- Are there any uh proposed revisions to the agenda?
- Um, I just want to add after items three a will have a report, um
- On legal ramifications of allowing
- or
- Negation to the city residency requirement for wars and commissions
- um
- That's just an oversight like part b should be discussion
- Possible changes to allow people from outside the city and then public comment
- Okay, so um we will
- Go on with them the update section
- And I don't know who from the clerk's office can give an update about public comment, but
- electronic signage. I can do that. Um,
- So we have created the form shown it to I think most council members
- And there was a little concern about using the qr code for my ts
- So we've tried to meet with them a couple of times and that has not worked out
- But with the recent cyber security training that we had I wonder if a qr code is just not ideal and
- we should just use it
- I mean url
- They're just getting half form. Yeah, and so
- Everything is ready to go in terms of using an ipad
- Um, I think that's probably ideal
- I'm not quite sure looking at the calendar if this wednesday is ideal to use
- To test it out. So we let go wrong
- Oh, yes
- I think my recommendation would be the 27th
- Um
- But I guess it's really up to you all we can discuss if we answer any questions
- I've probably pulled them up to a good one
- So, um
- You would be ready to move forward on the 22nd
- We're ready now
- But I think there still needs to be some discussion on who is going to be managing calling on the
- people. Yes, it's
- Ideally we can set it up and the the chair or president would be the one
- Kind of queuing up the public commenters
- We did that a little bit. You might remember during coven when we first went hybrid or actually all
- virtual
- um
- And that tended to work out okay
- So basically someone would just need to be able to filter that spreadsheet
- Is the public commenter wanting to speak on something on the agenda?
- If so, then they would wait until that section if it's not then they would have the opportunity to
- speak at the first public
- Comment period over the second
- So just be managing that side of it
- And we can have I think
- Longer discussions on that, too
- I also did ask, um
- Facilities or public works if they had an ipad stand which would be kind of nice because then that
- removes people from
- Lining up at the podium and taking a lot of time to sign in
- Um, it's secure. It would be locked. So that's another plus
- But before we buy one
- We want to make sure that we're going to use this process and not
- Continue with like paper. So
- That's kind of where we are. I am okay with not going down the qr code. So if you all are I think
- it makes no sense
- And then we would populate the tiny url in the chat
- and
- Really anywhere else we want to but just
- For those folks who don't want to
- Type it in they would just hang up to the ipad or computer
- Great
- Um, they just say there are two ipads. Yes available
- So they're the larger ones. So I think that they would be ideal. We also have a computer
- That could be those so as far as placing that in council chambers you think at the
- I don't know if it helps to be kind of
- ironed out
- I do see this is why I think the stand would be nice because you could put it kind of like
- Away, so it wouldn't necessarily be where the people were speaking and could be over by our desk by
- the media desk
- There's a lot of options
- but until we got some sort of
- Stand or secure way and a little hesitant to just put an ipad a city outpad
- logged in
- You know, it's tied to the clerk account. So I don't want someone to lock off a bit
- So we're trying to see if we can borrow an ipad stand that locks basically that's kind of our right
- now
- That would be my preference anyway, but we're welcoming any feedback
- I think it would make sense to wait until the 22nd once we have everything the way it was
- Especially if it sounds like we're gonna have to get to yeah
- Um
- yeah, I think that
- we'll have to
- like the thing between the
- President vice president and parliamentarian have to work out who's going to
- Monitor it. Yeah, maybe do a test run doesn't say there might just be a small learning curve of how
- to access that how to filter it
- I don't think it'll be difficult, but it'd just be a small adjustment. Yeah. Yeah, you know
- Knowing me
- I'm sure other people do the same way. It's like oh, yeah, right. I forgot. That's my job
- All right. I forgot I have to do that
- I think once I'm going to join
- Excuse me and see if I can
- Share my screen just to show you briefly here
- What it looks like as a reminder because it is a very it's just a sortable spreadsheet. So is it on
- the agenda?
- you'd sort it by
- The nose first because they would really be wanting to speak during the first
- Session
- Actually, does anyone have an interest in seeing this
- Or not I'd like to see over here if you don't mind. Yeah, I have it ready to go
- Maybe
- So the form
- This is what the form would look like
- More or less, it's always uh changeable
- but uh, there's a brief very brief intro
- Name, uh, we want to track the player commenting via zoom
- There's um other questions, but basically what i'd like to show you is the spreadsheet
- Is that you will be able to see?
