Adoption of Resolution Adding Additional 2015 Regular City Council Meeting Dates.  (City Clerk 2210)
Adoption of resolution, adding additional 2015 regular city council meeting dates and council. This item is before you tonight because we on staff have been trying to spread out the big beefy items among various agendas, but there have just been a lot of them. And one of the things that's prohibited on a special meeting is introduction of an ordinance. So an item such as Site A that might involve an ordinance couldn't go on a special meeting night because we would have to have it on a regular night to introduce the ordinance. So what we were looking at is potentially adding an additional meeting the second Wednesday of the month. So you'd have the first and third Tuesday and then the second Wednesday for your regular meetings. This would be done through the end of the year with still going dark in August and basically staff is really just trying to get through the big items that you're facing, like the city manager recruitment site a the budget. And we know we've had a lot of extra special meetings lately, but this would just be once a month and it could be canceled if in fact there aren't sufficient items and that we we could keep it down to the two regular meetings a month. So really, this is open for discussion and we really just we're trying to get out of here earlier is the main goal. So with that, I don't know if Liz wants to add anything or no. I think Laura pretty much has covered it. We we recognize that we've been going late. There's a possibility of going late. And we wanted to give you the option of adding more meetings so you didn't have to do that and sort of adding meetings on the fly. So this is just a recommendation. And we'd you know, we're open to the discussion. New member. ASHCROFT Thank. You. So when I first read this, I kind of cringed at the thought of adding more meetings because you have no idea. We read hundreds of pages of material, it seems like every every month, every couple of times, a few times a month. And I know it's hard on staff and it's hard for members of the public to come out for extra meetings. But I've talked to some staff members, including our amazing city clerk, Laura Weisinger, and I'm convinced that at least in the near term, we need to do this because as both our interim city manager and city clerk noted, we do have some some meaty big ticket items coming before us. And we don't have to go all the way to December with these Wednesday meetings, if it looks like, you know, we came out in July and we just are you know, it's smooth sailing. We don't have heavy agendas. We can always vote to go back to our two Tuesdays a month. But I think for now it makes sense. So I, for one, am going to support this resolution. Thank you. Any other member comments? Ben Brody. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'm actually not going to support this. I cringed when I saw it and still cringing thinking about it. We had four meetings in April, as well as a closed session that lasted, I think, 3 hours. And then we have four meetings scheduled in May. And I realize that, you know, we're all new working together and we're working out some of the kinks. But, you know, the message I, I take from this from staff is, you know, we could be as a council and I say we, including myself, you know, more efficient in the things that we do, more efficient in our comments. You know, we talked about road diets. Maybe we should go on a speech diet during some of our comments because, you know, a lot of the things add up. And now the mayor, you know, is giving the courtesy to the public to go over 3 minutes. And, you know, I hope that the public, you know, respects that courtesy and still stays within the 3 minutes, because if you if you have 30 people talk and they each go over a minute, that's one minute. You know, if we have five I mean, that's 30 minutes more to a meeting. If you have five agenda items and, you know, we all talk an extra 2 minutes on those those five agenda items, that's another 50 minutes, I think. So, you know, Oakland, which has a lot bigger problems and a lot longer agendas, has four minute caps on on what the council members can say. And, you know, some of us are our attorneys and we're trained to, you know, argue our motions in a short period of time. And, you know, I think the message I receive is let's try to be a little more efficient and let's try to be more respectful of the chair and her ability to and let her run the meetings. And I think we can we can maybe revisit this in three months if we're still having having these issues. Yeah. The member comments. Member de SAC. Thank you. From my vantage point, there are several questions. The first question that I asked was, you know, what can we do to make sure that the public is well-served? And I think the public is well-served when our staff is fresh and on their toes from meeting to meeting. So from that vein, I am open to the what's put tonight. So I'm fine with it, but and I'm even fine with moving forward with it. But by the same token, I wouldn't mind hearing what the Sunshine Committee has to say about this, but I think we can still move forward. So if they want to chime in, let them. Vice Mayor. Thank you. When I was on the council before we had our because we had redevelopment and there was the element of reuse and restoration authority which handled issues the base. The base is still being looked at for development. So it didn't go away, but the meeting went away. I'm for this as long as we don't start the second Wednesday of the month in May. Because we already have too many meetings in May. Not too many. But the necessary meetings may, I think, to pile on would be counterproductive. But I do think until the base is substantially under the rest of the city, that it is appropriate to have set aside an additional meeting a month. To address the timely discussion and also to allow the public to be able to participate at a reasonable hour. Again in these issues of of base development, as well as the complex running of the city that we have now. So. So I appreciate vice mayors saying reasonable hour because my concern is that we will be here after 11:00, at least three days a week and probably more. And I, I would be the council. Is that something that you would entertain, that we would set