City Council - Special Meeting

pause. We are good to go. All right, there we go. Okay, we're all ready. Yeah. All right. Um, welcome. Yep. I'm going to call the meeting to order at 10:03 a.m. This is special meeting of city council and joint meeting of the Clodale Community Development Successor Agency board of directors. Do a quick roll call. I see all council members uh here with the exception of council member Morgan Stern. Um and then we'll move into B council workshop presentation of city governance including stretch with city's government as well as the roles and responsibilities of mayor city council and city manager. Take it away. Thank you mayor. Sorry for those technical difficulties.

No problem.

Um good to be here. You guys have met Jose or know him some for many years but we're glad to be here to go over um some topics today. you know, general structure of the government, our government, what it means to be a general city, and each of your roles, the city manager's roles, and talk about our um governance manual today. So hopefully we'll keep it uh engaging. There's two of us, so you don't have to listen to the same person um go on and on for two hours. But so the agenda today mentioned we're talk about the structure of the government. Um talk about the role of the council, the role of the city manager, the role of the mayor. Um it's not called out here separately on the agenda, but also sort of how those all interact with each other. Um we talk about conduct of the meetings, how you know our city council meetings are run. Um and then we'll talk about the council council conduct rules and the code of ethics. Um, and throughout this presentation, we're talk a little bit about state law, um, the municipal code, as well as what our governance manual says, and try to highlight where things are from the governance manual. If you look at the governance manual, it's 25 pages give or take, let's say. A whole lot of it is just citing to state law, you know, Brown Act rules, conflict of interest rules, but there are parts or the municipal code, but there are parts of it that are unique that are just in that document that we'll try to touch on. So, and just real quick, just before kind of we get going, just also want Jose Sanchez, um, used to be the city attorney here, so it's great to be back in Cobra. Um but one thing is it's great that you're doing this and it's not a I know all of you have been to different you know kind of lead conferences and different sessions you've done your AV1234 training but this is always kind

of a nice let's touch base let's look at your governance manual but I also want to and applaud the council for really adopting these rules that also are saying look we want great governance we want to have a functional uh uh excellent council that's really doing great for the residents of Cloverdale. So, we'll cover a lot of these rules that you've also decided as a council apply to us. Um, so just did want to just take a moment to just kind of say this is this is this is great. And it wasn't too long ago, a couple I think it was a couple months ago, I was giving a similar presentation to a council that had council members there for several terms. So, it's not something like, oh, you're brand new, let me go ahead and should tell you what the law is. This is kind of a nice refresher and it's a nice just also a good conversation for council to have.

So, and feel free of course interact you know small group no reason to wait till the end. Uh if you ever have questions feel free to interact. So there's um Cloverdale is a general law city. There's two types of um cities in California. General law cities and charter cities. Um the general city has the authority to govern local affairs, local issues, but subject to state laws. Um so we can adopt any ordinances, any regulations we want as long as they're not in conflict with those state laws. Um most cities are general laws. It's probably, you know, 80% of them. Uh uh in contrast a charter city has the authority to govern municipal affairs um which is basically anything that the court or the legis really a court hasn't said is a statewide issue and the legislature adopts laws um that they say are about statewide issues and oftentimes courts would will defer to that. So housing for example is in recent years the legislature has adopted a lot of things about housing if they say this is an issue about of statewide concern. So it applies to everyone not just general law cities. Uh you become a charter city by um having the voters approved by it's basically the charter is almost like a constitution for the city. Um, so charter cities tend to be bigger cities or very old cities that maybe at some point along the way uh adopted. I assume Santa Rosa is charter city um for example. So and then Cloverdale has that council man form of government. This is the typical form of government for for most

cities. I would say probably 98% of the cities in the city. Um there are three types of of government you could have you can have uh council manager which is where the council sets the policy sets high level policy adopts laws regulations but then the manager is really empowered to carry those out and and uh you know is in charge of the day-to-day operation of the city. Uh you could think about that a little bit as you know we have a legislative branch and that's the city council and then the um you know city manager is the executive tasked with carrying that out dayto day. There's such thing as a council administrative form of government where the council is really managing the day-to-day operations of the city and the administrator is really just handling administrative tasks. But that's no only exists in really tiny, you know, these old gold rush cities that have, you know, 900 people in them. And then there's strong mayor where the the mayor is the person who's the executive. They're they're deemed to be the executive. They hire and fire staff and that sort of thing. Uh you have to be a charter city to have that. And most charter cities don't even have that. There's probably only, you know, five or six in in the state like uh San Francisco, LA, San Jose,

and that's where the like the mayor they hold the the election. Yeah. Okay. And and you could have Well, you that's a great question. You could have a generally elected mayor who is who doesn't have any extra powers. They just get generally elected. So like Windsor for example, no extra powers. uh they're they're not a strong mayor, but they are the person elected by the whole um city to hold that role. Gotcha.

A strong mayor is the city manager. They're, you know, usually they might have the ability to veto, you know, ordinances that city council has passed. Sometimes they instead of the city manager hiring staff, they are responsible usually for hiring and firing department heads. Um but it's it's pretty rare. Only you know a handful of very large cities have that it so in our form of government who tells the city manager what to do. So that the council as a whole council the council as a whole provides not one individual can go and demand from the city manager I want this done correct make it happen.

Correct. And we'll we'll talk about that a little later but but the council as a whole sets the policy. um the council as a whole uh you know passes ordinance and and so the council acts through its majority you know through a majority vote but individual council members can't you know can't give policy direction to that

and maybe go to the next slides um Alex which really get into that so that's a great segue of what the role of the council is and we want to talk about what the role of the council is what the role of the of the city manager is as well um just to kind of get a better idea and I think that question really prompts this this slide of we have our the municipal code also has is very clear regarding this and you have your governance manual that I know we have um cited here as well but the role really is the role is to set policy you see the council the council is I always say the council's at the top of like when you look at the pyramid right but the council is up there and they you set policy and then it's kind of okay how does that policy get implemented and we'll talk about kind of it. It kind of goes down through the city manager and then staff is under the city manager except for the city attorney that also gets um hired um by the council. So really when you see the council, the council has two employees, right? You have your city manager and then you have your city attorney. And as a council, you set policy. You really kind of what direction do you want the city to go? And that makes a lot of sense, right? the public um the voters, the residents have wanted you to be here, elected you. Um you're here representing the residents of Cloverdale. So you're saying this is how our city should go telling your city manager the the direction and then your city manager ends up implementing it. Of course, the city attorney assists. So just real quick, this slide just kind of has some of the typical um what does it mean to set policy? You adopt ordinances, anything you do at the council, right? And it's been brought here. How does the council act? The council acts is usually a majority unless there's like a super majority for certain ordinances, certain votes, but it's really the council as a whole. What does that mean? It's a it's really the majority of the council gives the direction um that comes down, not

one single person. I think that Alex covered it as far as kind of the role of the individuals and we'll go because your governance manual does provide like additional responsibilities really for the mayor, but that's more of like at the meetings there is like agenda setting. We'll cover all of that, but just see yourselves as kind of the council policy makers. Um the municipal code has a section there that we have cited. the city council and its members shall deal with the administrative services of the city only through the city manager except for purposes of inquiry. That normally means that as a council council member, you may have questions a question for like somebody on staff. Hey, when was that done? Or hey, when are we going to go do that? Um, that's fine. It's inquiry, but you couldn't go like for example to go like to to let's say somebody at the water plant or or something, you know, an employee. Hey, I need you to do this, this, and this. That's the city manager's role, right? And as a council, you provide direction to the coun to the city manager. Um, but as a whole, um, what I will say is be careful with the inquiry, the questions, and I always give kind of a a presentations to council is look, there is a, hey, when did we do this project? There's another way you approach staff and say, "Hey, um, I had a question about this pothole, whatever. It's very important that we get this done right away. When is it going to get done?"

Whoa. Like, I just had a council member tell me that I need to go do it. So, I always say, you know, being be be very be just be be cautious sometimes about the the way questions. just be be uh um just know that you also carry a lot of influence when you ask questions. Um, so that's why the inquiry I always pause there because that that's that's a big source of hey it's also kind of how you ask the question that matters but the code real quick Jose

I just and when it comes to that when you said water plant things like that I know this is a pretty dynamic group here you know what I mean and on the inquiry or inquiries like uh big projects you know the well projects and things that's gone through West Jo and all that stuff we've talked about as a council as a whole as going down there and and just observing that project taking place and talking. Is it okay to talk to one of the guys and say, "Hey, where we at on this?" You know what I mean? You know, cuz our water plant guys are are rock stars for for lack of better terms. They know exactly what's going on. They're going to give you. So, you're just inquiring on how is a project moving along. You know what I mean? And also, some of the things we have in town is like there's a lot of folks that are have a very good working relationship with with a lot of the guys in town. So you're walking around town and you know you see something that a citizen has brought to your attention, you know what I mean? And just in conversation, you're mentioning it. Obviously, it goes through city manager. We know that. But those conversations do come up and you're not directing it any way, shape, or form because it has to go to the council as a whole, obviously. You know what I mean? Or to a subcommittee if we decide to have one. But um yeah, that's how

you're that that's exactly right. That that was spot on. I think the way you put it as far as you know observing or questions or letting somebody know and I like also kind of you brought up mayor which is also very important is anytime and this is my advice to every council member always anytime you feel like wait am I could it be for can be seen as long I always say hey let the scene answer or no hey uh heads up I just saw you know Bob whatever you know I just saw I just mentioned that there was an issue that came up that I heard about but I wanted to let you know that way then as a city manager they could say okay that is where we want resources to go or that's not where we want the resources to go because we're tight right now we have to focus on on some other project.

