City Council Minutes 2017 10 02 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes October 2, 2017 Page 2 of 4 • How to leave meetings with everyone having similar expectations, • Improve focus and efficiency in meetings and work plan, • Improve relationships with staff and use new city manager to make that better, • Have a rhythm and order in meetings, • Increase trust between councilmembers at meetings, • Come to meetings with an open mind and no agenda; • How better to maintain efficiency while also allowing for flexibility when it is necessary in meetings. The group reviewed the data in the packet Ramos asked if anything was a surprise or really interesting in the data. Members generally stated the comments were candid; action -oriented, and specific Members noted the data was good and the Council is engaged and, for the most part, working well together. Members discussed ides to make the meetings more efficient including how to be prepared for a meeting and how to encourage good deliberation. Ramos noted there is a lot of commonality and agreement in the data and similarity in thinking among members; everyone wants to improve so this is a great place to start. Ramos asked what is already working well Members stated • The group gets a great deal of work done; • People are willing to share a dissenting point of view, • We represent the entire city very well, regardless of personal points of view, • We are good at refernng things to specific councilmembers as appropriate Ramos stated the data shows that these areas need improvement: • Meeting effectiveness; • Roles and responsibilities, policy versus operations, • General communication; • Focusing on priorities and objectives given limited resources, • Conflict management MEETING EFFECTIVENESS Regarding meeting effectiveness members stated the following • Overestimate what we can get done in a meeting/too many things on the agenda, • Need better agenda management/time management for agenda items; • Should use study sessions more effectively; call a special meeting if needed; • Should not have executive sessions at the end of the meetings; no one makes good decisions that late, • Need to do a better job of self-regulation; • Asked mayor to bring the discussions toward conclusion more/facilitate more;