2026-10-05 - City Council Workshop

00:02The meeting is called to order. Good morning.

00:07As a reminder, we don't have public comment at council workshops.

00:10So members of the audience, if you have comments, please fill out the comment card

00:15on the table, and those will be distributed by the city clerk's office to members

00:19of city council. Thanks for coming out today.

00:22We're going to begin with the FY26 budget update.

00:29Mr. Cameron.

00:30Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Welcome members of council. Bless you.

00:33Thanks.

00:34I'm going to turn it over to Jodi Vernon to give us a FY26 budget update.

00:40Good morning, mayor, members of council.

00:43We have an FY26 budget update just to update you on the fourth

00:49quarter activity.

00:53So for the fourth quarter, you can see the general fund sales taxes,

00:58the one cent that we use for operations as well as the spring forward.

01:03These came in just below budget.

01:08So it was pretty much right on target there.

01:10And with the

01:13other, the use tax, the pilots, and all the other resources, the total for the

01:17quarter, we were 1.3 million above budget for the revenues.

01:29I just want to tell you, if anyone has a question and I'm turned around, holler at

01:33me. Sorry, but this is the one I can see.

01:37Yes. The numbers are a little small.

01:41So then for the year to date, and this includes the revenue

01:46accruals that we do because of the lag in the sales tax collections.

01:51So you can see, year to date, just on the revenue side for the

01:57operating general fund, one cent sales tax was 1.8 million

02:03in excess of budget and the spring forward SGF was

02:09962,000 above budget. Taking into account the use tax and

02:15pilots and the other resources, the revenues came in 5.9

02:20million higher than budgeted for the fiscal year.

02:25It is important to note this is strictly the revenue side.

02:29We're still finalizing expenditures for FY26, going through our

02:35year-end accrual process and the audit process that actually starts next week.

02:40So this is just for the revenue side.

02:43Any excess for the general fund will be incorporated into the

02:49FY28 budget process once the audit is finalized and

02:55we have final numbers on both sides there.

03:02And then just

03:04some FY27 amounts. We've now received information for

03:11the July sales and August sales, which we receive in September and October.

03:16For September, we were 1.7 million above budget and

03:22for October, and we just got these numbers on Friday, so we haven't

03:28even had a chance to look into them yet.

03:31But

03:33we're about 800,000 above budget.

03:35So we have a strong start to FY27.

03:42I'd be happy to take any questions.

03:46Council Member McGall.

03:48I guess in golf we call that sandbagging.

03:51But it's good to be on the positive side rather than the negative side.

03:55Yes.

03:55That's good. Tell David thank you and the whole department for their work and

03:59effort.

04:02Other questions?

04:04Thank you very much. I just wanted to say that more frequent updates is a project

04:09that the manager's office has been working on, and I sincerely appreciate things

04:13like this when we can have more touches to the budget throughout the year.

04:17So thank you.

04:17You're welcome.

04:19Next item is the merit rules discussion.

04:25Mr. Cameron.

04:26Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So I want to give a little background to this project.

04:30I want to thank Chief Pennington. Back

04:32shortly after I started, one of the key feedbacks in listening to staff was just

04:38talking about navigating through merit rules in and of itself, how to hire, how to

04:42do certain things. It wasn't necessarily specific, but was the merit rules or are

04:47our processes aligned with being what we're recruiting and working towards best in

04:52class when it comes for employee development, but also at the same time recruiting

04:57and retention. So this is one of the pieces, and I'm sure council's heard about

05:00these pieces before, but I actually put together or asked Chief Pennington working

05:05with HR and different members, and he can explain all the reaches that we did, but

05:09this is the findings of his work, and I've asked him to present this information

05:14because eventually it will come to council for additional consideration.

05:17So Chief Pennington, please take it away.

05:19Thank you, Mr. Cameron. Good morning to everyone.

05:21Thank you for your time today to be able to present to you where we are in this

05:25project. The project is ongoing. We'll talk a little bit about where that is once

05:30we get through where we've been. So as Mr.

05:33Cameron mentioned, not very long ago, he came to us, to the committee and said

05:38there's some things that we need to look at.

05:40The merit rules in total need to be reviewed and

05:46the groups who work on this were far beyond the committee that you see here.

05:51We have lots of assistance from HR and law department that continues to this day,

05:55as well as work from our employees.

05:57We had some employee listening sessions you're going to learn about.

06:00We're engaged a little more than 5% of our workforce, which is good engagement, and

06:04the feedback really shaped the outcome that you have today.

06:10So our charge was very clear. When we met with the city manager, he was very clear

06:14about what he wanted as a final product, and gave us some guidance to say, "Listen,

06:18we need to improve the clarity and consistency of the merit rules." People need to

06:23understand what it is that we are doing, why we're doing it.

