Marysville City Council spent much of its Monday work session talking about itself.
At the meeting, council discussed a series of specific changes as well as some philosophical questions.
The topic began as council discussed a series of proposed changes to council meetings. Changes included removing committee reports from the regular council meetings because they are being discussed at the work sessions, allowing either council president or the clerk of council to read proposed legislation, listing “general discussion” instead of “Comments of the City Manager and council persons” and limiting council comments to five minutes per member.
Council President Henk Berbee said the suggestions had been gathered over the year. He said that in the past the city’s public affairs committee would consider changes to the rules of council procedure and make a recommendation to the full body. However, he explained, the public affairs committee has been absorbed into the city’s public service/public safety committee.
Berbee asked if an ad hoc committee of council members could be created to discuss the changes and make recommendations. Since the public service/public safety committee is the one that absorbed public affairs, Berbee asked if two members of that committee — chairman Alan Seymour and member Deb Groat — would sit on the ad hoc committee along with finance committee member Donald Boerger, who was the recommendation of finance chairman Mark Reams.
Seymour questioned the need for the committee. He said he thought council could decide the issues pretty quickly.
Solicitor Tim Aslaner said he and Human Resources Director Brian Dostanko have “discussed some other changes that might be necessary.” He said the ad hoc committee could be “less formal” than discussions held in work session or a council meeting.
Reams said he had another rule he would like to see changed. Reams said he would like to see the council president selected at the first meeting of council, whether that is a regular meeting or a work session.
As it stands, council is to vote for president at its first regularly scheduled meeting. That person does not take over the meeting they are elected in, but begins the next meeting. Reams said that if the council president were elected at the work session, they would begin the first regular meeting of the year.
Council member J.R. Rausch asked what constitutes a regularly scheduled meeting.
Council has considered its semi-monthly meetings — currently held on the second and fourth Mondays of the month — to be its regular meetings. That idea was established, however, before council agreed to hold a regularly scheduled work session, which is also considered a meeting, on the first Monday of each month.
Aslaner said his “shoot from the hip” answer is that the meetings on the second and fourth Mondays are the regularly scheduled meetings, though he said there is a case to be made for the work sessions.
“We can certainly argue they are regularly scheduled meetings,” Aslaner said.
He added that he would “look into it a little more.”
Berbee then moved to what he called “happier thoughts.”
He said council has a meeting scheduled for 7 p.m., Jan. 11.
“There have been different requests to alter that time,” said Berbee, adding there was also a request to move it to a different day.
The Ohio State University Buckeyes football team is scheduled to play the University of Alabama for the national title at 8 p.m. that evening.
Last year council had noted the possibility that its first meeting of the year could fall on the same day as the national championship game, but at the time there was no certainty Ohio State would qualify for the game.
Council members said the concern about moving the meeting to an earlier time is the public service/public safety meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. that evening.
“We don’t anticipate any items that are necessary to come forward,” Emery said of the committee meeting, adding that it would be “appropriate” to cancel the meeting. He said that if the meeting were held, it likely would be an informational meeting with nothing to be discussed.
Berbee recommended moving the council meeting to 5:30 p.m. Monday. The committee meeting was canceled, though Seymour said if there is something “urgent” that comes up, a public safety/public service meeting could be held at 5 p.m. that day.