be tabled indefinitely, it can be voted on 50 times in a row, 179 00:20:57,120 --> 00:20:59,840 and never reach whatever threshold it's supposed to get. 180 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:03,680 But these items have been considered. 181 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:08,320 They have been duly considered under every procedure we've been 182 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:12,640 charged with or that we're held to under the city code. 183 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:19,200 They've been addressed, and if you're looking at city council procedure as your precedent, 184 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:22,800 if that's the precedent you're going to use as the mayor gets to set the agenda, 185 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:26,960 well, the mayor has specific statutory authorization to set an agenda. 186 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:33,440 Has specific statutory authorization to unilaterally add items to an agenda. 187 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:38,640 And the city council procedure is that when an item dies, it dies. 188 00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:40,400 Even if it's because there's abstentions, 189 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:43,520 because it doesn't reach its two-thirds threshold or whatever, 190 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:47,600 a posted item is posted, action is taken, 191 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:52,480 and if there's not affirmative action of the council, then it's done, it's over with. 192 00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:55,520 So you are going outside of established procedure, 193 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:58,400 and I understand you're relying on your discretion, 194 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:01,440 but that discretion can be overridden by this body. 195 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:04,400 I think Julie just described one way in particular it can be overwritten. 196 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:10,800 I'm very confused as to your reference to the on-committee procedure, 197 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:15,440 where you're saying that there will be a slate presented, 198 00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:20,480 but the slate that we're going to vote up or down on a report, 199 00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:24,560 how you're going to do that if you actually intend for us 200 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:30,000 to go back through every other vote that we've taken before we can create that report. 201 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,760 The more regular procedure is exactly what we're doing, 202 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:37,440 which is you take items in turn, you come to a consensus, 203 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:41,280 or you find that there's no recommendation from the body because no consensus exists, 204 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:46,880 and then you have the final report that is all the affirmative eight-vote items, 205 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:47,680 and you vote on that. 206 00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:50,880 That is the more usual procedure. 207 00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:59,920 I think for this body, and I will say 208 00:22:59,920 --> 00:23:11,920 I am leaning heavily on staff's interpretation of the guidelines here, 209 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:19,360 so I'm doing what I understand to be acceptable procedure. 210 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:25,600 I'm sure that you can have it out with staff or have a discussion with them, 211 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:27,200 and I'm sure that you will. 212 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:36,240 Should this procedure not be within the guidelines of this committee, 213 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:40,320 then I would hope that that conversation would resolve 214 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:42,320 before we reach a point where that's relevant. 215 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:45,840 If we come back in two weeks and it turns out that there was some misinterpretation 216 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:51,440 or this is not acceptable procedure, then that is a conversation 217 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:54,000 that can be had before these items return as met. 218 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:59,520 I just can't help but note that it's two votes that you found yourself in the minority on 219 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:07,680 if you choose to exercise your "discretion as chair" to bring back before the body, 220 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,160 the two most contentious votes that we've had 221 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,200 rather than moving on to the business that we can find consensus on. 222 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:15,760 And I would like to do that. 223 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:17,760 I would like to actually end this conversation here 224 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:23,680 and allow folks to have further conversation with staff about these topics. 225 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:27,120 Again, if it turns out that this is not an accepted procedure, 226 00:24:27,120 --> 00:24:30,400 then that is something that we can resolve at the moment. 227 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:34,000 I would like to get the business at hand, as you yourself said. 228 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:39,840 So I would like to move on to item D at this point and discuss style. 229 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:46,640 Item D, CRC24014, Receiver Report, Hold a Discussion, 230 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:49,360 and Give Staff Direction in Modifying the Mayor and Council Stipend. 231 00:24:49,360 --> 00:24:54,640 This item was posted at our last meeting pending responses to outstanding committee questions. 232 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:59,840 Staff will address those outstanding questions now and after that have discussion and entertain. 233 00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:08,160 Okay, so a couple of the questions that you guys had at the last meeting regarding 234 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:12,400 mayor and council stipend. One of the questions was regarding 235 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:19,440 what reimbursements council receives outside of the stipend for their service. 236 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:24,640 And the only thing that we reimburse council for is out of town travel. 237 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:29,840 So if they go to a council conference related to their council service, 238 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,560 then they are reimbursed for the cost of that travel. 239 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:38,800 But otherwise the council stipend is intended to provide them whatever 240 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:41,360 they need to do their business within the city. 241 00:25:41,360 --> 00:25:48,480 And then the other question that we got was the average time spent on their duties per month. 242 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:56,720 So we sent out an anonymous survey to council and while I didn't get responses from all of them, 243 00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:03,520 the average amount of time per month that they submitted was 50 hours per month. 244 00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:09,840 So those are the two outstanding questions that I have listed from that. 245 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:12,560 And otherwise we'll turn it back to the chair. 246 00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:13,680 Real quick clarification. 247 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:16,720 Can I just ask how many council members did respond? 248 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:17,440 Five. 249 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:29,680 Some of the reimbursement for travel, that's mileage, hotel, food, everything. 250 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:38,320 Correct. The city has policies on what, you know, travel per diem, 251 00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:44,560 mileage, and airfare, hotel, and they fall within those same parameters. 252 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:51,120 All right. Any further questions for staff before we begin? 253 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:58,640 All right. Discussion on stipends. 254 00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:15,520 I think one of the things that was on our mind with some of the questions 255 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:21,520 and the presentation last time was that council has limited, 256 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:25,920 council has the ability to raise their stipends, but they've never done that. 257 00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:31,280 They've never taken that opportunity and that they're limited in a percentage and how much they can 258 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:37,520 increase their stipend. I'd like to explore the idea with the committee of recommending a change 259 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:44,240 in that 3% to an automatic change for council in keeping with whatever cost of living increase 260 00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:52,320 they give the staff. So if they're in the budget going to increase the city staff or a certain segment 261 00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:56,400 of the city staff or however they do it in the budget year, instead of being just a kind of 262 00:27:56,400 --> 00:28:01,760 arbitrary 3%, that it be tied to, if they don't give the staff a raise, they don't get a raise. 263 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:05,760 If they give the staff a raise, then they can have the same cost of living adjustment. 264 00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:09,840 So it's tied to what they're doing for the professional staff. 265 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:24,960 Can I go back to the deal that shows the different cities and how we compare it to speaking? 266 00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:28,960 Yeah, it'll take me a minute, but so if there's other comments or... 267 00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:46,400 Question to Jesse. In your opinion, would that still be an item that would be 268 00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:50,240 voted on like it is now? I'm just asking. 269 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:52,640 No, I could have been. I'm sorry, I could have stated that a little bit better. 270 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:58,960 I think it ought to be... I've been that seat and knowing that it's politically very difficult 271 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:02,640 to vote yourself a raise. That's why Congress doesn't get to do one for themselves right then, 272 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:07,200 but the city has never... the city council, since we've had the stipend, the city council, 273 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:11,600 it's never even come up. Nobody's even brought it up to put on the agenda to give themselves a raise. 274 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:20,320 So I think it'd be expeditious if it was an automatic... whatever the stipend is set at 275 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:25,760 in the charter, it's set there and it can change in the future, but that it would then adjust each 276 00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:32,960 year based on what they do for the professional staff and maybe somebody in the county is going 277 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:38,160 to tell me why that doesn't work and too difficult to keep track of or whatever, but it just seems 278 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:44,000 like if we want them to have an increase at any point in the future, kind of have to build it in, 279 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:56,400 how those scores are not going to be... it's not politically feasible. 280 00:29:56,400 --> 00:30:12,000 If they spend on average 50 hours a month, over a year that's $300, which is 15% of a full-time job. 281 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:23,680 So that just gives you a benchmark that way, okay, because you multiply the 50 times... oh no, 282 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:30,400 it's more than that, it's not six months, it's... okay, $600. Okay, so we're going to make it 30%. 