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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024.05.28 CCM WORKSESSION5/28/24 -1- DRAFT MINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER IN THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN AND THE STATE OF MINNESOTA WORKSESSION MAY 28, 2024 CITY HALL – COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center City Council met in Worksession called to order by Mayor April Graves at 6:08 p.m. Mayor Graves reminded the Councilmembers to review the applications for the Commissions and complete the scoring process. ROLL CALL Mayor April Graves and Councilmembers Marquita Butler, Kris Lawrence-Anderson, Dan Jerzak, and Teneshia Kragness. Also present were City Manager Reggie Edwards, Assistant City Manager/City Clerk Barb Suciu, Deputy City Clerk Shannon Pettit, and City Attorney Jason Hill and Siobhan Tolar. COUNCIL MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION ITEMS Mayor Graves explained the conduct of City representatives and accountability needs to be discussed again. She asked if there were any other topics to discuss. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson noted the Friday update email indicated Abdo hasn’t completed the audit. She asked why there was a delay. City Manager Reggie Edwards explained the auditors provided a window for Brooklyn Center to provide certain information. Staff provided as much information as possible at the time, but it wasn’t sufficient for the audit. By the time Staff submitted the rest of the information, the time frame for the City had closed. Abdo expects they will be able to complete the audit mid-September. The audit will be completed before any budgets are reviewed. Mayor Graves stated the previous firm completed the audit around June. It sounds like it might be the City’s fault, but perhaps Abdo asked for more information than Brooklyn Center regularly submits. Dr. Edwards stated Staff provided information that they believed was sufficient, but there was a miscommunication. There is now a fully staffed Finance Department. Councilmember Jerzak stated Staff knows what information needs to be submitted for the next audit season, so the issue won’t happen again. Dr. Edwards confirmed Staff created templates to more efficiently gather information for the next audit. 5/28/24 -2- DRAFT Mayor Graves noted Brooklyn Park has a certain Code of Conduct and a Commission Guidebook. She asked if Brooklyn Center provides similar information for their Commissioners. Assistant City Manager/City Clerk Barb Suciu stated the Planning Commission has a bit of onboarding, but none of the other Commissions do. Mayor Graves suggested Brooklyn Center develop documents similar to Brooklyn Park’s. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson pointed out she had suggested the same idea in the past. Mayor Graves stated they need a Council consensus. It was the consensus of the Council to direct Staff to create a guidebook for Commissioners. Mayor Graves added it would be helpful to ask Staff liaisons for their input to determine if it would be helpful to have training for Commissioners. Mayor Graves explained there was a previous discussion to review purpose, definitions, and responsibilities with their Commissioners. However, there needs to be a more specific conduct requirement laid out along with accountability measures. Potential consequences include a warning from Staff or Council, removal from a Commission by consensus of the Council, and prohibition from serving on a Commission for a period of time by consensus of the Council. Councilmember Kragness asked if the warning step is a unilateral decision. Mayor Graves stated her understanding was that the City Manager or Mayor would be notified of a concern. From there, it would be an opportunity for the City Manager or Mayor to alert the Commissioner of the issue in a non-public way. Councilmember Kragness stated because Commissioners are appointed by the Council, each step of the accountability process should also include the Council. Councilmember Jerzak noted his agreement with Councilmember Kragness. It would also prevent weaponizing the warning step. Furthermore, a consensus of the Council would create an opportunity for appeal. Councilmember Kragness added it would eliminate a Commissioner’s potential excuse of blaming a bad relationship with the Mayor or City Manager and put the onus on the entire Council. Mayor Graves pointed out that the information warranting any actions would be a complaint from someone. There isn’t a need to appeal a verbal warning. If someone makes a complaint, requiring consensus for a mere warning could rely too much on political moves or personal agendas. She asked the City Attorney for his input. City Attorney Jason Hill stated a warning could be a Council consensus. However, it would have to be in a public hearing. The Council could add an appeal process to the warning step, though it may be unnecessary as there isn’t an action attached to a warning. 5/28/24 -3- DRAFT Mayor Graves noted the warning shouldn’t be a public hearing topic because the Commissioner may have made an honest mistake. For example, a Commissioner may use a microaggression and be unaware of its impact. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson noted her agreement with Mayor Graves. She requested the rest of the Council be notified if the Mayor or City Manager gave out a warning. Councilmember Butler agreed with Mayor Graves. It doesn’t need to be an embarrassment. She asked if there are levels of conduct that would surpass a warning level. For example, physical aggression would warrant more than a warning. Mayor Graves asked if the accountability document includes automatic dismissal situations. Mr. Hill stated there is similar language in employee handbooks that could be added to the accountability measures. There was consensus by the Council to move forward with the three-step accountability process and add automatic removal language from an employee handbook. Mayor Graves continued to read the accountability document. The seriousness of an offense would result in a similarly serious response. The first step for negative comments should not be removal from a position. Mayor Graves stated per the document, a Councilmember, Staff person, or community member may report conduct violations. Upon receipt of the complaint, the first step is to triage. The Mayor and City Manager would gather information, potentially have a conversation with human resources, and determine next steps. If needed, the matter would be referred to the criminal legal process. From there, one of the accountability measures would occur. Mayor Graves stated if the Council were to vote to remove or prohibit a Commissioner from serving, there needs to be a 14-day warning provided to the Commissioner. The document must include the reasoning for the decision and the effective date. The Commissioner may request a hearing before the Council at the next City Council meeting. Mayor Graves added any misconduct by a Commissioner during a meeting may result in a verbal correction by the Chair or other Commissioners. If needed, the meeting may be adjourned. There were no objections from the Council. Mayor Graves noted the last page of the document is a page for a Commissioner to sign to indicate their understanding of the document. Mayor Graves asked for the Council to review the document and provide any feedback to her or Ms. Suciu. Then it can be added a future Consent Agenda. 