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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOctober 2006 Retreat halleland lewis nilan & johnson PA Attorneys at Law 600 U.S Bank Plaza South 220 South Sixth Street Minneapolis, MN 55402-4501 Office: 612.338.1838 Fax: 612.338.7858 www.halleland.com t~1 Suesan Lea Pace Direct Dial: 612.573.2902 Email: space@halleland.com October 27, 2006 Frank Boyles, City Manager City of Prior Lake 16776 Fish Point Road Southeast Prior Lake, MN 55372 Dear Frank: You and I have been discussing how to make the upcoming workshop as productive as possible. The new Council has been working together for about nine months now and there have been some changes from the way things were done before. One of the most obvious is the addition of several new Council Committees and the addition of more Town Hall meetings. It is a steep learning curve to get up to speed on being a Councilmember and I think that the learning curve continues throughout someone's tenure regardless of the number of terms an individual serves. This Council does great with most issues but there are some where I think a dialogue will help, particularly in connection with applications for plats, PUDs and CUPs. All municipalities in the metro area are under scrutiny from the Builders Association of the Twin Cities. We need to communicate about what criteria the Council can and cannot consider in deciding on a pending application, along with what kinds of statements may get the Council in trouble. There is the issue of communication among the Councilmembers outside the meeting and at the meeting, and the issue of the roles of the Mayor, Council and the City Manager. I'm certain that all of you can identify issues that you've noticed, have questions about or would just like to engage your colleagues in a discussion about. Enclosed you will find ten (10) 5x8 cards and a stamped envelope which will return the cards anonymously to my office. Please write down any topic, concern, or comment you would like to have raised at the workshop. I will try to take all the comments and compile them into categories or summarize the topic or issue ifthere are a number of similar comments. The compilation of comments will be distributed to everyone before the workshop so that you have an opportunity to think about them. Obviously, whoever made the comment will remain anonymous and, ifthere are any difficult issues that need to be talked about, this may be an easy way to raise them. I have suggested that you participate along with the Council. Please put your return envelope in the mail by Wednesday, November 1. DN: 303428 Frank Boyles, City Manager October 27, 2006 Page 2 I am also sending key City Staff and Department Heads (Jane Kansier, Steve Albrecht, Ralph Teschner, Bill O'Rourke, Kelly Meyer and Charlotte Green) an envelope that contains three (3) 5x8 cards. They will be asked "If you could tell the Mayor, Councilor City Manager three (3) things what would they be?" Again, we'll compile the statements and they too will be provided to you anonymously. Hopefully the workshop on November 8 will be a rewarding, team-building experience. Sincerely, ~~ Suesan Lea Pace SLP/mrg Enclosures DN: 303428 CITY OF PRIOR LAKE RESPONSES FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS IN REGARD TO UPCOMING RETREAT WE ATTEMPTED TO CREATE GENERAL CATEGORIES OF COMMENTS AND LIST THE COMMENTS ACCORDINGLY. WE HA VE NOT DELETED ANY COMMENTS BECAUSE IT APPEARED USEFUL TO HA VE INFORMATION ABOUT HOW MANY TIMES A PARTICULAR SUBJECT WAS RAISED. ALTHOUGH SOME OF THE COMMENTS BELOW ARE PHRASED BY THEIR AUTHOR AS DECLARATORY STATEMENTS, THE COUNCIL MA Y WANT TO DISCUSS WHETHER THEY AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH THE STATEMENT. ROLE OF THE MAYOR. ROLE OF THE CITY COUNCIL AND ROLE OF THE CITY MANAGER · Can we all agree on the responsibilities of the City Manager to the Mayor and City Council. . Role of City Manager. · Does the City Manager have a Supervisor? Who should he take direction from? Can he do projects for the Mayor or a Councilmember without the approval of a majority of the Council? · Role of a Councilmember in City Manager form of government. · City Manager responsibility to each Council member. · Role of liaisons to advisory (formal) bodies vs. role of Council members on various (short or long-term) subcommittees. · Who owns the City Manager? The City Manager is an agent of the City Council majority. The City Manager always wants the majority to be 5 - not 4 or 3 but 5. That way the City Manager is equally representing all Council members. But when there is a minority of 1 or 2 the manager's job becomes more difficult to serve all five members on a topic where the Council is divided. · The power of an individual councilmember vs. the power of the entire Council. · When do we know we are crossing the line regarding responsibilities? HOW WE GOVERN · Individual councilmember wants do not become directives until they are supported by a majority of Council. Don't expect the staffto act on one councilmember's favorite topic. DN: 303794 1 . Role of representative democracy vs. true democracy. · Citizens know if they complain long enough someone will want to change the rules for them. · Familiarity of Council members with City Codes and especially our Bvlaws. . Be prepared for meetings. · Weare an organization ruled by Bylaws, State