Thank you. So this is um same themes uh but just more elaborate language coming out of our our governance manual that the elected city council sets the policy and direction and the city manager handles day-to-day operations implements council decisions. The council uh the council oversees the city manager and city attorney who both serve at its pleasure. all other staff including contractors, consultants, ultimately report to the city manager. So, same exact thing that's in the municipal code and how the government manual works. But we've, you know, we've incorporated that into the government's manual and expanded it just so it's very clear what the what the standards are and what the expectations are. Um, but isn't it but isn't it interesting that as council members sometimes the public sees you and goes see why haven't you done anything about this? Hey, why haven't you gone over there? Why why didn't you make this happen? But they talk to you sometimes, right? Cuz it's not to everybody it's not as clear, right? If you're not if you don't know about kind of the the structure of government and the way it works. Like I always see like the member you you run into at you know at the coffee shop saying hey what's going on? Why haven't you gone to go do this and you got saying well I I did provide that I provided that information to to staff but it's staff's the one that does so and so. So I we get we also get the tension especially in a smaller city everybody knows each other right? everybody's kind of holding you accountable for even projects

and that you know we're coming up on this shortly but the the budget is a you know a major place that the you know the council that sort of direct how it wants resources spent right so if you go to the same manager he might say we don't have time to do x y and z or to spend money on that like we're a small city and that and so it's the council's opportunity as part of the budget to say we want to you know dedicate resources to this we want to put more money into park improvements or we want to hire someone to do code enforcement or you know and stop spending as much time on X or whatever. That's a great opportunity you know when that manager comes to you and says you know we just don't have the capacity to do that or we're not going to get it done for you to bring that up as part of the budget to your fellow council members. Well, and that's a that's a good one right there. Like you said, kind of a segue into this is

exactly, Jose, is you get a lot of people. Cloverdale is I mean, you can't make it through this time about what's happening here. And I don't think it's hard to explain sometimes, and obviously people go right in and talk to Kevin about that, but a lot of times they don't understand the steps or the time frame that it takes. They they mentioned it and in their mind it's tomorrow morning. you're working on it. They don't. So, the steps to get to that are tough. So, you know, that's a lot of the uh we go in and sit with the city manager and not every time do we get a I'm not coming out of there satisfied, believe me. But, you know what? It's part of the game. And and I kind of understand that. But I and I think you know I think parts is a good example because that was a concern a lot of council members had for a while and there just wasn't capacity to do it and more staffing was put towards doing that so that we could improve parts and maintenance staff because

exactly you know that's what needs to be done and you know the

city manager working with the council besides that to make that adjustment. So just briefly to touch on committees. Um you know the municipal code we have committees although we're maybe changing based on recent conversations how how often they're they're used. So more of these discussions happen at the council level. In the municipal code, their purpose is established as um you know existing to support city management and to assist you know the council in carrying out its responsibilities. So uh the committees aren't decision makers, right? They can't adopt ordinances, they can't approve budget amendments, but staff in its day-to-day uh operations, you know, sometimes wants a second set of eyes on something, wants feedback on something. Um, and so it takes it to committee. That's how they've been used, you know, historically. Uh, and you know, historically, the city had a two-touch rule and anything that was going to the council would go to committee first. Um but going forward but when we you start to use these a little less or or a lot less um this is still the role that play but on these major issues when the council decides okay this is a topic we want to send to a committee to get it you know fleshed out a little bit before you come back with a policy

and with the committees the only and I know that I know this was in discussions years and years and years back constant about committees the only caution with committees sometimes times that they're advisory and a lot of times you you could get the council saying why haven't we seen this as a council why are things being done at the committee level and the council as a whole is not providing direction and that's why it's more of kind of the the assist the recommendations or the assist to staff. So just having that that balance of recognizing when is it when are they actually taking action to being careful with those things. Okay. And maybe I I'll kind of kick this one off. Um Alex, so the city manager is the chief executive of the city. We talked about this already, but this one just points out your municipal code. your municipal code, similar to all like the the rest of the city's municipal code, they usually have a section, a section on your city manager and what roles and responsibilities, what are they um responsible for? Um and this one just your municipal code just like others, it's the head of the government of the city under direction and control of the city council. Uh there's usually contract purchasing authority here. It's the up to $50,000 for contracts that don't need to go to the council. They could be done by city manager. They but they're they're also the the they're the the head of staff, right? They staff goes to them. So when you think about kind of the you know who's who's the boss of staff, it's your city manager and then they have to the city manager has to report to the council. So it's just we talked about that dynamic just being very careful of kind of of really kind of also always understanding staff reports to the city manager. The city manager has that that's their

responsibility. Um and then that also as you can imagine that goes to personnel issues, right? The city manager is tasked with dealing with the personnel issues. Um, as council members, not it's it's hard to think about those types of things where the city manager has to always be thinking, all right, what does ourou say? What are the responsibilities of people? Are they working at a class? Are they what are they doing? That's why they're kind of the head of staff and responsible for all those all those issues. And of course, Alex talked about the budget. They're responsible for preparing the budget for the council's consideration. It's your budget. It's the city's budget. The council has to approve it. But the city manager uh prepares it and again it says you know manages manages also the city property as far as different property decides kind of how to manage it obviously would come back to the council if there's like leases or anything like that that really impact property that would still go the council and this isn't listed as a duty of the city council I mean the city manager but you know city manager sets the city council sets policy adopts ordinances you know part of the city manager's role too is to make those recommendations to the city council, this is what we should do. This is what you should set your policy as based on, you know, what I see in the day-to-day operations of the city or or you know, you've expressed this interest in X and this is how I I suggest we go about doing that recommendation and it's up to the C, you know, the council is the decision maker and so you don't have to take that recommendation, but that's definitely part of the the duty as well. Um so the the governance manual you the role of a city manager just to reiterate it says acts as the chief executive of a city pretty straightforward. Um but we also say in our governance manual this position is intended to be non-political focus on efficiency effectiveness and professionalism. I just want to highlight that because you all are

elected officials. You run you you campaign. Um that's not the safe man's job. The city manager is supposed to be sort of the the civil servant professional who is managing the day-to-day operations of the city and not involved in those political issues or or disputes. So, so to touch on some other stuff in our governance pan talking about how this relationship work and we we touched on it a little already um today, but you know, council members are encouraged to engage with the city manager, have conversations with them. I I think all of you do. Um different city managers have that, you know, handle it differently. Some want, you know, one set meeting a week. you come in the other hour. Others have more open door, you know, stop by whenever you want. Just depends on what works best for them, what works best for you. Um, and so that's important to, you know, have those conversations, bring those up. I think the worst thing, even, you know, city manager and council members, you may disagree on an item or something. I think the worst thing for a a city manager is to be caught off guard in the middle of a meeting. that you know council members not happy with something and that's actually you're right if you're not um don't support an item or have concerns but it's always good to make sure the same manager is aware of that for one they might be able to address it might be an issue they never thought about um but you just don't want you know uh them to be caught off guard by any concerns the uh the other thing is we talked about this a little bit but you city, any city, but especially a city of of

size does not have unlimited resources, does not have unlimited staff. So, you know, Kevin is doing a lot of stuff that in a bigger city, right? You know, in Santa Rosa, there's probably an assistant city manager and there's probably what are often called management analysts, which are really just assistants that help carry out some of these things. But here that we really don't have that it's Kevin and so he has to decide you know how do we use the uh you know limited resources uh most effectively and so you know all of you all council members will go to him with issues of hey we should do this we should do that um and and part of Kevin's job is it's you know figure out how to manage that and it can be tricky uh because there's no there's no perfect way without bringing every all issue to the city council. So, I know I have some clients, I've worked with some clients in the past where they have sort of strict policies of any request that's going to take more than two hours of city time has to go to city council or or more than five hours a month from one council member has to go to city council. No, we've never had something like that um uh in in Cloverdale because it's, you know, more informal. We want to be able to to work with folks. Uh but ultimately the city manager does have to say like this, you know, yes, I can spend an hour on this, but it's just not the type of project given the council set priorities and budget that we can spend, you know, 10 hours of staff time on. And so they're they have to make that decision. Um and you know, if you disagree with it, it's you know, back to the budget. This is a great time to add more resources or bring this up as something that, you know, larger the council can give direction on. And on that, Alex, I know that in the city, and this is something that's been discussed quite a

bit um in the past. Um but as far as the kind of what Alex mentioned, all of you have all of you have great ideas. All of you have all of these projects that you know, you're you're on the council, you want things done. There's also like, hey, the residents want this or I've heard this, but it's also a good time when the council meets and they set goals and you set your priorities of here's what we're going to focus on. Um, I always see it as these are the main focuses. Things come up during and the smaller things, sure, they get kind of squeezed in and I think sometimes, you know, city managers get those done. They're small, but there's things that really are going to start pushing those priorities that the council as a whole has set. They're going to start kind of pushing them down because something else potentially comes up. I always see at that time that's really more of a check back in with council, but here's something that came up. Here's something that a council member wants. or something that the council wants, but more of the conversation of those priorities that you've set already, the goals that you're kind of in a way also evaluating your your your city manager, your city attorney on, we're going to have to move those that priority down because now we're focused on this one. It's that constant communication just making sure everybody's on the same page because somebody may have a big project that you want, but that that wasn't put in as a council. That's when I'm I always advise city managers, hey, and the council member that wants it, this may be a good time to maybe put that on the agenda for discussion of is this what the council as a whole because we talked about who provides direction to the to the city manager. And at the end of the day, the direction really is from from the council. And what does that mean? That means the council sitting together as at the dis providing direction. Right. Now, Jose, on the on the goal setting, and I know Cloverdale

does it, but it's uh you know, it comes up, we do it, we do a two-year budget, so we do our obviously our budgetary goals right there, but how often should goal setting be? I mean, should it be an annual thing, every six months or annual and touch base or I mean, what's your suggestion on that?

Well, it it always depends. Every jurisdiction does it a little different. um the jurisdictions that I work with go um most of them go at least every year just to kind of have but there's also times where there needs to be you need to kind of touch base on kind of this new big thing came up this new this it's it's taking all of staff's time it's taking the city resources but we have to do it but there may be a check-in of this is why we are going to be late on because I can tell you for for staff for your manager for everybody. They don't want to go back to the next goal setting and be behind on absolutely everything, right? So, it's kind of nice to go in sometimes to re-evaluate, but I know that jurisdictions at least have um the ones I work with at least have kind of a yearly are these still our goals. Where are we with our goals? And it's nice to have that reporting of status check. Here's where we are on those goals. And often times you hear, hey, we're late because we had to work on X, Y, and Z. But that that's a good communication for to have with the council as

that that's the model that we set up about four years ago was exactly that uh because there was a lot of all five of us would go in and give our goals right and there was nothing set and so it was driving city manager at the time crazy and you know monopolizing his time and so what we did is we said okay here's our set I think it was five goals we set for the council and if a council member came in and said I want this done they would say, "Well, which goal are we going to eliminate through the council for this one to replace it?" And so, it it's all about time management and and setting uh expectations that they can actually achieve here because if you're always setting your city manager to fail, they will always fail. Yep.