06:27They need to understand the rules that govern the operations of the organization,

06:31and that they have to comply with. More importantly, they need to be easy to

06:34understand. So part of that was modernizing the rules.

06:39Part of it was bringing greater clarity and consistency in the work that we are

06:44doing. So what we expected to find as the committee began to work was while this is

06:49likely just an updated merit rule process, we reviewed the merit rules, we started

06:53to look into those things. But that is not at all what we found as we began to do

06:57the work. One of the things we did find that HR is not the problem.

07:02They get the blame for a lot of things when you hear the merit rules are HR's, not

07:07doing this or that, which really becomes an organizational construct because the

07:12rules aren't necessarily clear. The merit rules were also not the problem.

07:16Over decades of evolution of an organization, a lot of information, the governing

07:21language, some narrative that provided guidance to all of our employees continued

07:26to compile. It was the place where this information began to be housed, and it

07:31became somewhat difficult to understand.

07:34At times it became a structure that could also be said was difficult to administer

07:39and sustain, but it was what we had.

07:42So we began to question whether revising the merit rules would solve the problem.

07:48So as part of that process, we wanted to talk to our employees, talk to our

07:53coworkers, to leaders, to directors.

07:56What's happening in our organization? What's working for you?

07:59What needs to be modified to fall within the intent and the guidance of the city

08:03manager? We had eight stakeholder sessions, like I mentioned.

08:07Approximately 5% of our workforce were represented in these sessions, and they were

08:11in all levels of the organization.

08:12There were directors and assistant directors to new employees, a separate session

08:16for our labor groups, for all the labor groups to attend, and we wanted to find out

08:23what's happening. We have to listen before we knew where to go.

08:28Our employees were very clear with us. It was good dialogue.

08:32Our committee members, some of whom are here today, collected a lot of information,

08:36and as we began to work through that information, it was very clear they wanted

08:40clarity, and they needed what they perceived was inconsistent application of the

08:46rules. They were asking for consistency.

08:48Whether it was true or it wasn't, we didn't know, but that was their belief.

08:53They need to know who's in charge and who can make what decision and when.

08:57So greater decision-making clarity and authority, who can make that decision, and

09:03get easier guidance when they needed assistance in making those decisions.

09:06So here's the themes that emerged across those sessions, the primary themes that

09:11emerged across those sessions,

09:13and what they were telling us. Again, they're looking for clarity and consistency.

09:18They want to understand the rules that they work by. They didn't want less rules.

09:21They didn't have a problem with the rules.

09:23They wanted to know what they were, who could enforce them, and then why behind it.

09:27The why was really important to them.

09:32We met with supervisors separately, at the highest levels, and then they were

09:36spread throughout the stakeholders.

09:38But from the supervisors, they even stated that they had unclear decision

09:43authority. Now, whether that was an investment on their part as a leader or it was

09:47an organizational issue, again, we still weren't sure where that issue lie, but

09:52there was unclear decision authority amongst those who are leaders in the

09:55organization, which is potentially a problem.

09:58There was a belief, again, that there was inconsistent interpretation of the Mayor

10:01rules. We needed to find where that center was.

10:05And there was a lot of reliance on human resources for what we would consider to be

10:10routine decision-making that supervisors have the ability and need the knowledge to

10:14make those decisions.

10:17So broadly, these were the eight themes that emerged after all of that information

10:22was compiled and worked through. As I mentioned, the employees just wanted to know

10:27why. They didn't have a problem doing what was asked of them.

10:30They just wanted to understand the background and why we were doing those things.

10:38So we began asking a different kind of question.

10:41It moved away from how do we revise the Mayor rules to what kind of organization do

10:46we want to become? Who are we and who do we want to be?

10:49This was our opportunity to evaluate every corner of the governance that directs

10:54our organization. So how do we want this to be for our employees?

10:58What do supervisors need to know or experience, and what's that outcome look like?

11:02This guided every decision that we made as we moved forward.

11:07As I mentioned, we had a choice. We could make editorial modifications, or we could

11:13address the underlying cause. And our charge from the city manager was to modernize

11:17the city's Mayor rules, the governance framework of our organization.

11:22We also wanted something in our final product that could outlast all of us.

11:27If we're going through these efforts, we're making these changes, how do we build

11:30something for the future to ensure that the city of Spring builds on solid footing?

11:37Before we had the Mayor rules, we had administrative memos, we had department

11:41practices. There were a lot of call-- "Call it Bill knows how to do the thing, call

11:46Bill." If it's not written in documents, we had a lot of disconnect in some areas

11:50about how we were operating. But after we developed what you're going to see here

11:54shortly, is a very tightly coupled, interconnected system that builds on itself.

11:59So you still have the city charter, you still have the Mayor rules, and you're

12:04going to learn a little bit about what a personnel policy manual and administrative

12:07procedures manual are.

