SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING

The Special Council Meeting was held on February 17, 1994 with Council President Christiansen presiding. Council members present were Mr. Lambert, Mr. Tudor, Mr. Leary, Mr. Pitts, Mrs. Malone, Mr. Hutchison, Mr. Salters and Mr. Hare.

Council staff members present were Mr. O'Connor, Mrs. Boaman and Mr. Pepper.

Council President Christiansen explained that the proposed public hearing, which has been rescheduled due to inclement weather, was set to accept public comment on proposed Charter changes which relate to the City Manager reporting to the Mayor and other increased responsibilities of the Mayor.

Mr. Salters read into the record the following Charter sections that are under consideration for amendment:

Section 12 - Reimbursement of Mayor, Council, Election Board, and Other Appointed or Elected Officials; Reimbursement for Services and Expenses

Section 14 - Duties of Mayor

Section 33 - The City Manager

Section 37 - Duties of The Manager

Section 44 - Annual Budget

Prior to opening the public hearing, Mr. Pitts stated his suggestion that the entire matter be deferred until after the upcoming election in April. President Christiansen explained that Council could delay action on the matter, but that the public hearing should be held, as advertised.

Council President Christiansen declared the public hearing open.

Mr. Bill Truitt of 389 Nimitz Drive relayed concern with Council's current voting procedures and recommended that the Mayor be permitted to vote. He also suggested that motions not be approved by a simple majority, but rather that it require a 2/3 or 3/4 majority vote to approve a motion. Mr. Truitt also voiced objections to a Charter requirement for members of Council to resign their current Council position in order to run for the office of Mayor.

Mr. James Carr of 767 Miller Drive, Acting President of FACT, read into the ro:,ord the following:

"We greatly appreciate the opportunity to comment on the proposed legislation for changes to the City Charter. Your efforts in bringing about some change to the City's Governmental structure are commendable. We only hope that this is this is the first step in adopting the changes recommended by numerous committees, civic groups, and many individuals over the last several years.

Through observation from discussions before this body, and from review of the several studies and recommendations made by various committees and groups it is our understanding that the primary objectives were to bring about a separation of the executive and legislative functions of City Government and to provide for clearly defined lines of authority and responsibility. The proposed changes do not fully accomplish those objectives in our opinion.

We are particularly concerned regarding some reporting procedures and some apparent overlaps in assigning authority for the performances of some activities. In some cases the City Manager would be serving two bosses. I do not know whether any of you, in the course of your careers, have ever been placed in the position of having to report to more than one supervisor, but I have, and believe me such a situation is untenable.

We would not be so presumptuous as to try to tell you how to construct the changes, but do offer the following for your consideration: Our remarks are made in some detail in order to facilitate your review.

1. The 2nd sentence, 2nd paragraph of page 2 seems to conflict with the 1st sentence of Section 37 page 4 in regard to the preparation and submission of the annual budget. From our review it appears that the intent, and we agree, is to place the prime responsibility with the Mayor. We suggest that a revision of the 2nd sentence to read 'He shall, with the assistance of the City Manager, prepare and submit to Council the annual budget---", to provide some clarification. We further suggest that if the intent is to place the prime r-responsibility with the Mayor, then a revision to the lst sentence of Section 37 would also be in order.

2. The above also relates to the changes to Section 44 of page 5. The addition oil' the words "and Mayor" would appear to create a conflict with the provisions of Section 14 page 1. If the intent is to place the prime responsibility with the., Mayor, then it would seem that the words "City Manager" should be deleted and the word "Mayor" should be added in their stead.

3. The last sentence, paragraph 2, page 2, requires the City Manager to report directly to Council on a monthly basis. This would seem to be in conflict with the lst. sentence of the 2nd. paragraph, page 2 which requires that the City Manager shall report directly to the Mayor. We suggest the verbiage be changed to delete the phrase "and City Manager" from the last sentence. If the intent is to have a monthly report from the City Manager for Council's use then it would seem the Manager's report should be thru the Mayor and could be part of his required reports.

4. The language of the 4th sentence, page 3 regarding the removal of the City Manager is ambiguous in our opinion and some clarification would appear to be in order. We suggest that in other sections it has been made quite clear that the Council will be the ultimate authority in determining whether a City Manager should be terminated. We can see no need to cloud the issue by inserting phrases in respect to the Mayor's authority. We suggest this sentence could be revised to read “The Manager shall be appointed for an indefinite term and shall serve at the pleasure of Council". The Mayor could then make any recommendation he might choose for Council's consideration.

5. In order to further clarify the lines of authority and responsibility we suggest the addition of the phrase "thru the Mayor" between "and" and "to" in the 1st sentence of Section 37 page 4.

6. The same could be added between the words "Council" and "such" in the last sentence of section 37 page 4 to provide further clarification.

            Some additional but minor comments follow:

1. We suggest the use of the word "requests" for some other suitable word instead of the word "demand" in the 5th sentence of page 3.