Your city will run a part,

right? And you know the time mansion piece that you mentioned is great because you might have a goal. Let's say the goal is, you know, economic development or something and and um a council member has a great idea like let's host a job fair and they come to a city manager and it's that request could be handled a whole depending on the the details of that request. City manager might say, "Sure, that's great. you're you come in and you just want me to print some flyers or or post it on the the bulletin board or maybe you need, you know, want to see if there's a space you could have the uh job fair in. Like that's one level of effort that it takes from city staff compared to an effort where it's uh you know you want city staff to put on the job fair recruit companies to come advertise it far and wide um you know so two sort of requests at a high level might look the same. You might have the city manager tell you happy to help you with first one where it's you know an hour or two of staff time and might tell you no we can't do that or like you got to bring this to the council for direction even though from the outside they might look very similar.

So I think um outside of our budget when was the last time that we had a a goal setting exercise? It was under David and then Kevin did an update for us in a meeting. So that was so which is coming up now. Yeah, that's why yeah question I think we're we're due for a touchbased goal setting the previous council uh I think you might have been there for the update. I don't I don't remember it would have been right at the beginning. So yeah Pete I know um with council member were you here for any goal setting exercise at all? Not a goal setting. It would have been on goals. Yeah.

You two were not here for the goal setting. I was kind of in the transition when when council member Walter stepped aside and we did we were kind of involved in the appointment process and all that. So that's March April. It was and I think that's why I brought that up. I'm kind of got the same feeling here is hey maybe we need to sit down and have either an update re-evaluate we do that in the budget budget is when you set your goals that's that whole dayong meeting that you guys wore because

you know like Hillsburg they have a separate you know just these are our goals that's it's separate from what the budget is but uh um I would kind of lean into that maybe like on a yearly basis uh beginning of the year um and then you know updating as as things change you network developments or certain things pop up. You just have to be careful because like some of these projects are three, four, five years in the making. And if you get a year into it and then you change your goals, now you've flown a year's worth of work. So that's why we really just, you know, when you set these goals, you have to make sure they're realistic. number one and that we continue to push to achieve them

and instead of jumping on the next shiny object which I understand I think we all love but is that you know some things as you consider update is sort of continuing your pre-existing you know update wouldn't necessarily be something that would throw away something but you know you're you're continuing and then maybe updating or adding other things and all the effort might be being geared towards a different goal at that time that's more achievable to this one. This one doesn't go away.

The reason budget is because that's you see if you can afford it, especially in a town like this. You know, we're we're a low income budget. We work hard with what we have and our search really thin. And you know, one lawsuit can destroy our town and our budget for the year. We have to be very very careful and very cognizant of that.

So, I think that's a great point regarding the budget and goal setting. I've worked with a lot of folks that really tie kind of there's a tie to both. That's why you see it a lot done at the same time as the budget just but because you're always saying this would be great but do we have the budget for it? Can we can we accomplish it right? So, in some ways, they're always tied a little, but the touch it could be there be a touch base, especially when you have two-year budget. Sometimes there needs to kind of you need to come say, "Hey, where are we?" And sometimes you get like a mid-year budget reports as well. That's why even on a two-year budget, you could you have the the midyear or the mid budgets. That way, you're saying, "Hey, where are we? Could we did we go through all that budget already because of an emergency, whatever it was? Do we need to allocate more?" But it's always nice to see what did we plan for and where are we on that on that plan. And I think certainly you know the beginning of the year uh idea also includes you know when you have a new council you have a changeover especially if you're bringing two or three new people on um you know it's good to establish uh goals or retouch bases at that point because that really helps the council all work together.

Agreed. And to know what they are right to understand. Yeah. And and one thing that is and this can be difficult but the council to you know sort of self-regulate if we set our five goals you know are we going to go to the city manager and propose a bunch of new things that don't tie to those goals. So you know that's an important aspect and you know things come up right change. So, not to say that can't happen, but like is this minor project that doesn't, you know, obviously if something big happens, you got to address it or there's an opportunity, but just keeping that in mind like is this that important that we should be focused on it if it wasn't one of our goals. And the answer might be yes.

And that's the city managers when it comes to the management right there because of the turnaround even though it's four years. You know what I mean with council members like like vice mayor was saying is is some of these are three four fiveyear projects. So you've got a turnover of a council Kevin's trying to manage. We may be almost attaining that one goal. Well then new council comes in new goals and it's easy to let that one kind of slide down without the pressure on it from either previous council or back to having the annual thing and saying hey new council. I know it's been under a year but guess what? It's time to have another goal setting. here's where we're at. Boom, boom, boom. You know,

I could name a couple things really quick and easy. Number one, since Maryanne's in the room, when I first got elected, the first thing she said to me is, "Please don't let the walking bridge stop." She worked what, a decade at least, 15 years, 16 years on that one. Yeah. And she was one year from it when she was removed. What if our council said, "I'm not supporting this." That's a lot of work and a lot of effort and a lot of money spent. um a striping plan with our traffic. What do they call it? The

No, there's we're doing a full striping plan for Proville. We started it my first year as mayor and it's just now going to start going into into play in Aprilish depending, you know, Alexander Valley Healthcare. I was on the school board when we started that. you know, there's so many things we could not support, you know, and it almost went that way with a council member uh last year when they're like, you know, we don't support this. This should we should have low income housing and I'm like, oh my god, we're 7 years into this project and now we're talking about pulling the land out from under. So, it seems like we really need to be cognizant of the overall picture, not just our own beliefs as the new council member.

I I think that that's a great that's a great point. um as a council kind of recognizing all those things, you also kind of also depend as well on your city manager to come with to like recommendations um you know being very clear we the city has been working on this spent these resources here who we are here's kind of where we're going um but that's why it is at the end of the day is kind of teamwork right um but that's a that's a good example

and I think part of that is acknowledgement too I don't know the staff, but I feel like you go to some of these presentations of or workshops and they'll show you like 80% of your time is just the day-to-day stuff like the dayto-day like making sure the water is clean and the waste water gets treated is like a huge p operation separate from okay we need new uh drill a new well or you know build another tank and so like how to manage that 20% is you know it's limited it's not even That's made up sad, but like whatever it is, like the dayto-day is so so much work, too. So, are we saying that the goals of previous councils don't hold a lot of a lot of weight or not as much weight when the goals are presented?

So, so like the bridge, what I'm saying, so like the walking bridge that that should be like 100% with the amount of time that was on it, right? Technically, it should be, but the when you when you elect a new council, you're electing those people to make the decisions. They have the right to start changing every two years. You'll accomplish nothing really. That's you have to take the stuff in consideration. The goals need to have some kind of weight to them to carry forward. Correct. You think that depends a lot too on what you're talking about. Exactly. like with the bridge. I could have let that go the walkway, but instead it was on my goal list. So I would push right every single day,

right, for 15 years to get what I wanted and I got it finally, but it took 15 years.

And then and things like that aren't always the goals of the council as a whole. You don't have to make that one of your five, but like she spent a lot of time doing these things and that's what council members do, you know. Um, mine was the river park when I first came in here. It really was kind of run down at that point compared to how it could be. And it wasn't one of our goals to to make the river park better, but it was a goal of mine that I worked through the council and said, "Can I take this on as my baby?" And cost nothing. You know, it really didn't. I worked and got grants and funding and county stuff and different things. You can do it that way. But the goal setting, you'll see when you set these goals, it's like overarching. These are the things we want to accomplish like uh you know, paving, infrastructure, you know, parks maintenance, things like that. Uh bringing on new employees to make these things happen through your budget. So, it's it's not always just the bridge. Let's kind of using that as an example just

however, it's you can you guys can all pick something, but you have to look at how it affects your budget and and and time of staff. And so if your goals are separate from what your wants and needs are, then you can through the council say, "This is what I want to focus on directions." That's okay. We're in love with them. You know what I mean? As long as you're not affecting

Kevin or Mike and people for six, seven hours a day, four hours a day. Can't do that because that's too much time spent on that versus what the the needs are. So, so yeah, the goals of the council and then the each of individual council member personal goals, you know, you always got to look at the council goals as a whole. That's what you've sat down as an entire council and discuss those are the ones you've approved. Those are the ones you're going for. But that's kind of like I guess in lack better terms is everybody kind of picks their own little baby and you run with it. You may have to step back from that because it's interfering with a goal of the council right there. But it's kind of like your project that a lot of people in town have said, "Hey, we want this con." Me personally, he's got the river park minus the parks. You know what I mean? I know. And I get told Kevin, Kevin has no problem saying it ain't going to happen. Okay. I walk away cuz I know he's made that decision. You know what I mean? But I keep pushing a little bit. And you know, you get a lot of uh people in town are just absolutely with the staff that's going on right now in the parks. They're just amazed with how this lights as a open space. That's the next thing I started doing. And I've been working on this for about 5 years now.

And every property owner, but I also work with your open space district with the county. I I work with um your maintenance people and I work with the UC extensions and things. I do all that on my council time, my personal time, but it's costing city nothing and the city knows that I'm doing it behind behind the scenes. You know, it's one of those things that if there's anything that I would question that the city would not want or when it's time we update and say, "Hey, look at these guys want to meet and they meet with people." It's is tell them what's going on. Yeah. And that was a great point. I was pointing to make sure it got added was that, you know, you can have your own goals. You need to make sure they're aligned with the city goals if you're going to be

using city resources. And by that I mean like maybe not hours and hours of time but even just the city's name or a little bit of time or even like the open space so much was was done about that on your own time but still like council had to approve acquiring it and council had to move filing grants or things like that. So very just want to make sure and that's what you know Kevin's around for too to say this is a yeah that this is already a a a goal and take it on or it seems maybe contradictory to other things we should take it to council to see if that's something they're okay with. So, is another way to say it as you set goals for the city as a as a council and then there are certain things that council members really want to work on

and want to help with and kind of it's nice for the council to also say yes, that's a project that way you also know that's a project that that the city wants to work on as long as there's a lot of work that all of you put in

um that don't involve staff time. But if you're out there kind of trying to bring in something or doing something for the city, G said, just having a consensus of the council of an agreement of yes, we want that, go be go be the champion for it. Um, and then the touching base with the city manager to make sure kind of if there is additional support or whatever, but the council has kind of a lead to it. Well, and a prime example of that one that I can bring up right now is the new playground at Fer Park that was mentioned to oh gosh, I know to numerous council members whether the current ones or previous it always kept coming up for about two years. I got it all the time. I know vice mayor got it all the time and other so you know when you work with and have that working relationship with staff you're not directing them. You're just bringing the information saying hey people are really looking at this. It goes in and you sit down with Kevin. That was a two and a half, threeyear project right there. And that has just absolutely flipped that park right now.