Statutes and a City ordinances which are supposed to govern how decisions are made. When someone does not like a policy, ordinance or guidelines the first thought is let's give them a variance or lets change the ordinance. · Council members appear largely unaware of the terms of our ordinances, policies, Comprehensive Plan documents, etc. · What about representing all of Prior Lake? We place a premium on receiving input from the public on agenda issues. That is good. We need to remember that the negatives will express their opinion at the highest volume. The key is considering the perspectives of the many citizens who do not express an opinion. . Legal rights of property owners. · Role of the Council- micro management vs. macro. · Commitment to Advisory Committees. The Council has established a host of advisory committees to get work done. In the long run the hard part will be to stay committed to the committee. One committee has had its meeting rescheduled 3 or 4 times. That undermines the committee's continuity. . Discuss how to make unpopular decisions. · Ramifications of listening to vocal minority TEAM WORK AND CONSENSUS BUILDING · Consensus Building. If a councilmember has an idea to pursue his or her best bet is to get feedback (pro and con) from the staff. Then if they choose to pursue the idea, get at least two other members to support the initiative. Trying to be a loner is most often unsuccessful. · Support the majority of the Council even if you didn't agree. Sometimes the Council votes 4 to 1 or 3 to 2. For the good of the organization the minority should support the actions ofthe majority once the vote is taken. DN: 303794 2 · Too many Council members believe that because it is their high priority item that it should be everyone's. · I agree we need more guidelines regarding plats, PUD's and CUP's. Have we been overstepping our responsibilities? THE 2030 VISION AND STRATEGIC PLAN · Revisit the 2030 Vision emphasizing its: ~ Background ~ Purpose ~ 18-24 month revisiting, and ~ It's critical importance to Council and staff on a daily basis · Balance short-term impact vs. benefits to global community long-term. · Discussion on long-term decision making process vs. short-term MISCELLANEOUS · Role of the Staff. The Staff will use its knowledge of the City Code and history to provide the Council with their best recommendation. That does not mean that the Council cannot ask the staff to consider other plans of action or points of view. TheStaff should not become the mouthpiece for one Council member's perspective or for the an applicant. · Playing to the T.V. Sometimes one councilmember will see that there is a majority to pass an item so he or she can vote against the item so the neighbors or television audience will think that councilmember is being sensitive. The problem with this strategy is that it sacrifices four councilmembers for the benefit of one. Fortunately, this has not happened often with this Council. · Divide and Conquer. How should the Council respond to correspondence and emails? A favorite tactic of some writers and e-mailers is to send letters to only some Council members. Once they get an answer then they bait or whipsaw the other Council members. Council members should share their responses with all Council members and the City Manager. If the Council doesn't wish to prepare a response, the Staff could on behalf of the entire Council. DN: 303794 3 . Reasonable Expectations. ~ With all the technical problems - i.e., water, engineering, etc. ~ How can we possibly know when we are making responsible decisions without trusting the information we are given by the staff? Does this sometimes pose a conflict? Weare asked to take these issues at face value. Where are the checks and balances in city staff? · "Developers" is Not A Bad Word. Developers have rights too. We have a 2030 Vision and Strategic Plan because Prior Lake is a growing community. As good stewards ofthe land we develop planning tools like our Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance. With those tools in place we can manage growth and maintain our vision for our community. ~ Developers are property owners with the right to develop their land consistent our Comprehensive Plan, Zoning Ordinance and Subdivision Ordinance.:. ~ Our personal taste in the style of a home is only relevant when we purchase a house and not when we are approving a plat (assuming design standards are met.) ~ Stopping asking "Can we make the developer pay for this." It sends the wrong message. We've worked hard to develop a trust level with developers that our fees are fair and equitable. DN: 303794 4 . CITY OF PRIOR LAKE RESPONSES FROM CITY STAFF IN REGARD TO UPCOMING RETREAT THE STAFF WERE PROVIDED WITH THREE CARDS AND INVITED TO SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS WITH COUNCIL MEMBERS. BELOW IS A COMPILA nON OF THE COMMENTS THAT WERE RECEIVED. WE ATTEMPTED TO GROUP LIKE COMMENTS. · It would be advantageous for councilmembers to contact staff before a Council meeting with concerns of questions so that no surprises come up. If staff has the opportunity to provide additional information, councilmembers can make informed decisions and avoid continuation to another Council meeting. Internal contact makes both Council and staff look good to the public. · I want to stress that Councilmembers should seek out Staff with questions