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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02152023 PACAB Laydown Griswold230215 LAYDOWN February 10, 2023 PACAB Ordinance 2023-XXX Amending Seward City Code Chapter 2.30 Boards and Commissions Comments by Carol Griswold, inside city limits. Suggested revisions in bold. Seward City Code Chapter 2.30 Boards and Commissions 2.30.310 Established A. The Port and Commerce Advisory Board (PACAB) is hereby established, consisting of seven residents of the City of Seward or surrounding areas, at least one of whom is a resident of the city of Seward, and who shall be appointed by the city council. Keep it simple like the original wording. "There is created..." is awkward; the title uses the word "established". It's great to tap into the knowledge and experience of everyone whether inside or outside city limits, but I feel it's important that at least one member be a resident of Seward. B. A chair and vice -chair of the board shall be selected annually by the appointed members. Chair and vice -chair are gender neutral, use this term instead. PACAB has a vice -chair whose selection should be included. 2.30.315 Terms of Office; filling vacancies C. Following a member's absence from three meetings in a 12-month period, the remaining members shall decide whether the board member should be retained or whether to request city council appointment of a new member. PACAB only meets 9 times per year. A member who misses a third of the meetings, whether consecutively or skippy, shows the member is having a hard time fulfilling their obligations. I deleted "consecutive" because missing every other meeting or two here and one or two more there is as bad as three in a row. If there are circumstances that merit consideration, this code still allows for leniency for the remaining board members to decide on retention or replacement when three meetings per year are missed. 2.30.317 Staff assistance to board. A. The city manager, or designee, shall: 1. Assist the board and shall be qualified by special training and experience in the fields of Port and Harbor operations, transportation, trade, energy, and commerce and other fields as needed. Note section 2.30.325 Powers and duties, 3 and 4: PACAB covers many more issues than just Port and Harbor operations. Expand the staff assistance to help with all those other fields, and invite other experts to assist the board as needed. 1 3. Appoint the council's representative to the Kenai Peninsula Borough Economic Development District as liaison to PACAB. This provides valuable expertise to PACAB. C. A member of the City Clerk's office shall attend the meetings and keep a record of the proceedings for regular and special meetings. Typo: City Clerk's office, not "officer." Note: work sessions and committee meetings do not require minutes as per the Open Meetings Act. 2.30.320 Meetings The Port and Commerce Advisory Board meets on the first and third Wednesday of each month excluding June, July, and August. A. Regular meetings. 1. Regular meetings shall be held in the city council chambers at noon with one meeting taking place on the first Wednesday of each month excluding June, July, and August. Delete "each year" as unnecessary and rewrite to simplify language and months. B. Special meetings. 1. Special meetings may be held at the call of the chair or the city manager and at such other times as the board may determine. 2. Special meetings have the same requirements as regular meetings, except that they are called for a different time than that fixed for regular meetings. The special meeting does not take place instead of the regular meeting, it is in addition to the regular meeting. Special meetings should be held rarely and only to address time sensitive issues. C. Work sessions. 1. Work sessions may be held at the call of the chair or the city manager and at such other times as the board may determine for the purpose of planning, studying and discussing any question permitted by law. 2. Work sessions generally are held in the City Council Chambers; however, the board may designate any other location for a particular work session provided that consideration is given to the reasonable accommodation of the public. [SCC § 2.10.030 A.4] (See Council Procedures, Rule 10) D. Committee Meetings. 1. Committee Meetings. Permanent ("standing") committees and temporary ("ad hoc") committees of the governing body may be formed to study particular issues in more detail. 2. Ad hoc committees are formed to address a specific situation and are disbanded once the situation has been dealt with. 3. Committees may be composed of all members of the governing body (referred to as a committee of the whole), or of fewer members, usually three. 4. A committee cannot take action on behalf of the full governing body but instead makes a recommendation to the governing body for the governing body's action. Usually the committee of the whole meets to discuss items that are not ready for action but need further discussion in an informal setting. Relabel sections. Meetings include more than just regular and special meetings. Expand this section and include details for clarity. Work sessions and committee meetings should be included as they are part of the Open Meetings Act, see link below. Special meetings with a committee of the whole imbedded have recently replaced work sessions, streamlining the process while eliminating public dialog, which is a disservice to the public. According to the Open Meetings Act, Special Meetings should not be used to replace regular meetings, and should be used rarely. Hence the name, "Special." 2.30.325 Powers and duties. 4. and 5. Typo: delete period after "Port and Harbor.," Should "Port" and "Harbor" be defined? Does "Port" mean the City of Seward as a port city? Or does "Port" mean the Alaska Railroad Seward Port and "Harbor" means the Seward Boat Harbor? The Chamber website lists the Port and Dock Facilities as the Seward Boat Harbor and the Seward Cruise Ship Terminal. https://www.seward.com/maritime/dock- facilities/. The official name of the Seward Cruise Ship Terminal is the "Dale R. Lindsey Alaska Railroad Intermodal Facility." What is "Port and Harbor"? General note on formatting: Seward Code tends to use lower case except for the first letter of every sentence. Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, Open Meetings Act https://www.commerce.aIaska.gov/web/dcra/LocaIGovernmentResourceDesk/LocaIGover nmentElectedOfficials/OpenMeetingsAct.aspx#:—:text=Special%20meetings%20should%20b e%20held,the%20special%20meetine%20is%20held.