- So then it'd just be a little prep work ahead of time
- Um
- But as you can see this is sorted by
- Nose first then yeses and then what's nice is over here. It would tell you
- What item was on the agenda and then the president could sort it that way too. Yeah
- And as we use it, it could be tweaked a little bit more. So well, what's nice about a google doc
- Is that even during the meeting if people are still saying you can still still a bit easily
- And by what you need and it's in a queue because it's time spent
- And there might be hiccups there might be we call the wrong person first and that can happen
- And if the president wants to bounce back and forth between zoom and in person as well
- But what's nice about this from our point of view in the clerk's office is that we have
- The correct spelling of names
- A snapshot and I think it'll just make things a little bit
- Easier in the long run. There's going to be a learning curve I imagine
- But I think in the end it will be quite useful
- And other I think other second class cities use similar type of public assignment
- Systems
- Oh, yeah, I can share this wrong here I can share this if you all want to
- Fill it out
- Anyway, stop shooting
- So the question of whether or not they're on zoom is if you have to scroll to see that um
- It's still on the same spreadsheet, okay. Yeah. Yeah
- Yeah
- And the other thing sorry the last piece i'll say about the form itself is we don't want to overly
- complicate it for
- Maybe non-savvy users of technology
- Which we encounter often
- Yeah, but I we can
- have any kind of follow-up
- Conversations about it or is it useful if I share the link with folks to fill it out to see what
- the public sees
- Council staff included
- Sure, yeah, okay. I'll send that out
- Does council staff have any concerns
- You know as always probably my primary concern is just how the technology
- Flushes together in practice because already there are
- Four different computers that we operate during the council meeting
- We have consistently had issues with the podium timer
- And at any given time it could be an issue with another computer as well
- Yeah, so I want to like work out any chance in advance
- Yeah, and I mean the other pieces we don't need to go to a
- Format that we can still use paper
- True
- But then
- it brings the issue of when
- somebody is trying to
- Make minutes and we're trying to read even though the paper form says
- Please print logically people. I don't
- I think people get up there and they they literally sign it and I think they just go
- And so it's really hard for us
- To see and if somebody's trying to do meeting minutes and trying to go back and look at the
- document
- Then we try to go and we'll have to like fill up a meeting
- And try to figure out who what when where and on top of that too
- There's one member of the public who is quite humorous and misspells their name every time
- So they've not been around lately, but it's been
- Very funny
- Well, I think it would be good if
- Maybe
- Courtney myself and hopey
- Did like a whole practice test run
- and
- Yes, hopey will
- Decide which of us is the primary responsible for this
- I feel comfortable with it. I don't mind. That'd be great being in charge of it because
- I think it's pretty straightforward
- I wasn't i'm not likely, you know distracted trying to organize them. Yeah, that's good thing. So
- that's fine
- Right
- But yeah, we can confer with you and maybe do a test
- Yep
- All right, any other comments concerns before we go
- Okay, um
- Proposal for planning and scheduling deliberation sessions. So that was revised a little bit since
- last time
- Um, lisa, do you have anything to
- Say, I don't know if we need to um, I don't know. Yeah christine can present on this. We have some
- revised
- Yeah, there's um, so we included the memo, um with red lines from last time and so basically
- That's pretty similar from the last google form that we had but we just add some like required
- folks including um stage
- Of that specific legislation discussion if there's like any legislation included in that discussion
- um, so
- Which we asked which stage of this legislative process they're in and then
- um also in like what type of meeting and divisions and also
- What type of like public engagement potentially like the deliberation session we had for last month
- I believe with like the public and like table discussions
- So sort of like break up groups things like that. So
- um, also whether we mean like facilitators, um, that's also an optional field and
- Also, sorry required fields and optional fields. There's like we added whether or not
- other cms our council members are actually um sponsoring sponsoring this deliberation section as
- well and helping with
- the topic and maybe gathering potential, um
- Information and documents that packed with materials that we did for that session and I guess, um,
- that's it. So
- Uh sam and I worked on this and um, really I've really chatted with um is about about
- That's so that also if there's anything else we'd like to add on
- that for
- Any comments on the form
- Thank you
- Um
- Okay, well, what's the next step we would just send this to all council members
- Yeah, I really so so um, if this form is ready to go, um, we can set that out maybe in an email and
- then like
- Having the document, um, what's shared with council members
- Well, that sounds great
- Thank you very much
- Um
- Okay, um
- Then uh, the third thing under updates is revision of code to clarify that reports are not just
- from city offices
- um, so that uh
- Thank you to the staff who created
- These legislations so that we can enact that
- Yeah, so for today's meeting we prepared an ordinance
- with a red line document that shows the change was the addition of
- the city clerk
- and city boards and commissions
- Anybody have any feedback on that so everybody from the phone
- Good
- Okay, great, so we can bring that forward
- You mean that was that was my question would you would you want to uh,
- Introduce this
- Um, just as we would any other
- Legislation or at that meeting would you like?
- To report on that as the chair
- Or before having the vote on it?
- Just hand it over to the other
- And our first readings like we normally would any any type of legislation
- Yeah, let's see. Why not? Okay. Yeah, let me be quick. She goes you're awesome steps
- So for any small change after
- much discussion about possible other
- Chairs, often the law is right bad
- All right, so let's move on to the city residency requirement for service on boards and clinicians
- And there will be a public comment
- section for this topic but first was here from
- Council staff and thank you so much for preparing this
- of
- any of all the boards and commissions and what they
- Do and what?
- Presidency requirements apply that i'll speak to this initially and then
- Christine can't provide some additional detail. We spent a significant amount of time reviewing
- this and
- Working with the clerk's office as well
- as an overview
- Boards and commissions
- Have been holistically reviewed. I think in the past with respect to
- Appointments of county residents largely when we went through and examined
- Each board and each commission it either have
- Have county representation in some form that many of the boards of commissions do have
- Appointments or or a county official actually makes the appointment
- in other situations
- state statute
- requires
- city residency
- On top of any requirement by the building division
- And then in other situations we saw where there was an aspect
- of
- city finances involved
- such that there
- Could be a compelling argument for restricting
- Appointments to city residents
- Christine put a lot of time into this so I'll let
- Her speak to it in more specific detail
- Well, yeah, and also, thank you jennifer for um working with this
- So we went through basically all the boards and commissions which is like 40 something that we have
- in our city
- And um, so I won't um go into all these details regarding each board or commission
- Um, but there's like some findings after looking into this research
- um, so
- Actually, um, maybe we can just go directly to um the conclusion of this research. We're just in
- page
- 72 off my research document, but it's
- I think it's um page 11 of the packet. No, no, no, I think it was 31
- Yeah, 31. Thank you
- So, um, I think the first thing is after looking into this
- Um, just like what lisa said the question of like whether county residents
- Can be included or considered as an application or become like a membership of certain political
- commission
- I don't even take them into consideration at some point before
- So, um, like you can see in several different boards and commission
- They're already including seats appointed by the county commissioner specifically or they allow
- like county resident to apply and then going through like
- Common council be appointed by the council or appointed by the mayor's office
- and so
- I think um all those other that are not
- currently allowing like county residents, um, like potentially are
- Required by state law specifically, uh limited them to be like city residents or other like
- focusing specific on
- city's task or more like responsibility tied indirectly to city fundings, so
- Maybe that's why that although some of those
- boards and commissions
- restricted to specifically city resident only
- So we believe that maybe a more practical
- Consideration is that we can see if each board or commission
- Individually, but for example like our commission that needs
- um like opening to
- county residents
- um, so that's like
- Sort of due to some of the nature of those boards and commissions. So that's
- Why?