283 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:39,040 Prior to having that information, if we had looked just at the way the charter was written, 284 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:49,040 if they had done their increases, if you went the seven years, which was from the charter in 2017 285 00:30:49,040 --> 00:31:02,800 to 2014, based on simple interest, the $750 a month would go to $907 a month, the $1,000 286 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:10,400 for the mayor would go to $1,210. Okay, I'm just giving you some numbers so we can all look up. If 287 00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:17,600 you did it as compound interest, because that was really what would happen if they added 3% per year, 288 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:30,560 that $750 goes to $922.40, which is almost $20 more than simple interest, and the $1,000 goes 289 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:44,800 to $1,229, which is again $29.30 versus simple interest. As this was initially brought up and 290 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:54,720 discussed at some of the council meetings, it was suggested to take the council members double 291 00:31:55,360 --> 00:32:05,520 without the mayor to $2,750 a month. So I'm throwing these numbers out for providing them 292 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:15,040 because I know when I first saw going from $750 to $2,750 a month, it's like, oh my gosh, 293 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:22,720 I'm sure nobody who works for the city gets a jump that much. So going through and calculating 294 00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:33,840 that reinforced for me as if they had done the 3% per year. In order to take care of, I totally 295 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:44,480 am in agreement with Jesse's suggestion about putting a stipulation in that pay raises will be 296 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:58,240 tied to staff raises. Rationale on that is if staff gets, as Jesse says, an automatic pay raise 297 00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:08,800 in a specific year, the council will get it. If not, due to whatever stipulations in the budget 298 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:14,640 that they do not give one to, and when I'm saying staff, I'm not meaning just the staff that works 299 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:23,760 directly. I mean those who are out there picking up the trash, the water department, 300 00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:29,200 and that because I believe they're all, if one gets it, I believe they all do, but I could be 301 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:40,320 a error on that. If you put it with an automatic increase that way, no one on the council has to 302 00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:49,760 be concerned that they're going to be a devil's advocate and suggest a pay raise. The way it's 303 00:33:49,760 --> 00:34:00,960 worded in the present charter is although they bring it up for a pay raise, the pay raise would 304 00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:10,560 not take effect until those who were on council that vote for it leave office or in case the next 305 00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:20,160 cycle were there. I'm not totally sure how that works, so I would like to make the subject, 306 00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:36,560 the motion that we look to tying members of the council all seven different, so that it includes 307 00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:46,800 the mayor, that they would get a yearly increase which is tied to that of the City of Denton 308 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:55,600 employees. All right, we have a motion on the floor that the increase in the stipend be tied to 309 00:34:55,600 --> 00:35:03,600 the cost of living increase automatically, that is, or be automatically tied to the cost of living 310 00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:07,120 increase that the council may or may not choose to get to city employees on any day. 311 00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:15,680 Well, just a clarification on that before we get into a motion, but I think something that we're 312 00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:21,040 not missing may be the wrong terminology, but what we're looking at when we're talking about these 313 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:24,960 pay increases for staff and that and those percentages. Hey, before we get to this, 314 00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:30,000 doesn't there need to be a second before we have discussion? Well, I just want to clarify, though, 315 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:35,920 that there needs to be a second before discussion. 316 00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:43,280 Yeah, once there's a motion, we need to either get a second or 317 00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:48,960 not, and then we can open up for discussion. There was a motion made by 318 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:55,600 Commissioner Remski regarding tying the stipend increase to cost of living increase for employees. 319 00:35:56,400 --> 00:36:03,360 Commissioner Kirkpatrick wanted to discuss that before anyone else added a motion. 320 00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:07,520 Commissioner Bikes is asking if that's appropriate. 321 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:16,240 That was discussion has to have a motion and a second, and there's a discussion on the motion. 322 00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:28,560 So question. So we're asking if there needs to be a second. There is a second, though. Did you just 323 00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:38,800 second? No, okay, sorry. Do I hear a second? I second it. Discussion. I think we're over our 324 00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:43,520 quota for procedures now, but I like it. So my question, though, is this as we're talking 325 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:49,440 about these pay increases, I see more as we've got numbers here which either leave it into something 326 00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:54,400 where they've got this small stipend, or are we going to reimburse them as a true staff member? 327 00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:59,680 I mean, even if you do the annual increase that's tied to other staff members, that leaves them by 328 00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:05,760 getting $1,200, $1,300 a month for the mayor or closer to $1,000 for the council. What I've seen 329 00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:11,200 that these numbers are interesting to me, too, because when I look at Denton, we're comparable 330 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:16,800 population-wise. One question I have on that is growth, where we're going to be, too, because I 331 00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:21,440 think, and I could be wrong, but looking at those comparison cities, none of them are at the growth 332 00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:27,520 rate that we're at, or probably even close. Could be wrong. And so that's one thing. And then the 333 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:31,440 other, some of the diligence that I've done on that, that's kind of my question, is are we going 334 00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:36,720 to just, I don't want to use the wrong terminology, but just kind of throw a little pit and step 335 00:37:36,720 --> 00:37:43,360 stipend at them, or have the real talk also, too, of should we be more of a real, this is a job, 336 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:48,400 for lack of a job, or something where you have a financial in it, and you could say, you know what, 337 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:53,920 instead of working two, three jobs, maybe I can do this and do 60, 80 hours like a staff member 338 00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:59,040 would do. That's where I see more of the crux, instead of, okay, well, we'll give them 3% or tie 339 00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:04,320 that in. Now, if you were getting them to where they were getting paid, maybe in time or something 340 00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:09,120 of that nature, and tying it into the staff, I see that more of that discussion there. But I mean, 341 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:14,160 I see it more right now as, are we still just going to just throw a little bit at them, or are 342 00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:18,400 we going to try to make it something where people from all walks have a little bit more chance to, 343 00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:26,240 you know what, I could step up and do this from any kind of position. So that's how I see it. 344 00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:34,720 I would like to, second Commissioner Kirkpatrick, not formally second, but colloquially second Kirkpatrick's 345 00:38:34,720 --> 00:38:40,320 thoughts on that. When I think of Denton, I think of jobs, like being a teacher at Denton ISD, 346 00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:49,200 I think of working the floor at Peterbilt. I think of being a bartender, or being somebody who works 347 00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:55,120 in the service industry. And so I went out and I spoke with folks in those lines of work. So I 348 00:38:55,120 --> 00:39:00,960 spoke with folks who weren't lying at Peterbilt. And I said, Hey, here is kind of the schedule of 349 00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:07,120 council. You need to be available these times for formal meetings. And I asked a city counselor or 350 00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:13,120 two, and they just described the events that they attended in the last week as constituent services. 351 00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:18,560 And when we talked about term length, we said that we wanted to keep it at two, because that would 352 00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:22,960 encourage our city counselors to be more active, to be more involved, because they would have more 353 00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:28,720 frequent elections. And so I think that if we want to have more active city counselors, and we want 354 00:39:28,720 --> 00:39:35,360 to have a city council where you can be somebody who is working as a bartender and then step up, 355 00:39:35,360 --> 00:39:41,920 or be somebody who is working as a teacher, and without having to retire, without having to have 356 00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:48,160 hit that retirement threshold, be able to advocate for yourself or your community, be able to represent 357 00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:55,280 folks like you. I think from speaking with folks, if you're a bartender who's working 70 hours a week 358 00:39:55,280 --> 00:40:03,040 to make rent, getting 750 a month or 1200, or 100, sorry, 1000, what was the number you came up with? 359 00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:07,200 It would be 600. 360 00:40:13,120 --> 00:40:21,600 Approximately 1000 does not enable you to serve on city council. If you are working the line 361 00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:27,840 at Peterbilt, I spoke with folks, they said I would lose my job if I tried to attend these meetings, 362 00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:32,480 or spoke with teachers, they said yes, that would not work. I would not be able to take 363 00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:38,160 those days and those times off. And so for me, this is about representation. Do we give folks 364 00:40:38,160 --> 00:40:43,920 who are like the heart of Denton the ability to represent themselves and our community on council? 365 00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:48,960 So I agree with Commissioner Kirkpatrick, I would like to see something more in line 366 00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:52,000 with the pay that you would receive from HR. 367 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:57,840 Commissioner Romsky. If I could clarify some of the items on my motion. 368 00:40:57,840 --> 00:41:06,800 I was addressing the motion as to the way it would get written in the charter for the yearly 369 00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:17,200 increases, number one. It did not address whether or not we would tell, because I don't know that 370 00:41:17,200 --> 00:41:24,960 this needs to be in the charter, and this would be where I need legal on it, in order to bring 371 00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:33,200 their salary up to where it would have been consistent if they had that 3% per year, 372 00:41:33,840 --> 00:41:41,200 or even if we had that 3% over three and a half years versus the seventh, so that you're getting 373 00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:51,840 that. We would bring their present salary up to what would be their salary had they voted on it. 374 00:41:51,840 --> 00:42:02,960 So that's your baseline. And then from there on, you're increasing it based on the salary 375 00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:13,760 increases that go to the city. And the way that I heard your statements, Commissioner Kirkpatrick, 376 00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:23,280 is that you feel that if it was tied in to what pay was going to the staff of the city, 377 00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:27,440 that the city was not paying their staff appropriately. 378 00:42:28,720 --> 00:42:37,440 No. Okay, so I thank you for clarifying that. But if they were using the cost of living, 379 00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:51,040 which is basically what every company uses to a certain degree, and ties that in, they increase 380 00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:59,840 base pays of anyone based on that. So if I am making, even if I'm working 2,000 hours a year 381 00:42:59,840 --> 00:43:10,000 as an RN with critical care experience, etc., and I am getting $30 an hour, I'm just throwing out 382 00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:21,040 numbers, okay? And the cost of living is 5%. That 5% would be taken on top of, you know, based on 383 00:43:21,040 --> 00:43:33,520 what is 5% increase from $30 an hour. So, you know, the other thing is when you're looking at salaries 384 00:43:33,520 --> 00:43:40,000 for people who are working at places like Peterbilt, a smaller company like a pharmacy, 385 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:49,200 or anyplace else, there are all sorts of other hidden expenses to the employer. 