HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-0519 Charter Review MIN
CHARTER REVIEW COMMITTEE
MAY 19, 2005
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Charter Review Committee
May 19, 2005
Regular Meeting Minutes
Redmond Room, Southern Oregon University
I. CALL TO ORDER:
Committee Chair John Enders called the Ashland Charter Review Committee meeting to order at
7:05 p.m. on May 19, 2005 in the Redmond Room at Southern Oregon University.
Members Present: John Enders, Carole Wheeldon, Hal Cloer, Laurie MacGraw, Pam Marsh, Keith
Massie and Michael Riedeman.
Members Absent: Kate Culbertson and Don Montgomery.
Staff Present: April Lucas, Assistant to City Recorder
Mike Franell, City Attorney
Carole Wheeldon/Laurie MacGrawm/s to approve the minutes of May 12, 2005 as presented.
Voice Vote: all AYES. Motion passed.
II. PUBLIC FORUM:
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Art Bullock/791 Glendower/
Restated his request that the minutes of May 5 be corrected in regards to
his remarks taken during Public Forum. Mr. Bullock commented on the issue of the city recorder and
municipal judge. In regards to the city recorder, he stated that the independence of this position was a
valued asset and stated that changing it to an appointed position would take away the independence which
provides for a checks and balance. In regards to the municipal judge, Mr. Bullock spoke regarding the
possibility that citations could be handled by the Justice of the Peace Court instead. He stated that this
option would require citizens to drive all the way to Central Point to have their violations resolved. Mr.
Bullock expressed his concern that this position might become appointed instead of elected, especially if
the person who did the appointing was an unelected person in the executive branch. He stated that if the
judge was appointed, this could change the dynamic of community justice.
Mr. Enders clarified that tonight’s meeting agenda differed from what was posted on the City’s website
and clarified that the Committee would only be taking public input on the Parks and Recreation issue at
this meeting.
III. DISCUSSION OF TIMELINE AND REPORT WRITING:
Carole Wheeldon spoke regarding the Committee’s opportunity to participate in two RVTV broadcasts on
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May 25 and June 6. The forums would be hosted by Tim Bewley and would provide the Committee an
opportunity to talk about the issues and explain their work. Ms. Wheeldon requested that the members
check their schedules and respond to her as to who would like to participate. She noted that she would be
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participating in the forum scheduled for May 25 and John Enders would do the one scheduled for June
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6. She added that they were hoping to have 3 members present for each taping.
Ms. Wheeldon noted that the Committee currently has three more meetings scheduled before they submit
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their recommendations to the City Council. She proposed that on June 2, the Committee deliberate and
come to a decision on council compensation, the Municipal Judge/City Recorder and Parks and
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Recreation issues. Then on June 9, discuss the periodic charter review and additional topics (which
would include IRV) and spend the remainder of their time working on the reconciliation of mark-ups.
She noted that Kate Culbertson and Keith Massie had agreed to work on how to handle the items that are
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MAY 19, 2005
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antiquated or superseded by state law, and questioned if Hal Cloer would also like to participate in this
task. Ms. Wheeldon stated that a second group would work on the summary write up, which would
include the issues the Committee identified and their recommendations for what should be included in the
Charter. A third group would be made up of Pam Marsh, Don Montgomery and herself and would
prepare an outline of the next steps, which would include items that need additional research before a
recommendation can be made.
It was noted that the Committee would need to provide their final recommendations and report to Staff
approximately one week prior to the Council meeting so that it can be included in the meeting materials.
Ms. Wheeldon questioned which members would want to be involved in the Council presentation.
The Committee agreed on the three groups identified by Ms. Wheeldon and the tasks assigned to each.
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It was clarified that the city band topic would be deliberated on during the June 9 meeting.
The Committee discussed the proposed timeline. It was questioned if they could have their draft reports
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prepared by June 9 so they would not be walking in cold for the June 16 meeting. Suggestion was
made for the Committee to hold one more meeting to finalize what will be presented to the City Council.
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It was stated that the Committee could make their final approval on June 30, in which they would be
working from a final draft. Committee discussed if everyone would be able to attend this final meeting
and whether they wanted to consider the idea of allowing a member to cast a vote if they are not able to
attend. Comment was made asking for sufficient time to review the draft and make recommendations.
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Ms. Wheeldon stated on the June 16, they could review the draft, then the following week the members
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could suggest modifications, so by June 23 a final draft could be circulated. She stated that by the final
meeting, the content would have already been determined and it would just be a matter of deciding how
things are placed. Keith Massie noted that he would not be able to attend the final meeting, and stated
that as long as he was able to review the draft and provide input, he was comfortable with not being able
to participate in the final vote.
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The Committee reached a consensus to follow the discussed timeline, with a final vote on June 30.
IV. DISCUSSION OF FUTURE COMMITMENT BY COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Ms. Wheeldon questioned whether any of the Committee members wanted to continue their involvement
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in this process past the final meeting on June 30. She clarified that the City would likely need to hold a
special election to vote on the Charter and stated that this would happen sometime before November
2006. She clarified that they were no longer shooting for a November 2005 election.
Comment was made that the citizen phase of this process was coming to a close and it was time for the
City Council to take the lead and decide how they would like to proceed. It was stated that the Council
would conceivably request the Committee’s input as to how they reached their decisions. Concern was
expressed that issues passed by a split vote would weaken the Committee’s recommendation. Comment
was made expressing concern that the committee would need to go before the council and defend their
recommendations. It was suggested that the Committee present a three part conclusion to the Council:
first, present the general housekeeping actions; second, present the Committee’s recommendations; and
third, present the items that need additional research or might warrant the formation of a new committee.
