03/05/2002 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Cou©cil Minutts of 3/5/02 7) He attended the groundbreaking ceremony at Rocky River Municipal Court. This is certainly a long needed improvement for the Rocky River Municipal Court district. 8) Since the last Council meeting, he issued legal opinion 2002-08 regarding the taking of minutes at Council committee meetings. Councilman McKay, chairperson of the Finance Committee, read a report from Finance Director Copfer: "The January 2002 revenue and expenditure and encumbrance reports, along with the key revenue comparison report, were delivered in Council's mailboxes today. Please note there are no e~.imated resources or appropriations entered on the report as these are to be reviewed by Council in the coming weeks. Respectfully submitted, Came Copfer, Director of Finance." President O'Grady: 1) A meering of the Committee-of-the-Whole was held on February 2b, 2002. Present were the President of Council; Council Members Nashar, Dailey, Miller, Kasler, Limpert and McKay; Mayor Musial and Law Director Dubelko. Discussion items were as follows: • Setting the date of Council's vacation. Per the request of Councilman Miller, the decision will be delayed until May. • The issue of whether or not members of Council should include all attendees in their committee reports. Council Members-at-Large Miller, Kasler and Gareau have elected to only report the presence of committee members and to not report the presence of other members of Council or the administration. Mr. Miller stated that he had chosen this course because he believes that only members of the committee are needed in the report. Mr. McKay responded with an article from the JanuarylFebruary 2002 edition of the magazine Crties and Villages. In this magazine, there was a response to the question, "Do Council committees have to keep minutes?" The response was yes and the minutes should be maintained as any other public document. The response went on to state, "The minutes should indicate who was present and a general discussion of what action was taken." Mrs. Kasler stated that, if all the members of Council are in attendance and it is reported that everyone was in attendance, there may be a misperception developing that everyone must be there, which is not one of the requirements of Council. Mr. Limpert stated that he believes that the people will want to know if their Council member was there. Mr. Nashar stated that he believes there is value for the residenrts in knowing the entire list of who was present. Mr. Dailey cited cases where members of Council have reported not only the names of Council and the names of the administration, but also the names of residents who were in attendance. Mr. McKay stated that everyone likes to hear their name mentioned, so all attemlees should be mentioned, including residents. He also encouraged a stop to the pettiness of reporting of last year to include the time when certain members left meetings. Law Director Dubelko stated that he believes that the minutes of committee meetings should be taken and that the Clerk of Council could do this as part of the legislative process. This would eliminate the debate revolving azound who should be included in reports since the minutes would state attendance. Mr. Dubelko then stated that he would further conduct research into this question prior to making any further recommendations to Council. The members of Council 3