12:11Again, the charter is the foundation for which we based our administrative

12:16decisions off of. With the guidance of the law department evaluating what the

12:20charter says shall be in the Mayor rules.

12:23If it's not explicitly stated, then we began looking for how to migrate that into

12:27an area that was more usable and consistent with the charter.

12:32We're also wanting to decentralize leadership.

12:34We need the authority and the ability to make decisions at the point of decision.

12:38That creates speed and a more nimble organization that allows us to move at the

12:43speed the city manager is desiring, and the council wants to see for us to be

12:47responsive to the community's needs. It also provides great administrative clarity.

12:52It is explicit whose responsibility it is to do what.

12:58So every recommendation was evaluated across the organization's need.

13:04It looked at what does the framework need to be, where does the deliberate

13:08separation need to be? How do we say who has what authority and where?

13:13More importantly, who is responsible for this decision?

13:16Because if I'm responsible for making a decision and I defer, that's where our

13:19employees were saying, "No one knows who's in charge.

13:22No one knows who's making decisions." So now it's explicitly stated, the fire chief

13:26shall or the department director shall.

13:30These are the results, again, of a broad stakeholder engagement.

13:33And we began building the system that is still in process, but

13:40the city charter, which you also have a parallel group working on to modernize some

13:44of those charter provisions. But the Mayor rules are still here, and all of the

13:50items that are in the personnel policy manual and the administrative procedures

13:53manual came directly out of Mayor rules or our administrative memos.

13:58This wasn't just created out of whole cloth. It's not new.

14:01If it doesn't belong in the Mayor rules, where does it go?

14:04Is it administrative language? Is it procedural language?

14:07And that's where we created these documents from.

14:10Just a snapshot, probably hard to see, it's even smaller than the budget.

14:14You can see that originally, the Mayor rule language, if it stayed, it stayed.

14:17If it didn't, it began to move to its new sections and began to migrate into the

14:22appropriate manual. Now, the manuals are

14:25not before you today because they're still in process, but you will get a chance to

14:28see them soon. And then they began to look at what the new format looks like.

14:32So you can see this is a snapshot of one section of the personnel procedures

14:37manual, and you can see the origin of the language that is now-- It's numbered

14:42differently, but the content is largely unchanged.

14:47The Mayor rules comply with city charter section 6.6.

14:51That is the foundation that guided the development of the Mayor rules, which took

14:56all of that language to other places.

14:58The law department was instrumental in evaluating this, and they're still

15:01instrumental in evaluating what the final product is to make sure that we're

15:05getting you the best product available.

15:07The personnel policy manual has a very specific function. It defines authority.

15:13It establishes the governance that gives us the ability to do the procedures.

15:18It clarifies a lot of the expectations and creates accountability for the processes

15:24that are contained within it.

15:27The administrative procedures manual is the thing that I suspect our employees will

15:31live in day to day. All of the information that is important to them, leave

15:36information, vacation information, sick leave information, operational things that

15:41are important to their daily operations are all contained here.

15:44It creates one place. It's not spread across the Mayor rules or admin memos or

15:49other documents. This is where it is.

15:52It should enable competent decision-making by our employees and by our supervisors

15:56alike.

15:59So we've done a lot of work to decentralize leadership and decision-making.

16:05We want supervisors to lead and department directors to do their job directing

16:09their individual functions. HR continues to provide the anchor for stewardship.

16:14They are there to provide consistency and application of the rules.

16:17They are the experts as it comes to employee relations and all of the federal

16:22requirements related to operating our organization.

16:25Again, importantly, our employees now know who's responsible.

16:29It explicitly states this is who's responsible.

16:34We intentionally proposed expansion of some of the framework that support our

16:38employees. Now, these items is just a snapshot of several.

16:42We'll go through a few in a moment, but I do need to emphasize these have not been

16:45presented to our labor groups. We're governed by collective bargaining agreements

16:49that requires a specific labor law application and mandatory subjects of bargaining

16:56to that extent. So this information and any questions related to this information

17:02probably should be held until they get a chance to review it.

17:06But parental leave is one of those which provides, as you see, 12 weeks of paid

17:11parental leave.

17:15The second I want to highlight is employee sick leave, creating a sick leave bank

17:20for our employees. When you began at the city, you started at zero balance.

17:24So you may get sick before you have a sufficient balance to take time off.

17:29If you do, you're taking leave without pay.

17:31That disincentivizes some employee retention, and it's certainly not a recruiting

17:36tool. This gives them a specific bank to pull from should they get sick within

17:42that first period while they're building sick leave.

17:47So what we have now is alignment of the Mayor rules with the city charter.

17:52It supports the city manager's vision.

17:54He has a very clear vision of where he wants the organization to go.

