TO: The City Council Members
FROM: Mayor Richard C. Irvin
DATE: October 12, 2018
SUBJECT:title
An Ordinance creating and appointing a Special City Council Committee on Revisions to the City Code and making provisions related thereto.
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DISCUSSION:
During the course of the past year, the Law Department has identified several areas of the City Code that require the Council’s attention. In some instances, Code provisions conflict with one another, and changes in federal or state law have preempted the City’s home rule authority to enforce various other provisions. In the past year, the City has received two letters threatening litigation involving portions of the Code that may no longer withstand constitutional scrutiny. Other provisions, though constitutional on their face, may lack protections to ensure that they are enforced in a fair and consistent manner. Additionally, over time, the Council has developed informal procedural customs and practices that are not reflected in the Code or which, in some cases, conflict with the City Code.
Revising the City Code is a tedious and time-consuming process. Our standing committees tend to have full agendas as it is, and seldom are revisions of this nature confined to topics that are solely within the jurisdiction of a single standing committee.
For this reason, I am proposing the creation of a special committee consisting of five aldermen to review the City Code and to make recommendations for revisions to the Committee of the Whole for consideration by the City Council. The proposed committee membership consists of at least one member from each of the Council’s standing committees. The Mayor Pro Tem will also serve as an ex-officio member of the committee. The proposed standing committee will remain in existence through the municipal elections in the spring at which time the ordinance will sunset unless there is further action required by the Council.
Though the Council has created special committees in the past to consider amendments to the Human Rights Ordinance and aldermanic compensation, this process is significantly more complex. For that reason, this proposed special committee differs structurally and procedurally from its predecessors in two key aspects. First, information supplied to the special committee through Legistar will be available to all members of the Council at the same time and on the same basis. This will ensure that all of the aldermen are aware of the work the special committee is doing and can provide input early in the process. Second, the committee’s membership is larger than the conventional three-alderman model, which allows for broader representation of the Council’s membership. In addition to its larger size, the committee’s membership is specifically designed to facilitate communication between the standing committees and the special committee. This will allow the standing committees to provide input in the process before proposed revisions reach the Committee of the Whole.
This is by no means the most exciting task that will come before the Council, but it is extremely important from a risk management perspective and in ensuring the consistent and professional operation of City government. I urge the Council’s approval of this Ordinance.