HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommittee of the Whole February 23 19991
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WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
Committee Of The Whole
February 23, 1999
The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Council Chair Marlene Dawson in the
Council Committee Room, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington.
Also Present:
Kathy Sutter
L. Ward Nelson
Connie Hoag
Barbara Brenner
Tom Brown
COMMITTEE DISCUSSION
Dawson stated that they will first address item #2.
Absent:
Robert Imhof
1. DISCUSSION WITH SENIOR DEPUTY PROSECUTOR DANIEL GIBSON
REGARDING POTENTIAL LITIGATION (AB99 -017)
(Clerk's Note: Council came out of executive session to discuss issues under Other
Items.)
2. DISCUSSION REGARDING THE COUNCIL'S E -MAIL DISTRIBUTION POLICY
(AB99 -017)
Nelson stated that he has some concerns and that there need to be some guidelines. He
received a piece of electronic junk mail. His concern was that the reason they began to use e-
mail was to reduce the amount of paper used. Instead, they are using more paper.
Hoag stated that the majority of the e -mail that comes through is from Paul Parker.
Nelson stated that he did not mind getting information from Parker.
Committee of the Whole, 2/23/99, Page 1
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Hoag stated that the e -mail was addressed to her, but the Council policy is that if it comes
to one Council member, it comes to all.
issue.
Brenner stated that she would rather have it go to the in- basket.
Nelson also stated that the distribution should go to the in- basket.
Sutter stated that something should go to all Council members if it is very relevant to an
Brenner questioned who would make that determination.
Hoag questioned the difference between e -mail and a letter and whether the Council
members were concerned that it is easier for people to send junk through e-mail.
Brenner stated that they are getting a lot of excess stuff.
Nelson questioned whether mail received goes into the in- basket.
Dana Brown - Davis, Clerk of the Council, stated that very little information goes into the
in- basket.
Hoag stated that anything with fewer than two pages is copied to each Council member.
Nelson suggested distributing to the Council members only the pertinent information
from e -mails received.
Sutter stated that would take more time.
Hoag concurred with Sutter.
Nelson suggested pulling off the e -mail once every three days instead of daily.
Hoag stated that they need their e -mail daily. She suggested that e -mail addressed to one
Council member be distributed only to that Council member, instead of copying everything.
Nelson stated that he will work with the Council staff on a new procedure. The Council
members may need their own computers to get their own e -mail.
Brown -Davis stated that the staff also retrieves e-mail directed to the Council as a whole.
Dawson suggested a motion to have staff only pass along information regarding the
sender of an e-mail.
staff.
Sutter suggested that Council staff delete the list of all of the e -mail recipient addresses.
Nelson stated that, with the consensus of the committee, he would work with Council
Committee of the Whole, 2/23/99, Page 2
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Hoag stated that she did not want Council staff to spend a lot of time editing the e -mail.
The committee reached consensus on having the addresses deleted.
Hoag suggested that Nelson work with Council staff and bring any proposals forward at
the next Committee of the Whole meeting.
Sutter moved to go into executive session until 6:30 p.m. to discuss item #1.
Motion carried unanimously.
OTHER ITEMS
(Clerk's Note: The beginning of this conversation, regarding Council members'
correspondence, was not audiotaped.)
Dawson stated that Brenner responded to the letter.
Brenner stated that she did not, but that the copies ( "cc ") were in response to the letter.
Council staff told her that she should look at her mail before she did this. She signed the memo,
looked at the mail, and questioned what she should do. Someone told her to send it to the
department heads and request that they post it. The memo wasn't copied to anyone when it was
typed up. It was handwritten and she did it the day before.
Nelson stated that the memo was not an offense and he commended Brenner for "eating
crow." His concern was about the distribution to all departments. He did not want Brenner's
opinion, with his name on the Council letterhead, posted in all departments. There is a procedure
for getting Council approval.
Hoag stated that if an individual Council member is sending to departments, he or she
does not need Council approval.
Sutter stated that the Council was asked a long time ago not to address a department
directly. Any correspondence to a department should go through the Executive.
Brenner stated that was on County business.
Hoag stated that she was told that if she requested information from a department that
would require research, then that request should go through the Executive. If she was just
informing a department about something, it could be sent directly, with a copy sent to the
Executive.