17:57This provides him that speed and ability to lead the organization from his position

18:03and also support the vision of the council.

18:06It clarifies authority and improves consistency.

18:09We hope that it strengthens leadership and it informs our leaders and our directors

18:14on their roles and responsibilities, but it also gives us the ability to lead with

18:18clarity and to serve with purpose.

18:20Sir, can you go back one slide? What does COS stand for?

18:26Bottom.

18:26That's the-- Sorry, it's my shorthand for a large slide to say C of Spring.

18:30Thank you very much.

18:35I do have Director Morrison and members of the law department here with us today

18:39who are in the statutory review of this product.

18:43So as the committee finished its work, we handed it off to Chris Trohman, and to

18:47Lance Roskins, and to Director Morrison.

18:49Law and HR are going through every line to make sure that nothing's been

18:52inadvertently dropped, nothing's been modified that's inconsistent with federal

18:56law, that we don't lose or add something that would require us to negotiate with

19:01the unions to make sure that that is clear and open, because, as we've said, we met

19:06with them, with the unions specifically. This is an open process.

19:09We're very transparent in what's occurring.

19:11So they're in the middle of their statutory review.

19:14I offer the opportunity for any comment if you have any today.

19:17Council Member McGill has a question.

19:18I'm sorry, sir. Go ahead.

19:20More of a comment

19:22and

19:24a suggestion. I think this is great, what you guys have done.

19:27I think every-- My prior experience with municipalities, oftentimes, we have stuff

19:33on our books. It's in different locations.

19:36I think at some point, maybe 5 years or every 10 years, everything should be

19:42codified and brought. That's one of the first things I did when I was mayor in

19:47Pleasant Valley because I couldn't get answers to anything.

19:50Everything was in different places. So this is great work.

19:54One of the things I looked at that the federal government does, I know you're

20:00paying it forward in terms of the sick leave,

20:04but there's also the ability of other employees to contribute to someone who's

20:11sick with a horrible sickness or something.

20:13They could transfer some of their sick leave that they built over to another

20:17employee. I don't know if you guys are considering that at all, but that's one-

20:22We do have that. Currently, the carryover program exists-

20:24Okay

20:24... and there are some modifications to that we're proposing.

20:27It's just not explored here but-

20:28Yeah. That's good. Thank you for your hard work.

20:31Yes, sir.

20:33Yes, Council Member At-large Epstein.

20:35Thank you, Chief. Looks like a lot of really good work.

20:38The only question I have is you talked a little about bringing the work closer to

20:42the work, the authority closer to the workers and bringing them to more alignment.

20:46Does the item that we intend on having on the ballot regarding delegation

20:51in November have any

20:54impact on what you're doing here?

20:56I don't believe it does, but I'll throw it to Law Department first.

21:00I can't think so. The only thing that really comes to mind is for future merit

21:04rules. That particular change, again, it would delete the advisory

21:10step of going through the personnel board.

21:13So to the extent that you change merit rules in the future, it would be direct to

21:18council. But this particular project, I can't think of there being another impact.

21:24Thank you.

21:26As I mentioned, this is extremely high-level overview, and we went through it very

21:30quickly. So should you have other questions...

21:33Yes, Council Member Horton.

21:34Thank you. So my question was along the lines of what we have on the

21:40ballot, particularly question number two, where

21:47we are asking voters to approve question number two

21:54in the sense that

21:58the personnel board typically reviewed merit rules that did not have a

22:04financial impact.

22:05Sure.

22:06What you're presenting today

22:09clearly sounds like there's major impact, especially when you're talking about the

22:14part of investing in employees, parental leave, military leave, bereavement leave,

22:20and so that is a clear financial impact here.

22:24My

22:25just overall feedback, particularly one of the main themes that I'm

22:31hearing today, is the decentralization of leadership, and that is directly tied to

22:37question one on the ballot. And so that is a philosophical difference in terms of

22:45style of

22:47is it centralized or do we decentralize it?

22:51I wanted to also make a comment related to the decentralization of leadership that

22:57is directly tied to this statement here on one of your slides where

23:03it says, "Authority moves closer to the work." And I think

23:09that recently we've had some debates about to what

23:15extent do we leave processes subjected to the political process, and

23:21to what extent do we leave processes to the subject matter experts?

23:27To an extent, I know that 4SGF has

23:34really moved towards the latter, meaning

23:40the decision-making authority is resting more with our subject matter experts when

23:45it comes to development, public works,

23:49related issues, and that sort of thing.

23:51And so what you're describing here sounds as though it is more aligned

23:57with taking a lot of these processes, making it clear, getting

24:03it out of the ambiguous, but also it not necessarily being subject

24:09to

24:11a political process where it can be upended, like decisions can be upended.

