RIVERWALK COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Receive the report regarding public participation rules and annual report requirements for City Boards and Commissions
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DEPARTMENT: Transportation, Engineering and Development
SUBMITTED BY: William J Novack, P.E., Director of Transportation, Engineering and Development/City Engineer
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
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BACKGROUND:
Over the past year the City Manager and Mayor’s offices have been working to standardize all City boards and commissions to improve transparency and provide information easier to interested parties. An individual who visits any commission meeting now should easily figure out who is the chair, the commissioners and the guests; and there is consistency amongst all the different commissions.
Starting in the next several months all board and commission meetings that are not televised will be audio-recorded and the recordings will be posted on the City’s web site for all interested individuals.
DISCUSSION:
To support and aid individuals listening to the audio from past meetings, and to stay compliant with the requirements of the Open Meetings Act (OMA) and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) the following procedural changes will be implemented at Riverwalk Commission and Planning, Design and Construction Committee meetings:
1. Commissioners and the public will only be allowed to speak after being recognized by the Chairperson. The verbal recognition of the individual requesting to speak allows those listening to the recording to know who is saying what.
2. The use of any type of communication devices (cell phone, laptop or tablet) is highly discouraged during the meeting since any device used during the meeting can be subject to a FOIA request, even personal devices. Recognizing that these devices are sometimes essential for personal or emergency communications their use is allowed, however, to keep from being subject to a FOIA request not using them at all is encouraged.
3. All public speakers will be limited to three minutes similar to City Council meetings. Additional time may be granted by a majority of the Commission, and additional conversation with the speaker is allowed beyond the three-minute limit. Similar to City Council meetings certain proposals will be allowed ten minutes, with a five-minute rebuttal if other speakers discuss the item.
4. All commissioners are required to attend at least 75% of the meetings, and any commissioner who does not could be subject to being removed from the Commission by the Mayor.
5. All discussion at commission meetings must be conducted in a respectful manner. Clapping or dismissing any speaker’s comments will not be tolerated.
6. A final reminder that all commissioners are subject to FOIA requests and that we all must follow the Open Meeting Act requirements. An often-overlooked violation of the OMA are e mail communications. Since Rebecca is not a commissioner, she can legally send a single e-mail message to all members of the Riverwalk Commission. However, no commissioner is allowed to “reply to all” to that communication since it would be a commissioner communicating with more than three commissioners outside of a meeting.
I recommend that we all start following these guidelines and practices. I plan to discuss each of these items in greater detail at the meeting, after I have been recognized by the Riverwalk Commission Chairman.
Finally, every board and commission will be required to provide a brief annual report after the conclusion of each year. This is meant to be a very high-level report. Attached is a copy of the template all the boards and commissions will be required to use for their reports. I recommend that at the January meeting we discuss the items that should be included in the annual report such that it can be filed before the February deadline. At the February meeting the actual report that was filed can be shared with the Riverwalk Commission.