CC Offsite Mtg. Snippet

The City Commission had a special offsite workshop meeting at the Rancho Viejo Resort & County Club (Resaca Room) on Saturday, June 9, 2012.

Since it was not publicly announced in the SBNEWS and was not posted on the city web site, I did not become aware of it until midnight Friday, June 8.I was unable to make arrangements to attend and therefore, I asked for the minutes of the meeting.

Here is a snippet of what the City Commission was lectured on by the City Attorney; I hope they all paid attention.

ITEM 3.PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION ON SAN BENITO HOME RULE CHARTER.

The mayor occupies the highest elective office in the municipal government. As political head of the city, the mayor is expected to provide the leadership necessary to keep it moving in the proper direction. Under the council-manager form of government in a home rule city, the mayor’s administrative responsibilities differ sharply from those of a mayor in a mayor-council city. Under the council-manager plan, the mayor has no day-to-day administrative duties; these are vested in a city manager who is responsible for implementing policies established by the council. In most council-manager cities, the mayor is in the city hall on an irregular basis and is involved very little in routine operational matters. Council members are the city’s legislators. Their primary duty is policy making, which includes identifying the needs of local residents, formulating programs to meet the changing requirements of the community, and measuring the effectiveness of ongoing municipal services. 

ITEM 3.PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION ON SAN BENITO HOME RULE CHARTER. (continued)

The basic structure of the council-manager form of government is similar to that of a private corporation where the stockholders elect a board of directors which then hires a president to run the company. Under the council-manager plan, the voters elect a city council which, in turn, hires a city manager to administer the city’s day-to-day affairs. The council is the final authority on all of the many policy decisions that determine the scope and functions of the city government. The Manager has the unilateral authority to hire, discipline, and fire the department heads. In some cases, however, certain employees, such as the city attorney or municipal judge, are directly hired and/or supervised by council rather than the manager

ITEM 4. PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION ON MEETING PROCEDURES, OPEN MEETINGS LAW, ROBERT’S RULES, AGENDA PROCEDURES AND AVOIDANCE OF CONFLICTS.

Also discussed were Legal Requirements, Texas Open Meetings Act. Among all state laws affecting city officials, this is the one most likely to be unintentionally violated because of lack of knowledge. Public Information Act, As with Open Meetings Act, each elected or appointed member of a governmental body must take at least one hour of training in the Public Information Act, or designate the city’s records administrator to take the training on his or her behalf. Rules of Order and Procedure, motions were discussed. A motion is simply a vehicle for initiating action on a proposal.