But you get so frustrated if you you want to hit the ground running and be like, just call them and order this stuff. You know what I mean? I know that has to go to full counsel and all that, but you got to kind of pump the brakes a little bit because your personal goal becomes like, hey, and you start pushing. That's where you have to sit back and be like, well, none of this has to go to counseling. I think we all know that right there. But you do you start gaining momentum on your your personal projects or like you said open space or or Maryanne with the uh with the bridge man. It's your baby. You're going for it. You're going to push as hard as you can. You get shut down a lot but it still doesn't make that goal go away. You're still okay. I got kind of ran into a hurdle. I'm still working this successful with Maryanne, successful with Todd, successful with whoever jumps in on these things. You know what I mean? You start seeing the city really come around. So, I know it's tough to it's tough to step back,

but also at the same time, it's it's nice. Like Mark when he first came on, he wanted to work on the old Shamrock property. It's one just outside of our city limits. And I was the mayor, so he asked me, "Hey, what do you think about trying to do something with this?" I said, "I did something with it for two years. Here's all the information you should contact." now you're not starting from ground zero and having them think that we're not talking to each other or not passing on information because they they'd be like we've already been through this through the last three council members, you know, we're not going to do it again. He hit the ground running at 60% and has gained a lot of headway on a project he wants to do. It cost us nothing. Nothing's come to fruition. Nothing is out there that is going to be um good or bad for the city until he says, "Okay, now we're at that point. here's your update, here's what we're thinking, and it can come to the council at that point.

What does the council want to do? What do they want to do? Is this something they're interested in, you know? But he didn't have to go try to find his contacts, find all the people. I'd already made made the contacts, have uh the ability to go on everyone's property, have access to the locks I put in the gates. I mean, it's like there's so many things that were already done. He hit the ground running. And I love that. That's cooperation collaboration. really the importance of doing goal setting when a new council comes in.

Uh you know we have a new council coming in in you know another year. Um I think the fact that we missed that with our council and maybe there was interpersonal relationships that were were better than others. Um you know I really missed out on that opportunity to um talk to the rest of my council sort of establish what you know my goals were and get information or even help. So um I think I would like to reiterate the importance of goal setting and really um establish that for for new you know each roll over every two years of the council that that should be a priority in the beginning and maybe every year even that might be separate from the budget because you know the budgets kind of made you know as the councils uh get their seniority sort of like you get some time to develop then you work on the budget some you know that roll over to the next council but I think it's good for new council to come in and that would be a good opportunity to touch base hopefully like align and and and you know between goals.

Yeah, that become a champion on kind of something that you want to push forward and be able to kind of know where's where are our goals and I can do and and mayor I know there was a question from from Oh, I I was just going to bring up that it's pretty easy if you look at it simply. It's just I'm going to use the Grange as an example.

I didn't use a dime of city money on that Grange project was $1 and something,000. But um if I would have been on council and used city money, then yeah, I would have had been to all the council meetings about it. I would had to do updates. But the city did not contribute a dime to that. I was not on council. So, I don't really give a what the city thinks about it to tell you the truth. It was a project that needed to be done. I did it and we did it in about 3 months. There you go.

But you just do it. But that had nothing to do with the city. And I could have said I don't think I other people put down that I had been mayor or some But that had nothing to do with what I was doing. But I get it. If I would have gotten money or even if I was going to use some of the contacts that I had while I was uncons. But I don't. So yeah. And well that's very pointing. We'll talk about a little bit later on about like you still can do even if the council goals are one thing, you can do something else, right?

But you got to you got to just be clear about what what you're who you're representing when you're doing that. That's right. Um, I think right now the conversation has been being a champion on some on a related goal that the city council that the city and and there's some resources potentially behind it. um and and directions. But yeah, we'll talk about kind of as individuals, you're still individuals and if it's not associated, it's not the the city council doing this or the city of Cloverdale if it's you as an individual are also working on. So you may be a council member, but everybody's got their own things that they're also passionate about that require no city resources, that require no time from from from staff.

Well, and you've got to commend everybody sitting here, too. If you are on council or previous council, Yeah. everybody in town. We wouldn't have any information if they didn't have great ideas. They're bringing it to us. But you got to commend everybody in here for stepping up and actually going the extra step and being on council to be that that, you know, a decision maker or working as council as whole because that's what brings community projects, community ideas to fruition right there. It's like, hey, guess what? Here's what Lowerdale would love. If everybody sat on it, we would have nothing going on. You know what I mean? So, thank you to everybody. So, side point. So, when you get the you guys get paid all this,

there's not a lot of pay. There's a lot of work. a little bit, but communications with staff, you know, your communications, you can ask

inquiry. We talked about, but really your communication should be through the um city manager. Um so from our governance manual, it says council members may not direct or attempt to influence the appointment, removal or actions of city staff uh publicly or privately. So, you know, city manager, you know, decides who to hire, decides who the discipline or fire um and so, you know, letting him know that, you know, you're not happy with how some project is working or how some department is is operating or things like that. that spared game, but there's a line between that and saying, "And now, city manager, you should fire that person um because that took too long or or that, you know, um and but if you have concerns about employees, you know, or or you know, those are things that should go to the city manager, right? um not you directing an employee, you um not calling out an employee public or privately, you know, bringing that instead to the city manager. He's their supervisor. Um you know, he also may have more context for why something happened, but that's, you know, we want those conversations to be in private with the supervisor, which is the city. and and when they and in jurisdictions where that doesn't happen, I will tell you that the next phone call that happens is usually to the attorney from that from either the manager or the or the staff member saying I was criticiz I was this and I was made kind of it is so it is important to kind of just know it's almost knowing staff they're the city manager staff right um if you have an issue with the performance of somebody going to the city manager and saying, "Hey, or I

heard this." Sometimes addressing it with the staff themselves starts kind of ends up kind of crossing this this uh this rule that Alice just talked about. And this isn't on this slide. We touched on a little earlier, but you may get these comments from staff, too. Staff is concerned, you know, coming to you. Maybe they live in town and you're the person they voted for. um you know concerned about something or how something is operating you know you can absolutely talk with them take that in um it's important to you know one not make any promises to them because you as a council member you know can't uh you know and uh and then pass it on to the city manager if I you know this you know Bob came to tell me he was really upset about how X Y and Z was handled I just want to let you you you know, and then the state manager can go and handle that and figure out, you know, what's going on and what needs to happen then. So um removal of the city man. This is a slide that makes every city manager very nervous. It's more of informing the council of what

but we we mentioned that our governance manual says you know their city manager is supposed to be nonpolitical isolated from you know sort of the the fight for lack of a better word the city council may have and and that's uh other places too. It's in our municipal code which requires a four-fifths vote that to terminate the city um council also uh prevents termination of a city manager near an election. So you know either before or after the election and part of that is you know this is supposed to be a non-political position. So no one should be campaigning on firing the city manager and then come in and the first thing you do is fire the city manager. um they're you know working for the whole council as a whole and and that sort of baked into this. Um that's part of the reason why you know our our you know line level staff they're in unions they you know can't be fired except for cause of city manager could be terminated with no cause if the council decides this just isn't working out

at will at will employment. Um, part of that is, you know, is his contract calls for severance because it's not as stable as the rest of the um, uh, stuff in, you know, other employees employment is. Um, and the contract defines what causes and um, you know, these are just some examples. You know, unauthorized, used or theft of property. Obviously, if you find out, you know, city manager is embezzling money. um if they are you know willful misconduct or malfeasants which is a pretty high bar it doesn't mean oh you got a project late or or you deliver delivered you know seale work and we really want a level work this is really a serious charge um

like being like being caught with a small child in a closet that would be that would be that's serious I guess the point I want to think that But here's what I don't get as being the city manager and being the CEO of staff and all that. Where does insubordination fit into that? So, so that is you know they are the CEO of staff but we mentioned council gives direction. So if council has set a policy or given a direction of go do we want you to work on council as a whole

council as a whole has given direction um through their policy of the go do x um uh and you know city manager ignores that doesn't do it. So you say we need to get uh we need to repave you know Smith Street. You know that could take a couple of months to do. You know there's a delay. Maybe he same man says we got to finish this other thing first. You know is that in subordination? Probably not. But just ignoring the council and saying actually I spent that money instead we paved you know uh Williams Street instead like that can get to the point of you're know you're doing that and it's part of the city manager's job to come back and say you know this is why I know you gave me that direction but this whole council is why I think this is a bad idea and the council can decide no we're sticking with what we told you to do or they can um pain or not,

right? And I think the intent at least this slide and and the first point of the city manager is intentionally insulated from the politics of the city council is really the city manager is there works for the council to the council as a whole. Um so they're not there to kind of get into kind of the different kind of potential political issues or struggles. Um, and that's why you have kind of the election. The election also the timeline of having to wait even before an election or after an election is also to provide new council members the opportunity to kind of know kind of what the city manager is doing. get up to speed with what are the what are the what are the laws, what are the regulations that cover the position and and really kind of what is going on and and and using that time to evaluate how your city manager is doing. Um so I guess just as a sort of a summation you know the we talked so far about role of council role of city manager and our city manager form of government. And I thought that the the governance manual encapsulated the benefits of this and why we have this type this uh set up pretty well. Um and it says that the benefits are you know professional management that brings expertise and to your point like continu continuation of existing ideas from from council to council. You know clear separation of powers and roles. um reduce political interference in day-to-day operations where um you know individual direction is from one council member mentioned you know five different council members giving five different uh directions and results you know overall are more stable and efficient um government. So

uh it's been about an hour and just want to pause to see if you guys want a break or just allow a We need to recess.

Remember, we are still recording the lines, correct? You're still in session.