It was stated that this format might make it less overwhelming for the Council.
V. PUBLIC INPUT: Parks and Recreation Department
The Committee moved into the roundtable discussion format.
City Attorney Mike Franell commented on permissive language in the Charter regarding IRV. He stated
that he had reservations about including permissive language because the authority for determining the
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MAY 19, 2005
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methodology would then fall to the Council. He stated that it would best for the election method to be
decided by the people and spelled out in specific language in the Charter. Mr. Franell clarified that if
permissive language was adopted, the Council would have the ability to change the voting method
without taking it to the voters.
Comment was made that there would be potential costs associated with implementing IRV, and support
was given for the Committee to not make a recommendation as this issue warranted additional study.
Laurie MacGraw opened the roundtable discussion and noted her experience with the Parks and
Recreation Commission. Ms. MacGraw stated that she was on the commission for approximately 10
years and noted some of the various projects she was apart of. She clarified that the City of Ashland has a
Parks and Recreation Department, and this department is overseen by an elected commission. She noted
that one of the antiquated items in the Charter was that the Parks Commission and Recreation
Commission are listed as separate entities.
Ms. MacGraw stated that the discussion tonight should focus on:
1) Should the Parks and Recreation Commission continue to be elected or be appointed by the City
Council?
2) Should the Director of Parks and Recreation continue to be supervised by the elected commission or be
under the supervision of the City Manager?
Comments made during the roundtable discussion included:
• There is not a thing in the world wrong with the current system; it works very well.
• Parks and Rec. have so much business to take care of and respond to the public about, it is a benefit to
have an elected commission that supervises the director.
• The level of commitment by the commissioners is stronger as a result of them having to go through the
election process.
• The Parks & Rec. Department is the most powerful agency in the City and many of their activities are
shrouded in secrecy. Concern was expressed that there are competing uses in the City, including that
between open space and affordable housing land.
• Suggestion was made for the City to form an Affordable Housing Commission that would operate
similarly to the Parks Commission.
• The Budget Committee simply “rubberstamps” the Parks budget.
• The Parks Commission budget is based on the Parks Commissions plan; it is not created solely by the
director.
• Comment was made that during the last election the Parks commissioners ran unopposed.
• Statement was made that there are two ways to look at this: people are either happy with the people who
are on the commission or citizens are uninterested in running.
• Support was expressed for leaving things as they are in the Charter. If the provisions for Parks were
removed from the Charter, they would have a difficult time competing with the other needs of the City.
• The only way to guarantee funding is to put it in the Charter. The difficulty in this is that these figures
can quickly become antiquated.
• Based on the historical evidence, the Parks budget is going up faster than the cost of living. No other
department has had such drastic increases and the Committee should set a limit.
• Land is a resource and this resource will need to be tapped into in order to accomplish the Council’s
goals for parks and affordable housing.
• Political support has been developed for parks, but that the same level of support is still lacking for
affordable housing and economic development.
• Support was expressed for not including any financial elements in the Charter and leaving this to the
budget process.
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MAY 19, 2005
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• Suggestion was made to consider an elected Housing Commission as a way to establish the political
following that is needed to accomplish the Council’s goals. Statement was made that having the Parks &
Rec. Commission elected is a statement of Ashland’s values, and maybe that same statement needs to be
made regarding affordable housing.
• The difference is that parks are for everyone, while affordable housing benefits someone else.
• Statement was made noting that the Parks and Recreation meetings are open to the public and citizens
are able to go before the commission and ask them where they stand and why they made certain
decisions. Additional comment was made that open space funds have already been allocated for
upcoming projects, and in terms of the budget, a lot of the big percentage increase is due to carryover that
has been held for contingency.
• Comment was made that the Parks Department has taken on additional duties that they previously were
not responsible for, such as Senior Services.
• The Committee needs to be careful to not create an “octopus” with the Parks Department, in respect to
them having too many jobs and responsibilities.
• Statement was made that currently, the Parks Department takes care of every single blade of public
grass in the City.
• Part of the reason for Parks taking ownership of the Senior Center was due to their possession of the
building and this was forced on them by the Council.
• Comment was made expressing reluctance to changing the current system. Ashland is a gorgeous place
to live because of the all of the work done by this department, but it is also because the citizens dedicate
many of their dollars to parks.
• Ashland is lucky to have all of its horticultural work performed by the Parks Department; they have
such a talented staff.
• Support was expressed for the Parks Department and Commission, but concern was voiced about too
much money being spent on parks. Comment was made that when you have automatic budget increases,
you automatically build in a lot of waste. Suggestion was made for the budget aspect to be handled by the
Budget Committee.
VI. ITEMS FROM COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Keith Massie spoke regarding the issue regarding the residency of the City Recorder and Judge and
suggested that the Committee consider changing the requirement so that the person who held this position
would have to live within the Ashland School District. Doing so would include areas that are not an
expensive as those within the City limits and would increase the potential pool of candidates.
Request was made for the Committee to determine how other cities with similar populations handle
council compensation.
VII. ADJOURNMENT:
Meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
April Lucas, Assistant to City Recorder