CITY OF SHORELINE

SHORELINE CITY COUNCIL

SUMMARY MINUTES OF DINNER MEETING

 

Monday, February 28, 2005                                                                                                    

Shoreline Conference Center

6:00 p.m.  Highlander Room

 

 

PRESENT:       Mayor Hansen, Deputy Mayor Jepsen, Councilmembers Chang, Fimia, Grace, Gustafson, and Ransom

 

ABSENT:        none

 

STAFF:            Steve Burkett, City Manager; Bob Olander, Deputy City Manager; Julie Modrzejewski, Assistant City Manager; Joyce Nichols, Communications and Intergovernmental Affairs Director; and Sharon Mattioli, City Clerk

 

Mayor Hansen called the meeting to order at 6:25 p.m.  All Councilmembers were present.  Mayor Hansen turned the meeting over to Councilmember Grace, who reviewed the summary of items of agreement from the Council’s February 11 retreat.

 

The review began with discussion of the ground rules the Council identified to ensure that citizens have the opportunity to truly influence Council decisions:

 

  • Post rules for public comment on the wall of the Council meeting room. 
  • Urge that all public comments be made with respect.  
  • Have the Mayor use his discretion in control of applause. 
  • Endeavor to keep public comments to the allotted 20 minutes by reducing the amount of time allocated to individual speakers when necessary. 
  • Schedule only one public hearing per agenda. 
  • Consider placing microphones in the aisles for the convenience of speakers. 
  • Poll audience support of speaker comments to avoid repetitious testimony. 
  • Address accuracy of public comments by staff or Councilmembers.
  • Evidence neutrality when listening to public comments. 
  • Clearly identify official organizations. 
  • Research new location for Council meetings. 
  • Consider all forms of public comment in addition to those made at Council meetings and provide feedback to citizens.

 

After this discussion of how to improve the efficiency of Council meetings, there was a reference to the decision-making guidelines developed at the retreat.

 

Councilmember Grace concluded that at the retreat Councilmembers agreed on two actions:

 

1.         Councilmember Fimia committed to developing a proposal that addresses how Council can capitalize on the expertise of each Councilmember more effectively and how Council can advance the analysis of and discussions about issues and proposals through the Council process more efficiently.  She said she could present something by next week.

 

2.         Deputy Mayor Jepsen and Councilmembers Gustafson and Ransom will draft more specific 2005 performance goals and measurements for the City Manager.  Mr. Burkett suggested that this could occur after the Council retreat in April.

    

Mayor Hansen adjourned the meeting at 7:30 p.m.

 

 

 

__________________________________________________________

Sharon Mattioli, City Clerk