a time of being done by 11:00? Yes. I thought you were going to ask if we might try to do what our counterparts in Oakland do and limit ourselves to 4 minutes. And my concern is being done by 11:00. I mean, I think that might help us do that. Not that. It's unfair. I'm sorry I asked a specific question. I'm looking for agreement by council that we would be done by 11:00 if in fact, we are looking at being here after 11:00. I do not plan to support this. I would agree with member ODY that this needs to go back to open government then because I think we do have a problem in regards to public. These are to be public meetings. Our public has already had the opportunity for years to know that we have these meetings on set dates and these would be additional dates that they may very well have other commitments on Wednesdays and not knowing and not and have their schedule ready to go without being able to participate in these meetings. And in regards to the coming of ordinances at regular meetings. I don't think it would be appropriate to bring an ordinance on a Wednesday where we have not normally had a meeting in that. Again, I think it goes to public participation and I would suggest it goes back to the open government then for approval for their feedback. I think that's what they're about and I agree with the member Odie on that. Yes, the mayor, I'd like to actually thank you for your comments motion that we tabled this for 60 days and send it to the Open Government Commission for their comments. Sarah Second. I'll second that. Any discussion. I think that scaling up for 60 days eats up any value that we're going to get from adding extra meetings. So, you know, I do think that if we don't have to and I have to introduce ordinances at these Wednesday meetings, I see there's plenty of other activities. And just in the normal course of running the city that we place here and having the ordinance introductions to at a regularly scheduled meeting. I think we can live with that. This provides us with the with the initial debate, the ability to be able to hear initiatives among our many council referrals, to hear the follow up, which I'm checking off the boxes because we have a bunch of council referrals that hit at the beginning of the year that are about due for their their follow up and response from staff. So we need capacity. And I think that if we have these meeting dates scheduled. We'll be able to use them. Anna maria. I just make one clarification. The idea of this resolution is to make these regular, regular meetings, which would then allow for ordinances to be introduced at them. I mean, we can always add special meetings like we're doing. In fact, tomorrow is a special meeting. But this the intent of this resolution is to make these added meetings, regular meetings. Madam, every underscore my point is, and I think the point the mayor was making is Tuesday night's city council night. That's the regular meeting. These are add on meetings. And I think this council can choose not to introduce ordinances at the ADD on meetings so that we can have people in the normal normal course of time come to a meeting where there's an ordinance to be introduced. Like I said, there's plenty of other city business that doesn't require introducing an ordinance that we could fill these meetings with and have people get out of here at a reasonable time. May I come in? Member Ashcroft Thank. You, Mayor Spencer. I actually wouldn't want to tie staff's hands, especially because I think in the near term there may be the need to hear ordinances at some of these special meetings. Again, this wouldn't start until June. And then we're talking about June and July. We go dark in August and we can see what happens from there on out. But I, I do agree with the vice mayor's initial assessment that this at this particular point in time, it would be a good idea to add this additional meeting per month. Member, Odie. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I mean it. If someone wants to propose a compromise that we just do this and June, July and then reevaluate it, I mean, I could probably support that. I just think adding six more meetings at it for the rest of the year. You know, we're already meeting enough. We need to be a little more efficient in getting through our stuff. Do we need just procedurally, do we need to vote on the motion before us because it's been moved and seconded, or does it have to be withdrawn before we can consider? I mean. I can outright. I don't think the votes are there, so I'll just withdraw. Do we have ever met Amir? I want to say that the compromise idea that Councilmember Brody mentioned is a good incremental steps. It still it it satisfies the desire to schedule regular Wednesday meetings, but in a limited manner for the next June and July and allows us to retrace our steps and move accordingly. And at the same time, I think it allows for substantive input on the part of the Open Government Commission's less than saying Commission, should they so choose. We have a motion. So I'll make a motion that we are scheduled to meet the additional meeting date on the second Wednesday, Wednesdays of June and July, and evaluate scheduling of the rest year. At the end of the July meeting. A second. All those in favor. I, I, i. Say. Motion carries. Could we get some clarification on whether or not the ordinances can be introduced? Because that is that was one of the intent was to be allowed to introduce ordinances on these meetings. I personally think that makes sense for these two extra meetings that we're considering. I don't see why we would tie staff's hands at this point. So I think it's unfortunate that wasn't asked before the vote on the motion. Right. So personally, I don't think it's appropriate to do it. So I move and I agree. I move that we do not unless there's. Legal ramifications is an exception in that we're compelled to take an action by ordinance due to time that we don't introduce new ordinances at the additionally scheduled. Those are the regularly scheduled Tuesday meetings. Oh, second. All those in favor. I oppose. No. Motion carries. Thank you. Four, two, one. All right, next item 60. I like hearing to consider adoption of resolution establishing an integrated waste collection, ceiling rates and service fees for Alameda County Industries for rate period. 14th July 2015 to June 2016.