regarding agenda items prior to meetings. This allows Staff to provider more comprehensive answers at the Council meetings. · Council needs to recognize that the process we have is really a Republic decision-making process and it not a Democratic-based outcome. In other words, the Council should respect and weigh public comment, however, the final decision must be based upon the general good and welfare of the entire community as opposed to the sentiment of an outspoken few. · The Council sometimes focuses on making an individual or a small group happy, without considering the impact on the entire community · Special interest platforms and interest in a particular area of living can be expressed too often · Too many committees - enough said. · The visionary approach to city development that Prior Lake is doing is a good thing. The attention to the small town values like family, community involvement, personal contentment, and appreciation of natural spaces are being incorporated along with financial aspects. · The 2030 Vision and Strategic Plan is a very good tool. Everything we do needs to be guided or supported by the VSP. We have an opportunity to expand our visioning/ strategic planning with regard to economic development · Minutiae is well managed by staff. · Hold tight when it comes to requests to rezone existing C-5 and 1-1 to some other classification. Easily developable C-5 and 1-1 are scarce commodities in Prior Lake DN: 303794 5 (especially when compared with inventory of neighboring communities, i.e., Shakopee, Savage, and Lakeville). Attraction and retention of businesses with high wage jobs is partly dependent on availability of quality sites. · Demand for developable business/office/industrial park land is increasing. There is an opportunity to plan for business park development to accommodate high-end users, i.e., technology oriented/light manufacturing. Should/can the annexation areas be considered for development sooner than anticipated? · Councilmembers should indicate their preferred means of communication. It is helpful to staff to know whether a Councilmember prefers to receive e-mail or a telephone call. Knowing the Councilmembers preference allows staff to communicate information or respond to an inquiry in a more efficient way. DN: 303794 6 '!- . CITY OF PRIOR LAKE RESPONSES FROM CITY STAFF IN REGARD TO UPCOMING RETREAT THE STAFF WERE PROVIDED WITH THREE CARDS AND INVITED TO SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS WITH COUNCILMEMBERS. BELOW IS A COMPILATION OF THE COMMENTS THAT WERE RECEIVED. WE ATTEMPTED TO GROUP LIKE COMMENTS. · It would be advantageous for councilmembers to contact staff before a Council meeting with concerns of questions so that no surprises come up. If staff has the opportunity to provide additional information, councilmembers can make informed decisions and avoid continuation to another Council meeting. Internal contact makes both Council and staff look good to the public. · I want to stress that Councilmembers should seek out Staff with questions regarding agenda items prior to meetings. This allows Staff to provider more comprehensive answers at the Council meetings. · Council needs to recognize that the process we have is really a Republic decision-making process and it not a Democratic-based outcome. In other words, the Council should respect and weigh public comment, however, the final decision must be based upon the general good and welfare of the entire community as opposed to the sentiment of an outspoken few. · The Council sometimes focuses on making an individual or a small group happy, without considering the impact on the entire community · Special interest platforms and interest in a particular area of living can be expressed too often · Too many committees - enough said. · The visionary approach to city development that Prior Lake is doing is a good thing. The attention to the small town values like family, community involvement, personal contentment, and appreciation of natural spaces are being incorporated along with financial aspects. · The 2030 Vision and Strategic Plan is a very good tool. Everything we do needs to be guided or supported by the VSP. We have an opportunity to expand our visioning/ strategic planning with regard to economic development · Minutiae is well managed by staff. · Hold tight when it comes to requests to rezone existing C-5 and I-I to some other classification. Easily developable C-5 and I-I are scarce commodities in Prior Lake DN: 303794 5 .. . .~ ..... (especially when compared with inventory of neighboring communities, i.e., Shakopee, Savage, and Lakeville). Attraction and retention of businesses with high wage jobs is partly dependent on availability of quality sites. · Demand for developable business/office/industrial park land is increasing. There is an opportunity to plan for business park development to accommodate high-end users, i.e., technology oriented/light manufacturing. Should/can the annexation areas be considered for development sooner than anticipated? · Councilmembers should indicate their preferred means of communication. It is helpful to staff to know whether a Councilmember prefers to receive e-mail or a telephone call. Knowing the Councilmembers preference allows staff to communicate information or respond to an inquiry in a more efficient way. 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