- It seems not very workable to have a general rule
- Adding like in chummy residents to each board and commission
- And for our commission specifically I talked with
- Um genfer about this
- Um, maybe a potential option for that commission is to like adding an advice receipt
- for chummy resident in that commission specifically and also
- Another option is to like allow one like county appointment potentially
- either from mayor or from the council and that kind of purified the issue between like who made
- that appointment and
- specifically how that appointment being made and um, the last thing that we identified is that um,
- the general rule, which is the bfc
- section
- 2.08.020 that one the residential requirement. Um, there's like some ambiguity there
- which currently a provision on the state that
- The city required a city resident requirements are for only boards commissions and councils
- But not specifically for advisory committees. So we're thinking that for um clarification maybe
- like adding advisory committees on that
- provision will be helpful since um
- After my talk with jennifer that there might be a need like for certain advisory committees are
- still like restricted for
- city resident families since your task and
- um
- There's specific city funding regarding that course and commissions. Yeah, I think that's our good
- thing
- I was gonna say case in point caps. Yeah caps commission is an advisory committee
- and
- Therefore that is only tied to
- Um city residents being able to be a part of that. Um, and I just wanted to interject and also say
- like
- Obviously like this came from the situation where it wasn't ideal and sometimes when there's heartburn
- there's beauty after
- Um situations have come about so this has been a long time coming honestly
- um, but it was necessary for us to kind of dive in and I think we
- Um when christina and I like worked together on this collaborative we found
- that
- there is some cleanup so to speak, um when it comes to this the other thing that I wanted to point
- out too is um,
- initially like i'd already created a spreadsheet that showed
- all of our boards and commissions in the city and if it had a requirement of
- Um a city resident or can allow minero county residents to be a part of it as well
- And if there was indiana code that also ties all into this
- so it was a really fun process and I
- Appreciate the opportunity to have uh to work with christina on this as well
- And I do think I an agreement of I think this is definitely a case-by-case basis
- um, and I think in terms of adding advisory
- I would maybe even take it a step further since this is coming through the
- ccp that if you're going to do the take of advisory
- Then council should be the person to make the advice like should have the advisory seat my personal
- opinion
- Take it how you want. Um, but I was just thinking about that and that's not to say that we are
- adding
- um to the
- the typical or to or
- We're not adding more bodies to the board of commission
- I think that was something else that we had talked about too is
- if there is a vacancy you can change that vacancy into
- An advisory seat and obviously we know and when I send out the appointments to
- People that are taking advisory roles that are council appointments. We also specify that you do
- not have a voting
- Privilege and that this is sheer advisory. So we make that explicitly clear
- To everybody and also it's updated on board too
- So when we go in you'll see that it says voting seat and then some of them say advisory kind of
- like how
- chla the commission on hispanic and latin affairs
- as some council seats that are
- voting and then some seats that are
- um advisory seats, too
- so
- one
- Yeah, one additional point to add is that um
- The spreadsheet that we are preparing actually just reflect kind of all the research that is done
- here
- And I think that spreadsheet helps to kind of identify like certain
- boards for commission that currently like living on
- county resident or like non-county commissioner appointments and also like
- identify, um all like um boards and commission that are required by the state law so um
- Because we are still currently updating this spreadsheet. So, um, potentially that could be put on
- our next voting packet
- If we're interested in that
- And then I just thought of it. Well, i'm sorry. Well i'm working. Um, sorry. Not sorry. Um
- So I think we had I think I mentioned this before to council member clevon smith when we discussed
- it
- And I know that christina and I had a conversation about this last week
- The residential requirement is in a very odd spot in the bmc. So when i'm regular
- Gijane and I want to go in and I want to take a look at you know, what's happening and in terms of
- what qualifies me
- um as a resident and a community member here in willington
- I would assume that I would go to the code and go click on boards commissions and councils
- however
- When you go and do that, it does not specify residency requirements
- It's in a very weird spot and it is in the executive branch
- um area under general provisions and that's where somebody can see where
- Your residency required stuff. So when we had a lot of
- um
- A lot of input rather what happened with appointments of the arts commission
- Um, people did not know where to find this and so it basically left people to the imagination of
- well
- I don't see where this requirement is because it's not here and only you know, the nerds that
- Look in code a lot every single day and know about heart
- Um know exactly where to find it. So I would also you know recommend too
- I know it title two is still a work in progress, but this is definitely a blaring thing
- That should be looked at or so. Thank you
- Yes
- If you were to revise that section where the residency requirement currently appears
- Would you also?
- um amend that portion of the bmc that includes the removal process would would you
- Put all of that under boards and permissions in there. Yes, I would agree
- I think we talked about this earlier this year when it came to some other council appointments
- because it's not made clear
- Under that particular part
- It talks about how you know the person that is an office and the mayor appointment
- Um can be removed for just cost. However, there's no really wrong reason
- when it comes to council appointment and there's really not a
- Not it's not clearly defined in code like the process or that type of thing
- and I think that's definitely something that could be
- put in code for
- Everybody as well. I think the the language even though it's embedded in the executive branch
- Applies also to to council appointments, I think all appointments the language refers to all
- appointments
- um
- I can you know, I can only speculate that maybe
- The uh, the city appointments are housed under the executive branch because
- often
- uh boards and commissions
- are associated
- with the executive branch
- Yeah, but I I I agree that putting all of those requirements and all of that language under boards
- and commissions
- Makes sense. I've not talked about that with the legal department. I love them
- I don't know if they have a different opinion
- Um, the problem with that is that not all boards and commissions are in sync with those
- Are some of them under cfrd?
