HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Special Meeting of the Ames City Council 01/10/1992MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING
OF THE AMES CITY COUNCIL
AMES, IOWA JANUARY 10 & 11, 1992
The Ames City Council met in special session from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on January 10 and from
8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on January 11, 1992, in the Harvest Room of the Holiday Inn/Gateway
Center, pursuant to law with Mayor Curtis presiding and the following Council Members present:
Brown, Campbell, Hertz, Hoffman, Parks, and Wirth.
Tim Shields, from the Institute of Public Affairs in Iowa City, facilitated a team building and goal
setting workshop for the Council. The group agreed that the following procedures will be instituted
to enhance their efforts to function more effectively as a team:
1. Regular City Council meetings will begin at 7:00 p.m. with preceding special meetings, if
needed, beginning at 6:30 p.m., with the aim of ending meetings earlier.
2. Staff will always provide opening presentations before information is heard from other
groups.
3. The City Council will receive Planning and Zoning Commission packets at the time they
are sent to the Commission to allow more time for study of complex zoning issues.
4. The Mayor will set time limits on debates.
5. If Council Members have questions about the viewpoints of other members, they will call
each other.
6. Council Members will prepare themselves prior to meetings by studying their materials and
talking with Staff members if necessary.
7. Council Members and the Mayor will take part in post-meeting get togethers with members
of the media invited.
8. Informal workshops will be held approximately four times a year to work on team
maintenance.
9. Council Members and the Mayor will work to increase their accessibility to each other.
10. The Mayor will continue to summarize issues and options to keep debate on track.
11. Council Members will speak to various community groups to gain insights and information
from groups with which they normally have no contact.
12. Time will be committed to discussions of strategic priorities.
When discussion was directed to goal setting, a consensus was reached that Staff time and City
funds should be allocated to one project at a time to ensure completion, before moving on to the next
goal. The Council determined that their first goal, to be completed within the next two years, will
be renovation of the Depot. Their second goal, to be tackled once Staff time is no longer needed for
the Depot work, will be to establish parking in Campustown. Community groups working on other
goals may continue to meet and make plans in order to be prepared for action once the two goals set
by Council have been achieved.
It was decided to invite Mr. Shields back in six months to assess Council progress in team building
and to review their goals.
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Nancy Dionigi, City Clerk Larry R. Curtis, Mayor