So, really, there's no changes. Reason I came was I wanted to hear for any changes. So, it's exactly the same as it always was. I'm sorry. Yes, the governor's manual. I haven't seen a copy of the manual. That's the overall workings of of the city government. It's it's exactly what and I think we're going to get more specific into areas of the governance manual and I think that there uh it still exists the governance manual. I think that the council has made some changes. There's been updates to the governance manual. I think what you'll hear is the concepts are still kind of the same. There may be just more details.

Yeah. Just updates boards, you know, it had theme and writing that weren't there that didn't exist back. Is that a copy of it right there? So, it's the code of ethics was added. Punishment is a new edition. Oh, we got punishment. Is it going to be like lock and apple kind of thing out in the square? Any We can hang them by their feet. Absolutely. Otherwise, I'm not interested. Amendment. Yeah.

This time it's not I think we were the PowerPoint has frozen. Yeah. Great. to go out and make the phone call 200. I thought it was 20. Do you need me to find some? Uh maybe. Okay. Well, do we want to do you want to keep going or you want to take a five minute break? Pause. And

so, Mayor, it's up to you, Mayor. I mean, we could take a quick break to try to get our technology back in line or we could we'll go Yeah, we'll go ahead and uh recess for five minutes, resume again back at just so you guys know we can't put on. So for the record, we will go ahead and take a recess for till 11:15 and resume back.

So to do anything to use the bathroom or do whatever makes Hey, I just jumped in.

Yeah, we're the mouse died, so we're getting some batteries for it. Okay. I don't know if there's any batteries in the break room. I think they're in the office area by the front desk. See this works.

Nothing computer. Got it. Oh, there we go. Okay. You know what it is on something? The old school mouse pad. everywhere.

Yeah, we got it working. You're just trying to Yeah. Trying to advance the slides. I think the computer better. Oh, there's no Yeah. Did you get better? Great. Take this. CPD to the rescue.

What's up with this chief? What you do? Sometimes it doesn't like shiny. There go safe. Is it working? Old school mouse batteries died. How early after that, right? No. Yeah. Feel like it stops and starts that. Can you advance by Does that work or No. Make a note. I We've got the it fixed over at C. It's time to move in. Let's do fix at uh at the conference room. Holy smokes.

I can add that to my to-do list.

Mike, did you say if Mary can keep that copy? Is that okay with you? Yeah, it's fine. That was an extra. Perfect. Thank you. Uh, we were learning how to use that 1970s binding machine and gave up after that one.

1970s binding You can keep that copy of that manual. Oh, thank you. Absolutely. Nice turn out for the food drive over there. Yeah. Hey, Alex or mayor,

if you'd like during the when you um get out of recess, that manual is available on our website as well. It's under the governance page or just cleverdale.netgovernance manual. Gotcha. Members of the public ever want to review it. It's on the council page.

Not necessary, but just in case.

It goes to sleep. We are city clerk. No, that that was my Where's Hey, Alex, if you want, you can take the batteries out of my mouth in my office if you want. We got new batteries. I need a mouse pad. Are we on? Yes.

Sorry. I think he had he had like 15 more seconds. Sorry. I'm just pushing button. Um, so next we're going to talk about the 15.

I'm here for you. Call back to order.

All right, let's call the meeting back to order at 11:15. So we talked about uh role of city council uh role of city manager. We're going to talk about the role of the mayor. Now uh this will be shorter than what we talked about so far because there's the role of the mayor is pretty limited. Um under state law or municipal code, you know, the mayor's elected for you know terms of one year at a time. You do have an election every uh December. You select new mayor. They are the presiding officer for council meetings, the chair of the meeting. Um, other than that, they don't have any formal powers greater than any of the other council members. There is one exception. Our code says that they make the appointments uh for the planning commission. Uh you know, but those have to be approved by the um city council by the so city council still you know very uh intimately involved in that process too. But the nomination is from the mayor and that mirrors and that mirrors state law for directly elected mayors. I know that that's kind of that that's what they would do for directly elected mayors and that's why in the municipal code I think it kind of mirrors that even though in Clodale it's not directly elected.

Um the governance manual expands on this a little bit about what the role of the mayor is what it what it means to be the presiding officer. So you know they facilitate the discussions recognize council members for speaking you know decide when recognize the public um decide how much time the public has there's a lot of speakers more or less time might be given um they also serve as the spokesperson for the city. you know, we have a a public information officer that's part of the city clerk's job, but this, you know, the mayor is the face of the city, also the, you know, the the spokesperson for the city. Um, they also have the ability to reorder the agenda. U say that sometimes maybe there's a lot of people for something that's later on in the agenda and the mayor will bring that up to the beginning of that the meeting. Um,

they also I think you mentioned this Alex, sorry, but they also do work with the city manager and the city clerk to kind of the the for set the agendas as well. Right.

Correct. And and that is it's not about the content of the agenda item. It's it's just about when the item is going and whether it's going to go on on consent, whether it's going to be on the regular. You know, the mayor might have a sense of this is not that controversial. Let's put it on consent or yeah, I understand there's a heavy workload for staff, a big agenda. Let's push this item to the next meeting. Um the mayor also decides who receives proclamations. That's in our policy as well. Governance manual, you know, as council knows, once a year we set calendar proclamations. So that's set by the whole uh council but then the mayor you know has the ultimate responsibility for who is going to receive and um you know accept the proclamation. And now we also have this isn't the slides but we have the citizen recognition program where each one of you has the opportunity um to recognize throughout the course of the year recognize you know citizen who's you know worthy of of recognition. So, so now we're talking about council meetings, how they actually work, you know, what the rules are for that. And I I think you're all probably familiar with the Brown Act. Um, and there's a lot in the Brown Act that that is relevant for meetings, right? The Brown Act requires that we have an agenda, that we not talk about things that aren't um on the agenda. the the Brown Act requires that the public have an opportunity to be um heard to give public comment. The Brown Act requires that all these meetings be in public uh unless there's a specific reason, you know, authorized reason to be in close session. But other than that, the Brown Act doesn't really get into the nuts and

the bolts of meetings and how it operate. Um some cities have adopted rules of procedures. They may have them in their code. Many cities adopt Robert's rules. You may have heard of that or Rosenberg's rules. The city has not adopted either. We have no um formally adopted rules of procedure. The governance manual says Robert's rules is sort of a guide, but we haven't adopted any formal rules of order. And that's been part of the the council's um desires over the years. Let's try to keep things as informal as possible. Um and so the governance manual so the mayor exercises discretion in them in applying these parliamentary procedures. Um but there's a me preference for minimizing them. So the the mayor is ultimately in charge with running the meeting. Um you know determining you know when it's time to move on. We you know let's have a motion or you know council member this council member you know you had a chance. we're not going back for a second round of comments or that sort of thing.

And one thing we're looking at, I know it mentions Robert's rules. There's been a big move away from Robert's rules to Rosenberg's rules in order a lot of folks are saying, "Wait a minute, we're not the parliamentary, right? We're parliament." Well, we don't have how many members, right, are part of that. That that's kind of what those rules are created. If you look at Robert's rules, I mean, Robert's rules of of order,

it's a lot. It is. Exactly. um they're going more to like more of the Rosenberg rules of order which we're we're we're looking at as well um in the next kind of the updates to either the governance manual or something if if the council wanted more kind of structure something to follow uh but something a little more simple than Robert's rules but that's something we're we're we've been looking at um as far as maybe a recommendation for the future.

Yeah. and and along those lines like we you know it's not parliament and there's no parliamentarian so there's no you know the governor's manual gives the mayor this authority and council members may ask the city clerk or city attorney you know hey what would Robert's rules require what is is this proper you know we there may be situations where uh we provide an answer may not be because the answer might not be clear um but there's no parliamentarian whose rule ruling. Yes, that was appropriate. Yes, that was not.

You know, you you'll hear me jump in from time to time if there's maybe a Brown thing. Hey, we're talking about something that's not really on the agenda. Uh but other than that, it's really the mayor is charged with conducting the the meeting. Last thing to mention is, you know, we have an item on our agenda for future agenda items. Since it's not a like since those particular topics aren't agenda, you can't discuss them at length. You know, a brief, you know, brief couple sentences on why something wants to go on the agenda. Maybe someone has a, you know, quick question, that's okay, but no, no, extended discussion and and we require a consensus of the council. So, you know, we want to see those general, you know, so three thumbs up, three head nods, that sort of thing. that governance manual has some uh flowery language about how we should be conducting these meetings really about that you know let's all try to behave uh in a civil and professional manner I know things can get heated you know we're talking important topics that are being discussed and and there strong disagreements But um you know important to maintain professionalism in the council you know governor's manual says council and staff are expected to m maintain appropriate order and decorum avoid side conversation uh disruptions and unnecessary delays. So my pet peeve it's I know Mike's still on here like sometimes you can hear Mike talking with the student on focus on what's going on. Uh, and that can happen all along. And so that's part of it, too. It's not trying to um,

poor Mike, you're going to call out. I mean, he's on mute. He can take it. Yeah.

I give him darts in the middle of muting. But, uh, they, you know, so the public can be engaged so you can hear what your fellow council members are saying. doesn't mean you're never going to lean over and ask a question or make a quick comment, but uh to limit those sort of extended conversations that may um to delve into side conversations um you know sometimes people might get a text message from emergency um also some folks might be text messaging somebody off the dis for instruction or something like that. So, how would that be determined in your um sort of

Well, the so avoiding side conversations and disruptions, it's really about um you know, amongst your council members. If you if someone's focused on something else and they're quiet because they're on their phone, um you know, that's their business and it's the voters to decide whether that's something they want to um that's how they want their council member to be engaged. But this is really about sort of the disruptive behavior um and limiting that sort of disruptive. I will note, you know, this isn't a public records act uh training, but you know, if you're texting someone about business during a meeting, um you know, it's public record, and if you're texting during the meeting, that's the fastest way for someone in the public to say, "Oh, I want to see what that is." And make that request. You know, uh we definitely have experience dealing with that in other jurisdictions where you will get a message public records request the next day or all message text messages sent by, you know, council members during last night's meeting or by council member X during last night.