- Yes, some of them are
- Under 212 which says boards and commissions and councils should all be there
- Anyway, so i'm not sure but see once you clean up one thing because
- That's not true
- So when focusing on the residency thing what are some reactions
- I think the way that christine laid it out made a lot of sense, especially regarding, you know
- We don't have county seats on boards that are distributing city funds
- So I do I do understand why that would be the case
- I'm not completely sold that
- County residents would not also benefit
- from having a seat on that but it's
- specifically on the arts commission and any other commissions that might
- Distribute money that would support, you know local
- I don't want to just say artists, but you know
- Individuals who may have a hard time being supported by other funds, especially given
- the federal and state
- Yes, super senses
- I agree. Yeah
- I think it makes sense for
- For some representation obviously in certain areas
- not
- I think the um, honestly the affordability issue
- of the fact that there are a lot a significant number of residents in Monroe County that would live
- in Bloomington if they could afford to
- um for me like that is
- A little bit of a
- Policy failure that doesn't necessarily like rest on anyone's shoulders, but it is a direct result
- of you know
- Bloomington is an expensive place to live there are quite a few people in the county would love the
- opportunity to be able to
- Contribute to in a positive way to the city
- I think my initial appreciate all the research and uh information help us think about this. Um my
- prior
- input on it had been that I
- My gut was to prefer a uniform approach and it seems like that's really not feasible
- for a variety of reasons
- Uh, and uh, see if it is like a uniform
- Approach that would be to like a subset of commissions for which we ultimately decided like this is
- a good idea
- Maybe maybe just like five or six but like still taking maybe the same approach with those five or
- six or whatever it is
- um, so that's one
- takeaway, uh, I think y'all
- Present i'm calling case for my camera each apply under rule
- um
- Second, I like I share some of the thoughts we shared by uh, for the great members and I i'm sure
- that makes mine on this
- And I think it may be another reason why some case-by-case
- situation is
- I do have some hesitancy at times with
- when we have political units
- For a reason the same way we don't let an indiana resident serve on an Illinois redistricting
- commission or something
- right, which is like that's a different context it's stating much more stark, but like
- You know, there's always a case to be made for neighbors having employed and and so I guess
- I do get a little wrapped up in that sometimes okay, you know, it depends a little bit on the
- subject matter
- it depends and I think ours is kind of innocuous and
- The most uh, like not but not to say it's significant but just like that's not an area where I have
- a lot of concern about
- county, uh, resident participation also like
- Some of those concerns are probably mostly in the realm of the euro and not the practical
- uh, so I might feel bad too, which all of which to say those are kind of my thoughts on it. I
- I'm curious. Yeah, I think through
- With me like what what a good next step would be uh to advance this conversation also curious if
- the decision from the mayor's office is still
- What I haven't showed last meeting to be sort of a uniform opposition to this
- um, but
- It should be around so
- as a legal matter
- We didn't see a reason why?
- and county appointment
- Could be added on the voteability in part submission. I mean, that's kind of where
- this started
- Um, and you have the commission telling you it seems that like the pool within the city isn't big
- enough
- To potentially come along with appropriate candidates
- They say that
- No, I would say in our experience i'm on the committee that it reads with arts commission
- They didn't quite the opposite actually like we arts commission is consistently a commission
- commission with them
- A lot of high quality applicants have a lot of interest
- Uh, that's true. Maybe with some other commissions. Um
- But I think it's about the perspectives. It's my understanding. Okay, but I thought there was a
- reason why they were supporting
- Including a county. Yeah, I think some of the well
- They expressly, um named affordability as a barrier to access for some folks living in the city. So
- like I think it was about diversifying
- Uh the pool of potential applicants in the interest of getting more perspectives
- um
- but I just wanted to know that's sustained from whether or not we have
- An adequate number of qualified in interest of that thing. Yeah, I think
- But if you if you want to add a county involvement to the commission
- I didn't see anything, you know across that
- Right, and it doesn't seem like they're handling city funds, for example large amounts
- What do you mean? Are they the deciding entity or a recommending entity on grants? Uh
- I don't think that's the same thing, but
- Again, it's not like public works. Yes
- um, I was gonna add to I think
- one of the things that I remember hearing from watching the discussions kind of going back and
- forth with them is that they're very particular, um, and
- The voices that are coming in and so they have a niche for somebody who?
- Um is very good in music
- They are trying to look for another person who is good in
- You know different types of arts, so to speak. So they're trying to get like a wide diverse
- background of all
- types of
- um affiliates with the arts community and in particular again their conversation is
- That because they are doing the arts project with the upcoming Bloomington slash Monroe county
- convention center expansion
- Um, they thought that having that kind of input could
- Be a best practice so to speak
- um for a person
- from accounting to give
- employee
- And so instead of given, you know that particular individual voting privilege
- It was thought of as maybe you can add an advisory suite
- Julie's do you have anything to add from the second half of this? Sure, should I come on? Yeah,
- thanks.
- Yeah
- Uh, hi everyone i'm felix mitchell, uh the mayor obviously a specialist is my title
- So yeah me I actually didn't know that christy and jennifer were working on this document and it's
- great
- I've just been briefed me a little bit but um
- Yeah, as far as the mayor's opinion, it's
- I wouldn't say it's a blanket from no one any
- Uh county it was just I think the idea was
- Adding a county resident to every single boarding commission seemed a little much but if the
- council were to take a
- Looking at each one individual if I don't think there's a blanket no in place as far as something
- like that
- um, I can also speak to the
- The Wilmington art school a little bit because I kind of interviewed for that
- Vacancy and I said there was there was an abundance actually of really qualified candidates, which
- is a great problem to have
- But uh, so it's sort of a shame how many those we had to say
- How many good Africans we got so that if that's the concern as far as filling vacancies
- I think the Wilmington art space just had a unique and a big a lot of really qualified people
- For the people. So that's my take on that given that I've interviewed for those spots. So i'm
- familiar with that
- So that's I guess the extended it would be like if we were to look at visa from a from an
- individual perspective
- I don't know if the mayor has a
- I don't know one to say on that
- But yeah
- Um
- You're welcome to stay there
- And if you have any other questions that i've just
- forgot some
- touch on
- So, um, do you have any I guess i'm going to ask everybody
- What about this idea of um advisory now so they're not voting but they get to be part of the
- conversation
- um
- That may be a way to approach these bodies like the arts commission that do handle city funds
- Which is the point of contention with the mayor and maybe some of us I don't know
- Um, but they can have still have input
- from people who don't know something else
- Thoughts
- Does anyone ever turn down an advisory position? I know when I manage them they have
- So the commission on Hispanic and not too many fairs
- Someone did not want to be an advisor in an advisory seat. It was a council appointment
- This was years ago, but didn't
- Recently, you know
- Usually I see the opposite
- Um, we always see an hdc and chla are two prime examples because those are ones that have
- advisory seats if a council appointment is starting off advisory
- If there is a bonus week today immediately we'll try to switch to see it as if I get stuck in the
- door
- Yeah, I mean I I see that because I wrote down are there two tiers of service then like somebody's
- doing
- The work going on meetings reading packets and everything, but they don't
- Yeah, that would be my one concern. I just was putting myself in those shoes and thinking
- How do I feel about something like that?