386 00:43:49,200 --> 00:44:00,080 He's paying out the Social Security. He's paying the health benefits. He's paying into matching, 387 00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:08,720 perhaps, on a retirement fund or that. You do not have those expenses as a council member. 388 00:44:08,720 --> 00:44:16,320 And if I, and perhaps I'm the weirdest person on earth on this, but if I were running for, 389 00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:27,120 and I was on a council, I would look toward the fact that I was doing a civic duty 390 00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:38,080 and providing for my community, and whatever renumeration that I got was sort of great. 391 00:44:38,080 --> 00:44:47,760 Commissioner Dannel? Maybe a question for staff. I'm just looking to kind of put some of this in 392 00:44:47,760 --> 00:44:57,520 perspective because of the numbers in the survey. 50 hours a month is $15 an hour, right? 393 00:44:58,400 --> 00:45:04,720 So, $20 an hour for the mayor. I'm just thinking about how to maybe make this equitable and tie it 394 00:45:04,720 --> 00:45:10,480 to something besides necessarily saying, "Well, I'm going to give the whole staff a 10% raise 395 00:45:10,480 --> 00:45:17,280 so I can give myself a 10% raise." That's the guardrail, right? So, I'm just looking at some 396 00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:23,440 jobs in Denton's website. So, an electrician maintenance technician makes $23 an hour. 397 00:45:24,240 --> 00:45:31,280 A detention officer makes $20 an hour. I'm just, the reason I ask that is what's the median 398 00:45:31,280 --> 00:45:38,720 of your, we call non-exempt, salaried people that work for the city of Denton? It seems like it's 399 00:45:38,720 --> 00:45:49,120 probably $18 to $20 an hour. That should probably be the same rate that the $50 an hour these public 400 00:45:49,120 --> 00:45:55,440 servants make. And if they put 50 hours a week, that's roughly $1,000 for a council member and, 401 00:45:55,440 --> 00:46:00,400 you know, more for the mayor. We can talk about that. But that way, you can tie that to 402 00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:08,640 people in the city who make an hourly wage. If you're going to give them a raise and we're 403 00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:14,960 prospering as a city where you can do that, then you match that median income of those 404 00:46:14,960 --> 00:46:24,000 particular employees to an hourly rate to the city council. It's just kind of a way to make it where 405 00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:30,480 if we're prospering, everybody prospers. If we have to control the costs, everyone's just flat, 406 00:46:30,480 --> 00:46:38,400 whatever. But it's kind of tied to a number that we can all, again, audit to, right? And say, 407 00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:46,240 this is what it's based on. It's based on the median hourly wage of my city employees. So it's 408 00:46:46,240 --> 00:46:53,520 just another idea, a way to systematize this where it doesn't get super political or anything else 409 00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:57,040 as far as because the first thing is going to happen. I know this is what Jesse was talking 410 00:46:57,040 --> 00:47:02,800 about is if I say, hey, let's give myself a 3% raise, well, then the opponent's going to go, 411 00:47:02,800 --> 00:47:08,080 hey, this guy gave himself a raise when the next year comes up, right? That's why they haven't done 412 00:47:09,360 --> 00:47:17,200 it. So that's why. These are good points. One thing I see the concern is we're still kind of either 413 00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:22,240 half in or half out with it. And to your point, if you're making 50 to 20 an hour, 414 00:47:22,240 --> 00:47:26,080 but those people aren't surviving off 50 hours a month, they're going to be working 415 00:47:26,080 --> 00:47:30,320 hundreds of hours a month to make that work. So then you're kind of in or out. So it's once again, 416 00:47:30,320 --> 00:47:35,920 back to your point, I've had similar conversations, teachers, professors, bartenders, 417 00:47:37,200 --> 00:47:42,320 service workers, anybody and everybody I can talk to in a number of different fields. Not enough. 418 00:47:42,320 --> 00:47:47,040 I'd love to do everybody. But that's kind of the concern too. And I ask those questions and say, 419 00:47:47,040 --> 00:47:53,120 well, you've got great ideas. Would you ever think about Staten River City? I can't afford to. Well, 420 00:47:53,120 --> 00:47:57,520 why not? Do you even know how much they make? I know it's not much. Discuss it. They're like, 421 00:47:57,520 --> 00:48:02,480 absolutely. I'm out because I have to be earning to make a living here, to keep the roof over their 422 00:48:02,480 --> 00:48:08,480 heads. So I see it more as to is also as Denton's growing. And you know, finding that number, that 423 00:48:08,480 --> 00:48:12,960 sweet spot, you know, part of it would be, and I'd ask the city, because the median income in Denton 424 00:48:12,960 --> 00:48:18,800 is 71 K as household, from my understanding, looking at the Census Bureau. But I would be 425 00:48:18,800 --> 00:48:24,320 more interested to, you know, kind of what median income is for one person. And short with me, 426 00:48:24,320 --> 00:48:29,200 it's the opportunity for people to step up in this community that don't have to. I'm all about 427 00:48:29,200 --> 00:48:35,680 civic service too, but it becomes very prevalent in our, okay, we look at our city council, how 428 00:48:35,680 --> 00:48:41,280 many are retired? How many are more than good financially to step up and do it? How about those 429 00:48:41,280 --> 00:48:47,200 people who are not financially good, do want to step up and have the civic, give back civically, 430 00:48:47,200 --> 00:48:53,760 but look, I'm, you know, I'm surviving. I can't take the time to do it. So that's where I have 431 00:48:53,760 --> 00:48:58,400 the crux of it, that we make it something where we can have people who can step up from all kinds 432 00:48:58,400 --> 00:49:02,480 of financial backgrounds. And, you know, 15 to 20 an hour, I get that, but those people are working 433 00:49:02,480 --> 00:49:08,000 numerous and numerous hours, much more hours to make a living in that. So, and in other cities, 434 00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:12,320 I know, I don't mean to be verbose. I know a lot of people taking a lot of time. What I will say 435 00:49:12,320 --> 00:49:16,640 too, is as I looked at some other cities that are larger than us, they very much are basing theirs 436 00:49:16,640 --> 00:49:21,520 on, let's have it a median income. And then it's become very interesting charters. And there are 437 00:49:21,520 --> 00:49:26,080 larger cities, I'll give you San Antonio and Dallas, very much trying to find, okay, let's get to that 438 00:49:26,080 --> 00:49:30,320 median and then start to pay these people. Because these cities are looking at the future too and 439 00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:36,960 didn't. It's very, we're growing so rapidly. You know, well, look, we are, we're, we aren't these 440 00:49:36,960 --> 00:49:42,560 cities and I'm a proponent of this growing rapidly and I'll see you back. - Commissioner Johnson. 441 00:49:42,560 --> 00:49:52,320 - Temple of points. First, you know, I think we are Round Rock, certainly not any different than 442 00:49:52,320 --> 00:49:58,160 Round Rock, is 130,000 people and it's rapidly growing. It's a suburb of Austin and it's going 443 00:49:58,160 --> 00:50:04,640 to be comparable to Denton and they're right in line with what we do. So, I also, if you look at 444 00:50:04,640 --> 00:50:09,440 Mesquite, Mesquite's growing. It's an area, it's a suburb, it's also in the Metroplex and growing. 445 00:50:09,440 --> 00:50:15,120 So, we are those areas. Frisco, one of the most rapidly growing places in the Metroplex. We don't 446 00:50:15,120 --> 00:50:21,920 have their data, but I looked it up. Their mayor gets 850 and their council people are growing. 447 00:50:22,320 --> 00:50:28,800 700. Okay. So, we are some of these cities that are growing rapidly and then I'd like to see the 448 00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:36,720 other screens of the cities that have the full-time employees, full-time compensation. They're all at 449 00:50:36,720 --> 00:50:42,880 a million people other than El Paso. I mean, you're talking about a million and a half in San Antonio 450 00:50:42,880 --> 00:50:49,280 and they're making 61 grand. Austin is right at a million and it's a dynamic growing city, 451 00:50:49,280 --> 00:50:57,360 but it's 116,000 council members. Pardon me. So, I don't think we're at that level and I don't 452 00:50:57,360 --> 00:51:03,360 think we're justified and foot worth. Almost a million people, their mayor gets $30,000 and their 453 00:51:03,360 --> 00:51:10,320 council members get $25,000. That's not sustainable. I mean, for your only job is a full-time job. So, 454 00:51:10,320 --> 00:51:15,520 and this isn't a full-time job. That's the other thing I'm pointing out. The council members 455 00:51:15,520 --> 00:51:21,520 said they spend 50 hours a month on average. That's not a full-time job and it is $15 to 456 00:51:21,520 --> 00:51:28,560 $20 an hour at a thousand bucks a month. Until we reach those levels, I can't see how you would 457 00:51:28,560 --> 00:51:36,400 justify paying a full-time wage to anyone. And then I ask you, do you have any empirical data 458 00:51:36,400 --> 00:51:44,480 that shows that you're going to attract the people you're mentioning that are excluded? 459 00:51:44,480 --> 00:51:51,040 Because I don't see it. County commissioners are paying a very high sum to serve as a county 460 00:51:51,040 --> 00:51:57,840 commissioner. You don't see teachers. You don't see any different. We have a much more diverse 461 00:51:57,840 --> 00:52:03,920 and representative council right now than you do at the county commissioner's level. And you have 462 00:52:03,920 --> 00:52:10,320 certainly not the representation that you're talking about. So, I think our council is very 463 00:52:10,320 --> 00:52:15,040 diverse and it represents people. And I think what we're talking about, the increase in stipend, 464 00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:20,560 that may make sense. But I don't think you have any data other than it's your opinion and talking to 465 00:52:20,560 --> 00:52:26,320 you, bringing us saying that you talk to people. You don't have any data that shows 466 00:52:26,320 --> 00:52:33,120 that by increasing it to that wage level, you're going to change the demographics over what we 467 00:52:33,120 --> 00:52:37,680 already have, that we have good representation. So, I don't think you have the data to show that 468 00:52:37,680 --> 00:52:44,320 it's going to make a difference. Commissioner Brewer-Ysma? One point that I'd like to consider, 469 00:52:44,320 --> 00:52:49,120 and kind of back on that other slide, that Round Rock offers a vehicle stipend. One of the other 470 00:52:49,120 --> 00:52:55,280 big costs that would be incurred for me if I was to run for city council is child care. Because all 471 00:52:55,280 --> 00:52:59,840 of these 50 hours worth of activity that our city council members are doing are happening outside of 472 00:52:59,840 --> 00:53:04,640 school hours. They're happening in evenings and they're happening on weekends. And so, if I'm 473 00:53:04,640 --> 00:53:12,880 having to pay a babysitter $15 an hour and my stipend is $15 an hour, I'm now out. That puts 474 00:53:12,880 --> 00:53:18,240 a person in a position where they're not able to do this kind of community service because they 475 00:53:18,240 --> 00:53:23,120 actually can't afford to do it. Because now I have to pay my babysitter my entire stipend and I have 476 00:53:23,120 --> 00:53:27,840 to spot the gas and the wear and tear on my car and all of those things in order to be able to 477 00:53:27,840 --> 00:53:32,240 participate in constituent service and participate in meetings. Commissioner McClure? 478 00:53:34,240 --> 00:53:42,720 Julie, would you entertain changing your motion to leaving it at what it is now with a city rate, 479 00:53:42,720 --> 00:53:51,520 would you raise the employees if they get a raise and cap it at like 5%? Because that way it keeps 480 00:53:51,520 --> 00:53:56,240 somebody from, let's say you get a different city council and they want, okay, let's raise everybody 481 00:53:56,240 --> 00:54:02,480 10%. That gives me 10%. And I think the people, I mean we're talking about people 482 00:54:03,680 --> 00:54:13,840 that, you know, we're a large company against the city as a massive business. And you need people 483 00:54:13,840 --> 00:54:20,960 that are intelligent on running a business so that we don't just waste the citizens money 484 00:54:20,960 --> 00:54:25,760 and we're going to have to raise taxes and all that stuff. So I would like to leave it the same 485 00:54:25,760 --> 00:54:34,000 thing. You can see if you would modify that. Hold on, wait, before that cap, because I was saying the 486 00:54:34,000 --> 00:54:38,400 same thing. Commissioner Rumsky, would you like to accept that motion or that amendment? 