24:17And so I just wanted to make some of those comments.

24:22I'm thinking that your presentation today is almost

24:30the cart before the horse, and it should have been the horse

24:36before even we considered the charter amendments, because this type of

24:42explanation is sort of like the foundation, part of the

24:47foundation that helps us to understand why we're asking voters to vote on,

24:53particularly questions number one and number two, and certainly number three as

24:59well. But since we have HR here and we're talking about decentralizing

25:05leadership,

25:06those two questions on the ballot are directly tied to your presentation today.

25:11And there's a lot that you have presented that I think is essential.

25:17If I'm the average voter that's going into the voting booth, I would've loved to

25:22have had this information so that we can kind of get some more of the meat and

25:28potatoes of why

25:31did our council send questions one and two to the ballot?

25:36And those are just some general statements. So thank you.

25:40I appreciate your comments. I do want to emphasize that while we're decentralizing

25:43decision-making, the authority still remains at the appropriate level.

25:47I can delegate my decision-making authority. I'm still responsible.

25:51I don't get to delegate that responsibility.

25:53So while we're trying to get the function, again, appropriate, and really, it's not

25:58anything from a large-scale change that you've seen in the merit rules currently.

26:02It's just putting in a different manual, creating some clarity.

26:05I certainly want to hand it off to Darler, to the law department for any follow-up

26:08comments.

26:09I just might add, as we're kind of having that conversation in the context of

26:14charter questions that are going to go on the ballot, I do want to separate the two

26:18conversations a little bit. What's being proposed here is not being done in

26:22anticipation of the possibility that the voters do or don't pass anything.

26:27Everything in the current proposals is based on the charter as it exists today.

26:31So we don't presume to know what the voters are going to do with those charter

26:35questions. So every current proposal is in alignment with the charter as it is

26:40written, as it exists today.

26:43If there are future changes to the charter, that may change council's options of

26:48what they can do with some of these things down the road.

26:51But in terms of the delegation of authority question, anything you're going to see

26:56as part of this process is already allowed by the existing charter, and there's no

27:00expansion there, if that's helpful.

27:02So was clarity even needed for question one then?

27:05I mean, it sounds as though there's an apparatus that already exists, whereas

27:11changes were not necessary to question one.

27:16Well, I don't know if I'd go that far, and I didn't work on the charter side of it.

27:20I'm just speaking to the Merit Rule Project.

27:22That was done in alignment with the existing

27:25... charter.

27:27This committee did not make a statement as to whether charter changes were

27:31advisable, not advisable, recommended, not.

27:34I want to be clear that this is not done in anticipation of a potential charter

27:39change. This work was done in alignment with the existing charter.

27:44And what should or shouldn't happen with the charter itself is a completely

27:47separate question.

27:50And to maybe help you distinguish that a little bit,

27:55the merit rules are kind of a different animal than the delegation question we're

28:01talking about on question one. Question one really references, if you look through

28:06the different charter sections, you have the manager section and the department

28:10directors each have a section on duties and powers.

28:14And because we do not have an express

28:19catchall delegation provision in the charter, whenever there comes a question of

28:24delegating that specific power, it has to be analyzed individually.

28:28Some powers, we think the case law suggests are delegable right now, but others

28:34are not, and it kind of creates this patchwork of what is or isn't.

28:39And of course, attorneys are famous for their consistent opinions, especially over

28:42time. And so, it's a joke. You may have different ones that come along later and

28:48say, "Well, maybe I disagree about A and B, but not C, D, and E." And the idea

28:53behind that charter amendment was to clarify that just any of those powers are

28:58going to be delegable vertically for that director or the manager, but they're

29:03going to still be accountable for it to create a clear rule for everybody, and

29:08that's slightly different. But Lance is my expert on that.

29:12Did I say that mostly right?

29:14I think so, yeah.

29:14Okay.

29:15That seems to sound similar in both, whether we're speaking of merit rules or

29:21question one, it sounds like decentralization.

29:24That's correct.

29:25So that's the connection I was making.

29:28I do know there was a public speaker who came to speak

29:36on our ballot

29:40proposal just in terms of to what extent

29:46does the city charter deserve a little bit more public scrutiny than just it being

29:51an internal type of decision-making

29:56opportunity. And so to the extent that, again, with the merit rules, which

30:02again, you're saying is a separate situation, that you're able to include more

30:07stakeholders, such as your unions, and maybe even other especially if it's going to

30:12be tied to the city charter. To what extent are we going to include more

30:18individuals from the public to be able to inform us in terms

30:24of when we send information to the ballot rather than that just being exclusively

30:31internally decided?

30:35Council Member Jensen.

30:37Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Chief.

30:39I've first got a question for HR Director Darla, and then a second question for

30:45you. So as a

30:48former public employee,

30:51I am very sympathetic to the layers of decisions that have been built up over time.

