HomeMy WebLinkAbout05 08 2015 Changing Council from Monday to Tuesday 04 PRION'
4646 Dakota Street SE
Prior Lake, MN 55372
44INNESp'il"
Date: May 7, 2015
To: Bylaws and Compensation Liaisons
From: Frank Boyles, City Manager
Re: Discussion about moving City Council meetings from Monday to Tuesday nights
Introduction
The purpose of this memo is for the Bylaws and Compensation Liaisons to determine if they
wish to recommend a change of meeting night for City Council meetings.
DISCUSSION: History
Up until approximately 1995, the City Council meetings took place on four
Mondays a month. In the mid-1990s meetings were changed to the first
and third Mondays. In 2012, when a new City Attorney was appointed,
meetings were changed from the first and third Mondays to the second and
fourth Mondays.
Councilor Thompson requested at the City Council's April 1, 2015 retreat
session that the City Council consider a revision in meeting nights. The
proposal is to substitute Tuesdays for Mondays. The matter was referred to
Bylaws and Compensation for review and recommendation to the City
Council.
We have scheduled a meeting at noon tomorrow to talk about this topic. I
hope that this memo will facilitate that. I hope we can also review and
modify the document if there is disagreement with its contents.
I have placed this item on Monday evening's work session if the two of you
concur that it should be discussed there. If not I will substitute another
topic.
Current Circumstances
As directed by the Council, I have tried to identify the pros and cons.
associated with conducting our meetings on Monday or Tuesday. I have
attempted to identify each below:
MONDAY
Pros:
• City Councilors already dedicate Mondays on their calendars to
Council activities.
• Staff members already dedicate Monday night on their calendars
to Council activities.
• Given the long standing history of Monday meetings, the public
is used to Monday meetings.
Phone 952.447.9800 / Fax 952.447.4245/www.cityofpriorlake.com
• The staff agenda preparation timeline is geared for Mondays.
• Councilors who travel for business prefer the Monday meetings.
• Staff has four days to follow up from Monday Council meeting.
• Arrangements have been made with the Prior Lake American to
post notices or publish ordinances to expedite hearings and
ordinance effective dates based upon Monday meetings.
• Other private groups who use Parkview or the Council
Chambers Tuesday through Sunday are not impacted.
• Other bodies who use Parkview or the Chambers Tuesday
through Sunday are not impacted (potentially Lakes Advisory
and the Watershed District).
Cons:
• Holiday Monday meetings must take place on Tuesday (about
four per year).
• It is more difficult for everyone involved to take long weekend
vacations with Council Meetings on Monday.
The pros and cons of moving to Tuesday night are as follows: (Not
surprisingly the pros of one proposal tend to be the cons of the other):
TUESDAY
Pros:
• Avoids Monday holidays.
• Allows staff/Council to take long weekends.
• Saves a week of lead time in publishing legal notices.
• Provides Monday to collect data or prepare presentations.
Cons:
• Requires Councilors to change city obligations from Monday to
Tuesday.
• Requires staff to change city obligations from Monday to
Tuesday.
• Requires public to remember Tuesday not Monday as City
Council Meeting night.
• Watershed meetings and LAC meetings will have to be moved.
LAC is reasonably easy to move. The Watershed has had
Tuesday meetings for some time and would prefer to keep
meeting that day.
• The meetings of others who use Parkview on Tuesday nights
will have to be moved.
• Delays certain notices (notice of bids, ordinance publications,
etc.) for another week.
• More difficult to travel for business purposes.
• Changes staff agenda preparation timeline.
Conclusion
The Bylaws and Compensation group should review the pros and cons
offered and determine if they concur. Following that, it would be
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appropriate to formulate a recommendation to the City Council. If Bylaws
and Compensation cannot agree to a recommendation, they should
discuss whether this issue should be submitted to the City Council or not.
ISSUES: For the purposes of this report, I have not placed a value on any of the
pros and cons. All are considered equally important. Bylaws and
Compensation may wish prioritize the pros and cons if deemed
appropriate.
If so, it seems that the most important criteria should be those affecting our
customers. For example, Mondays have been Council meeting nights
historically. The public's knowledge of this fact makes it more likely that
they will participate in the meetings or watch them on cable or the Internet
if they continue to be held on a night the public is familiar with.
By the same token, if a change in City Council meetings forces another
body like the Watershed or LAC to change their meeting night, community
participation could be negatively impacted.
For the sake of this report there was no consideration of changing from an
evening meeting to a daytime meeting. Were this to occur, the day could
remain as is, but Councilors and the public could have problems making
daytime meetings. Of course, this information could be assembled if
desired.
FINANCIAL There is not an appreciable financial impact in continuing Monday
IMPACT: meetings or moving to Tuesdays unless considerable publicity were to be
undertaken to assure public awareness.
ALTERNATIVES: 1. Direct the staff to prepare additional information for Bylaws and
Compensation review.
2. Leave meetings as is and do nothing further.
3. Recommend a change in meeting day to the City Council at the work
session.
RECOMMENDED As determined by Bylaws and Compensation.
MOTION:
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