487 00:54:38,400 --> 00:54:44,240 You need me to explain it again? Let me hear from Commissioner Fikes because he has a comment 488 00:54:44,240 --> 00:54:53,520 reverting the suggestion and then... Okay, certainly. Commissioner Fikes, just a reminder that the chair 489 00:54:53,520 --> 00:54:58,480 is supposed to call on folks. Okay, we deferred to her so she deferred to me so that's why I went. 490 00:54:58,480 --> 00:55:03,520 Commissioner Rumsky does not have the power to defer. Commissioner Fikes, please go ahead. I'm 491 00:55:03,520 --> 00:55:08,080 sorry, I'm just trying to prevent people talking over. I'm not, I'm just trying to prevent. So 492 00:55:08,080 --> 00:55:14,560 the only thing, I mean, and I agree that's an issue that we probably need to address in this. 493 00:55:14,560 --> 00:55:20,880 My immediate thought was cap it to the prior year CPI as a cap for that. So they can't go to 494 00:55:20,880 --> 00:55:29,120 this step, but I'm fine with either way we go. Yeah, but I do think it limits them from saying, 495 00:55:29,120 --> 00:55:34,800 we'll give everybody 10% so I can get 10%. Commissioner Rumsky, would you accept that 496 00:55:34,800 --> 00:55:41,200 amendment? Either the amendment proposed by Mr. Fikes or the amendment proposed by Commissioner 497 00:55:41,200 --> 00:55:56,480 Rumsky. I accept. I appreciate your comment about the prior year CPI. I don't see 498 00:55:56,480 --> 00:56:08,000 where a council, city council was being fiduciary and responsible. That's what's going on. Side note. 499 00:56:11,600 --> 00:56:16,400 Would say that they want a 10% raise so therefore they would give it to the city 500 00:56:16,400 --> 00:56:23,520 employees so that they could get it. I think tying it in to the prior year's 501 00:56:23,520 --> 00:56:32,800 CPS is a very good idea. It doesn't give a specific number that we are tying anybody to. 502 00:56:32,800 --> 00:56:41,200 It's being tied to the overcoming of events, so to speak, of whatever happened in the year prior. 503 00:56:41,200 --> 00:56:55,040 So as to wording the motion, since you had suggested the CPS, if I may withdraw my motion 504 00:56:55,040 --> 00:57:02,000 and Commissioner Fikes, if you would like to word it, or Commissioner McClure, 505 00:57:03,600 --> 00:57:10,080 I mean I will withdraw mine as stated. You want to just change it 506 00:57:10,080 --> 00:57:15,360 to what we talked about and keep the motion, but it's already been seconded. 507 00:57:15,360 --> 00:57:24,240 Oh okay. So therefore, okay, I put forth a change by previous motion 508 00:57:27,120 --> 00:57:38,160 to tying in the council's stipend to being based on the previous year's CPS. 509 00:57:38,160 --> 00:57:47,440 And I guess that's all that I'd have to say on it if I'm using that, correct? 510 00:57:49,760 --> 00:58:01,360 I think the motion she can confirm is that we are keeping the current compensation where it's at 511 00:58:01,360 --> 00:58:11,360 with the future increases will be based on the average of city staff with a cap of prior year 512 00:58:11,360 --> 00:58:28,320 CPI. The motion, as I understand it, put forward by Commissioner Oromsky, would be that we keep 513 00:58:28,320 --> 00:58:36,320 the current stipend at $750,000 and $1,000 and that we make it so that future 514 00:58:37,520 --> 00:58:43,920 cost of living increases given to staff also automatically apply to the council's stipend 515 00:58:43,920 --> 00:58:51,120 with a cap. So say a city council were to double everyone's pay as an 516 00:58:51,120 --> 00:58:58,480 extreme hypothetical, that would not double their stipend. Their stipend increase would be capped 517 00:58:58,480 --> 00:59:04,640 at the CPI of the previous. That was my understanding. Does that reflect your 518 00:59:04,640 --> 00:59:09,120 understanding of the motion as well? I think so, but if we're writing this in the charter, 519 00:59:09,120 --> 00:59:19,280 since the charter is looking to the future, do we really need to include the fact that we keep 520 00:59:19,280 --> 00:59:27,840 the salary at $750,000 and $1,000? Could it not just be worded that 521 00:59:30,560 --> 00:59:40,480 city council members will receive pay increases based on the previous year's 522 00:59:40,480 --> 00:59:49,360 CPI? Recommended council, so the recommendation to keep or recommendation to not keep or 523 00:59:49,360 --> 00:59:53,680 recommendation to change or no recommendations. I think you have to say. 524 00:59:54,400 --> 01:00:02,080 Yeah, I think because it's the motion is really it's not to change the charters to make a 525 01:00:02,080 --> 01:00:06,720 recommendation to city council that a charter amendment be placed on the ballot. So I think 526 01:00:06,720 --> 01:00:11,840 the language of keeping, not keeping, changing, I think that language is appropriate for the motion. 527 01:00:11,840 --> 01:00:25,280 Okay, I make a motion that future city council members stipend 528 01:00:25,280 --> 01:00:40,480 receive a yearly increase that is based on the previous year's CPI. Does that cover all those? 529 01:00:42,240 --> 01:00:50,880 It changed the motion. Your initial motion was that it be tied to the cost of living 530 01:00:50,880 --> 01:00:56,400 adjustments provided by staff. The amendment proposed by Commissioner Fikes was that it 531 01:00:56,400 --> 01:01:02,080 would stay like that except there was a cap tied to the previous CPI and your restatement of the 532 01:01:02,080 --> 01:01:10,480 motion just now you removed the attachment to the cost of living increase given to staff and instead 533 01:01:10,480 --> 01:01:16,000 automatically tied into the CPI. Would you prefer that the cost of living partnership was in the 534 01:01:16,000 --> 01:01:21,200 motion or that it was cost of living staff adjustment was in the motion or that it was 535 01:01:21,200 --> 01:01:37,760 purely the CPI? Tying it in the previous year's CPI not to exceed is probably what it would be. 536 01:01:37,760 --> 01:01:44,480 Not to exceed any cost of living increase given to city staff. 537 01:01:44,480 --> 01:01:54,800 Okay, Commissioner Brewer did you have thoughts? No. Any further discussion? 538 01:01:54,800 --> 01:02:01,600 Commissioner Molino-Florn. What does that look like? I'm going to go to you. What does that look like 539 01:02:01,600 --> 01:02:04,960 because we're using real numbers right? If we did the CPI based on last year what would the stipend 540 01:02:04,960 --> 01:02:14,080 be instead of 750 now? It's four percent. So CPI is not a terminal that's not in my wheelhouse 541 01:02:14,080 --> 01:02:18,320 unfortunately. Consumer price index so it's the cost of your basket of goods what that increases 542 01:02:18,320 --> 01:02:24,560 over a year is the economic definition I think but obviously last year with inflation where it was 543 01:02:24,560 --> 01:02:31,600 that cap would be much higher and the reason I said prior year is because the city has a calendar 544 01:02:31,600 --> 01:02:38,160 year from like September to September so if they're making decision in August we're not 545 01:02:38,160 --> 01:02:47,440 going to have 2024 CPI yet we're going to have to go off 2023 CPI for that but you know I think 546 01:02:47,440 --> 01:02:59,440 what the city council gives the entire staff is an indication of the health of the city 547 01:03:00,000 --> 01:03:07,200 and how the city is doing so let's say CPI is four percent and they give all of the city staff 548 01:03:07,200 --> 01:03:14,400 raises of two percent because performance has not been good then in my opinion the average would be 549 01:03:14,400 --> 01:03:22,320 two percent in that case now let's flip the flip the switch a little bit if the the increase was 550 01:03:22,320 --> 01:03:29,680 six percent or eight percent to the entire staff they would be limited to you know they wouldn't 551 01:03:29,680 --> 01:03:34,400 be limited to anything other than eight percent if CPI was greater than that CPI being an eight 552 01:03:34,400 --> 01:03:39,840 percent is unlikely just from a historical standpoint is unlikely however in high inflation 553 01:03:39,840 --> 01:03:45,840 years that is the case so that might be a reason why city council gives the entire staff a larger 554 01:03:45,840 --> 01:03:50,880 raise and then they would not be limited because CPI would be higher so their threshold would be 555 01:03:50,880 --> 01:03:56,160 higher in those years so I just think it's a fair to kind of have a two-piece deal because it does 556 01:03:56,160 --> 01:04:04,000 bring in the the factor of the performance of the city if it is less than CPI then they would benefit 557 01:04:04,000 --> 01:04:10,160 that or be penalized less than the CPI would be in that case does anyone feel that they have an 558 01:04:10,160 --> 01:04:14,800 understanding of the motion and the technicalities thereof that is adequate to vote off does anyone 559 01:04:14,800 --> 01:04:35,120 have any the motion is that the council stipend remain for the moment at 750 that it be in the 560 01:04:35,120 --> 01:04:42,240 future automatically tied to increases and the cost of living adjustment provided to staff i.e. 561 01:04:42,240 --> 01:04:47,600 if staff receives a three percent cost of living raise then the stipend would increase by three 562 01:04:47,600 --> 01:04:57,840 percent and the the increase cannot exceed CPI the inflation uh what's closely called inflation 563 01:04:57,840 --> 01:05:07,360 inflation just just a comment so for 2022 2023 just to give everyone guidance on what that number 564 01:05:07,360 --> 01:05:19,840 was 3.4 i think that was a question so when would when would the ordinance uh or when would this 565 01:05:19,840 --> 01:05:28,720 portion of charter take effect would this be uh tied to the date that passes or would it be retroactive 566 01:05:31,040 --> 01:05:40,720 that is something for for staff and legal but it would be my inference that you've got the vote 567 01:05:40,720 --> 01:05:50,720 taking place in may of 25 they go through the process of validating and accepting just like 568 01:05:50,720 --> 01:06:02,240 they did on the bond and i think from that point on it goes into effect so if you're doing it in 569 01:06:02,240 --> 01:06:11,760 say may june and as was referenced that the budgeting process takes place july august 570 01:06:12,960 --> 01:06:22,880 based on the quote previous year it would then go into effect at that time do do we have a valid 571 01:06:22,880 --> 01:06:32,560 fully formed function at this time i just need to i just need to understand exactly what this body 572 01:06:32,560 --> 01:06:40,720 wants so that we can formulate valid language around all of your thoughts and expressions and 573 01:06:40,720 --> 01:06:50,320 make sure that we can get the ballot language down your intent is met so what i'm understanding is 574 01:06:50,320 --> 01:06:53,680 y'all are wanting to leave it the same 575 01:06:53,680 --> 01:07:02,160 but providing increases based on the cpi 576 01:07:06,880 --> 01:07:15,120 is it based on the cpi based on the average increase for the employees cost of living 577 01:07:15,120 --> 01:07:20,320 adjustment annual cost of living adjustment to employees with a cap of the prior year cpi 578 01:07:20,320 --> 01:07:27,520 so the max i could give is a cpi the cap of the prior year's cpi 579 01:07:27,520 --> 01:07:36,560 and is it in its effective well to me you'd have to get passed by a vote and then at the next 580 01:07:36,560 --> 01:07:42,080 raise that is being considered for the employees that's when it would be in effect for the city 581 01:07:42,080 --> 01:07:47,520 council and budget cycle i'm sorry there's an annual budget cycle right it would go with it 582 01:07:47,520 --> 01:07:52,720 after it's approved then it would be the next budget cycle be part of and this will go in effect 583 01:07:52,720 --> 01:08:02,560 for the next budget cycle all right so we have a valid function i'm going to call for a vote on it 584 01:08:02,560 --> 01:08:12,480 all those in favor of the motion to provide that the stipend remain for the moment as it is but at 585 01:08:12,480 --> 01:08:21,440 the next budget cycle after the item is passed by the voters that it would be tied to the cost of 586 01:08:21,440 --> 01:08:30,000 living increase for the staff but capped by the cpi of the prior year all those in favor please 587 01:08:30,000 --> 01:08:43,280 raise your hand and say aye all right uh that's 10 by my count all those opposed say nay and 588 01:08:43,280 --> 01:08:51,520 raise your right hand all right the ayes have it uh 10 to 3 that motion passes we will now continue 589 01:08:51,520 --> 01:09:01,200 on to item e number crc 24-017 receive a report hold a discussion into staff's record requiring 590 01:09:01,200 --> 01:09:05,280 a statement less than two word words on the grounds of removal for recall petitions 591 01:09:16,240 --> 01:09:24,720 okay so charge h is um the recall petition and committee of petitioners section of the charter 592 01:09:24,720 --> 01:09:32,880 so what uh the charge is specifically is require consider requiring a statement less than 200 words 593 01:09:32,880 --> 01:09:40,160 on the grounds of removal for recall petitions so the current provision basically broken down 594 01:09:40,160 --> 01:09:48,720 there's a clear and concise statement of grounds for removal and then all of the petitions require 595 01:09:48,720 --> 01:09:54,960 the name and addresses of five electors who are responsible for circulating and filing the petition 596 01:09:54,960 --> 01:10:02,880 each signer includes their name place of residence and the date signed they need to be signed in pin 597 01:10:02,880 --> 01:10:10,320 or indelible pencil signatures over 45 days old are not valid and then signatures do not have to 598 01:10:10,320 --> 01:10:16,720 be included on the same paper but each paper must include an affidavit of the circulator who's 599 01:10:16,720 --> 01:10:26,800 responsible for validating those signatures some of the considerations for this the national civic 600 01:10:26,800 --> 01:10:33,360 leagues model charter petition should include a statement not to exceed 200 words of the reasons 601 01:10:33,360 --> 01:10:39,600 for the recall and grounds of removal should relate to and affect the administration of the 602 01:10:39,600 --> 01:10:44,960 official's office and be of substantial nature directly affecting the rights and interests of 603 01:10:44,960 --> 01:10:53,760 the public a 2023 university of houston study found that 36 percent of texas city charters 604 01:10:53,760 --> 01:11:00,560 included justification for the grounds for recall most lists the terms and competency misconduct 605 01:11:00,560 --> 01:11:06,320 or not feesence in office and then we found a handful of cities require a hearing before the 606 01:11:06,320 --> 01:11:12,080 city council to discuss the allegations before submitting to voters and there would be some 607 01:11:12,080 --> 01:11:18,800 legal considerations with the type of language and the specific language proposed by this committee 608 01:11:19,520 --> 01:11:28,880 that amanda can give as the conversation happens um some surrounding city comparisons that we found 609 01:11:28,880 --> 01:11:37,360 some of these carolton frisco and lewisville prosper all include those language those words 610 01:11:37,360 --> 01:11:45,840 and competency misconduct or malfeasance irving and arlington both include no grounds required 611 01:11:45,840 --> 01:11:53,040 for removal and then adison requires general grounds and if it's more than one in competency 612 01:11:53,040 --> 01:12:01,120 misconduct or malfeasance specify each some comparable cities a lot of them have just 613 01:12:01,120 --> 01:12:07,280 general grounds similar to our language where it just asks for a statement of the grounds for removal 614 01:12:08,800 --> 01:12:16,480 um and then i have a star on mcallan 2024 so they have actually no recall provision in their 615 01:12:16,480 --> 01:12:23,120 charter but they are holding an election this november and that is one of the ballot initiatives 616 01:12:23,120 --> 01:12:34,240 for them to include petition and recall and then the large city comparison all just include general 617 01:12:34,240 --> 01:12:43,120 grounds so with that i will i'm having to take any questions that you all have on this but 618 01:12:43,120 --> 01:12:48,080 can turn it over to the chair for discussion can you bring it back to the first slide please 619 01:12:48,080 --> 01:13:01,680 all right any questions for staff commissioner mcclarke again clarify which slide you wanted to 620 01:13:01,680 --> 01:13:10,000 see okay oh sorry go to the next slide that's not there the last bullet point what is that exactly 621 01:13:10,000 --> 01:13:17,600 so it's just it's kind of a clerical thing um signatures don't have to be all on the same paper 622 01:13:17,600 --> 01:13:26,080 there can be a packet of uh 25 you know with lined names and everything it doesn't all have to be on 623 01:13:26,080 --> 01:13:32,720 one piece of paper does that make sense petition they're signing they don't have to sign no they 624 01:13:32,720 --> 01:13:39,360 still have to sign another piece of paper that's not related to the petition no each page is 625 01:13:39,360 --> 01:13:45,440 identical and then there's spots for people to fill in their name residence and everything 626 01:13:45,440 --> 01:13:52,080 that's required and their signature okay i just had a question on what's the number of people 627 01:13:52,080 --> 01:13:59,600 a number of signatures forgive me that's a great question and i have that i think it is um 25 percent 628 01:13:59,600 --> 01:14:09,440 of um the people who voted in the election in that race to be clear that's 25 percent of the 629 01:14:09,440 --> 01:14:15,440 previous election and that is purely the number not you have to get 25 percent of the exact same 630 01:14:15,440 --> 01:14:20,640 people who voted correct 25 percent of the total of the total number of people who voted in that 631 01:14:20,640 --> 01:14:24,720 election that specific election okay so if they didn't vote in the election you could still 632 01:14:24,720 --> 01:14:30,000 they could still sign it that's just the number threshold there should have to be a registered 633 01:14:30,000 --> 01:14:38,560 voter i believe so yes yes so for example four thousand people voted in that precinct for that 634 01:14:38,560 --> 01:14:46,320 person you'd need a thousand if uh if hypothetically in a district one thousand people had voted in the 635 01:14:46,320 --> 01:14:53,920 previous year uh or previous elections you would need 250 voters uh and it might be the case that 636 01:14:53,920 --> 01:14:59,600 of those 250 voters zero of them had voted in the prior election i'm just saying just for example 637 01:14:59,600 --> 01:15:03,840 when i use four thousand use a thousand oh i'm sorry i'm sorry if there were four thousand that 638 01:15:03,840 --> 01:15:11,040 voted then you'd need a thousand to recall and for a thousand 250 okay uh did you have a specific 639 01:15:11,040 --> 01:15:19,360 numbers um there wasn't that matters so take these in the grain of salt but for d1 384 is 640 01:15:19,360 --> 01:15:29,280 their recall number which would make sense for district two 546 district three 763 district four 641 01:15:29,280 --> 01:15:42,880 1199 place five the at-large 2751 place six 2777 and then the mayor 2632 that's from the 642 01:15:42,880 --> 01:15:46,800 debt and Facebook groups of grain of salt but those kind of jobs based on those numbers jive 643 01:15:46,800 --> 01:15:55,600 with what you least sent out approximately earlier so i just have clarification you're saying 644 01:15:56,480 --> 01:16:03,040 the prior election and she's saying the election at which that person was voted in that which one 645 01:16:03,040 --> 01:16:10,160 is it my intention would be that those would be the same thing um the recalls are um 646 01:16:10,160 --> 01:16:15,520 sorry that that was core wording on my part it would be the election at which 647 01:16:15,520 --> 01:16:18,560 the person was elected was elected yeah that was just for warning 648 01:16:21,280 --> 01:16:27,360 any further commissioner can you clarify for us why the specific charge or 649 01:16:27,360 --> 01:16:33,280 maybe not why but you understand i'm saying so we have a specific charge having to do with the 200 650 01:16:33,280 --> 01:16:38,480 word statement and we have a lot of information on the current provision and things that are 651 01:16:38,480 --> 01:16:45,120 different in other cities what what is it that got specifically that 200 word statement in front of us 652 01:16:46,000 --> 01:16:51,760 uh and is there any what's the question behind the question like where does that 200 word thing come 653 01:16:51,760 --> 01:16:56,880 from yeah the 200 word in the conversation with council this spring whenever we were 654 01:16:56,880 --> 01:17:01,280 discussing sections of the charter that they wanted to bring forth through the charges 655 01:17:01,280 --> 01:17:08,080 the 200 word um specifically that language came from the national civic league's recommendation 656 01:17:09,360 --> 01:17:16,400 that uh petitions should include a statement not to exceed 200 words so that's exactly where that 657 01:17:16,400 --> 01:17:25,760 information came from commissioner ramsky okay a question on that then is i know we had two recalls 658 01:17:25,760 --> 01:17:36,400 recently was there not a rationale for the recalls listed so i'm just that you know i'm trying to put 659 01:17:36,400 --> 01:17:50,320 into visualization you got the form it says i want to recall julie remski position 92 for malfeasance 660 01:17:50,320 --> 01:18:02,000 and that's less than 200 words but does it require that if it's malfeasance then i do 661 01:18:02,720 --> 01:18:09,920 have some statement as to what the people specifically feel was my malfeasance or if i 662 01:18:09,920 --> 01:18:20,160 say being non uh fiduciarily responsible because she voted for every tax increase in that right so 663 01:18:20,160 --> 01:18:28,480 as it's written now they're required to include clear and concise uh statement on grounds for 664 01:18:28,480 --> 01:18:34,720 removal that's obviously open to interpretation and i think that some of the legal consideration 665 01:18:34,720 --> 01:18:40,960 as well on adding items like malfeasance and competence that those are oftentimes open to 666 01:18:40,960 --> 01:18:47,360 interpretation but to answer your question directly on the last two uh recalls they would 667 01:18:47,360 --> 01:18:52,640 have had to include something on the grounds for removal because that's required through the charter 668 01:18:53,680 --> 01:19:00,560 the content of that i don't have that information make sure it's awesome can you go forward a little 669 01:19:00,560 --> 01:19:09,520 bit on one of the slides so what is the difference between clearing concise grounds versus general 670 01:19:09,520 --> 01:19:17,840 ground didn't doesn't have the general grounds does it no so that just general grounds just 671 01:19:17,840 --> 01:19:24,640 means that they just require you to include grants and they don't say specifically in what 672 01:19:24,640 --> 01:19:29,600 they don't describe them with anything else other than include counts for removal 673 01:19:29,600 --> 01:19:36,640 mr davis i have a motion to make because i have questions i want to jump on this 674 01:19:36,640 --> 01:19:43,120 okay moving on to motions and discussions i move that we the committee recommend 675 01:19:43,120 --> 01:19:53,280 no change to the charter on this item second uh motion by commissioner davis for uh recommending 676 01:19:53,280 --> 01:19:59,040 and should we have this motion uh without the negative 677 01:19:59,040 --> 01:20:05,360 as in we recommend uh that the current wording be maintained 678 01:20:13,280 --> 01:20:18,160 i to answer your question commissioner pikes i've just been on other committees where 679 01:20:18,160 --> 01:20:24,480 staff had asked us to reformat motions to an affirmative yeah okay but uh that is a sufficient 680 01:20:24,480 --> 01:20:30,320 motion for this committee uh commissioner davis sure and i'll speak to that briefly too that 681 01:20:30,320 --> 01:20:38,480 my my motion technically lawyer uh is in the affirmative it's recommending no change so i 682 01:20:38,480 --> 01:20:42,160 think that's why one of the reasons why it's appropriate um can we go back to the table that 683 01:20:42,160 --> 01:20:48,240 mr johnson was asking about because i think i think nate let us write to it uh one one more 684 01:20:48,240 --> 01:20:54,480 back please because it has more as a practical matter the citizens and then have a right to 685 01:20:54,480 --> 01:20:58,880 recall their elected officials and they have a right to do that for whatever reason they 686 01:20:58,880 --> 01:21:04,320 come up with if they want to say incompetency means you know where's the wrong color shirts 687 01:21:04,320 --> 01:21:10,160 on tuesdays they're allowed to do that that's how that's how recalls work there's no practical 688 01:21:10,160 --> 01:21:16,320 difference between clearance and concise grounds for general grounds uh putting little guardrails 689 01:21:16,320 --> 01:21:21,280 on it like incompetency official misconduct or malfeasance that the citizens are free to 690 01:21:21,280 --> 01:21:28,640 interpret in whatever way they choose to interpret it and adding the you know not more than 200 words 691 01:21:28,640 --> 01:21:34,400 i suppose it saves some space on the paper but there's not a practical difference there if if 692 01:21:34,400 --> 01:21:42,400 a committee of people wants to put together a 500 word you know soliloquy on why somebody ought to 693 01:21:42,400 --> 01:21:48,160 be recalled i mean they're citizens they have a right to do that so that's why i'm moving that 694 01:21:48,160 --> 01:21:52,560 we make no recommendation for change because they don't think either what we've been charged to do 695 01:21:52,560 --> 01:21:58,000 to look at or any of the other options from comparable cities really make a practical 696 01:21:58,000 --> 01:22:03,200 difference in how the recall is exercised we've got decent provision now commissioner johnson 697 01:22:03,840 --> 01:22:13,200 well hypothetically right some people just don't like a particular council the way he's moving 698 01:22:13,200 --> 01:22:19,280 and he's been doing our right by other constituents but a particular set just doesn't like it right 699 01:22:19,280 --> 01:22:27,280 easy to happen and they without any ground rules can actually have him recall 700 01:22:28,480 --> 01:22:35,120 and put out of that seat just because they didn't like him so i think that having some type of 701 01:22:35,120 --> 01:22:40,080 guardrails some type of grounds would be not only fair to the constituents that voted for 702 01:22:40,080 --> 01:22:45,760 but to the councillor that's actually doing what he believes is right for his constituent he's not 703 01:22:45,760 --> 01:22:54,160 going to please everybody all the time but just because somebody is dissatisfied doesn't really 704 01:22:54,160 --> 01:22:58,960 add up to why you would want to be called that individual and remove them for the seat 705 01:22:58,960 --> 01:23:03,840 commissioner danahoff i saw your hand first i just yeah there's control in there for that it's not 706 01:23:03,840 --> 01:23:10,480 that they're going to get recalled if 25 it goes to an election so for example if 75 percent of 707 01:23:10,480 --> 01:23:19,200 people like you and 25 percent know you're still going to theoretically not get recalled because 708 01:23:19,200 --> 01:23:24,320 you're going to go to an election so there's still a guardrail there as well i just this is the point 709 01:23:24,320 --> 01:23:32,080 of discussion the recall it's not really a recall it's a petition to hold a recall election does that 710 01:23:32,080 --> 01:23:41,200 make sense it's not actually a recall it says i mean i might be i'm not a lawyer but it it says 711 01:23:41,200 --> 01:23:48,160 in here that they can resign within seven days or if they don't it goes to a recall election 712 01:23:49,840 --> 01:23:55,440 and commissioner mcclar i know this is not in the motion but i would like them to define these 713 01:23:55,440 --> 01:24:01,200 things like the university councilman saying you know the things that you can get recalled for 714 01:24:01,200 --> 01:24:06,960 what are they and define that way you know because that way you can't just make something up and go 715 01:24:06,960 --> 01:24:14,720 to a bunch of people and have an election that costs the city more expenses to do a recall it's 716 01:24:14,720 --> 01:24:20,880 not going to that's all i got to say commissioner my question just now would be what you know to 717 01:24:20,880 --> 01:24:24,960 make sure how you define those two what would be the wording because i think to your point you know 718 01:24:24,960 --> 01:24:30,800 as you look and you go clearly concise well may seize this as an example hypothetically i see this 719 01:24:30,800 --> 01:24:35,760 is clear and concise then i go that's not clear and concise to me so i don't that's that's an 720 01:24:35,760 --> 01:24:40,000 interesting question right how do we get to what those guardrails should be but i also feel the 721 01:24:40,000 --> 01:24:46,960 impact too if you don't want to just i think it was to your point color shirts right something 722 01:24:46,960 --> 01:24:53,040 that is completely problematic and then maybe hoping that in a turnout that people don't turn 723 01:24:53,040 --> 01:24:59,120 out and that small minority ends up winning the