5/28/24 -4- DRAFT Mayor Graves explained there is a similar document related to conduct of the Council. She asked the City Attorney to summarize any changes. Mr. Hill explained there have been some changes to the Council meeting format. Ultimately, the conduct requirements were added into the existing policies. The changes track with the policy adopted by Brooklyn Park. There is a similar accountability process for Councilmembers as was just discussed for Commissioners. Mayor Graves encouraged the Council to review the entirety of the document. However, the discussion would begin regarding page four and ethics. Councilmember Jerzak noted the document limits Informal Open Forum comments to three minutes. However, more recently the limit has been two minutes. Mayor Graves stated there hasn’t been an official vote by the Council to change the limit to two minutes. Ms. Suciu stated there was an official consensus to change the limit to two minutes. Mayor Graves asked if there is only one speaker, should the Council only allow two minutes. Councilmember Jerzak stated Mayor Graves has made an effort to ask the Council for their input to temporarily alter time limits as needed. Mayor Graves stated the document needs to be updated to reflect the consensus regarding two minutes of comments per person during Informal Open Forum. Mayor Graves read more of the document. She explained how free speech is an important part of the democracy, but Councilmembers are not allowed to make abusive or disparaging comments. They are to act professionally at all times. It is the role of the Mayor to keep the discussion of the Council on track. A Councilmember may call for a point of order if negatively spoken about by another Councilmember. Mayor Graves shared it is also important for Councilmembers to be punctual. The Councilmembers must respect a majority decision of the Council and maintain professionalism and respect in private conversations. The Council must also make an effort to welcome the public and promote impartiality. Ms. Suciu suggested the document say “Mayor/Mayor Pro Tem” instead of “Mayor” throughout the document to align with other City documents. Mayor Graves stated lack of compliance could include an admonition by the Mayor or Mayor Pro Tem, reprimand via letter approved by Council, censure pursuant to resolution adopted by the Council. The first action would be a unilateral decision while the second two would be by consensus of the Council. She asked if there is an appeal process. Mr. Hill stated there is not an appeal process in the current document, but it could be added. 5/28/24 -5- DRAFT Mayor Graves asked if the admonition should include a requirement to notify the rest of the Council and remain non-public. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson agreed with the suggestion. Councilmember Kragness agreed documentation would be important. The admonition could be verbal, written, or both. Dr. Edwards pointed out anything written down becomes public. Mayor Graves stated the written down portion doesn’t need to have details about the admonition. Instead, it would merely record an admonition took place. Dr. Edwards noted the spirit of the non-public reprimand of a Commissioner is intended as an opportunity for the Commissioner to grow. In the same vein, there shouldn’t be a written admonition of a Councilmember. While any data requests of Council emails would be a fishing request, the grace component seems to be a key factor in the accountability measure. Mr. Hill stated the reprimand could have a written portion and cite the date of any admonitions. There was no objection from the Council. Mayor Graves asked if the reprimand and censure portions would require a consensus of the Council or unanimous decision. Mr. Hill stated it would only require a consensus. Mayor Graves noted any behaviors that rise to the level of criminality would be reported to the criminal legal system. Reports can be made by Councilmembers, Staff, or community members to the Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, a Councilmember, or the City Manager. There is also a diagram reflecting the process in the document. Mayor Graves added any inappropriate comments made by a Councilmember during a public meeting can be addressed verbally by the Mayor at the meeting or following the meeting. Repeated incidents may allow the Mayor to not recognize a Councilmember to speak. If the Mayor or Mayor Pro Tem are unavailable to review a complaint, the next most senior Councilmember may review the complaint. Ms. Suciu pointed out the Council has been working with Common Sense. The work has implemented a strategy using red light, yellow light, or green light to allow any member of the Council to call out an issue. However, the proposed policy only allows the Mayor to have a response. It would take away any work done with Common Sense over the past year-and-a-half. Mayor Graves stated she doesn’t see it the same way. Any member of the Council can speak up if there is an issue. Ms. Suciu pointed out the policy only allows the Mayor to interrupt a speaker. Mayor Graves asked if the Council had any issues with the language. Councilmember Kragness stated Councilmembers have the opportunity to alert the Mayor to any issues by calling for a point of order. 5/28/24 -6- DRAFT Mayor Graves encouraged the Councilmembers to thoroughly review the documents. Councilmember Jerzak reiterated the need to correct the time limit during Informal Open Forum. Mr. Hill stated he would make changes to the documents and provide them to the Council for review. CITY MANAGER MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION ITEMS City Manager Reggie Edwards pointed out the Council previously requested reviewing the Daunte Wright and Kobe Dimock-Heisler Community Safety and Violence Prevention Act. The item has been scheduled for review at future meetings. Councilmember Jerzak thanked Dr. Edwards for the timeline. Mayor Graves stated the discussion will be spread out over a couple of months to allow for plenty of discussion time. Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson asked if the Councilmembers should prepare notes and potential modifications in advance. Mayor Graves stated the Council is welcome to bring notes, but the discussion time should allow for ample time to share thoughts and suggestions. ADJOURNMENT Councilmember Jerzak moved and Councilmember Lawrence-Anderson seconded to close the Study Session at 6:57 p.m. Motion passed unanimously.