There are jurisdictions that apply policies as well regarding it. But but even even when we just say you know I know it's kind of flowery language but but if you if you really look at the goal of ma of maintaining a civil and professional meeting environment like that is very important that is very important in any in any jurisdiction in any for and kind of having kind of your council meetings and the reason why it's important as well not only because you're trying to get the work of the people done right you're trying to get these things done but I think it's also for the public because for your residents that are watching these meetings that are there cuz I have been part of different agencies that won't be named um but but you start getting people saying what's going on there what's happening there and there's this element of trust that starts kind of eroding so I think although you know it does sound it's kind of like everybody's playing but but it's but it's really it's really more of that kind of the providing your residents with kind of that that level of trust. Now, as Alex mentioned, items do get there's there's important things that this council does. Every council does, very important. So, there are things that get there's there's tension at times because you may be passionate about something, but just keeping in mind we're here to do the public's work, right? We're here to we're elected, residents are watching and doing it and still pushing hard for the things you want. But that's why I think that that's where the governance manual goes. Just, you know, make sure folks are watching. We want to make sure to keep people's trust and that they know we're doing the best for them. That was Sorry, that was my that was my

That made me think too like it's not just your residents. It's also your staff, the city staff, right? the, you know, quick way to lose your city manager or some department head is, god, every two weeks I got to go to this 4-hour meeting where I'm thrown into the middle of them fighting and I, you know, they're they're fighting through me or or whatever, you know, I don't want to deal with that anymore, you know. Um, and so that's something to be uh cognizant of. You know, this is just a minor thing, but notifi you're responsible for notifying the mayor before you leave a meeting. Um, you know, we need to know, are you are you leaving for the night or you're just running to the bathroom for five minutes, right? You may not want to call recess. Hey, this is a long item. I'll just, you know, go grab a drink of water and be right back. And so, we need to know that.

And the key word there on that one is as long as you still have a a quorum. Correct. Correct. Okay. Because there are time I mean on a long meeting you don't do it but there are times hey we just had a 10-minute break and now I realize I got to use the rest I don't want break like I'll just go be back in 90 seconds and let you know that that's we've had council members that would just get up and leave when they were frustrated or upset and they would just leave and you didn't know if they were coming back. what the plan was. And when you have to document and record everything, you know what the plan is, right? So you're prepared for the next with our council. We've been pretty effective at like passing notes, you know, like hey, you know, requesting recesses.

Well, that worked good. And last time and I remember one couple meetings, three meetings, we were in a long one and council member Marquez was like take 15. I'm like, hey, let's do this. You know what I mean? So yeah, that does work. is I mean there was really people that go walk out and you're like where they going one of these things is that something can be one of us can be excused without calling the meeting. Absolutely. So you know um I think yeah a no is appropriate where it's not necessarily like a conversation but it's

you're not disrupting the meeting. Yeah. Great point. Um, and this doesn't apply really so much to the council, but part of the mayor's job is, you know, limiting disrupting out in the audience. Um, you know, we don't usually have big crowds in the meeting, so it's not a big deal. But, you know, it's disruptive if you have people cheering in the meeting every time a public, you know, the way they make 16 public commenters take even longer is for there to be applause after each person and that sort of thing. And so, Um, that's part of, you know, the role of the mayor and running meetings.

We could have gone like 20 minutes talking about disruptive behavior and the policy in the Brown Act and the warnings. Luckily, here in Cloverdale, we really haven't seen that. There's been a lot of situations in other another jurisdictions where I mean, somebody from the public would be removed. Um, but it takes a lot for that to happen. It takes warnings. It's got to be disruptive behavior. Then you because because people have the right to be there, right? I mean, that's kind of their right to to look at um to watch to be at the

You can't really say that and unless you were here when Mark Kinsey was our mayor because he in the middle of the meeting jumped the table and got in a fist fight with the guy that was speaking up and I was sitting right next to the chief. This was shortly after I got on. And I asked Chief, I said, "Aren't you gonna stop that?" And he just sort of leaned back in his chair a little bit. He said, "Maybe later." He said, "I'm kind of enjoying this." I said, "Jesus Christ, get out. Fix that." And he went, "Oh, you're such a killer of a good time." And he got up and he stopped it. But that's my comparison of what is worth looking at and thinking about that. You can't jump the table and beat up somebody. Well, it was Christopher Welch who was browbeating Mark Kinsky and he can be difficult but

but brow beating is okay. It's not hate speech. You know, it's not he he had a short he jumped the table. I didn't think he was capable. That was the hard part with, you know, some of our people that have come into uh protest against some of the things we're doing is they have a legal right to you. Make sure you set their parameters, right? And and as long as they abide by the parameters, they can say anything they want. They can sit there and call you every name in the book. As long as it's not hate speech, it is what it is.

Well, we we are not planning to recommend adding, you know, jumping the dice and enter for the mayor. So that won't that have to roll over more than jumping until he got arrested. chair called me on that one to get ready. All right.

So, the the next few slides we're talking about now really um delving into the the governance manual and some of the policies that it sets about council conduct. Um so, the first one is there's section about collective versus individual action. So obviously each one of you is elected um uh individually but you serve you know collectively you're not it's not the president and so there's only five of you together you know get the opportunity to make these decisions have these votes so um each of you is free during these discussions to express your views and deliberations as those are ongoing. The governance manual says, you know, once the council majority reaches a decision, everyone is encouraged to support that decision publicly. Um, now that that's not, you know, it says that language is specific are encouraged. It's not a law, right? You still have your right to express your opinions, but um, you know, is helpful for cohesion and city governance. you know, if there's one unified voice, especially after, you know, maybe difficult decisions to support the path the city went on. So, you know, that's that's something that was in the old version of the governance manual. something that's in this version as well about really encouraging all of you, you know, you're on the losing side of a vote or a decision to encourage, you know, um support that decision publicly or, you know, also if you can't support it publicly, then just be neutral on it publicly too is a is an option too. Um if you do, you know, you you have your rights bill, your first amendment rights to go out there and say your your opinion. Um if you disagree with uh the decision of the council, you have to be really clear that you are doing that as an individual and not

representing the council. Right? You're there as you're an individual expressing your personal opinions, which is your right, but you're not you're not reflecting the position of the city or the position of the the council on that. And I think that that that the point there Alice was is kind of when you act as a body, there's always the kind of the when you go and we voted on this, we did this and that's because you did that. Um but just the the I don't agree with what we did, what the council did. Just being very clear of if you're going to kind of be very clear of the distinction. It doesn't take away your ability to to disagree with something or just say I think but it's just I think it's an element I think of of the encouraging of the it goes back to the more of the kind of the respectful manner of well the council voted on this is what they're going to do however I voted no and here's why I voted no like that's still you're okay it says encouraged but I think it's just kind of really plain you know you hear like they don't know what they're doing but it's kind of encouraging to to to more of being the the kind of the in a respectful manner of just you know my colleagues voted this way I don't agree and here's why but being very clear I I'm I'm saying this I'm doing this and it's important I mean the you know the governance man said when you're asked to speak about a topic when you're asked about an issue you know it's ideal for you to give at the position of the city and then you can clarify you know if you feel the need to clarify I did that you know this is the example that says you know well I vote against X the council voted in support um because the goal is to help communicate the position of the city

you know this ensuring clear unified direction of the city even when this well and even when you're clarifying the position you also have to remember that your audience is asking questions So if I were to go to a a Rotary meeting who ask me there as a council member or as a vice mayor or mayor and say have them ask a question then have me give personal answer like a this is my personal opinion on it and then you know that you're there representing the council. You have to give the support of the council. You can you can disagree but you need to give why the council supports us as a whole and that you and that you represent that answer. Were you looking? No, I was not but So, no exactly.

Yeah,

that's exactly right. When you, you know, when you're asked to speak on on something, you know, invited there as a member of city council, um, you should reflect the position of the city. And again, if you need to, you know, clarify that, you know, this is what the city did. We vote on X. This is how we're moving forward. You know, FYI, you know, I didn't support that, but for X reason, but this is what the council decided to do. you know, if you need to clarify that, it's fine, but you're there to um reflect the official position of of the city. Um or, you know, you need to be very clear that, you know, you're not there on behalf of the city. You not invited there as the, you know, representative of the city. You're just there to talk. You know, me individual, you know, Bob Smith, but I'm here at this engage. Um again, you know, you're in this public forum or meetings, the goal is to communicate the city's adopted position, um not your individual viewpoints. Um, and you know this just to reiterate this, you know, when you're when you're speaking, uh, you need to clarify when you're speaking that they are, you know, either you're representing the full council's position or you need to be clear that you're speaking and expression expressing only your own personal views. You don't you don't lose the right to be your an individual that you're you are a council member, right? That depends on your right the the you're there to represent the council. kind of what the council did and then like you said, Alex, I like that, you know, personally of, you know, I voted no or or whatnot. And then that's you can definitely are still free to list your kind of opinion. Um, but that's kind of when you're there as a representative of the of the council as a whole,

because like Todd says, you have to know your audience because you can go and state, hey, I'm a citizen. Um, I'm not representing the council. I'm a citizen of Cloverdale and I'm here for gathering information or giving my own personal opinion. But if that person goes back to social media and says council member X said this, this, this, and this, and it's like everybody else doesn't know what the one-on-one conversation is. So basically, you have to pick your battles and know your audience. Be careful of, you know, what you say and when you say it and how you say it. And that's a this is an honor here too, but it's especially true, you know, regional boards, for example, like you're really appointed there to you're an individual serving on those boards. Like you were appointed to represent the city and ultimately city could remove you if you're not reflecting, you know, city's position on issues. So the the governor's policy also establishes a legislative policy um for the city and this is taking light from the governance manual that the city's uh policies generally to oppose uh regulations, state laws. It could be regional things as well that preempt local authority negatively impact the city's budget or impose unfunded mandates. and that we provide support stuff that provides funding opportunities, protects local government revenue or creates incentives, you know, rather than mandating something. If they the state wants to create an incentive, if we do something that that our policy is generally to support that even if it may not be something we want to go take advantage of and get that incentive. Um and so when um there are you know there's lots of proposed bills out there or regulations and when there are um proposed laws consistent with this policy you know

letters are prepared for the mayor's signature and those just you know those don't require council approval. just they go on the agenda so people are aware of them but um they don't require any type of approval from the council because they're already consistent. Yeah, if they're consistent. If they're not consistent or maybe we don't know um you know or it's a brand new thing like we we're bringing for the council for direction or council members can request this is a topic we haven't thought about. I think we should, you know, write in support of, you know, X, Y, and Z, you know, AB 1 2 3. Um, so and

