Agendas and Minutes

City Council (View All)

Study Session

Agenda
Monday, June 19, 2017


 
 
 
 

ASHLAND CITY COUNCIL
Monday, June 19, 2017
Siskiyou Room, 51 Winburn Way

 
Mayor Stromberg called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. in the Siskiyou Room.    
 
Councilor Lemhouse, Morris, Slattery, Seffinger and Rosenthal were present.  Councilor Darrow was absent.
 
Mayor Stromberg reversed items 3 and 4. 
 
1.   Public Input
 
Huelz Gutcheon- PO Box 754 Ashland- Spoke regarding carbon reductions.  Needs to have an expert on the Commission.
Emergency coordinator is needed.
 
Larry Cooper- 259 B. St. Ashland – Spoke regarding Commissions. He spoke in support to open up the process for community forums. He suggested that the Commission structure be changed. 
 
Louise Shaukat870 Cambridge Ashland – Read a letter into the record in support of the CEAP.
 
James McGinnis- 629 Altamont St. Ashland –Spoke regarding having 2 Commissions.  One for Conservation and one for the CEAP.   He spoke that he did an analysis and there are 16 strategies for the Conservation Commission to work on.
 
2.         Look Ahead review
Interim City Administrator, John Karns reviewed items on the Look Ahead.
 
Councilor Slattery suggested having an Indigenous Peoples Day and discuss this before October 9th.
 
Councilor Lemhouse suggested moving Study Sessions to Council Meeting night.  Mayor Stromberg spoke that there is an upcoming Study Session regarding Study Sessions.
 
Councilor Rosenthal questioned the status of proposed Ordinances that came with CEAP.  City Attorney, David Loman spoke that they are scheduled to go to Council July 17th
 
Councilor Slattery suggested getting Executive Recruitment Process on the agenda.  Interim City It was explained that there would be a strategic planning session on this possibly with a facilitator. 
 
3.         Presentation regarding a new model for Boards, Commissions, and Committees
 
Administrative Analyst, Diana Shiplet gave a PowerPoint presentation (see attached). 
 
Council thanked Ms. Shiplet for her work.
 
Councilor Lemhouse spoke in the importance of structure but would not support less citizen testimony. He also suggested to look at updating how Commission/Committee minutes are done.   
 
Councilor Morris spoke that he liked the limited Council testimony.
 
Councilor Seffinger spoke that the structure should be changed.  She stated that Commissions have become more focused on special interest advocates.
 
Councilor Rosenthal suggested to discuss the existing issues with Commissions before changes are made.   
 
Councilor Slattery spoke that there is a lot of work to do first.  He agreed with Councilor Lemhouse and would not support limited testimony.  He spoke that he would like to address the current problems and suggested having a public forum on this topic.
 
Mayor Stromberg spoke distinguishing the difference between advising and advocacy.  He discussed the importance of teamwork.  He suggested to create a process for removing people from Commissions/Committees.
 
It was decided for Staff to have further discussion and to bring back a timeline on this topic to Council.
 
4.         Creation of Climate and Energy Action Commission
 
Assistant to the City Administrator, Adam Hanks gave a brief overview of the recommended one year CEAP implementation plan.    He spoke regarding maintaining a Conservation Commission with some changes so there there would be no overlapping with the CEAP Commission.   He spoke that
 
Mayor Stromberg discussed the format of creating a CEAP Commission.  City Administrator, John  Karns explained there are many options for Council to decide. 
 
Councilor Lemhouse agreed with recommendation to keep the Commissions separate. He spoke regarding making changes to the Draft Ordinance.  He spoke that he has an issue with the limiting factors in the Ordinance.  He spoke to the importance of having the best members on the Committee that can be found and is not in favor of having a member be outside City limits. 
 
Councilor Slattery spoke on how to staff the membership of this Committee is key.  He suggested that each Commission Chair to be added as a member.  He spoke that a lot needs to be considered on this topic before a decision can be made.
 
Councilor Rosenthal spoke regarding the proposed membership language in the Draft Ordinance.  He suggested adding language regarding age to get perspective from younger generations. He spoke that he would like to get this going as soon as possible.  He suggested that one person outside City limits could be a member if qualified.  
 
Council discussed having ex-officio members on the Commission.
 
Councilor Morris spoke that the powers and duties of Staff and the Commission as listed in the Ordinance were unclear. 
 
Councilor Seffinger suggested having members from the business community.
 
Mayor Stromberg suggested looking for other Communities that have put together a similar Commission.  He suggested having a 1-2 year Ad-Hoc Committee to work on the transition of the initial plan to the actual implementation process.
 
The difference between Ad-Hoc Committee and a Commission was discussed.
 
Council gave consensus to direct Staff to look at having an Ad-Hoc Committee to look at how to implement the plan.  It was decided that this topic would be on the July 18th Business Meeting Agenda.  Mayor Stromberg suggested for Council to give any further input to Mr. Hanks or Mr. Karns.
 
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 7:01 PM
 
Respectfully submitted,
 
 
                                 
Melissa Huhtala
City Recorder 
 
 
 
Attest:
 
 

Mayor Stromberg

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