- Yeah, I don't know if you're interested to talk to folks who've served in advisory, uh capacity
- We have a few examples of this including the start preservation commission as well. I'm just
- getting better opinions about it
- My guys didn't practice
- Uh, including experience serving on commissions like it things operate
- It's rare that like you're having to vote where it's going to be like a six five vote and like
- somebody not having to vote like
- Change the outcome like it's much more input discussion consensus base
- Then the practical aspect of an advisory seat in most cases or in many cases will be
- Almost indistinguishable. Um
- And that I do like that, you know, maybe has its safeguards against some of the concerns if there
- are finances or things like that
- um
- And it's not we do have other examples. That's not just on boards of commission, but that conceptually
- you have you know, we have the
- The county uh surveyor sits on the planning machine as an advisory no strike. It's nice to see a
- role
- I serve on the utility service board, but it's it's a non-voting advisory role in order to have
- council, you know
- um lays on essentially an input at times and that kind of thing so it's not
- Novel you never unique in the
- In the realm of government, I guess to take this type of approach where there are reasons why
- Take a member of a political constituency, uh
- Government being political unit, uh that you know
- They might take that approach. So my only concern with it is it's a yes that it's a committee a
- little
- I don't know. It's unwieldy. It sounds like jennifer you were saying that it's actually pretty
- Manageable, you know and like clearly communicated so I could see potential for challenges there
- But people not knowing it or you know, there's lots of stuff that could be communicated and
- administered
- Well, I think that's probably yeah fine. I think and I think you're absolutely right
- Usually when we're reaching out to people
- And i'm scheduled an interview so people hang their seat and it is this type of seat
- Um, and so I think that is also gone over again when the committee is interviewing the person
- And then once again when the person is actually appointed
- All of my letters that I send out to everybody specifies
- Is this a voting seat or is this an advisory seat?
- And if it's a voting seat, you have voting privileges if it's an advisory seat you have
- Non-voting you know, so we're pretty clear. I would be shocked if anybody was like I didn't know
- Maybe you weren't listening
- But at least about two to three different times before we get to that final stage
- And they're very clear to an individual that this is the seat that you're going for
- And on that note, you've done a lot of work too with onboard
- So someone applying would see that the vacancy is a voting non-voting advisory. Correct
- Yeah, the one thing that this is like the mayor's opinion this is fine just because I work with
- these boards and commissions a lot is
- um
- sometimes the
- Like that I would assume as if I were to serve on one of these boards and commissions and advisory
- work rule
- Now we're seeing a voting seat open up. We would think this is sort of like a pathway to that
- voting scene
- Um, and this might just be my brain thinking like what could go wrong?
- but the idea that you might see that pathway like not explicitly but like sort of
- Uh, it's sort of implied and then if say this advisor's seat is appointed by council and then they're
- maybe the mayor does not
- want to apply to a voting seat
- I can see like some potential of sort of discontentment there where you would you would assume it's
- like
- Clear movement for the advisory of voting, but it might not always be the case. So I just
- Like the more advisory seats the more potential that this might happen. I would say that it should
- always serve a purpose
- You know I have
- We are pretty explicit in our
- interview committees about like what it means to even have an advisory seat and how like there's a
- possibility that they would be
- bumped up into a voting seat, but that like
- Our and especially because like there are two different branches that are making appointments that
- were very explicit like
- This is the seat that we're like, this is the seat that you're interviewing for
- The other seat has a completely different process and it doesn't give you a leg up but having the
- experience might help
- But it's not a confirmation
- So we just did that with jerry barrett for the historic preservation commission
- Everyday, yeah
- Yeah
- On which bodies currently have advisory seats the hpc and um the commission on hispanic and latin
- air bears
- Just those two
- This is a section of the code that describes what an advisory seat is that's
- Jennifer does it make sense? No
- Because I think I looked at this
- when I was trying to figure out how
- All of this council appointment seats for the hpc were advisory seats
- so
- And it talks about how we can have like council behind them more than four advisory seats, but it
- doesn't really go
- It I think you definitely should explain that which is another
- update
- For the hpc, I think it's that way because for state code the mayor appoints them all correct
- I don't know if that's the only way to get
- And then for the chla how many seats on
- We'll think about three let me go back to see we are multiple like that. Yeah, there's more there's
- multiple seats. However, um, not
- All of the council seats and going here. We got one two
- Five five council seats two advisory seats
- So five voting council or five total seats on that are appointed by the council three that are
- voting and two that are advising
- Does anybody know the history of the advisor seats on the hispanic and that's the name first
- Did you say two voting and three advising I know the other way around so three voting and two
- advising
- And I tried to do research on this by looking at um ordinances from years past and I couldn't find
- it with them like
- I'm sure obviously there's a wrong reason for somebody to go to something but I couldn't tap into
- the reason
- So how would you how would you all like to proceed with with this
- We could have
- Two people
- Work on it and bring up the proposal next time as far as
- Which missions might might have advisory seats or or we can just put it
- We can just further discuss it. I don't know how
- Christine is um
- Do we already essentially through your research have a subset of the boards of commissions for
- which this might be a good question
- That we could kind of you know, yeah
- Yeah
- Asked about this, um, maybe uh something like putting it into a spreadsheet or just like
- Overview of all or some commission and what we identified like
- Yeah, it seems like we need to have a handle on like is it this is an eight commissions 11
- What is it and and once we've got a narrow narrow the set then we can have these figure out
- Yeah, probably a uniform approach to
- Engaging them all to ask whether but then form the model we've been thinking and ask them whether
- Uh, you know their thoughts are about it. Uh,
- That's going to be the spot that the body state commissions change over time with their makeup
- Ultimately, it's you know our responsibility to decide which you don't vote but that could help the
- forum
- Because there might be unique
- Vantage is the submissions have to send the arts to machine for wires so that I can go about it.