Sutter stated that the last three paragraphs are very offensive to her. They are not stated
as an opinion. They are stated as a fact.
Dawson questioned whether this is a problem because a number of people have expressed
a concern.
Committee of the Whole, 2/23/99, Page 3
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Nelson stated that they are going to have to have Council approval of mass mailings,
which is politicizing.
Brenner questioned what to do because she received a lot of letters from many people.
Nelson stated that this is such an issue, it is appropriate to bring it up at a Council
meeting.
Brenner stated that she didn't think of it. She should be allowed to respond to someone
directly if they write directly to her.
Nelson stated that, in fairness, bringing the issue to a Council meeting allows the
opportunity for each Council member to respond.
Brenner stated that she would have done that if they had written to the Council. The
letters were written to her.
Nelson stated that the correspondence comes to all Council members.
Hoag stated that the memo is from Barbara Brenner, even though it is on Council
stationary. It clearly says that it is from Barbara Brenner.
Hoag stated that they discussed this at an earlier meeting, and they discussed each
Council member having their own letterhead.
Dana Brown - Davis, Clerk of the Council, stated that is in the works.
Nelson questioned how all the departments got approved.
Brown -Davis stated that she approved the typing of the memo to the Council members.
She did not know that it would be distributed to all departments.
Brenner stated that she asked how best to get this out to all of the people who wrote to
her. Someone told her to put it through interoffice mail and have it posted.
Hoag stated that she doesn't have a problem with it.
Brown -Davis stated that putting "All Departments Please Post" on the top of a piece of
correspondence is a direction for all departments, which is not legislative. The Council cannot
ask them to post anything. They should not have sent it out to the departments.
Brown questioned whether it would have been okay for Brenner to respond directly to all
the people who wrote to her by mailing the memo to them.
Sutter stated that this was not written as an answer to them. It was written as a memo to
the Council members.
Brenner stated that it was sent to them after she wrote it.
Committee of the Whole, 2/23/99, Page 4
2 Hoag questioned whether it would have been a problem if Brenner had written one letter
3 in response to all the people who wrote to her, and then sent that letter out to all departments.
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5 Brown -Davis stated that she would have to check with legal counsel. There was an
6 incident in the past when a Council member addressed employees directly. Somehow, the union
7 and the administration got involved. There was an issue about the Council dealing with the
8 administration's staff.
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10 Hoag questioned whether the other Council members would have objected if it was a
11 letter to the departments.
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13 Dawson stated that she would have objected to the material.
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15 Sutter stated that Brenner's comments should have been prefaced by a statement such as,
16 "In my opinion..."
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18 Nelson stated that it should not have been on the County Council letterhead. The memo
19 has a direct reflection on the whole. If Brenner wants to do things this way, she will end up
20 destroying the integrity of what the Council is, in regards to its practices as a legislative body,
21 and become individuals acting in accordance of their own desire.
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23 Hoag stated that was not true. The Council does two things. One is act as a body to
24 make joint decisions. Two is to act as individuals and represent their constituents. What they do
25 as individuals does not have to be cleared with the Council.
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27 Brenner requested direction on what she is supposed to do to respond to a large number
28 of people on one issue.
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30 Nelson stated that she should bring the issue up before the full Council. Her response to
31 all departments should go through the Executive.
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33 Brenner stated that these people wrote directly to her. They did not come through the
34 Executive.
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36 Hoag stated that she did not want it brought before the full Council because she didn't
37 want to get involved in Brenner's fight with the departments.
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39 Brown questioned what would happen if she brought it before the full Council.
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41 Brenner stated that they wrote her as Barbara Brenner, County Council member. She
42 responded as Barbara Brenner, County Council member.
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44 Hoag stated that this is her individual letter responding to something. If this procedure
45 applies to Brenner, it will have to apply to everyone. She has a lot of letters that need to go out
46 the same day she receives information about the issue. She doesn't have time to go to all
47 Council members and get approval.
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Committee of the Whole, 2/23/99, Page 5
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ADJOURN
The meeting was adjourned at 6:45 p.m.
Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription
These minutes were approved by Council on Aril 7 , 1999.
ATTEST:
Dana Brown- Davis, Council Clerk
W14ATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON
Marlene Dawson, Council Chair
Committee of the Whole, 2/23/99, Page 6