30:57I also recognize that those layers were typically built as response to specific

31:03issues, and so then you change a policy to make sure that that can't happen in the

31:07future, and then you just end up with this mishmash of all of these decades of

31:13decisions. So I guess my question is, under this new regulatory

31:18sort of framework that's being proposed, do you see us losing

31:24any of that responsiveness to issues that have come up over time?

31:30That is a great question, and I would say that's part of the review that we're

31:34going through now with the law department and Chief Pennington, is working closely

31:38with both parties to ensure, hey, we did have some very specific things, maybe in a

31:43salary ordinance that's connected to this merit rule or something, and make sure,

31:48hey, did the committee intend for this to go away or do they intend to keep it?

31:53And look at those policy issues so that we make sure we don't lose something

31:56through the cracks. That's a great question.

31:59Okay.

31:59Thank you.

31:59Thank you. Council Member McGill.

32:01Sorry, I had one more question.

32:03Oh, sorry.

32:04So Chief, my next question is just what are the anticipated next steps on

32:10this effort? Is this going to be coming back to the body for any decision-making?

32:15Are you looking for any guidance from us today? Or is this just informational?

32:20Great question. Today is to provide you information about where we are.

32:24To your comment, ma'am, we got it before you at the time we thought it was

32:27appropriate in the development because it is a huge body of work that we're working

32:31on. So today is to provide you an update about where we are in the process.

32:34It still sits with HR and Law doing their statutory review.

32:37We actually have meetings this afternoon to continue to work through that, and I'll

32:41defer to the city manager about where we go from here once that project is in its

32:45final form.

32:46Yeah. So I would just go back to, it'll be coming before council,

32:51but I want to make sure that that message was at least delivered because we do have

32:55conversations with

32:57the units that we still have to have as part of the overall work.

33:01But it will be forthcoming because there's two dynamics of the charter and also

33:06this piece is listening to the employees, but also this whole decentralization and

33:10the thing that I've done just from operating at the manager's office is to allow

33:14employees to make decisions. So I know that employees are wanting to see the result

33:18of this work, and at least bring that forward, that it's not just going to be a

33:22perpetual project. So it will be something we'll be bringing forward, whether you

33:25want to refer it to a committee for further review and discussion, truthfully,

33:30would be an idea. But also at the same time, just continue to move that forward.

33:35So that's very important. So that's where I see it going.

33:39Time is of the essence, really, from a perspective of just giving this to the

33:43employees because I talk about lead with clarity, serve with purpose.

33:46This document is in all sorts of different places, and I think it dispelled the

33:50myth that everything kind of got bottlenecked at HR when really a lot of it's just

33:55a lot of policy is floating out and nobody knows how to make a decision, and

33:58staff's like, "What authority do I have?" So the sooner we can deploy them to make

34:02decisions without having to go all the way up the chain, makes it a lot easier.

34:06Okay. Thank you. Yeah. And I guess the point of my question had just been kind of

34:11responsive to Councilman Horton's comments is,

34:16it sounds like you feel as though there is sufficient direction.

34:20So this is quite a bit of work. It sounds as though you feel there's sufficient

34:24direction from council, and there's no major-

34:27Yes

34:27... policy questions that we're needing to provide feedback on to help inform this

34:31effort. Is that correct?

34:32I don't believe so, but there are some aggressive things that we're proposing.

34:37One thing about it is we've discussed the mental health piece.

34:39So there are some places that we're definitely going to be more advanced than other

34:43people in our approach of addressing our employees and time off in those places.

34:48But you can review that material and provide feedback to that as well.

34:53Okay. Thank you.

34:54Council Member McGill.

34:55Thank you, Mayor. I really applaud your efforts and the questions raised by Council

35:01Member Horton.

35:04My thought is that every organization should go through a process improvement,

35:09looking at themselves and that kind of stuff, and your lines of authority as it

35:13talks about question one on the ballot.

35:16I think that's important, too, because we've kind of seen that play out on a

35:21national level when Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Defense, had to go under the

35:27knife, and no one had any clear authority.

35:30And the news media beat everybody up about it.

35:32They knew a clear authority, but who was in charge of during that period of time in

35:36which he had to have this operation that was kept really secret.

35:40So I applaud you for doing that. But my thought is, when there's a

35:45transfer of authority, is there some kind of process that has to take place and

35:51say, "I'm out of town, this person's in charge." Just tell me about that.

35:55Yeah, the charter requires me to provide the mayor or the council a plan, or who is

36:00in that piece of it, from that perspective, is who's in authority if I'm

36:07out. But what the charter amendment is about is right now, the way the ambiguity to

36:12it, because you have deputy managers, it's not listed.

36:15A lot of feedback from the communities, it takes too long for the city to act.

