R2003-154 APPROVING AND ADOPTING Council Meeting Procedures Policy

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POLICY FOR EFFECTIVE COMMU1vICATION Effective communications between the Ma or and Cit Counc' the Cit Mana er and Cit staff y y �, y g y members are crucial to providing sound public policy and high quality City services. Councilmembers have comrnitted to sharing information with each other and with the City Manager. The City Council and City Manager have agreed upon certain communications channels and practices intended to accomplish this. 1. Structured Channels: The City Manager shall arrange for clear, structured channels and I methods of communication that respect the City Council's need for timely information about City affairs and the City stafPs obligations to perform their daily operational work. , The City Manager has requested that, when the Mayar or Councilmembers have requests for I�,, information or wish to forward citizen inquiries, they send that request through the City's �� Assistant to the City Manager. In this way, the requests will be recorded, followed up and � closed in an information tracking system. Councilmembers are requested to indicate the , urgent, routine or long-term nature of the request in order to help staff members judge the riority of all outstanding re uests. All Councilmembers and the Cit Mana er will have � P q Y g access to the same information and the status of requests. 2. A�enda Information: For questions regarding Council meeting agenda items or upcoming issues, the City Manager has designated the City Clerk for Councilmembers to contact. In preparing information and replying to Councilmembers, staff members will take care to present a report that descnbes both sides of an issue and gives the full picture. City Council will nevertheless be interested to learn the staf�s or City Manager's recommendation for action. For Councilmembers convenience in discussing these materials, the staff member's telephone number should be included with their report and recommendations. 3. Direct Staff Contact: While the Niayor and Councilmembers are always at liberty to speak to any employee of the City, the City Manager has requested that contacts during work hours be limited to seeking ready information; requests for preparation of answers or more extensive " information should be channeled through the Assistant to the City Manager. Further, direct contacts should not be in the nature of directing the work of a City employee or of requesting information that requires an employee to significantly reschedule his/her work to accomplish. 4. City Council Priorities: Annually, City Council specifies top priority issues and projects for focused attention by the City Manager and staff. The City Manager will arrange for regular update reports, not less frequent than June 1 and December 1 each year, to the Council and staff on the status and progress of each of those top priorities.