day because and you know historically you do have 724 01:24:59,120 --> 01:25:03,280 some situations like that where all of a sudden there's a recount or there's that extra election 725 01:25:03,280 --> 01:25:08,480 where the voice of the majority was heard and then that next election i didn't even know there was 726 01:25:08,480 --> 01:25:18,560 election so i back to you for my part um i would say i have to agree with commissioner davis on 727 01:25:18,560 --> 01:25:23,360 reasons um i i don't feel confident that if we were to sit down and kind of hammer out a list of 728 01:25:23,360 --> 01:25:29,440 reasons that are and are not appropriate for the recall of somebody then give it 10 15 years under 729 01:25:29,440 --> 01:25:34,000 the charter and all of a sudden there's a politician doing something and we're like we forgot to list 730 01:25:34,000 --> 01:25:37,680 that one we can't recall because he's doing something we don't like and we think should be 731 01:25:37,680 --> 01:25:44,160 recallable we forgot to list that one so i don't want something like that to happen um i i do think 732 01:25:44,160 --> 01:25:49,680 that 200 words to me seems like a reasonable limit for conciseness i you know i've read 733 01:25:49,680 --> 01:25:54,560 50 page research papers that were hailed as very concise explanations of things 734 01:25:54,560 --> 01:26:03,200 so 200 to me seems reasonable but commissioner johnson well i'm kind of i wanted to follow up on 735 01:26:03,200 --> 01:26:10,400 mr johnson's um question there and could you could somebody staff or somebody explain exactly the 736 01:26:10,400 --> 01:26:17,680 recall process so i understand what you're saying you get 25 signatures and that then triggers they 737 01:26:17,680 --> 01:26:24,240 either resign or there's a recall election when is that held held and then when is the new seat 738 01:26:25,360 --> 01:26:36,640 filled how does that filter through is it at the next election or mr Davis so the the process to 739 01:26:36,640 --> 01:26:43,280 answer questions also fill in a couple important blanks so the the petition has a timeline it can't 740 01:26:43,280 --> 01:26:49,840 be uh it can't be within the first six months of a council member's term um and then it has to be 741 01:26:49,840 --> 01:26:55,280 within just because of election deadlines the deadlines to call elections it has to be with 742 01:26:55,280 --> 01:27:02,800 in a certain time frame of the next city election so one of the requirements was 45 days so it has 743 01:27:02,800 --> 01:27:06,960 to meet certain timelines there for when the signatures are collected so you basically have 744 01:27:06,960 --> 01:27:12,560 within 45 days counting backwards from the deadline to call an election the city of denton 745 01:27:12,560 --> 01:27:17,040 always calls an election on the general election date for may so you basically work backwards from 746 01:27:17,040 --> 01:27:22,880 the date last date they can call that election for may then that petition if it meets all the 747 01:27:22,880 --> 01:27:28,080 criteria the city secretary certifies to the city council that these signatures have been collected 748 01:27:28,080 --> 01:27:33,680 they all appear to be uh registered voters in the city of denton it appears to be the right number 749 01:27:33,680 --> 01:27:38,880 it appears that the affidavit is the same on every page that the name of the circulators is 750 01:27:38,880 --> 01:27:45,600 the same on every page you know just zero off the page is right so that's usually okay um and that 751 01:27:45,600 --> 01:27:50,560 all these signatures appear to be in order when those results are certified to the city council 752 01:27:50,560 --> 01:27:55,600 the city council then if that city council member has not resigned within that seven days of 753 01:27:55,600 --> 01:28:03,040 certification that the city council then votes to call that election so that's where your question 754 01:28:03,040 --> 01:28:07,680 and nate's question go together if there's definitions of things if the city council 755 01:28:07,680 --> 01:28:12,720 doesn't call that election the only grounds the city council has for not calling the recount 756 01:28:12,720 --> 01:28:18,560 election is a failure of the petition so if the city council says well that doesn't meet our 757 01:28:18,560 --> 01:28:25,520 definition of incompetency they could in theory vote to not put that on the ballot if they say 758 01:28:25,520 --> 01:28:29,840 well that doesn't meet our definition of clear and concise grounds well they could vote to not put 759 01:28:29,840 --> 01:28:34,480 that on the ballot and then it's a hue and cry you know and then it's well the city council has 760 01:28:34,480 --> 01:28:40,800 decided what the meaning of the word clear and concise is and all that kind of stuff which is 761 01:28:40,800 --> 01:28:44,640 kind of a worse situation than when the city secretary says that signature is not an adequate 762 01:28:44,640 --> 01:28:52,720 signature that person seems to not live in dentin at all so the council's role could almost be seen 763 01:28:52,720 --> 01:28:57,920 as ministerial it's a little more than ministerial in that they have they have discretion but it's 764 01:28:57,920 --> 01:29:04,320 very very limited so the more you add to it the more it's things that the council could in theory 765 01:29:04,320 --> 01:29:11,360 disagree with and say well it's 201 words or it's not very clear to me what that means but ultimately 766 01:29:11,360 --> 01:29:15,440 that's where any of these terms whether they have a definition or not that's the only place they 767 01:29:15,440 --> 01:29:20,880 would ever come into play is when the city council is voting to call that election or not 768 01:29:20,880 --> 01:29:25,280 i guess in theory if the city secretary didn't certify because it wasn't clear enough or something 769 01:29:25,280 --> 01:29:30,800 but it's not likely commissioner jenna free time moment we are at seven o'clock i just have a 770 01:29:30,800 --> 01:29:38,000 clarification question on that so then that vote they vote to recall do they elect somebody in 771 01:29:38,000 --> 01:29:43,680 their place in that same election or do they have a special then after that there's a special unless 772 01:29:43,680 --> 01:29:50,960 it's on cycle for a regular so if it's in the first the first year of a two-year term and if 773 01:29:50,960 --> 01:29:58,160 it's early enough it could be a special election in the off cycle in the odd year you know that 774 01:29:58,160 --> 01:30:04,240 person was elected an even year if the recall is in the odd year and that person was elected an 775 01:30:04,240 --> 01:30:09,920 even year well there's not a special there's only the next regular which kind of ties into one of 776 01:30:09,920 --> 01:30:15,520 the things that we brought up earlier denton's elections by law are stuck in may it'll it'll 777 01:30:15,520 --> 01:30:23,440 always be next the cities can't after 2000 and i forget 16 16 can't can't move to november so 778 01:30:23,440 --> 01:30:29,120 it's just always going to be a may cycle it'll be an even odd cycle so it could in theory and it's 779 01:30:29,120 --> 01:30:34,800 happened seat sticks stays vacant for the better part of a year to give historical context here 780 01:30:34,800 --> 01:30:41,200 we've had two recent recalls during one there was a period where it was a six-person council 781 01:30:41,200 --> 01:30:45,680 we got some three three votes that had to just kind of be punted until the seat was filled 782 01:30:45,680 --> 01:30:54,080 and then another one the person was recalled during what would have or what was also their 783 01:30:54,080 --> 01:30:59,200 election and so that proceeded with no interruption in the number of counselors 784 01:30:59,200 --> 01:31:09,120 so just for clarity if a recall goes before city council then they will determine by their own 785 01:31:09,120 --> 01:31:17,600 language whether it's clear and concise grounds and whether it was incompetency they have their 786 01:31:17,600 --> 01:31:24,480 own way of judging that themselves even though the people have voted to recall so they still are the 787 01:31:24,480 --> 01:31:33,760 last people to get that determined um recalls going forward yeah and they could i mean let's 788 01:31:33,760 --> 01:31:38,400 say somebody turns into absolute gothic i mean by any objective measure it doesn't make any kind of 789 01:31:38,400 --> 01:31:43,920 sense right it just is not clear or concise a thousand words of nonsense and let's say that 790 01:31:43,920 --> 01:31:50,960 somehow got the right number of signatures in district one got 300 signatures well the 791 01:31:50,960 --> 01:31:57,520 city council could they could say this does not meet the criteria of the charter we just cannot 792 01:31:57,520 --> 01:32:02,800 put this on the ballot because this this petition doesn't meet the criteria the likelihood of that 793 01:32:02,800 --> 01:32:10,880 happening is very very low because one 300 people at the low low end have to sign that gobbledygook 794 01:32:10,880 --> 01:32:16,480 petition um two the city secretary has to say those are all these people who signed in crayon 795 01:32:16,480 --> 01:32:21,200 and agreed with the gobbledygook all these people are are registered voters and it meets those 796 01:32:21,200 --> 01:32:26,880 criteria um and then i mean that's just not it's not very likely i can tell you the last two 797 01:32:26,880 --> 01:32:34,240 recent recalls the last three recalls that met the signature uh requirements 798 01:32:34,240 --> 01:32:41,120 met the kind of ministerial technical grounds the people subject to recall all voted in favor of 799 01:32:41,120 --> 01:32:46,800 calling the election um because if it gets to that point it's going to check all the boxes 800 01:32:46,800 --> 01:32:50,000 it's it's ready for the ballot if it if it gets to that point 801 01:32:50,000 --> 01:33:00,080 back to that slide with the current language is the incompetency misconduct malfeasance language 802 01:33:00,080 --> 01:33:04,960 in our charter apparently i didn't think it was okay that's what i remembered but i thought i 803 01:33:04,960 --> 01:33:11,520 misremembered it's all in section 4.13 a b and c i didn't bring my book and i think 804 01:33:11,520 --> 01:33:24,720 i just think clear and concise is vague it's very vague i mean it's never this question of 805 01:33:25,680 --> 01:33:30,880 anybody to choose to say hey let's just get this person out of that seat so i think there should be 806 01:33:30,880 --> 01:33:38,800 guardrails you know implemented just to you know keep it fair and keep it you know right for the 807 01:33:38,800 --> 01:33:46,800 person who's doing the job in that seat and for these constituents that trusted him versus the 808 01:33:46,800 --> 01:33:51,920 people that voted for you know what you're saying is right that the people that didn't vote for an 809 01:33:51,920 --> 01:33:59,760 individual can come back and vote in the recall correct you did not have to vote in the election 810 01:33:59,760 --> 01:34:06,240 the person was voted in on the council in in order to sign a recall petition 811 01:34:06,240 --> 01:34:15,120 yeah i totally agree with you it's very vague and i think it's intentionally vague and that's a good 812 01:34:15,120 --> 01:34:21,040 idea because what we're talking about in an act of recall is an act of democracy where there are a 813 01:34:21,040 --> 01:34:27,440 group of people within a district who say i don't like the way this is going for their reasons they 814 01:34:27,440 --> 01:34:34,800 write that up and then they find 25 percent of their neighbors to agree with them and and then 815 01:34:34,800 --> 01:34:40,080 we go through a process and then there's an effort if if they collect all those signatures then it 816 01:34:40,080 --> 01:34:45,920 goes to a vote and then the voters get to decide again so i think the vagueness is actually part of 817 01:34:45,920 --> 01:34:54,160 what makes it really democratic is that it gives the recallers the opportunity to outline their 818 01:34:54,160 --> 01:34:59,520 argument and say this is why we have a problem with this member of the council and find those who 819 01:34:59,520 --> 01:35:10,640 agree with them commissioner damo yeah i just back in what angela's saying is um the alternative 820 01:35:10,640 --> 01:35:14,720 unfortunately when you get into legalese as you have to specifically say something like 821 01:35:15,280 --> 01:35:21,440 was convicted of a felony or was so that that's that's the problem with the other 822 01:35:21,440 --> 01:35:26,960 other side of it from a from a legal like if you try to define it too much you have to actually give 823 01:35:26,960 --> 01:35:34,240 like that's the one example you have to ask just our you know was convicted of embezzling money or 824 01:35:34,240 --> 01:35:39,440 was convicted of this or that you have to almost list them out like from a legalese standpoint so 825 01:35:40,000 --> 01:35:47,040 it's very hard to not have it be vague so it's like well it's nothing's ideal it's kind of like 826 01:35:47,040 --> 01:35:54,240 in my opinion the best approach to if you're going to have a recall in your charter 827 01:35:54,240 --> 01:36:04,880 it's like the best of what you can do well i was going to ask if we should bring the motion up to 828 01:36:04,880 --> 01:36:08,320 a vote because i feel like we've all given our but i see commissioner rumsky so i don't want to do 829 01:36:08,320 --> 01:36:16,960 that because if i do that that's okay i just wanted to reassure commissioner johnson that 830 01:36:16,960 --> 01:36:33,200 if something is off the wall say i don't like the fact that someone continually votes down 831 01:36:35,440 --> 01:36:43,760 all presentations for additional building in such an area okay 832 01:36:43,760 --> 01:36:53,360 i decide to start a petition i have to give four other people who will agree 833 01:36:53,360 --> 01:37:01,600 the first thing i have to do is get four other people to agree with me that that's a very logical 834 01:37:02,480 --> 01:37:09,760 rationale okay because it's if they can't build in our area that we are losing 835 01:37:09,760 --> 01:37:18,080 you know they they talk about food desks because there's no stores around okay so they constantly 836 01:37:18,080 --> 01:37:27,520 throw out anything that has to do with bringing in an agv and albertsons or that okay we are 837 01:37:28,160 --> 01:37:33,360 running away true yeah