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Home My WebLink AboutA045 - Email from City Attorney to Council Member Nelson dated August 5, 2018 Re: Special meeting ,Mark Lambert to: Chris Nelson 08/05/2018 10:04 PM "Mark Lambert", "jhaila@city.ames.ia.us", Cc: "vfeilmeyer@city.ames.ia.us","Diane R Voss","Steve Schainker", "schainkers@gmail.com" Chris, I think the Council deciding to hold a special meeting is taking an action. I really think that is best done in an open meeting. -----"Chris Nelson" <nelson.ames@outlook.com> wrote: ----- To: "Mark Lambert" <mlambert@city.ames.ia.us> From: "Chris Nelson" <nelson.ames@outlook.com> Date: 08/05/2018 06 :46PM Cc: "jhaila@city.ames.ia.us" <jhaila@city.ames.ia.us>, "vfeilmeyer@city.ames.ia.us" <vfeilmeyer@city.ames.ia.us>, "Diane R Voss" <dvoss@city.ames.ia.us>, "Mark Lambert" <mlambert@city.ames.ia.us>, "Steve Schainker" <sschainker@city.ames.ia.us>, "schainkers@gmail.com" <schainkers@gmail.com> Subject: Re: Special meeting ----------------------- ----------------------- Mark Thank you for addressing this while you're on vacation. To clarify, the intent of the special meeting would be for the sole purpose of adding the item to the August 14th meeting not to take any action. Does that change things? Thanks Chris Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/ghei36> From: Mark Lambert <mlambert@city.ames.ia.us> Sent: Sunday, August 5, 2018 6:33 :10 PM To: Chris Nelson Cc: jhaila@city.ames.ia.us; vfeilmeyer@city.ames.ia.us; Diane R Voss; Mark Lambert; Steve Schainker; schainkers@gmail.com Subject: Re: Special meeting Here's the provision on calling a special meeting, it ' s in the Ames Municipal Code. Sec. 2 .16. SPECIAL MEETINGS. The council shall hold special meetings when called by the Mayor or four (4) members of the Council. The City Clerk shall exercise due diligence to give actual notice of a special meeting, stating its date, time, place, and agenda, to the Mayor and each member of the City Council, by such means and methods as the Clerk shall judge to be most effective and reasonable with respect to the unique circumstances that pertain to the Mayor and each member of the Council within 24 hours of when the meeting is called. (Ord. No. 2508, Sec. 2, 5-20-75; Ord. No. 3383, Sec. 1, 5-28-96) It doesn't specify how the meeting is called. I am concerned about the Council taking any sort of action outside a public meeting, because of the Open Meetings Law. I suppose it can be done in a way that doesn't violate the Open Meetingd law, but I think it looks bad/suspicious . The Mayor Pro Tem can't call a meeting just because the Mayor is on vacation, if he is reachable. If I might make a suggestion, I think it would be best to bring this up at the Council meeting on the 14th. The special meeting could be set 2 days later if a majority of Council is agreeable (gotta have 24 hours in advance for publishing the agenda) . The meeting could be held, for example, over the noon hour on the 16th, or that evening. When you add up the concern about the Council taking action outside of a public open meeting, and Steve, John, and I all on vacation this week, I think my suggestion above is the best way to handle the desire to hold a special Council meeting. Remember it will be very easy to change the application deadline to a later date, if the Council wants to do that. DIANE: I am on my phone, so I can't figure out how to forward this. Would you please forward this to the other Council members? Thanks ! Mark -----"Chris Nelson" <nelson.ames@outlook.com> wrote: ----- To: "Diane R Voss" <dvoss@city.ames.ia.us> From: "Chris Nelson" <nelson.ames@outlook.com> Date: 08/05/2018 01:34PM Cc: "Mark Lambert" <mlambert@city.ames.ia.us>, "Steve Schainker" <sschainker@city.ames.ia.us>, "schainkers@gmail.com" <schainkers@gmail.com> Subject: Re: Special meeting ----------------------- ----------------------- Diane Thanks for helping us through this. My other question would be if four (or more of us) of us contact you about a meeting would/could that meet this requirement? Thanks Chris Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/ghei36> From: Diane R Voss <DVoss@city.ames.ia.us> Sent: Sunday, August 5, 2018 1:31:38 PM To: Chris Nelson Cc: Mark Lambert; Steve Schainker; schainkers@gmail.com Subject: Re: Special meeting Chris : The memo that I just sent does not address calling for a Special Meeting. I have been told that the Mayor or four members of the Council may call for a Special Meeting. I checked Iowa Code 372 .13, which addresses City Council "rules; " however, it is not addressed there either. It does state, however, under 372 .13 (5) that the "Council shall determine its own rules. . . " on how to run its meetings. That also seems to be confirmed in Iowa Code Section 21.7. In checking the Iowa League of Cities "Council Rules of Procedure, " it also states that cities should adopt Council Rules of Procedure to address such things as. . . "Special Meetings: Who can call and how. " Mark is on vacation, and I really don't want to bother him; however, I think I am going to have to. My question is because Mayor Haila is out-of-state, could Bronwyn, in her capacity of Mayor Pro-Tem, call for a Special Meeting for the sole purpose of directing staff to put the Repassage of the Vetoed Ordinance on the Council Agenda for August 14 . I might have to contact Mayor Haila, as I don't even know for sure if he would be unwilling to call a Special Meeting for the sole purpose of putting the Repassage of the Ordinance on for August 14 . Mayor Haila, Steve or Mark: If you get this and don't mind responding to give me some direction, it would be much appreciated! Diane Voss, City Clerk/Records Manager P. O. Box 811 Ames, Iowa 50010 (515). 239-5105 From: "Chris Nelson" <nelson.ames@outlook.com> To: "Diane Voss" <dvoss@city.ames.ia.us> Cc: "Mark Lambert" <mlambert@city.ames.ia.us> Date: 08/05/2018 10 :31 AM Subject: Special meeting So now that we have everything official with the rental cap exemption veto, there are a few of us that are wondering about the protocol (if there is one) to request a special meeting for the sole purpose of adding the rental cap exemption to the August 14th meeting agenda. Does that option exist? Thanks Chris Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/ghei36>