36:20Okay.

36:20Well, because it all relies upon going all the way to the manager when there's

36:25designees. So some of this was two different tracks of how do we help make

36:30decisions faster

36:32In the community based upon waiting for a seasonal employee to be terminated that

36:37requires me to terminate that position-

36:40Wow

36:40... with the charter. So that whole designation of authority

36:44needs clarity. But

36:46I think that the objective, yes, to answer your question, yes, I have to designate

36:50that authority to somebody else.

36:52Okay. Council Member Hosmer.

36:54Well, Chief, I know we're going to get specifics about what these changes are.

36:57These are just a high-

36:58Yes

36:58... level.

37:01Do you know, do you anticipate any employees having objections to these

37:06changes or the employee bargaining units?

37:09I don't. I obviously can't speak for the bargaining units or their leadership, but

37:13all of the changes we're proposing are positive for employees.

37:16We're leaning forward to become the best in class for any organization, not just a

37:21municipal organization, so-

37:23Anticipate that-

37:24I don't anticipate that-

37:25... would have any objection to any of these changes that have been made or been

37:29proposed?

37:29I certainly would be surprised if they did.

37:32Some of these modifications were directly from feedback from the labor groups.

37:37So again, I don't expect pushback, but certainly-

37:40And traditionally on merit rule changes, the council has voted on those, haven't

37:45they?

37:46Yes.

37:47Yes.

37:47But do we vote on the administrative procedures manual?

37:51I know we've done that on some policy manuals.

37:53We decide what the procedures will be on the-

37:56The idea on that your sub-merit rules is for council to kind of be in the loop, but

38:02for it to be a city manager level

38:05tool so that it can be adjusted more quickly.

38:10I know like on our economic development policy, at least I think we had an

38:15opportunity to review that document and then had some input on it because I think

38:21like you said, the administrative procedures manual

38:25really will be the go-to

38:27source for employees, and it seems like council should have...

38:30I'm not saying we should

38:32be able to vote, make a change on anything we want, but I think we should have some

38:36review on that to make sure that it's a policy that council agrees with and can

38:42take it a little bit more broader,

38:44in my opinion. Obviously, the council will make their decision.

38:48Mr. Mayor, I appreciate that comment.

38:50What I would anticipate, like we do with anything else, is through the reporting

38:54that I do to this council and the messaging, changes that are made, to be as

38:58transparent in what we're doing is to make sure you're informed of what that looks

39:02like. But to Chief's point, I asked for what would be the best in class.

39:05If we're recruiting nationwide, what is something that we're not offering that

39:09other people are doing? And the staff went to work and really presented what does

39:12that need to look like, comparatively even to our neighbors, but also at the same

39:17time, making sure that the employee's cared for.

39:19And so I think that's why sick time policy, one of the things that's also in there

39:23is an employee could utilize, for example, a sick day as a mental health day.

39:27And so I think that's a big priority in the overall work.

39:29But that would not be something that would not at least be shared.

39:33We don't want to work in a place where there's not transparency of what we're

39:36trying to do, but at the same time that we share it.

39:38It just may be an administrative policy or something that's written and drafted to

39:42council through my normal public transparency documents.

39:47Mr. Hosmer, do you have any more questions?

39:49I have more than, yes.

39:50Okay. But not today. Thank you.

39:53Anybody else?

39:56Thank you very much. Thank you to your team.

39:59Yeah, thank you, everybody. Well done.

40:01We've got these mics.

40:03We'll now move on to the review of the upcoming agenda. That would be Mr.

40:09Cameron.

40:12Okay. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is for the October 12th meeting.

40:17Just any questions on second reading and final passage?

40:23So moving to council bills 12.1, a bill to rezone 2.75 acres located at West

40:29Dalmadge Street. 12.2, a bill to rezone 6.8 acres located at South

40:35Fieldcrest Avenue.

40:3812.3, a bill to rezone 0.17 acres located at North Rogers Avenue.

40:4412.4, a bill to approve the plan development on East Olive Street.

40:5012.5, a bill to approve the Springfield Plaza TIF redevelopment plan.

40:56Any questions with the public hearings?

41:0013.1, a bill to accept a bid for South Creek Greenway project from Fremont

41:06to Glenstone.

41:0813.2, a bill to accept a bid for the South Creek Greenway project at Sunset and

41:13Glenstone. Is that the same thing?

41:16Different things.

41:16Gotcha. 13.3, a bill to accept a bid for the Martin Luther King Jr.

41:21Bridge maintenance and rehabilitation project.

41:2513.4, a bill to accept a bid for the Grant Avenue Viaduct maintenance and

41:31rehabilitation project.

41:3413.5, a bill to accept federal grants for the Northwest Wastewater Treatment Plant

41:38Foam Fractionation project.