- Yeah
- Yeah, there's several three or four reports and commissions and we identify which potentially
- without
- resident department currently and um
- Maybe like not that city specific or regarding city findings
- Just very important. Yeah
- Yeah, or yeah
- so
- Not much
- That's manageable
- Yeah
- From agreement, yeah
- I like I like I do like the idea of reaching out to those specific
- Uh boards and commissions to get their feedback up. What's your unique?
- Perspective
- So what happens when someone lives in the city and then moves to the county
- Uh
- I guess vice versa wouldn't matter as much
- That's the question I mean I think we should
- Ten years on yeah, but I would agree in response. Okay, so now I mean
- Yeah, and and the the Bloomington municipal code says
- You have to be a city resident
- And what does it say? Does it address the question of if you move? No, no, no
- Right
- Actually code does specify what needs to happen
- Uh
- Again murder here. Um, I haven't already pulled up
- So in that weird wonky spot under executive branch general provisions
- It does say in the event of a board of a member of a board commission our council no longer resides
- in the city
- The member shall resign immediately and notify the appropriate appointed official or by them
- Um, so it is specified just in that weird spot that we discussed earlier. What number is it in here?
- Um, it is number it's after the uh residential requirement number three
- Oh, I see it
- And this comes up periodically. Oh even in the year that i've been
- Council attorney and just this year i've communicated today with different board of commission
- members on this very topic
- So
- for next time we could
- We could just have the list of the three or four
- Uh where a county
- And then maybe we could add a proposal
- to move
- this this general provisions
- about
- board and commission members
- into um
- chapter two
- What 12?
- We can talk about it to really sure does that sound like a good plan
- Next time then we can talk about this
- next time
- And then you want to be included. Yeah, that's what i'm just about to say like yeah as my role
- Um with communication outreach i've typically tried to reach out. Well, typically I do um reach out
- to um
- Staff liaisons and whatnot. I can take that if there's only three or four and can work with christine
- um
- and anybody rather for like to let people know what they
- What thoughts are in terms of opening?
- um a particular seat of two
- and a county advisor
- You can advise them to or ask me
- So
- Okay, so
- Let's move on to public comment on this item
- Um
- That's the next thing
- Is there any public comment on the topic of city residency requirements for service on doors and caches?
- Somebody else in the room any hands online
- All right, well let's move on to city council staff processes and I think um, there was some
- information in the packet
- I think the goal is just to have us better understand
- um all the
- Work that goes into preparing for meetings and such
- um
- So who wants to?
- Yes, like you wanted to I spoke I referred to
- this topic
- when I gave the department's budget presentation to council
- um, and I referred to it as we
- Increase requirements for meeting support and meeting preparation
- So we've prepared this to
- three biggest big page list
- of the different steps needed to
- To organize a meeting
- and those steps occur
- before during and after the meeting within the last year
- These have have increased due to changes in in the loss and also we've added steps to be more
- transparent
- in terms of
- Uh putting presentation materials online before meeting
- um, or if somebody
- Handsome to us during the meeting then after the meeting
- We make those available
- online
- so
- I think these are steps that happen behind the scenes
- so it
- Unless you work in the office or in the clerk's office. You're not aware of them
- um, but I I provide those we provide those in this meeting to to raise awareness about them
- as I mentioned during my presentation we're starting
- to
- Identify possible ways that we can make this more efficient
- The steps are required whether the meeting lasts 20 minutes or two hours
- um, and so
- And we'll probably
- Uh be speaking in in future meetings potentially
- about ideas
- um to perhaps make this work more efficient and effective in an effort to
- Uh reduce staff time so that we can work in other areas in some respects
- Um, we've become a victim of our own success in terms of transparency because we do spend a lot of
- time
- making materials
- transparent
- Which benefits the public?
- Um, hopefully we can find a way that makes that more efficient than what we're currently doing
- This this list does not include
- accessibility
- Different tasks that we need to perform to make documents accessible
- And we've started really to work on that in earnest
- within the last month
- to five weeks
- And that's something the accessibility component is something
- of
- will explain more about in the future because
- That will affect council in terms of policies potentially that council might need to adopt
- regarding
- um
- What?
- Form of documents we receive before meeting whether they're accessible when we receive them
- Um, I think we'll have to set certain requirements on that
- Because the law will hold council responsible
- Uh for it
- um, and this list doesn't include
- also
- The various steps that we go through
- For the packet preparation
- Colleagues started a really helpful and informative list of instructions
- That we use internally and how to
- make documents
- out how to prepare a packet
- And uh, it's what christine may be points. I'm sorry. Yeah around 30 pages pages
- Um, so you know, it's quite a process
- Um, and and we do it. It's certainly doable
- um
- But it does add
- to our workflow
- Is there anything we'd like to
- Yeah on christine, um, I think we're probably covered everything. Um, just
- One thing additionally what i'm thinking like is to create templates what the accessibility
- requirements under are being looking on so
- Um, and then our second portfolio file is currently preparing like potential
- um
- just templates for like agenda or like cleaning the notice or um legislations ordinances or
- resolutions, so
- Um, hopefully those were like maybe that's more efficient on varying these meetings
- And also, um, we are identifying to identify some of the deadlines internally for like maybe
- submitting
- um different kind of materials like for example presentation slides and legislation materials and
- um,
- maybe other
- reports or
- additional
- Meeting documents from different entities. Yeah, so these are some
- Possibilities that we've been discussing and but then she was
- A lot would christy talks about templates. She's speaking about
- Um a particular time template that in itself in and of itself is accessible
- Um, and in fact, um, I met with corporation council last week
- Suggesting that our office make those available to the legal department to use when they prepare an
- ordinance or a resolution
- Um, you can also share those with other departments, too
- Like the planning staff, for example, um, so
- We're happy to
- Have other departments benefit from these templates that we're preparing as well. It may say them
- There are different layers to the accessibility you start out with the template
- and then
- You apply different applications
- When you're actually preparing the specific document
- Okay
- So we don't need our any action from the committee at this point
- simply wanted to
- Start the the conversation about this
- process
- I think
- We'll put accessibility on the next meeting agenda just to describe
- What this new law entails?