and that's when you're addressing it as as the council, right? There's still the opportunity for council members to kind of transmit their own positions on the issue, but just clearly addressing clearly stating that this is uh um the issue. This is this is kind of them kind of you they're not they're not addressing this on behalf of the council or the city. They're just an individual council member. And I think the next slide this is really kind of what got added. I think that council member you mentioned that this was added to the the as far as a code of ethics. It was something new. So something that's changed from from the past. U and so these quotes are taken all directly from the governance manual where there are quotes and there's more you know the governance manual has this is a bigger section than what we're seeing here not doing word for word what's up there but thought this um captured the sort of spirit of what is in there um that it's to you know serve the common good of the people of Cloverdale rather than any private or personal interests strive to treat all individual claims of matter with fairness and equity. Obviously comply with you know the law. Uh maintain confidentiality of documents similar to materials you may find from me or from cabin confidential information. Um and and to maintain that that's your obligation. You know what we discuss in close session is confidential. you know, if I send you an email that's confidential, but the city manager may, you know, send you confidential information, may let you know that, hey, you know, council, I wanted to let you know I terminated, you know, employee X, Y, and Z, like to keep that sort of confidential information confidential. Um, and then to support the maintenance of a positive and constructive workplace environment for city employees and for

citizens and and businesses dealing with the the city. But I know the council, I mean, this was this was a big deal for the council to kind of adopt. There's a lot of jurisdictions that don't have something like this code of conduct, code of ethics. That's really kind of I know that that in the past that was something that was brought up. It got pushed as far as something very important got it put in. um it was adopted and even I know we're running late but there is something very important in the next few slides as far as really taking a time and you know to really reflect on what all these mean. Now we won't go into it very a lot of time here but really when you read them even the last point here straight out of the code of ethics support and maintain the positive and constructive uh workplace environment for city employees for the citizens and businesses dealing with the city obviously very important the first one serve the common good of the people of Cloverdale rather than any private or personal interest like those are like when you think about those things. They seem like common sense, right? Like of force we should be doing this, but it's nice to kind of just put him down because it's a good reminder of kind of as an elected official sometimes it's kind of like stepping back and just being I'm a council member like this is this is important. You guys serve very very important position in the city. But these these points I just just you know we we do a lot of kind of speaking on when folks want to do kind of the different ethics different different governance but these are the city did a good job of at least kind of highlighting some important factors of what it is to be a council member what should you should strive for. Could you just elaborate on those examples that are in the governance manual of you know refraining from abusive conduct, personal charges,

written attacks on staff, your um the public, your fellow council members. Um you know there's a list of of things. This isn't the whole list, but you know, respect that the it can be hard to run a meeting sometime and sort of respecting, you know, the efforts of the presiding officer to maintain order. Um, practice civility in your discussions and debate. I mean, you know, what we learned in elementary school, you know, that's using eye statements and that sort of thing. That can sound

uh silly, but that, you know, in a heated conversation, that can make a big difference. um avoiding personal comments that could offend others when it's not really related to the business of what the city is trying to do. Um you know demonstrating effective problem solving approaches. That's not always possible. It's hard. You know some things are hard to solve or you know two people disagree and there's just not a gap you can bridge and that's the way it is sometimes and that's okay. But, you know, trying and being willing to to try when it's possible or encouraging that, you know, at least those attempts is an important part of being an elected official. And I think most important part is, you know, making the public feel welcome. At the end of the day, we all work for the citizens who who elected us who pay taxes. And so, you know, you don't want people to feel uncomfortable coming to their city. Even if they're asking um for something you can't deliver or even if it's as simple as, you know, typical person comes to these meetings. They may have the idea of this is a New Hampshire town hall meeting where you know I have a back and forth and they don't realize in public comment that we can't really engage and that can feel rude to them and making sure they understand why and you know

make sure they're criticize you for that. to your point, Alex, on that is obviously we get a lot of emails in the background. You know, I read them all, but some of them, you know, I'm not going to respond because it's just going to open a firestorm of, you know, he said, she said. So, you know, I just want the public to know that, yeah, I I acknowledge it. I read it, but if it had does have nothing to do with city businesses, I'm not engaging. And I don't want to get the public always wants you to engage, but there's stuff going on in the background. I look at some of the stuff that I get I'm like there's no business on what we're doing as a city council

and when you get I mean when there are controversial topics you know and I come to the city council you know you you that's a great thing to mention too like I got lots and lots of emails about this I read every single one I didn't respond to them all I couldn't there's too many u but I I want you know the public to know that I read every single email that was sent to the city council about this project that you know take them all into consideration because like you said the city the uh I guess the most of the voting public doesn't understand that you know as a whole we can't respond

and and I know that's something staff tries to do too people will say oh when's the next meeting like can I come give a comment and staff will say it but you know we always try to let them know this is what's going to happen like if council can't act on that like you could you could tell it, they'll know it, tell it, they'll know it, they'll hear they'll hear it, they may ask for it, they may ask for something in the something in the future, but you know, future, but you know, we want to set we want to set their expectations. So their expectations. So they, you know, they, you know, doesn't seem like they doesn't seem like they were told come were told come down at 6 p.m. on the down at 6 p.m. on the Wednesday night Wednesday night and then they're really disappointed and then they're really disappointed that, you know, there wasn't any that, you know, there wasn't any movement. movement. So I have a question um about this. like

So I have a question um about this. just kind of wanted to maybe dive in a little bit regarding the um what would be considered a personal attack. I think a personal attack is really if you're if you're well and again when it got drafted I don't there may have been I wasn't here when I got adopted but the personal attacks that I've seen like in council meetings and other council meetings and we see them on TV right we've heard about them is really when people start yelling at each other calling each other names really going after personally you know you're you're you're a and then you start fill in the blank right and it's going away from the from the really debating something no I don't agree just from being more like well you're in again blank blank blank right now it starts getting very personal attack like you know kind of that's that to me that starts kind of crossing that line of now you're you're now it's getting a little more personal it's going away from the from the from the business you're there to handle to now it's now we're now we're now we're attacking each other as far as going away from the subject matter

because this was a really important part that uh was written into the code of conduct. I mean, especially with the beginning of the conduct of numbers. Um, and something that, you know, calling somebody a detriment to the city being constituted is personal attack. You know, depends on the context um of of what's going on. It is something, you know, you want to always try to work positively with your co-workers.

Yeah. you know, having this written in the code of conduct, uh, you know, the question is when this is repetitive at meetings, could that be considered repetitive? If you ask me, it all depends on on kind of the the it's always the time, place, and manner, right? It depends on when it was stated, why it was stated. Is it a I'm concerned about the city? This is a problem. You know, you're causing something. Is it a just something that's said just more of an attack? But I think the facts matter on any of this even even calling each other names and really I think it's going into the sections really going into the personal attacks cussing at each other like really kind of going into kind of those types of um so even um like you're saying cussing profanity uh screaming on a personal context. This would be like one-on-one maybe meeting outside of a meeting if somebody's swearing and yelling at you and you know you let them know that that's not okay. Well, I think that that's that I know that this is when we're talking about this, we're like talking about the like meetings. Um, when you're talking individual contacts, um, we would always, you know, recommend to always have crucial conversations. Having, it's good to have conversations. It's good to kind of have crucial conversations with each other.

Um, some of those may be get get heated, but always be professional. Absolutely. And I just want to add because you you mentioned earlier harassment. I just want to be clear that you guys are are not employees of the city. And so while these are are standards that we want to hold and you know our our goals for how we're all going to behave, it is not the same as could I stop could I stop you right there. When you say we're not employees of the city, I mean in the view of the IRS, we got a W2. So yes, in the view of the IRS tax rules, but I guess what I I I meant is um

you know, Kevin going to an employee and swearing at them might be workplace harassment. While you know, council members swearing at each other, it may might not live up to the ideals that we're trying to set for ourselves. It doesn't necessarily reach it's not workplace harassment necessarily. It's not in the legal sense, right? But I think in sort of this sense of how that is perceived and how that is uh um that that type of behavior would be considered harassment, it's repetitive. Well, I I I mean harassment carries a lot of a lot of different the legal terms and carries a lot of different weight on it. I think Alex's point is when you're talking about employees, you're talking about employees have rights.

Um certain rights that council members don't have under the under the law regarding kind of employment law regarding our recommendation always between council members is it's really kind of the common sense more of the when you're having conversations with each other. If you're talking about private, we can only encourage things are going to get heated. It all depends on the on the on the facts. Were people baiting another person? Did people do something? Like all those things would get looked at, right? Again, the term harassment, I would just pause, you know, with with as far as me giving any type of real kind of legal advice because that has that has a certain term in the law both for employees and for, you know, and just in law in general. But I think that the point of the code of conduct is you're trying to avoid the more of you're just being, you know, whether you're engaging these conversations, whether you're not having crucial conversations. Look, I know things get heated. I know when you have passionate people on councils that want the best thing for the city, things are going to get a little bit heated. And I think that the code of conduct and the code of ethics, all it's trying to encourage is can we get past that moment of of of conflict, talk about things, and then move forward knowing that everybody's kind of passion. So, one of the questions may be at a meeting u you know we do have the presiding officer which is the mayor um and then you have other folks uh council as attorney um can speak up during certain times. So um would you have a recommendation how to move forward when some of these things may arise?

You know that would just be under the the umbrella of professionalism, right? Just know that you're conflicting with somebody else. know that you can agree to disagree and then let's move forward because you're going to keep going butdding heads with that person. You want your voice to be heard. They want their voice to be heard. So you're just you're the meeting becomes stagnant at that point. So then code of ethics is telling us to as professionals as elected individuals or our constituents to agree to disagree and move forward. So I understand it falls under the responsibility of the presiding officer or possibly um the attorney to move these things along when they're getting to a point sometimes like I say some people are you know really adamant and really you know about their uh their point. So sometimes the you know the the level in the room needs to come down a little bit right and then that's where you you know your the professionalism in your role as a city council person should be respected on the dis and you should you know agree to disagree and we should all just like okay we we got there so you know discernment between those two members that's okay but let's keep going with the meeting at hand just have to

and I clear like you guys are council members and the mayor is running the meeting first of all and so that's how it works. There have been times I've jumped in and said we're having the same conversation over and over again. You may want to just move on and sometimes the council has done that and there have definitely been times where we just kept having that conversation.

