20200601 - City Council Meeting Procedures

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di EHa4stinfle e 18,57 ESOTA To: Mayor Fasbender & City Councilmembers From: City Administrator Dan Wietecha Date: June 1,2020 Item: City Council Meeting Procedures Background Information: I believe that each of us should review and re-commit to the City Council's adopted Rules of Decorum. Additionally, in this memo I provide several specific ideas that the Council may find helpful in the conduct of our meetings. Respect • Give Each Other the Benefit of the Doubt—We often deal with complex and nuanced issues. Our current pandemic environment means added stress and anxiety. Please recognize that we're all doing the best we can. Ultimately, we all want cooperative and enjoyable working relationships. • Civility Reminder —In Evansville, Wisconsin, we had a Civility Reminder near the start of the meeting agenda. It was a one-page summary of their Rules of Decorum right in the meeting packet and served as a visible reminder of the City Council's commitment to working together and treat each other professionally. • Use of the Committee Structure—The City Council has established, in ordinance, a number of committees to work through the details and vetting of topics. When committee recommendations come to the City Council, the committee's work should be recognized. Although the City Council should definitely be informed and deliberate in its decision, this should not be a wholly new debate of the background work already done by the committee. • Committee Agendas and Recaps—It is important that all of the City Council have up- to-date information about committee meetings. Recaps of Committee meetings are provided by the staff liaison to the full Council and all Committee agendas,packets, and minutes are made available on the City website.