April 16 Committee of the Whole Meeting Highlights

April 16, 2019 – Following are highlights and key priorities covered at the Tuesday, April 16 Committee of the Whole Meeting:

Agenda

Minutes

• Minutes from the March 19 Committee of the Whole

Administration

Jeff Cadwell, County Administrator, brought the following items to the Board for discussion:

• Administrative Form of County Government
  Several recent data requests, public comments and discussions have demonstrated that there is a lack of clear understanding of some of the county roles, rules, and procedures. Recent conversations suggest clarification would be helpful on the Administrative Form of County Governance MS 375A.06. Board Members discussed the difference between a County Administrator and a County Manager. Some of the primary responsibilities of the County Administrator is to supervise the preparation of agendas and packets, manage all department heads to provide overall direction and to make recommendations to the Board.

Molly Hicken, County Attorney, and Jeff Cadwell, County Administrator brought the following items to the Board for discussion and consideration:

• Procedures and Rules for the Cook County Board
  Review decisions made at January Organizational meeting to confirm Board procedures for regular meeting schedule, public participation in meetings and streaming/recording of meetings. Review the elements of a possible set of By-laws for the Cook County Board of Commissioners. Samples of By-laws were supplied from Itasca County and Scott County. It was suggested that if Cook County creates a set of By-laws, to use these as templates.
• Attorney Hicken prepared a memorandum asking the Board to establish a set of rules for meetings. Attorney Hicken stated that MCIT does not recommend recording and creating data that is not mandated to record or create. The Board should review and discuss the different types of meetings and come to an agreement of what type of meetings they are and whether they should be recorded. A policy should be put in place to follow after the Board comes to an official decision.
• There was a discussion on public comment and input during meetings. Attorney Hicken stated that she would recommend that the public comment period during meetings be a place to listen to public concerns, but that it should not be a dialog with the public. Attorney Hicken created a standing memorandum to be read prior to the public comment period.
• Continued discussions will be held in various work sessions to establish policy and to address the following questions:

a. How to proceed with this year’s Budget conversation?

b. What will be recorded and what won't be recorded?

c. How will the public comment period be handled during meetings?

 Correspondence 

• Minutes from the March 19 Personnel Committee and from the April 9 General Government Committee were included as correspondence.

Full details of Board Meetings are available through video footage, Agendas and Minutes at www.co.cook.mn.us. All County Board and Committee of the Whole Meetings are open to the public.