- It goes into effect in april in 2026
- As a result of that, like I said, I think we'll need to prepare
- uh some policy proposals
- For council ultimately to review
- um
- And you know, maybe maybe adopt we'll have to think through that
- Okay
- um
- That would then become part of the administrative manual we're envisioning as we move through title
- two
- Yes, but you for example
- Uh, we need I I think council should have a policy in place that would apply to third parties
- Who want to present materials?
- um
- In fairness to council and to the public those should be presented to us in a format that is
- already accessible
- So that we are not burdened with doing a remediation for each of those documents
- And then I ultimately I would foresee
- Uh, and we've already started this um a section on council one of council's
- um
- webpages that identifies
- various policies
- Including the accessibility policies, uh, and we've been speaking, um with the office of the mayor
- with respect to the website
- um
- But what are you calling that now to release the
- website overhaul what
- Are you talking about this like level c?
- Yes
- No, we're working we're working with the office of the mayor to
- Improve council's website, but I think it's a city-wide
- Uh project not just with council's office. It's a rebate review. Yes
- Yeah, I was just going to say like looking at this too, um, the only thing that I would add
- Um, I would be remiss if I went and say that like the first part
- of the this document here
- Definitely has like clerk's office also does a lot of this stuff too. So like case in point today's
- meeting
- Um the ccp and then when it comes to the interview committees
- that's definitely something to consider because
- I've been trying to brainstorm and thinking I think christine and I talked about this briefly, but
- we said that's another
- hurdle for another day, um
- To think about this when it comes down
- Uh comes to um the interview process for boards and commissions because that's it. That's
- I'll be honest that has been the most in the four years i've been doing this. Um
- This year has been the most challenging year with respect to doing a lot of the interviewing
- process and scheduling all of that
- um, it's been time consuming because
- We've been trying to figure out schedules for every single person
- um trying to make sure that two people a respond back to you, um, and they actually show up in
- person
- But also when we are doing interviews
- We have to schedule all
- everybody's schedule
- um, so that
- Is a daunting task
- um, but I think that also could
- Be healthily revised as well
- Yeah, I thought of that too when I was looking at um
- Um after council meetings as the clerk's office definitely plays a role then too, but we don't
- Yeah, I usually don't think about it. Oh, we got that now. Yeah
- I'm sure it's all
- Goes directly to the record of amendments and I will say do appreciate council staff getting that
- stuff to us
- Perfectly because it's not necessarily always been the case, but it's worked well with the word and
- yeah
- And so maybe you're welcome
- No, jennifer's right there there are steps at the beginning of this list for
- um some uh council committees where the clerk's office
- reserves, so they're all
- gets the zoom right etc
- It's a working project
- Any questions or comments from the committee members?
- Um
- All right, thank you for sharing them for all your work you're welcome
- All right, next item is order of business at regular sections of council allowing discussion of
- legislation at first reading
- So in the packet, uh last document that's proposed
- Provision of 2.04 like 300
- To allow discussion at first reading
- Um, I also
- Excuse me, uh, I
- Took a crack at it myself and just
- Formatted it a little bit differently
- um
- so I
- If you don't mind i'd like to share that it includes all the same language. I think
- uh
- See if I can
- Share
- Okay, so, um
- Sorry
- Okay, um
- So I was looking at this like, uh
- a
- Is for ordinances and b is for resolutions
- And I think staff is kind of going at that that way too because you combined the old item b
- And with a because that was all having to do with ordinances. Sure
- um
- so instead of uh
- Starting with a dependent clause. I thought we could start with every ordinance
- Um shall be given two readings before but maybe taking on this passage unless
- There's unanimous consent of the members present to proceed to
- oh
- I don't know about such a vote
- Proceed to they vote
- After first reading in that case the two-thirds
- Two-thirds vote all elected members is required to pass the blocks
- So that's I believe that's the same language as in the staff version
- Oh, sure. I'm sorry. I'm going to take a moment and see if I can make it
- Does anyone know which is a full string? Yeah
- That's fine, that's better
- But the sentence starting with the two-thirds vote that is lifted from the indiana code
- Um, I don't think there's an issue in changing
- The the sequence of in the phrasing
- The indiana code doesn't refer to first readings or second reading
- um
- that's
- something
- I mean intent is the same but in the indiana code there are references to
- the date when legislation is introduced which is kind of
- what
- Bloomington refers to as first readings and that's not uncommon. There are other
- Second class cities in particular where you use the term first readings. Yeah
- Um
- So then uh
- Next uh text in black font importance
- May be debated and amended at its first reading
- And then I added added future readings just to be clear
- Um
- Substituting babies better. Yeah
- And then that last sentence was just the old item b moved today
- I I always took um, i'm sorry, please drop it. I always took um
- The unanimous consent for title synopsis only to be as opposed to reading the ordinance in full
- Which would be the default
- Is that that was my like that's just what I was when I assumed that section of code met that like
- we would
- Actually read the whole ordinance unless all members said we're gonna do title synopsis on
- um, I don't know if
- That has an implication here with some of the edits made me think that wasn't a common
- understanding
- Oh my god, so I was curious. Yeah, in fact
- We asked a similar question
- Like what is the purpose of unanimous consent the thing that concerned me
- um
- was
- If it has to be it makes it sound like there must be unanimous consent for anything to be
- introduced
- Like any one council member potentially that could could block um the introduction of legislation
- by just voting no
- Yeah, it's not definitely not that and never has been that and it is
- It just doesn't actually specify what the alternative is if you don't have the unanimous consent
- for title and
- uh synopsis only and my assumption is that it's actually a full reading of the ordinance that's
- And if somebody really wants it to be read in the record, you know, kind of people to hear what's
- in this thing, you know
- Um that like that was always the safeguard any one member could essentially demand with the
- ordinance be read full
- Uh exercising that right if you don't
- It's not in the indiana crowd, yeah, um, we we talked about that internally
- um
- as staff
- So and I wanted to make sure today to point out this concept of unanimous consent and what it means
- To you as council members
- Yeah, i've always seen it where we use it, I mean in the same way the chair might um,
- You know simply
- Announce something that would normally be a vote for efficiency sake
- Saying, you know provided their hands consent. I you know, I've already learned debate this way
- something like that. It's just like
- You know
- It facilitates moving process along while protecting the rights of the minority viewpoint
- essentially
- And and that's I think like how it's always been used here as well and we do
- I mean both properties, you know, you know, unanimous consent for that purpose and we've used it in
- other
- Conducts for that reason
- So, I don't know if it's necessarily strictly we could just specify that um
- Ordnances, you know should be read by title stops us only and that's just how we do it kind of
- thing. That's
- Right. Yes
- um, I guess the
- Keyword is in the old language is only
- Read the ordinance by title only provided there's some things in son
- which then
- Leads to your interpretation that the alternative is to read all of them
- But I don't thought that I'm curious if our problem has a perspective on that was how I was trained.