41:42Mr. Cameron?

41:42Yeah.

41:44If I may, Mr. Mayor. A question on 13.3 and 13.4.

41:49Okay.

41:49For 13.4, there's been a request from the neighborhood for several years to allow

41:54for some placemaking public art opportunities, and I believe it's been held up with

42:00some challenge with the railroad approving some work.

42:05So I'm curious, has that been incorporated at all into this proposed

42:11rehabilitation project? And I don't need an answer now, but-

42:14We'll look into it.

42:15Okay. And then similarly, the MLK Bridge does have quite a bit of public art on

42:21the underside, and so just wanted to make sure we are not losing a mural or any

42:27public art in our downtown area.

42:29That's a good question.

42:31Awesome. Thank you.

42:33Thanks. Gotcha. Okay.

42:36We're at 14.1, I think.

42:3814, I think the next six bills resulted from the board audit presented to plans and

42:42policies. 14.1, the Police Civilian Review Board.

42:4714.2, the Enhanced Enterprise Zone Board.

42:5214.3, the Citizens Advisory Committee for Community Development.

42:5714.4, the Citizens Advisory Board.

43:0014.5, Tree City USA Board, and 14.6, Trade

43:05Boards.

43:09Yes, sir.

43:10And just any questions on the agenda?

43:13So one other point, Mr. Mayor, because I want to make sure it's clear and clearly

43:19stated that on October 15th,

43:23the planning and zoning will be considering, they'll be on the agenda, the text

43:28amendment for data center. I want to clarify so everybody doesn't say we've already

43:31created one, but also the same commission will be a continuation to delay, ask for

43:36a delay to the

43:39admin delay.

43:41For clarity, for those that asked the question, I just want to make abundantly

43:44clear, without a definition, when we're asked about whether we're going to support

43:47or not support data centers without a definition in our code.

43:52So this is not approving anything.

43:54This is starting that discussion with what the definition would be.

43:56But at the same planning and zoning meeting, we are asking for a continuation or to

44:02consider extending the administrative delay, which would then go to the city

44:06council for further

44:08support to continue that delay. So I just want to be forthcoming that that's coming

44:12up on the October 15th

44:16planning and zoning agenda with also the delay.

44:21Questions?

44:22How long is the extension be?

44:24Well, following the path that goes to the extension, the end of the extension would

44:30be February 24th, 2026. So it requires a first reading, a text

44:36amendment, first reading to consider the extension, and then the second reading

44:40with text amendment. Then you'd have your definition, but then it would still go

44:43back. So just following our own public hearing process, that's when the delay would

44:47end.

44:50Mr. Mayor.

44:51For notification.

44:54Maybe a question for Jordan. I know I had requested a resolution.

44:57Is that going to be on this month's agenda?

45:00Yes, that was the neighborhood-

45:01Improvement funds, yes

45:02... this month. Yeah, I've got to draft that, but it should be.

45:08Okay. Thank you.

45:11Other questions?

45:13Okay, then we're going to stand adjourned and move into the special city council

45:19meeting.

45:22I'm now going to call the special city council meeting to order. Ms.

45:25Potter, please call the roll.

45:27Osmer?

45:29Here.

45:29Wiggles?

45:30Here.

45:30Horton?

45:31Here.

45:32Jensen?

45:33Here.

45:33Hardinger?

45:34Here.

45:34Carroll?

45:35Here.

45:36Lee?

45:36Here.

45:37Padegasi?

45:38Here.

45:39Schrog?

45:39Here. Council Member Hosmer, do you have a motion?

45:42Do I move the city council to hold closed meetings to discuss legal actions, causes

45:45of action, litigation involving a public or government body, and any compliments

45:49when there's privileged communications between a public or government body or its

45:53representatives, its attorneys pursuant to Section 16.0211, and leasing, purchase,

45:58or sale of real estate when the public body with public knowledge of the

46:01transaction may adversely affect the legal consideration therefore pursuant to

46:04Section 16.0212 [2] if it proposes to delay documents when any document relating to

46:10a negotiated contract until a contract is executed or all proposals are rejected

46:14pursuant to Section 16.0212. This meeting recommends motions to go into

46:20closed on the status of council stated in closed session.

46:23Is there a second? Couldn't have said it better myself. Second.

46:26We have a humorous second. Please call the roll, Ms. Potter.

46:30Wiggles?

46:30Aye.

46:30Horton?

46:32Aye.

46:32Jensen?

46:32Aye.

46:33Hardinger?

46:34Aye.

46:34Carroll?

46:35Aye.

46:36Lee?

46:36Aye.

46:37Padegasi?

46:38Aye.

46:38Osmer?

46:39Aye.

46:40Schrog?

46:41Aye. We're gonna take a minute to reset the room.