So I may city manager may suggest hey time to move on and it's still up to the the council and and the mayor about whether it's time to move on. So that's you know that's kind of that's really my question is that uh there is a certain point where you know you taking the responsibility to uh give a recommendation and then ultimately it's the responsibility of the presiding officer to um conduct a meeting that abides by these code of ethics. Well it's everyone's responsibility

I I think it's really I think it's I think the code of ethics really applies to all. Yeah. I think what we're what we're what we're now we're and and I think that that code of ethics really kind of like you said applies to individuals. I think it was it was a great point before of kind of we could disagree let's move on. I think it does the as far as council meetings are conducted and we had the role of the mayor as far as folks needing to kind of respect that role as well. So that comes forward as well. I think a little sometimes you do get kind of other individuals trying to diffuse things,

but it's really kind of I think it's really the code of ethics. It's really kind of focused on the individual and the individual kind of also knowing not not not relying on the mayor to step in but the individual knowing okay it am I starting to cross this line

do I have to do I think this is like kind of you know that's how things work an ideal situation um you know we all have a responsibility to diffuse situations we all have the ability to diffuse situations um what I'm really kind of trying to ask is when these things are not happening. It is just not happening. Um, you know, you won't make a recommendation. So, as the attorney can make a recommendation, um, but ultimately at that point the um, you know, a council member is not the presiding officer. Um, you know, so you can what at that point maybe if things are not being um, taken care of, you call as a as a as a council member.

Yeah. as council was always will always able to say or to say hey can we look point of order we shouldn't be discussing it this way and we've seen it before then then the the mayor could take that as okay you know yes let's move on but as a council member I mean you could always say you know I'm I'm I'm I would want to stop discussing this but again I think these rules or these kind of I almost say this this these goals aspiration as well but we always want to make sure again when we go back to the our our public's watching, staff's watching, everybody's there. How do we how do we communicate with each other in the best most best professional way? And to add to that, you know, the way you make a point of order can be itself, you know, just another code of conduct violation itself or not living up to these ideals, right, of hey, point of order, we're starting to get personal. let's let's all take a step back and try to focus on the topic is a lot different than saying you know point of order you violated the code of conduct right those are

and you're a right and so like those are two different ways to approach something one of them is very accusatory may itself violate some of these principles of trying to work together and practice civility and all of that so that's important to keep in mind as well Yeah. And what I mean maybe let's this is important to know you know cocon is self enforcing by the council right um Kevin and I you know we work for you not the other way around and so the the council is ultimately responsible for policing itself. Um

yeah, there there was a there was even like on on just law itself like there was a lot of um and I read quite a bit of stories from other jurisdictions of they really want somebody like you know kind of kind of go go impose this go impose that on the council itself but sometimes it's the council

that's looking at your own conduct and saying is this the way we want to behave as a council. So that's why you have certain rules that you've gone above and beyond like you've gone I won't say above and beyond but you've gone further than what the state law has and you've adopted your own rules and as a council you're saying we want to impose these rules on each other and in order to hold ourselves accountable and that's what I think the slide is as far as that's why you have these options. So you know the complaint there's a process in the the um governance manual for for complaints of violations of the code of for the governance man manual rather. So that could be a violation of the code of conduct. It could be a violation of some other part of the manual. You know the manual incorporates in all these state laws. So you might say yeah there was a conflict of interest. You know council member X voted on this item. might want to refer that as a code of conduct. Um, under our process, you know, the city attorney will present that to the appropriate body, in this case, generally the city council for direction on whether an investigation is missed. Investigations are to determine facts. They they're not making conclusions, right? They're determining X or Y, not was X a violation of a policy. So in a case where there's no need to investigate the facts, they're not going to be an investigation. Um uh they may not be and you know depending on the level, right? Say doesn't want to spend $50,000 on investigation to see that, you know, someone do this minor thing one time. But it could be handled different ways. You know, maybe just some you know counseling of talking to someone. Um but when uh also when warranted you know the

city attorney I may talk with city manager or we just do an investigation on ourselves you know by ourselves unilaterally unilaterally that's usually when something involves staff right because we staff have these rights we want to make sure um you know employment laws are being complied with and that sort of thing and we also might want to be confidential and not not have the the council know about it because this employee has you know confidentiality rights as well. So there are situations where we might just go do something on our own in that case. Um so the um the is then presented that there's investigation investigation is presented to the council and the council in sole discretion shall force the code of conduct in deter you know uh against members depending on the uh extent and severity of the violation. Council's responsible for determining whether or not there has been a violation at all. Um, and the council, there's a whole range of of options. You know, there's informal stuff the council could do. Um, you know, just through their comments at a meeting. Um, or, you know, recommending something, you know, uh, happen or, hey, that's this wasn't great. Let's do a training. We can answer. Let's do a whole council training. Um or there's three formal steps in our in our government's manual that can be taken. An admonishment, which is sort of the lowest level, sort of a a reminder to everyone that's not engaged in this type of behavior without specifically calling out someone that has violated something. The next serious one is a warning. Telling someone they violated that, you know, warning them not to do it again. And then the most severe is is a censure sort of a formal reprimand from the city council. And that can be combined with other actions,

right? You could be removed from committees or or you know not be allowed to attend events that require you know reimbursement from the city or things like that. Um due process is required. You know the individual um has the right to respond to any allegation. So that would all be part of a you know a public meeting process. Obviously the public can comment just like they can on any agenda item and submit written stuff as well. Um uh so that's how that process works. You know if council ever wants to go to the center that so seriously really requires sort of a second step because our process says there's going to be a a resolution and that sort of thing. So you get take direction from council at a first meeting. you know they've reviewed the report maybe council provides direction this is so serious uh we want to do a censure then come back at the next meeting for adoption of resolution and the accused um which is opportunity at both meetings that you know defend themselves present their case as to why the code of conduct hasn't been violated

and essential really a formal statement right of the council that the council voted and saying this is not okay. This can't go on. This is a violation of our policies of whatever it is as a council as the majority of the council, right? We are saying this is not okay. This is not the conduct that we're here for. Um so that's why it goes to the highest level and there's a resolution. There's a process. Um I know that surrounding jurisdictions you've seen in the paper centur um it is something that does come up at times but like Alex said it's kind of the there's usually a process kind of and in this case you you the council has set a process in your governance manual and your code of ethics code of conduct and this process would always be you know public in an open meeting. The governance manual talks about you know uh closed sessions and that might happen usually again if there's an employee involved you might have a closed session or review maybe unredacted report or something like that but this this step would always be in public as part of a public

and I think that's a great point to point out when it has to do council council kind of actions you see that a lot kind of you see we see that in open session right that's something of the council when it has to do with an employee. Um that is not obviously done in open session if an employee somehow is involved because employees have rights, privacy, etc. Um those are either done individually with the member but we also obviously would have obligations if an employee is involved. We can't ignore things either. Um but those that's a different process that we would need to take. closed yet.

Yes, ma'am. So, this is just the, you know, concluding slide. Um, we talked about the municipal code and um, governance laws, our governance main role, but there's a whole lot more that

that governs how you operate and that sort of thing. We're not talking about them all today, but you know, there's a lot of rules that your jobs are not easy, right? You got to comply with the Brown Act and the political format uh, sorry, public records act, right? That make it difficult to do anything say quoteunquote in secret um which can be difficult and sort of building relationships and building um consensus on a topic. Um you know you don't know that the legislature to make themselves have to comply with these two rules u because they see the value of sort of backdoor that backdoor conversations you know might have some value but we can't have them here. uh political reform act and conflicts of interest rules. Um common law conflict of interest which is really about a requirement that you always be acting in the best interest of the city. What you think is in the best interest of the city rather than what might be in your personal interest. Um gift regulations, campaign finance rules. Um, you know, you gota worry about who, you know, track who's giving you money and whether they have any business for the city or, you know, whether people who are giving you campaign contributions had business before the city, you know, in the past year or so. Um and then you know this is a voluntary training you all did but there you know I remember mandatory trainings you got to do on a pretty regular cycle of ethics training with anti-harassment training and the legislature added a new one this year about sort of financial training um that something that in the next year or two you guys are going to receive as well and

I think the point of this slide is just to also tell you and tell the public it's it's not easy but also being a council member, right? There are many rules that apply, many regulations that apply that folks sometimes don't think about like the members of the public don't think that there's all these rules on top of the council. These are just kind of the ones we can name. I mean, all of them all of them involve long trainings that we could go into, but this is just more of a reminder of it is it is tough. It's it's it's not as you're elected or you're on a council and now you can do whatever you want and the the laws are really there to kind of for the for the system for to make sure that again everything goes back to providing the best you can provide to your residents and I think that's why the all these rules are structured there but again all these you've been to the trainings the AB1234 trainings that cover most of these but there is there is a lot there's a lot here for the council So, and and lastly, um and we'll h happy to answer questions, but I started by saying, you know, I applaud the council, and I do applaud the council for having this kind of more of a check-in reminder of what are some of these uh governance rules, but also for having the rules, for adopting a governance manual, for adopting a code of conduct, code of ethics, and kind of saying, "Hey, look, we understand the laws here. We want to we want to go above. We want to create our own regulations that are going to be applying to us because at the end of the day, we're here to provide the best services for the people of Cobra. So that's again I apologize any questions.

Is that available over time? The answer is yes. Yeah. I the only thing I want to bring up real quick is is uh I think one of my key takeaways here is um the goal setting, you know, and bringing up the new council numbers coming on and kind of that transition with the two-year budget. There may be something there's actually sitting down and actually saying here's the city's goals right here and and doing some more updates. That's my personal takeaway on that and uh and just I think uh this was well needed and definitely needed for the council. So, thank you very much, gentlemen. Of course. And if you want to open it up to the to the public. Absolutely. Any questions? I'm thinking. Okay.

No, I don't think so. Got you. Thank you. I would think that um I just noticed the censure issue up there. Yeah. And from the last meeting. Mhm. And um I guess for me censure it would have to almost be some I mean I just didn't get where it came from, I guess. I had a problem with that. I don't think there'll be any crawling over the table type stuff going on. You think not? You sure? We're rolling over the table to be one. But yeah, I was kind of I was getting a little worried. The last couple meetings have been a little distressing. Agreed. Agreed.

Yeah. And I've gotten a shitload of um emails, phone calls about those meetings. All of us have. Yeah. So, yeah. Cool. Anything else? Anybody else? Okay. All righty. at uh let's go ahead and join the meeting at 12:13. 15.