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Home My WebLink About10C Meeting Schedule Report Phone 952.447.9800 / Fax 952.447.4245 / www.cityofpriorlake.com 4646 Dakota Street SE Prior Lake, MN 55372 CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT MEETING DATE: JANUARY 09, 2017 AGENDA #: 10C PREPARED BY: FRANK BOYLES, CITY MANAGER PRESENTED BY: FRANK BOYLES AGENDA ITEM: CONSIDER APPROVAL OF REVISIONS IN THE 2017 MEETING SCHEDULE DISCUSSION: Introduction The purpose of this agenda item is to determine if the newly seated city council desires to change the present schedule of city council meetings and if so, the time schedule for such a change. History In 2012 the city changed city attorney firms. At the time Ric Rosow the city attorney for Savage became the city attorney of Prior Lake as well. The Savage City Council met the first and third Monday of each month. At that time, Prior Lake had the same meeting schedule. So that Mr. Rosow could attend both Prior Lake and Savage city council meetings, we changed our meeting night from first and third Monday to second and fourth. This meant that the Prior Lake Planning Commission which had been meeting on the second and fourth Monday had to revert to the first and third. Current Circumstances As the new city council has come into office, there has been an acknowledgement that because the Prior Lake City Council and ISD 719 School District meet on the same evening, a citizen could not attend both meetings. Various options are available to resolve this conflict. One is to retain the existing schedule and hope that the conflict between the two meetings is only a minimal inconvenience for a small number of residents. Or the council could retain the current schedule and meet during the day like the county board does rather than evenings. A third option is go revert to the first and third Monday schedule the council previously followed. This would require the planning commission to change their meeting back to the second and fourth Monday. A fourth option would be to change city council meeting nights to a different night of the week of different time of day. ISSUES: There are impacts associated with each option. Keeping the meeting schedule “as is” continues the year-round conflict between city council and school board meetings. For persons who are actively involved with both bodies, the conflict impedes upon their ability to have effective input on a continuing basis. An alternative would be to request that the school district reschedule their meetings rather than change city council meeting dates. The staff has not pursued this option but the city council could direct such action. Retaining the same meeting day but moving the meeting time up to 9am or 2pm would eliminate the conflict with the school district but would create problems for persons interested in their city government (including some city council members) from attending council meetings during the work day. Changing council meetings to a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday evening is another possibility. Wednesday nights are typically church nights. Certain Tuesday nights are reserved for the Watershed. Two of four Thursdays each month are scheduled for other advisory committee meetings. Posting public meeting notices for nights other that Monday night can be problematic because in some cases there are greater delay between public notices and meeting days due to publication deadlines and newspaper distribution days. It appears that the simplest solution would be to move city council meetings back to the first and third Monday evening and the planning commission to second and fourth Monday evening. This possibility has been discussed with Planning Commission Chair Bryan Fleming and the results of the discussion should be available on Monday night. In order to provide the time necessary to assure that already published hearings are unaffected, implementation would be recommended starting the month of April. In that case the council meetings would be April 3 and 17 and planning commission April 10 and 24. This lead time will allow us to reschedule those who have already reserved the city hall building based upon the present meeting schedule. In the interim we would publicize the changes in meeting schedule in various media. For comparison purposes we have attached a meeting schedule which shows the existing schedule. Of course if the council adopts the revised schedule then the meeting dates would be reversed for the city council and planning commission after April 1 of this year. FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no significant cost impact of this meeting schedule change ALTERNATIVES: 1. Motion and second to approve the revised 2017 meeting schedule effective in April of 2017 and directing staff to appropriately publicize the change. 2. Motion and second to retain the existing meeting schedule. RECOMMENDED MOTION: Alternative #1 Tues. 01.03.17 Mon. 01.09.17 Tues. 01.16.17 Mon. 01.23.17 Mon. 02.06.17 Mon. 02.13.17 Tues. 02.21.17 Mon. 02.27.17 Mon. 03.06.17 Mon. 03.13.17 Mon. 03.20.17 Mon. 03.27.17 Mon. 04.03.17 Mon. 04.10.17 Mon. 04.17.17 Mon. 04.24.17 Mon. 05.01.17 Mon. 05.08.17 Mon. 05.15.17 Mon. 05.22.17 Mon. 06.05.17 Mon. 06.12.17 Mon. 06.19.17 Mon. 06.26.17 Mon. 07.03.17 Mon. 07.10.17 Mon. 07.17.17 Mon. 07.24.17 Mon. 08.07.17 Mon. 08.14.17 Mon. 08.21.17 Mon. 08.28.17 Tues. 09.05.17 Mon. 09.11.17 Mon. 09.18.17 Mon. 09.25.17 Mon. 10.02.17 Mon. 10.09.17 Mon. 10.16.17 Mon. 10.23.17 Mon. 11.06.17 Mon. 11.13.17 Mon. 11.20.17 Mon. 11.27.17 Mon. 12.04.17 Mon. 12.11.17 Mon. 12.18.17 Tues.12.26.17 Current City Council Meetings 2nd & 4th Weeks Current Planning Commission Meetings 1st & 3rd Weeks