i tried but the first thing i have to do is get five people four other 838 01:37:33,360 --> 01:37:41,760 people to agree with me then the five of us have got to go around and get a total of 839 01:37:41,760 --> 01:37:51,280 300 or so people to sign it and if other people if you can't get that 300 people to do it 840 01:37:51,280 --> 01:37:57,040 to meet that threshold and it's always good to get a lot more than that because you never know 841 01:37:57,040 --> 01:38:03,760 who's going to get kicked out when they look at the signature so if you don't get that number 842 01:38:03,760 --> 01:38:11,840 no matter how much i'm upset with that person it's not going to go any further 843 01:38:11,840 --> 01:38:20,080 and then if it does go further they're going to put it on a regular election cycle they will not 844 01:38:20,080 --> 01:38:28,800 put it on a special election and then that allows everybody else who lives in that district 845 01:38:28,800 --> 01:38:36,800 or in the whole city if it should be a that large individual to put in their vote yay or nay 846 01:38:36,800 --> 01:38:46,800 so you've got you know kind of like your your dams at different places to raise the water to drop it 847 01:38:51,040 --> 01:38:58,960 i understand the process but what i've seen from council itself and from outside forces 848 01:38:58,960 --> 01:39:06,720 with council i've seen things trying to be manipulated from outside forces so the recall 849 01:39:06,720 --> 01:39:12,000 is being used against or can be used against certain council members to say if you don't do 850 01:39:12,000 --> 01:39:19,600 these things we'll recall you so there needs to be guardrails in place not only to protect 851 01:39:19,600 --> 01:39:25,280 the constituents but to protect the councilman who's doing this job so i just but that's a threat 852 01:39:25,280 --> 01:39:36,560 but it happens we have a motion already we have a motion to keep the language the same 853 01:39:36,560 --> 01:39:46,560 i'm going to call the motion now all those in favor of keeping recommending no change to the 854 01:39:46,560 --> 01:39:52,640 language in the charter as promotes proposed by commissioner davis please raise your we have a 855 01:39:52,640 --> 01:40:07,840 motion in the side sorry yes please raise your right hand and say aye i see 11 all those opposed 856 01:40:07,840 --> 01:40:16,720 please raise your right hand say nay i think uh two eleven two motion carries um now we're going to read 857 01:40:16,720 --> 01:40:22,960 uh we're going to read the list of additional items that were submitted for review by members 858 01:40:22,960 --> 01:40:30,080 this is merely uh reading these into the record um and we will discuss next week whether we want 859 01:40:30,080 --> 01:40:37,040 to bring any forward that's official recommendations so the list is as follows uh item one consider 860 01:40:37,040 --> 01:40:41,120 implementing a trigger amendment stating that if gay marriage is struck down in courts and left not 861 01:40:41,120 --> 01:40:45,520 contacted by the state of texas then civil unions will receive the same benefits of restrictions 862 01:40:45,520 --> 01:40:50,320 currently applied to marriages from the city's codes ordinance in the charter two consider 863 01:40:50,320 --> 01:40:54,640 implementing a one-year residency requirement for individuals serving on a citizen board committee 864 01:40:54,640 --> 01:41:00,560 or commission appointed by council three consider moving municipal elections from may to november 865 01:41:00,560 --> 01:41:05,120 this was submitted by two commissioners consider modifying the total years allowed for residents 866 01:41:05,120 --> 01:41:11,600 to serve on council i believe that would be term limits submitted by three commissioners five 867 01:41:11,600 --> 01:41:15,360 consider modifying the eligibility for holding elected office and appointments to city boards 868 01:41:15,360 --> 01:41:20,400 proposed language is all dentin residents who are registered voters in the city except youth 869 01:41:20,400 --> 01:41:25,440 representatives who hold no publicly elected office are eligible for appointment or reappointment to 870 01:41:25,440 --> 01:41:30,640 a board or commission any potential applicant who is in arrears on any amount in the payment of taxes 871 01:41:30,640 --> 01:41:35,520 or other liability due to the city may be disqualified from consideration residents eligible 872 01:41:35,520 --> 01:41:39,120 to vote if he or she is a united states citizen who is a resident of the state of texas that has 873 01:41:39,120 --> 01:41:43,600 resided in the city of denton for at least six months is at least 18 years of age is mentally 874 01:41:43,600 --> 01:41:49,360 competent and it's not been convicted of a felony all dentin residents who will hold for uh are 875 01:41:49,360 --> 01:41:54,960 running for a publicly elected office shall be registered voters in the city of denton any 876 01:41:54,960 --> 01:42:00,880 registered voter may appoint sorry may be appointed and serve on a maximum of two non-elected boards per year 877 01:42:00,880 --> 01:42:06,880 up to the same time as a city council member's term must wait the same length of time before 878 01:42:06,880 --> 01:42:13,520 serving again on non-elected boards six consider adding language increasing the regarding the 879 01:42:13,520 --> 01:42:19,840 increase in rates or fees on citizens or businesses proposed language any increase in rates or fees on 880 01:42:19,840 --> 01:42:25,520 citizens or businesses to retire a debt or obligation of the city city shall be discontinued 881 01:42:25,520 --> 01:42:31,600 when debt or obligation is paid full when and if any increase in rate or fee to retire a debt will 882 01:42:31,600 --> 01:42:37,840 have estimated and they recorded on any invoice or statement where rate increase or fee is charged 883 01:42:37,840 --> 01:42:41,440 100 percent of the increase in rates of fees referenced above shall be used to pay off the 884 01:42:41,440 --> 01:42:46,720 reference debt seven consider adding language regarding the cost of new regulations proposed 885 01:42:46,720 --> 01:42:51,120 language if the city council votes to add or change any regulations it will post the increased 886 01:42:51,120 --> 01:42:56,560 cost to the taxpayers of such regulations when the agenda is posted for discussion of 887 01:42:56,560 --> 01:43:01,280 these new or changed regulations costs shall mean any increase or decrease that shall include all 888 01:43:01,280 --> 01:43:07,680 cost including staff time consultants legal etc h consider adding language that requires posting 889 01:43:07,680 --> 01:43:13,920 the amounts if any of adequate contributions to fund pensions or retirement plans for cities 890 01:43:13,920 --> 01:43:18,960 city employees including fire and police nine consider adding language that requires reporting 891 01:43:18,960 --> 01:43:23,680 the amount of unfunded mandate incurred by the city with information regarding the name of the 892 01:43:23,680 --> 01:43:35,920 mandate and cost of the city to comply i know we're going to address these next next time 893 01:43:35,920 --> 01:43:43,440 can i ask a clarification question on what it's saying here just so i can think about it over the 894 01:43:43,440 --> 01:43:51,120 next week um yes and if the member who submitted the proposed item at this moment so question 895 01:43:51,120 --> 01:43:59,760 okay no it's on number five the second bullet point it says except youth representatives but 896 01:43:59,760 --> 01:44:03,280 they're talking about registered voters so what would a youth representative that is a registered 897 01:44:03,280 --> 01:44:08,160 voter be if you get somebody on a committee and you want to have to use like high school kids or 898 01:44:08,160 --> 01:44:15,840 something on the committee they're not going to be rich voters or 17 or less the city maintains a 899 01:44:15,840 --> 01:44:23,280 youth council um i believe they may be eligible for appointments to certain committees we can 900 01:44:23,280 --> 01:44:29,680 get back on that next week okay that's fine and the other one is uh the last bullet point of that 901 01:44:29,680 --> 01:44:36,720 same five section uh it says must wait the same length of time before serving again on non-elected 902 01:44:36,720 --> 01:44:43,040 boards now what that is is like you see i'm semi-retired so i could probably anybody that can 903 01:44:43,040 --> 01:44:48,640 like get to put me to boards i could be on the board i could get on like yeah for me for me to 904 01:44:48,640 --> 01:44:54,400 serve on all those boards you know it might be an undue influence of maybe the way i want things to 905 01:44:54,400 --> 01:45:00,720 go so i need a length of time i need to sit out for a while so i'm not always on boards all the 906 01:45:00,720 --> 01:45:11,360 time trying to influence all the boards okay so if you're on two boards simultaneously for two years 907 01:45:11,360 --> 01:45:20,320 two years okay so do you have to sit out two years or four years i could be on two boards one year 908 01:45:20,320 --> 01:45:26,560 two different boards the next year are the same boards and then i gotta wait out two years before 909 01:45:26,560 --> 01:45:32,400 i can start serving again on the board that's my opinion because i don't think all right the same 910 01:45:32,400 --> 01:45:36,880 person needs to be we're gonna have further discussion of this uh we can have further 911 01:45:36,880 --> 01:45:42,800 discussion okay yeah okay thank you for the point uh commissioner i have a question about 912 01:45:42,800 --> 01:45:50,080 process next time um kind of to the gentleman's point are we going to kind of go down the list 913 01:45:50,080 --> 01:45:57,600 one by one or is there could we do something like a general discussion ask questions you speak up 914 01:45:57,600 --> 01:46:02,480 for whatever your your suggestion was and then like a survey you have to be recorded for open 915 01:46:02,480 --> 01:46:06,880 meetings some kind of you know check sheet or something that stays part of the record 916 01:46:06,880 --> 01:46:12,240 but is there maybe a way to expedite just a little bit to see if there's any kind of 917 01:46:12,240 --> 01:46:17,440 consensus before we go through each and every one your intention is that between this meeting 918 01:46:17,440 --> 01:46:24,160 and next meeting uh there would be one of the poll that we received we would uh express interest in 919 01:46:24,160 --> 01:46:28,240 the items and that way we could run a faster meeting next time i personally found that i was 920 01:46:28,240 --> 01:46:33,200 suggesting that the poll could be just a check sheet at the next meeting in case there's more 921 01:46:33,200 --> 01:46:38,320 questions in case people are sitting with the list for a week and have more questions um because i 922 01:46:38,320 --> 01:46:43,920 feel like if we did the survey in the interim between the next now and the next meeting people 923 01:46:43,920 --> 01:46:49,200 could end up with more questions and not really be ready for the poll yet um but maybe a quick poll 924 01:46:49,200 --> 01:46:55,120 i'm just kind of brainstorming ways that we could expedite the next meeting if something 925 01:46:55,120 --> 01:47:00,080 has really only got one person's support and we need to spend a lot of time debating it 926 01:47:00,080 --> 01:47:05,760 that something's even got you know a handful so then that's probably that's you know worth our 927 01:47:05,760 --> 01:47:10,800 time to debate so you'd just like to see members receive a sheet at the beginning of the next 928 01:47:10,800 --> 01:47:15,040 meeting and just take off i might be interested in further discussions so sure maybe after another 929 01:47:15,040 --> 01:47:20,000 opportunity for discussion or questions or whatever yeah sure quick quick show of hands who would be 930 01:47:20,000 --> 01:47:24,880 interested in that method the method would be that at the beginning of the next meeting we would 931 01:47:24,880 --> 01:47:30,320 receive a sheet with each of these uh listed out and we would just take i would be interested in 932 01:47:30,320 --> 01:47:34,800 discussing this further and then we can collect those and proceed from there with that information 933 01:47:34,800 --> 01:47:42,560 show hands support of course can we just can we get that like email to us and tell that same fact 934 01:47:42,560 --> 01:47:48,560 and that way they can say okay there's nobody really wants to talk about this but one person 935 01:47:48,560 --> 01:47:54,320 we don't even bring it up or what i'm really fine either way i i thought when i brought it up that 936 01:47:54,320 --> 01:47:58,720 people wouldn't want to do that just because they might want more time to spitball and ask questions 937 01:47:58,720 --> 01:48:04,640 like we just did i'm really fine either way i i know what i like but i don't want to cut off anybody's 938 01:48:04,640 --> 01:48:09,200 opportunity to learn more about a suggestion just because i've made my mind up or know what i like 939 01:48:09,200 --> 01:48:17,680 okay whatever um and i think at the next meeting we'll just do a quick vote rundown of not not an 940 01:48:17,680 --> 01:48:26,240 official vote but just a i would be interested in hearing more about this um and that it'll be 941 01:48:28,880 --> 01:48:34,880 a couple of these things we've already taken a vote on like number four modifying the 12 years 942 01:48:34,880 --> 01:48:42,400 allowed for residents to serve on the council it's my understanding that's more related to term 943 01:48:42,400 --> 01:48:50,080 limits not term limits correct so commissioner just real quick but i think that's why we need 944 01:48:50,080 --> 01:48:54,000 to have a little discussion just to make sure on each of these this is what the intent is 945 01:48:54,000 --> 01:48:58,240 because i i mean i would just say i was one of the three who put that forth and it's about term 946 01:48:58,880 --> 01:49:06,560 limits something we haven't talked about totality of how long you can serve we will discuss these 947 01:49:06,560 --> 01:49:15,280 items at our next meeting uh we is this regarding process or yes okay okay i'd like to 948 01:49:15,280 --> 01:49:21,840 go back to the review and consider the procedures and rules the process of this committee 949 01:49:22,720 --> 01:49:29,680 briefly and it because i think we were given an agenda and we were given a process that we were 950 01:49:29,680 --> 01:49:40,080 to follow from the