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City Council Minutes <br />March 8, 2010 <br />Page 3 <br />Mayor Klinzing stated it is better to operate under written guidelines for liability reasons. <br />Councilrnember Moon indicated that from an attorney standpoint, the liability could increase <br />if written rules are approved. <br />Councilmember Gumphrey asked for an example of liability. Mayor Klinzing indicated one <br />Councilmember attempting to directly supervise or direct employees, without Council <br />consent or direction, may create unintended legal liability for the Mayor or City Council <br />members. Mayor Klinzing added that it is important for staff to be aware of this and <br />understand that the Mayor or individual Council members should only be giving advice to <br />employees. <br />Councilmember Motin stated he does not believe a written Code of Conduct needs to be <br />approved to make staff aware of that fact. <br />Mayor Klinzing questioned if this is a governance model that the Council agrees with. <br />Councilmember Motin indicated he agrees to the extent that the Council is governed by state <br />statute. He added that once a Councilmember is elected he/she should be aware this is how <br />they should act. Councilmember Gurnphrey concurred. <br />It was the consensus of the Council to not adopt a Code of Conduct at this time. The <br />Council discussed a board and commission Code of Conduct. Councilmember Zerwas stated <br />he is not in favor of formal codes. He would like to review the board and commission <br />handbook for new commissioners that is currently in place to see if it can be modified. <br />Mayor Klinzing expressed interest in adding consequences for inappropriate actions to the <br />board and commission information. Councilmember Motin asked that this information be <br />discussed at the May worksession. <br />Ms. Johnson noted that consequences for some board and commissions are governed by <br />state statute. The Council asked staff to provide this information to them as well. <br />5.4. Public Works Director Organizational Structure <br />Ms. Johnson reviewed her staff report. She stated that the organizational chart in the packet <br />is the structure the city currently operates under. She noted that Elk River Municipal Utilities <br />has been included on the organizational chart provided only for auditing purposes. She also <br />distributed the original organizational chart approved by the Council in 2004. <br />Ms. Johnson stated that the two department head positions open are community <br />development director and public works director. She indicated that the budget does not <br />allow both positions to be filled. She added that she believes a community development <br />director is a higher priority than the public works director at this time. She stated she spends <br />an average of one or two hours a day on community development related activities. <br />Councilmember Gumphrey concurred with Ms. Johnson that a community development <br />director is a higher priority than a public works director. Councilmember Motin agreed but <br />indicated he is not comfortable hiring at this time due to the current budget situation. Mayor <br />Klixizing concurred with Councilmember Motin. <br />She explained that while a community development director and public works director are <br />discretionary positions, a city engineer is necessary. She explained that the impact to the <br />general budget to hire a city engineer is minimal because a majority of the funding is billed <br />back to special projects. Mr. Simon indicated that approximately 65 - 70% of a city <br />