2. Is the use of the word "increases" to mean there shall always be increases or should some other term such as "adjustments" be used?

3. For clarity we suggest the word "same" be deleted and the phrase "results of his evaluation" be inserted after "the" in the 3rd sentence, 2nd paragraph of page 2,.

We greatly appreciate the opportunity to comment and stand ready to help in an, matter you might deem appropriate."

Mr. Carr stated that the FACT organization favors the proposed Charter changes, with their suggested changes, and urged Council's approval.

Mr. Javan Davis of 635 Nimitz Drive relayed his agreement with the statements provided by Mr. Carr and urged Council to move forward with the proposed Charter amendments. He reiterated his previous opinion that the current form of government is not working and that it should be changed to a strong Mayor system.

Crawford J. Carroll of 115 Park Drive, former Mayor of the City of Dover, addressed Council on the proposed changes. Mayor Carroll expressed concern with the wording "remuneration stating that it should be clear that it is not"salary". He strongly objected to members of Council or the Mayor setting their own salary levels and recommended that this be left to the General Assembly. Mayor Carroll relayed his feeling that the Manager should not "report" to the Mayor, but that the Mayor should "supervise" the Manager. It was his opinion that the Charter does not need to be changed in order to have the Mayor supervise the Manager. The proposed amendments call for the Manager to be hired and fired by Council. Council could simply direct that the Manager work with the Mayor and grant the Mayor the right to supervise the activities of the City Manager. It was his feeling that the Mayor should only supervise the Manager, and that he should not have the jurisdiction over the Manager. He reminded Council that sometimes too much power in one individual can be fatal to a City.

Mayor Carroll felt it imperative that the Manager continue to work with the Council Committees. Relating to preparation of the budget, Mayor Carroll stated that although the Mayor, as well as members of Council, should have a great deal to do with the proposed budget, the majority of the preparation must be done by the City Manager. Referring to the current Mayor's concern about the amount of time it will take to assist in preparation of the budget, Mayor Carroll predicted that the amount of time spent with budget preparation and review will be no different for the Mayor than for the members of Council since the Manager will be responsible for budget preparation. He suggested that the amendments include time limits on when the budget must be submitted. (It is noted that time limits on budget preparation and adoption are included in Section 44 of the Charter but were not made a part of the proposed changes since there were no proposed changes to the current limits.)

Mayor Carroll agreed with Mr. Truitt on the voting requirements, stating objection to a simple majority vote on major issues such as sale of the City Hall Parking Lot or possible sale of the Power Plant.

Although the amount of remuneration is not a part of the proposed changes, Mayor Carroll reminded the Mayor and Council that being an elected official is a privilege, not a means for a second income. Agreeing that all expenses associated with the position of Mayor or Council should be covered, he cautioned Council of attaching a salary to the elective positions. He reminded Council that a high salary does not necessarily guarantee better government. Mayor Carroll stated that we serve as volunteers in many areas of our lives, such as volunteer firemen, serving as Board members for the hospital, the Cancer Society, the Heart Association, our churches or synagogues, our neighborhood civic associations, etc. He stated that volunteers are just that; they do not receive a salary. He reiterated his feeling that the proposed changes could be made internally by Council and does not require legislative action to amend the Charter.

Council President Christiansen declared the public hearing closed, noting that although they had signed up to speak, Mr. Richard Kepfer, Mr. Reginald Todd and Mr. Clay Hammond were not present during the public hearing.

Mr. Salters stated that many very good suggestions and ideas have been brought to Council. during the course of the public hearing and he felt that they should be carefully reviewed by Council prior to making a decision on the proposed Charter changes.

Mr. Salters moved that Council defer action at this time on the proposed Charter changes and that the matter be referred to the Legislative and Finance Committee Finance Committee for further review an(I action during their meeting of March 29, 1994. The motion was seconded by Mr. Pitts and unanimously carried.

Mayor Knopf stated that the City pays a substantial amount of money annually to the City Solicitor who drafted the proposed legislation. He expressed concern with the document,, stating that it should have been drafted in such a manner as to protect the City and its citizens and yet numerous controversial words and phrases have been questioned.

Council President Christiansen reminded Mayor Knopf that the document, although legally sound, is based upon a conglomeration of suggestions of City Council. The concerns brought forward this evening are based upon opinion, and not upon legal fact. The suggestions offered this evening may bring the document more in line with what is wanted, but will not make the document any more legal.

Mr. Leary moved for adjournment, seconded by Mr. Hare and unanimously carried.

Meeting Adjourned at 8: 10 P.M.

                                                                        DEBRAH J. BOAMAN

                                                                        CITY CLERK

All orders, ordinances and resolutions adopted by City Council during their meeting of February 17, 1994, are hereby approved.

                                                                        AARON O. KNOPF

                                                                        MAYOR

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