beginning and so i'd like to make a motion to revisit the vote on keeping the 951 01:49:40,080 --> 01:49:46,240 charter i mean the at-large and single-member districts the same and go ahead and move that 952 01:49:46,240 --> 01:49:51,760 we keep that the same and revisit that today just like we did when we kept voting for the chair 953 01:49:52,400 --> 01:49:58,000 we carried that over and so i i make a motion to keep the mix of single-member districts and at 954 01:49:58,000 --> 01:50:05,760 large the same we can we can put it on the next agenda because we're not posted so the public would 955 01:50:05,760 --> 01:50:10,400 want to know all the things that we're going to work on the day we don't have that carried over the 956 01:50:10,400 --> 01:50:16,960 chair vote each time yeah the chair was so i don't know either so yeah i don't know how we're going 957 01:50:16,960 --> 01:50:26,640 to move this on or it either should go away or you can vote on it again it just has to be on the next 958 01:50:26,640 --> 01:50:35,840 isn't that what you just did she's making a motion she's making a suggestion 959 01:50:35,840 --> 01:50:50,720 would that be put on the next meeting agenda i'm going to close item um uh crc 24-09 um move on 960 01:50:50,720 --> 01:50:56,320 to the concluding items in the concluding item would you like to suggest that next meeting we 961 01:50:56,320 --> 01:51:06,880 consider a motion to reconsider uh the mix and number of districts yeah 962 01:51:06,880 --> 01:51:11,200 all right uh does anyone have any other 963 01:51:11,200 --> 01:51:14,240 do we need a second 964 01:51:14,240 --> 01:51:22,560 did we have a motion the motion ruled out or is it how i heard that 965 01:51:24,000 --> 01:51:28,000 i my my intent there was that we were still on the 966 01:51:28,000 --> 01:51:35,120 receive a report and give staff direction on additional sections of charters submitted for 967 01:51:35,120 --> 01:51:40,640 review and that legal was indicating that that motion regarding uh reconsideration would be 968 01:51:40,640 --> 01:51:50,960 more appropriate including items and so i closed the uh uh discussion of additional items and moved 969 01:51:50,960 --> 01:51:56,720 on to concluding items so that we would be within posting and wanted to give miss jones the 970 01:51:56,720 --> 01:52:02,400 opportunity to discuss that so that we would be within 971 01:52:02,400 --> 01:52:08,480 made a motion for today i don't want to make it to add it to the agenda next time 972 01:52:08,480 --> 01:52:14,800 and so it is legal's opinion that making that motion today would be with would be off posting 973 01:52:14,800 --> 01:52:26,400 correct was so the question i have is when the second meeting was the chair posted on the second 974 01:52:26,400 --> 01:52:36,480 meeting to vote on that a second time no i believe yeah it was um on our what is this one our second 975 01:52:36,480 --> 01:52:45,600 august 8th 2024 meeting item received nominations and hold election of a chair 976 01:52:45,600 --> 01:52:50,960 so it was on the agenda so there was a decision made not to complete it on this agenda 977 01:52:52,240 --> 01:53:08,000 or the single member correct um there was some confusion um that was being addressed fairly 978 01:53:08,000 --> 01:53:14,880 when that was discovered and procedures were being worked out 979 01:53:16,960 --> 01:53:27,280 would you would you like to suggest a motion for you for the next i would like that we take a vote 980 01:53:27,280 --> 01:53:32,000 on the procedures we're going to go forward on because i think it says review and consider 981 01:53:32,000 --> 01:53:37,680 committed procedures and rules and i don't think we've done that i don't think we've brought forward 982 01:53:37,680 --> 01:53:43,120 a procedure on how we're going to go through the agenda or if we did we already voted on it 983 01:53:43,120 --> 01:53:50,560 previously that we would follow staff's recommendation of going through each in fact 984 01:53:50,560 --> 01:53:57,520 i think do we vote on that we we discussed it that we looked at what the staff and we said 985 01:53:57,520 --> 01:54:05,760 we talked about we go through each one take a vote go to the next one take a vote and we had 986 01:54:05,760 --> 01:54:10,960 that discussion and that was the process that we were going through and we're revising that 987 01:54:10,960 --> 01:54:16,480 and if we're going to revise the procedures we need to discuss that and have a vote 988 01:54:16,480 --> 01:54:19,440 because i mean that's what the 989 01:54:19,440 --> 01:54:28,240 item agenda was reviewing consider committee procedures and rules i don't think we considered 990 01:54:28,240 --> 01:54:38,240 so i guess i could move under item c that we follow the original plan 991 01:54:39,280 --> 01:54:47,600 of this committee to go through each topic and take a vote and move to the next and not have 992 01:54:47,600 --> 01:54:54,400 ending vote or re-vote on all the topics at the end of the committee i'll second that 993 01:54:54,400 --> 01:55:02,800 second from thanks 994 01:55:06,320 --> 01:55:09,600 my question just says that i'll chew the book on ones where we didn't reach the eight 995 01:55:09,600 --> 01:55:14,560 we should be going back to is my contingent on that on anything now i understand if you're 996 01:55:14,560 --> 01:55:19,120 i'm just trying to be clear about what you're asking so like today we had a few that went 997 01:55:19,120 --> 01:55:24,000 forgive me if i got these wrong 10 3 11 2 what have you but you're not i'll just be clear on 998 01:55:24,000 --> 01:55:29,280 what you're asking i'll be happy to be clear so what i'm asking is that when we all met at 999 01:55:29,280 --> 01:55:34,880 first meeting and we were going through the items it was presented to all of us i believe 1000 01:55:34,880 --> 01:55:41,520 that we would take each item in turn and take a vote and then move to the next item and we've 1001 01:55:41,520 --> 01:55:48,000 moved on from each item that we've taken a vote on we went to the next item i do not think we spent 1002 01:55:48,000 --> 01:55:55,920 a lot of time discussing and having discussion and argument about each item i think once that 1003 01:55:55,920 --> 01:56:03,040 vote is concluded it's concluded whether you don't have to in every vote reach the majority 1004 01:56:03,040 --> 01:56:08,240 either way can fail to pass i think that's what happened and i don't and i think that was the 1005 01:56:08,240 --> 01:56:14,560 procedure we laid out and that we were following and i don't think at the end of the day in december 1006 01:56:14,560 --> 01:56:21,920 or november or whenever this is that we should then rehash and re-argue all of the motions i mean 1007 01:56:21,920 --> 01:56:27,440 all of our agenda items that we've already voted on whether they passed or failed so i think that's 1008 01:56:27,440 --> 01:56:33,840 what i'm asking is that each agenda item that has already been discussed and voted on we've moved 1009 01:56:33,840 --> 01:56:41,440 to the next and i would like to keep that procedure in place and that's my motion 1010 01:56:41,440 --> 01:56:53,440 apologies i'm reviewing the procedure or the procedure as presented in the first meeting 1011 01:56:57,440 --> 01:57:03,280 so what i see in the initial meeting is not i do not call that we've had a vote during the first 1012 01:57:03,280 --> 01:57:12,560 meeting regarding the procedures this week we have a presentation and i do not see that it is 1013 01:57:12,560 --> 01:57:28,160 specifically listed at each meeting well i don't even think that it has to be at each meeting i 1014 01:57:28,160 --> 01:57:36,080 think that it needs to once the vote has occurred my motion is that the procedures we take up and go 1015 01:57:36,080 --> 01:57:42,000 forward with is that once you've discussed an item that's been on the agenda and there has been a vote 1016 01:57:42,000 --> 01:57:49,040 taken that we move to the next and when we move to the next we don't go backwards to prior agenda 1017 01:57:49,040 --> 01:57:56,560 items that we discussed and voted on the way that i intend to run these meetings is that we do not achieve 1018 01:57:56,560 --> 01:58:06,720 a uh at a meeting we will have to do so i understand i'm making a motion under the procedures 1019 01:58:06,720 --> 01:58:14,240 and rules for the committee that we take each item in turn and once we've concluded our discussion 1020 01:58:14,240 --> 01:58:20,800 and how to vote we move to the next and not revisit that's my motion under our rules and procedures 1021 01:58:22,080 --> 01:58:35,120 yes so just to be clear just to be clear yes you're saying that we don't have to reach the eight 1022 01:58:35,120 --> 01:58:42,480 and you just want to move on but what does it say that we have to reach the eight in order for a 1023 01:58:42,480 --> 01:58:48,880 recommendation it has to be eight okay okay to make a recommendation i'm saying if we don't have eight 1024 01:58:48,880 --> 01:58:53,120 okay to make a recommendation i'm saying if we don't have eight we don't make a recommendation on 1025 01:58:53,120 --> 01:59:01,920 that item and what does the chair say it is my intention that the items be brought back 1026 01:59:01,920 --> 01:59:10,160 at a later date is that lining up with protocol and with the procedures and all that is that lining up 1027 01:59:10,160 --> 01:59:18,560 point of order i think i can make the motion i'm just asking the chair is it lining up what you 1028 01:59:18,560 --> 01:59:27,440 said that's my understanding can i speak yeah commissioner fights so that is her understanding 1029 01:59:27,440 --> 01:59:33,600 but that is not the rules and procedures of council which is what we are to abide by once 1030 01:59:33,600 --> 01:59:39,680 they vote on something if it does not pass then they move on is that correct it just doesn't pass 1031 01:59:39,680 --> 01:59:44,880 i'm sorry then it doesn't pass and you move on you don't keep rehashing you know the item over and 1032 01:59:44,880 --> 01:59:49,840 over and over to be clear that's the rules of council but not the rules of this chart but this 1033 01:59:49,840 --> 01:59:56,000 charter is to follow the rules of council and then the the email that we corresponds we got earlier 1034 01:59:56,000 --> 02:00:00,880 in the week said that uh that we could deviate and do whatever but they have not been able to 1035 02:00:00,880 --> 02:00:09,440 give us any rules that allow us to deviate from that correct i've asked for that earlier in the 1036 02:00:09,440 --> 02:00:16,720 week and i didn't i don't think anything precludes a motion and for this body as a as a whole as a 1037 02:00:16,720 --> 02:00:23,680 yeah based on this item for consideration crc 24-020 she can make that motion for that 1038 02:00:23,680 --> 02:00:28,560 and then if it can't if it passes then we as a committee decide that that's the rules going 1039 02:00:28,560 --> 02:00:35,680 forward um i i will hear that motion i will call that motion uh does everyone understand the motion 1040 02:00:37,840 --> 02:00:46,240 that we are we are voting uh whether point of order uh does commissioner jones have standing 1041 02:00:46,240 --> 02:00:51,440 to call for a reconsideration it's not a recommendation it's not a reconsideration 1042 02:00:51,440 --> 02:01:00,000 it's just a motion under item c of today's agenda okay i mean under d sorry could you please restate 1043 02:01:00,000 --> 02:01:12,720 your motion it's under uh item c the committee procedures and rules i'm making a motion 1044 02:01:12,720 --> 02:01:21,200 that we continue forward as we have been that we take each charge that we were given as a committee 1045 02:01:21,200 --> 02:01:28,400 in turn discuss it have a vote and whether it passes or fails we move on 1046 02:01:29,120 --> 02:01:35,520 to the next and we do not revisit prior items that we have spent you know two hours discussing 1047 02:01:35,520 --> 02:01:45,200 each all right um i'm and i had a second yes so just gonna restate your motion uh your motion is 1048 02:01:45,200 --> 02:02:01,040 that we uh do not revisit items uh that have been both on um and that that does 1049 02:02:01,040 --> 02:02:04,000 that would not preclude a motion for reconsideration 1050 02:02:04,000 --> 02:02:13,040 i would because there's no prevailing side when it fails motion for reconsideration is only from 1051 02:02:13,040 --> 02:02:19,280 the prevailing side so when something fails that's kind of the flaw in logic in this whole 1052 02:02:19,280 --> 02:02:25,120 reconsideration idea that you brought up is that when something fails it fails whether because it 1053 02:02:25,120 --> 02:02:32,640 doesn't meet date that doesn't mean that it wasn't properly rejected it means the item failed it was 1054 02:02:32,640 --> 02:02:42,480 it's my understanding that um those who voted in opposition to the motion made were considered to 1055 02:02:43,040 --> 02:02:48,960 be on the prevailing side of the motion that's not correct i didn't mean to speak up for you i 1056 02:02:48,960 --> 02:03:00,000 apologize that that it confused me too i i asked legal and that's that's what i was um 1057 02:03:06,640 --> 02:03:16,080 i don't want to remove the ability for reconsideration um okay so the motion is 1058 02:03:16,080 --> 02:03:21,600 that we would not reconsider uh items that have already been discussed 1059 02:03:25,920 --> 02:03:40,480 all those in favor please raise your right hand and say aye all those opposed raise your hand 1060 02:03:40,480 --> 02:03:51,040 seven six all right does anyone have any further point of inquiry is the chair's opinion that that 1061 02:03:51,040 --> 02:04:02,400 motion failed it did not pass is it the chair's opinion that that motion failed is my opinion that 1062 02:04:02,400 --> 02:04:08,320 motion did not pass okay we're going to move on including items or sorry we're going to continue 1063 02:04:08,320 --> 02:04:12,320 with concluding items does anyone have any concluding items birthdays holidays anniversaries deaths 1064 02:04:12,320 --> 02:04:20,480 memorials i'm sorry uh concluding items birthdays holidays etc the things i listed under concluding 1065 02:04:20,480 --> 02:04:24,800 items i heard birthday over here but i'm not going to repeat the number i will i'm proud i 1066 02:04:24,800 --> 02:04:36,560 turned 50 last week thank you all right um i hope everyone had a good labor day that's my concluding 1067 02:04:36,560 --> 02:04:54,080 item um on that we will now adjourn this meeting at 7 37