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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03232010 City Council Minutes City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes March 23, 2010 (continued) Volume 38, Page 264 CALL TO ORDER .. The March 22, 2010 regular meeting of the Seward City Council was recessed at 10:30 p.m. and called back to order at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 by Mayor Willard E. Dunham. ROLL CALL There were present: Willard E. Dunham presiding and Linda Amberg Jean Bardarson Bob Valdatta Vanta Shafer Marianna Keil comprising a quorum of the Council; and Phillip Oates, City Manager Johanna Dollerhide, Acting City Clerk ABSENT — Tom Smith Current motion on the floor: Amend (Keil/Shafer) Amend Resolution 2010 -028, Section 12 him by striking the words "will result in disciplinary action that includes the possibility of' and replace with "shall result in" Oates stated he spoke with the personnel attorney today, and said using the word "shall" takes away any flexibility in mitigating circumstances and could lead to discrimination lawsuits. This was fair and consistent with the other personnel policies. He felt stating the city "shall terminate" an employee would be a wrong step to take. In response to Dunham, Oates said City Attorney Rob Johnson conveyed to him that it was not consistent with personnel rules. They could take this step, but there would be major concerns. Keil wondered when employee rights became more important than the public's right to privacy. Bardarson didn't think the intent was to prohibit the action of termination, but she liked the idea of immediate suspension with possible termination as suggested by Amberg. Oates said there are very stringent rules if someone's privacy was violated, far worse than actions determined in this policy. City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes March 23, 2010 (continued) Volume 38, Page 265 After much discussion, Keil withdrew her motion and Shafer concurred with this action. Amendment (Amberg /Bardarson) Amend Resolution 2010 -028, section 12, by striking "disciplinary action that includes the possibility of ' and replace with "immediate suspension pending an investigation to determine the appropriate disciplinary action. This disciplinary action includes the possibility of termination from employment." Motion Passed Unanimous Keil wanted people to be informed if they are being watched or monitored. Clemons said there would be times where signs indicating a camera's presence could not be used. He could use it in the public places and felt comfortable with doing that. Amend (Bardarson /Shafer) Amend Resolution 2010 -028, section one by adding a new paragraph, "All public surveillance cameras will be noticed." Motion Passed Unanimous Motion to Amend(Amberg /Shafer) Amend Resolution 2010 -028, section six by striking the language "public employees" and replace with "law enforcement employees." Motion Passed Unanimous Main Motion Passed As Amended Yes: Bardarson, Amberg, Valdatta, Shafer, Mayor Dunham No: Keil COUNCIL COMMENTS Shafer hoped the council and the public would go to the unveiling of the earthquake film at the library this weekend. Dunham noted Seward's Day was coming up. Two marine highway vessels were in town being worked on. Council needed to help and comment on some of the legislation going on. It would be nice for some of the council to attend these hearings. He noted all of Homer Electric's electrical equipment was under cover. Fairbanks just passed a letter of support and City of Seward, Alaska City Council Minutes March 23, 2010 (continued) Volume 38, Page 266 asked for support resolution at the next meeting. Glen Loomis recently passed away, who was a long time Seward resident. It was a week of many birthdays - Margaret Anderson, Louie Bencardino, and most notably Morita Richardson turned 90 this week. CITIZENS' COMMENTS Tim McDonald noted under the constitution, the public had a right to an open and honest government and thought the executive sessions did not evoke that. A lot of the decisions and discussions regarding SMIC had been done behind closed doors. Secondly, he stated he had seen the council site federal and state regulations and felt they were not serving the people. There was no compromise on that, and felt the council should start doing it's job. He felt they were disregarding the citizen's. COUNCIL AND ADMINISTRATION RESPONSE TO CITIZENS' COMMENTS Dunham stated they did not have executive sessions illegally. He was tired of these accusations. Keil agreed with Dunham as there were certain criteria set out that required executive sessions. She felt they were all covered under the open meetings act. She felt council was composed of appropriate, concerned citizens. Shafer also disagreed with McDonald. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:52 p.m. i /.r // // 4g / ohanna Dol erhide, CMC Willard E. Dunham Acting City Clerk Mayor • ' cdR (City Seal) : ° Cr • • <+' Lei ma. '. • r • Cm 4 - o €9 s� a a ra o . nit