- Yeah
- It was not specified terms not solicit was the entire legislation
- And you know in this discussion kind of leads into a consent agenda also because some
- municipalities
- Will use consent agenda for first reading
- Um
- So I mean there are many different options
- I assume they're not um
- Having any discussion of those items at first reading
- Is just being used for adoption. I need to go back and look at their
- procedures
- But yes, I would assume there would be no discussion and of course, I think generally
- um
- One or more council members can take that legislation off of the consent agenda during
- If there needs to be
- discussion
- Right
- So then I add something here under the next section
- I don't know if it's necessary to add this but
- The next section said that a majority vote of members shall be necessary to adopt any resolution
- order or ordinance
- and
- But we just said
- That you need two-thirds if it's introduced
- And voted on the same night. So the ordinance is so so that's the state code requirement
- Yes, right. So I said that here if there's a vote on ordinance on the same day or at the same
- meeting
- I just repeated the language that we had in the oh
- All right, so we did that like two hours ago, so I haven't thought about that. I'm sorry about that.
- So
- Um, I don't know if there's uh
- If we should have staff review
- My version if you just want to go with the version that's submitted or if we should just put this
- off
- I i'd like an opportunity to yes, that's good. Yeah
- Do other committee members think it's worthwhile for
- Us to consider them an inversion just as long staff release it first. We'll consider it next time.
- Yes
- To
- I
- I guess I saw this is just got reaction to the two. I I kind of favor staff's approach of leading
- with what the state code requirement is
- Rather than like leading with this idea that we're going to have two readings unless
- You know
- I don't know like I feel like the governing thing here is kind of state code and then
- um
- The change in practice is really about whether or not we're going to allow ourselves
- Under what condition we're gonna allow ourselves to um debate the men's things of the street
- There may be a situation where council really wants to adopt something, right?
- And it may feel like you have no choice. We've done it. Yeah
- Sometimes things are really kind of sensitive. It's not controversial like it just had to happen
- this way for a certain reason
- just the
- Looking at it from a lay person's and non-legal perspective just reading this
- it's like
- Okay, this is the where i'm looking in code to see how ordinances and resolutions are
- read and
- I'm starting out about this exception of two-thirds. Yada. Yada. Yada. It's like, uh, you know
- it's already
- Making my head spin before I even get to the main thing like it is
- That importance
- Maybe
- What what if we led with the
- What if we led with um
- Then under like m2 readings normally that um of simple majorities were required to like pass
- Well, that's in this 204
- Maybe
- Flipping the order actually then helps too to be like this is kind of a normal way things are done
- And here's the special exception
- Uh, I don't know. That was just my very planning has been related to if you can also send it around
- Yeah, i'll send and i'll send everybody
- My version of them we can have
- Both versions vetted by our legal and then they can talk about it. Yes
- Is there a part of indiana code that combines those two like why is it separated out?
- In our local code or is it separated out in indiana code side?
- Which parts are being versus both required?
- Like this ic 36-7 i'll say there there there is no mention of readings in indiana probably so
- That means we need to know
- We're maintenance. So then could these two sections be combined?
- Potentially
- You know to make it simple the resolutions are separated out
- And I think it's important to like draw attention to each of those separately
- Um, I mean the yes, the vote could be combined with the readings also
- um
- I think we were trying since we're hopefully
- going to amend all of title two and we were trying to
- Minimize the amount of changes now, but maybe maybe that's not possible
- Maybe we need to that helps him and yeah, it's being amended
- And ma'am, I do have the last room for permission. Okay. Thank you
- Uh, I I think I'm wrong and part of the intention of this was to cut down on some of the like
- Like beer discussions, right? It was to like streamline the picture a little bit
- upon reading this it seems like it's just
- Uh opens the door for like two discussions in the same item
- Uh, it seems like this would make a lot of sense to like
- Go in tandem with the consent agenda. Like you discuss it on the first reading with everyone's in
- favor
- Uh things that have ended for the next meeting there's some social to cut that off the study which
- made the same points
- I know that that's
- something that's been considered before but
- uh, so
- and I know that one of the like financial and
- Council with Florida nationals last meeting was that part of the like second the the double reading
- was that some members of the public would know that
- Heard it discussed on a note on and so they're gonna
- Set agenda for next week. It's like something between you know, they were good
- Does that make sense?
- That there is interplay between the consent agenda and the number of meetings
- You still though could end up with discussion and debate
- Maybe yes, if it's not
- You have us
- Can we postpone the rest of these topics for our next meeting and I both have hard stops at 1 45th
- Yeah, we need to um, we need to go to public comment
- and then
- sure
- Uh, so yes, we will take these up again our next meeting
- So any member of the public would like to comment?
- either on discussion of legislation first reading or
- Any other items?
- Seeing none
- Um, yeah, I think uh, is there some
- Have you had a chance to do research on consent agendas?
- Yeah, okay. Okay
- So maybe we'll hear that next time
- And then consider these two issues in conjunction with each other. Another thing while julius was
- speaking. I I remember
- We had talked about limiting the time the first
- discussion
- so that we can have like
- Three hours done two different dates
- um
- Contentious issues because the point was to get to our questions and possible amendments earlier
- um
- so
- we can
- Talk about that further in this time too whether that is a code issue or is a practice issue or
- But what?
- um
- anything any final thoughts
- I think we already have our next meeting on schedule. Is that right?
- Maybe it's the second monday
- That's right, this one was a week early, right? Yeah
- So somebody had that date well about my number and yes, November 10th, 12 15 in this room
- Good great. Well, thank you all
- Thank you so much everyone
- (orchestral music)