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CC MINS 20100109 ADJ MINUTES RANCHO PALOS VERDES CITY COUNCIL ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING/TEAM BUILDING WORKSHOP JANUARY 9, 2010 The meeting was called to order at 9:40 A.M. by Mayor Wolowicz at Fred Hesse Community Park, 29301 Hawthorne Boulevard, notice having been given with affidavit on file. City Council roll call was answered as follows: PRESENT: Campbell, Long, Misetich, Stern, and Mayor Wolowicz ABSENT: None Also present were: Carolyn Lehr, City Manager; Carolynn Petru, Deputy City Manager; Carol Lynch, City Attorney; Dennis McLean, Director of Finance/Information Technology; Joel Rojas, Director of Community Development; Ray Holland, Public Works Director; and, Interim Director of Recreation and Parks Tom Odom. Also present was facilitator Dr. Tom Shanks. FLAG SALUTE: The Flag Salute was led by former Councilman Ken Dyda. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: Councilman Stern moved, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Long, to approve the Agenda. Without objection, Mayor Wolowicz so ordered. PUBLIC COMMENTS: None. REGULAR NEW BUSINESS: City Council Team Building Dr. Tom Shanks provided an introduction and overview of the topics to be addressed at the City Council Team Building Workshop Session and began the session with a Warm-up Exercise. Council discussion ensued on the topic of the unique contributions each Council Member brings to the group as a whole. Each Council Member shared the strengths, experiences, and attributes they believed they brought to the Council, as well as their perspectives of the strengths of the other Council Members. Council discussion continued regarding the occasional obstacles that each Council Member has experienced or encountered and their greatest hopes and desires for the future of the City of Rancho Palos Verdes. After discussion, the Council arrived at several points of agreement including the following: 1) Each Council Member has the responsibility to express his opinion and best judgment regarding a matter; 2) It is the responsibility of the Mayor to ensure that each Council Member has the opportunity to participate and express the reasons for his decision; and, 3) The City Council represents every resident of the City of Rancho Palos Verdes. Council and staff discussion focused on the role of the City Council to: 1) take action on legislative and quasi-judicial matters; 2) determine policy as a body, not as individual members; 3) serve in a manner similar to a Board of Directors; 4) ensure that delivery of service is transparent and based on community-wide needs and goals; 5) provide feedback from the community to staff; and, 6) set the City Budget. Council and staff discussion continued on the role of staff members to: 1) implement the policy of the Council as a whole; 2) provide information to Council Members; and, 3) be held accountable for service delivery. Council noted that the City Manager acts as the Chief Executive Officer of the staff of the City of Rancho Palos Verdes. Council and staff discussion focused on the following issues: 1) obligation of Council Members to contact the City Manager in advance of the City Council Meeting regarding staff reports that they feel are inadequate, allowing staff the opportunity to consider the issue prior to the meeting to either provide additional information and analysis or to remove the item from the agenda for additional review; and, 2) the need to avoid placing items on the agenda that have no Council decision or action to be made. RECESS AND RECONVENE: Mayor Wolowicz called a brief recess from 11:48 A.M. to 11:55 A.M. Dr. Shanks introduced the Rosenberg's Rules of Order and invited Council comments on the topic. Council and staff discussion ensued regarding the placement of an item on a future agenda to consider of the following topics: the implementation of the Rosenberg's Rules of Order; the possible amendment of the City Council Rules of Procedure to incorporate them into the Council's manner of conducting business; and, the addition of a possible summary of the procedure on the agenda cover sheet to help educate the public. Council and staff discussion continued regarding the appropriate manner in which agenda items should be addressed including the following topics: 1) ensuring that each Council Member has the opportunity to speak; 2) the premise that the starting point for discussion should be framed around the staff recommendation; 3) providing the opportunity for Council Members to discuss concerns and possible alternatives to address those concerns; 4) a focus on opposing views initially instead of taking time to allow for Council's supportive comments; 5) the recognition that there are occasions when the Council needs to articulate why they support or oppose a particular motion, especially regarding quasi-judicial issues; and, 6) caution regarding unnecessary repetition of points or positions. Council and staff discussion turned to the steps to be taken to incorporate the changes as discussed in the Team Building Session, and the suggestion to direct staff to attempt to limit City Council Minutes Adjourned Regular Meeting/Team Building Workshop January 9, 2010 Page 2 of 3 the number of items on agendas so that the meetings are not projected to be more than 3 hours in length. The discussion focused on effective tools to be used to ensure shorter meetings such as stricter adherence to the 3 minute per speaker rule and not allowing speaker time to be traded and bartered unfairly to allow one person to have more time to address the City Council than others. Also discussed was the concept of asking a variety of people from the community to attend or watch the meetings on television and then provide input regarding those items that are effective and where improvements could be made to improve the efficiency of the Council meetings. Councilman Campbell left the meeting at 12:47 P.M. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Ken Dyda, Rancho Palos Verdes, stated that Council Members should allow a speaker to complete his comments before asking questions and that when asking questions, Council Members should not wander into debate of the issue. He suggested that the agenda be reordered based on the items that have the greatest number of speakers, noted that he liked Rosenberg's Rules, and cautioned that to "call the question" closes the debate and should be used carefully. Steve Kuykendall, Rancho Palos Verdes, stated that three minutes is enough time for public speakers, noting that the discussion should be focused on the most important issues. He stated that the Council should remember the difference between the Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Officer and that the late night meetings take a physical and mental toll which does not result in good decision making. He reminded Council that it owes its constituents the timely processing of applications and other City matters, and that a lack of timely process is exactly what some parties desire in order to thwart City business. Dr. Shanks summarized the day's discussion, congratulated the Council and staff for the excellent effort and indicated that he would prepare his notes from the meeting and provide them to the City Manager for distribution to the City Council. ADJOURNMENT: At 1:36 P.M., Mayor Wolowicz adjourned the meeting to Monday, January 11, 2010 at 11:00 A.M. at the League of California Cities Offices located at 1400 "K" Street, Sacramento, California. Mayor Attest: City Clerk W:\City Council Minutes\2010\20100109 CC MINS ADJ MTG&TEAM BLDG WKSHP.doc City Council Minutes Adjourned Regular Meeting/Team Building Workshop January 9, 2010 Page 3 of 3