Legal counsel presentation updates rules for councilmembers

With their every move often being watched, city councils need to be careful they don’t violate open meeting laws and conflict of interest rules.

Legal expert William Sims of the Phoenix-based law firm Moyes Storey spoke to the Maricopa City Council Tuesday evening on the open meeting law, managerial form of government and conflict of interest rules.

Sims began his presentation by talking about the City of Surprise, referring to a comment the town’s city manager made last month, noting council was “the most dysfunctional group” that city manager had worked with in 30 years.

Sims said it is important that council and city staff be able to work together in harmony to serve the needs of the taxpayers.

Again referring to the City of Surprise, a quote from a councilman was noted. In it, the councilman said the following: “Any relationship is based on trust and respect and I have to respect our public enough not to chastise our city manager. Being city manager is a tough job – you have to take responsibility for every portion of your job. I have a line I shouldn’t cross and so do you but I do hold the city manager responsible if staff drops the ball.”

Sims touched on the council-manager form of governance, noting the city manager serves at the pleasure of the council and can be terminated for any reason and without cause by five of the seven members of the council. The city manager oversees the entire municipal operation, all departments, hiring of staff, the budget and implementation of the council’s goals.

As for public meetings, Sims said it is important that council make clear its agenda and list the specific matters to be discussed, considered or decided at the meeting. “You can’t have a generic statement in your agenda; you have to be more precise,” Sims said.

As for the public, Sims pointed to their rights, noting the public has the right to attend, listen and tape record or videotape a meeting. The public, however, has no right to disrupt a meeting. “I’ve had clients upset when people come in and tape a meeting, but they have the right to do it,” Sims said.

When it comes to executive session agendas, Sims noted they must only include a general description of the matters to be considered. They need not contain information that would: defeat the purpose of the executive session, compromise the legitimate privacy interests of a public officer, appointee or employee or compromise the attorney-client privilege. As for those who may attend executive sessions, they would be members of public body and individuals whose presence is reasonably necessary in order for the public body to carry out its executive session responsibilities (i.e., the clerk to take minutes).

Sims noted there are executive session pitfalls that need to be avoided. He said the best practices for preserving confidentiality are: not faxing backup materials to members; not letting members take confidential materials home from the meeting; Let staff destroy extra copies – members should not place them in the trash.

When it comes to current events, Sims said they need to be just that, current.

A chief administrator, presiding officer or a member of a public body may present a brief summary of current events without listing in the agenda the specific matters to be summarized, provided that: “Current events summary” is listed on the agenda, and the public body does not propose, discuss, deliberate or take legal action. Other members of the public body should not get into a discussion about it.

Maricopa Vice-Mayor Brent Murphree told inmaricopa.com that he felt the presentation as a whole was beneficial to council and the community members who attended.

“It has been a while since council as a whole has addressed some of these issues and I think reiteration is a good tool,” Murphree said. “A couple of years ago we (council) went as part of something put on by the League of Cities to a workshop that dealt specifically with these issues. This is a good tool to us to bring it home. We need to emphasize how important things like open meeting laws, conflict of interest and so on are.”

When it comes to the open meeting law, Murphree feels there are instances when things can be misconstrued with things like whispers on the council. “This is good to have in front of council because sometimes we get into these little processes where what may appear to be whispering on certain topics presents a situation, and we have to be continually reminded of these things.”

Murphree also felt it was good for the public in attendance Tuesday to learn more, especially on executive sessions. “For the public, this is a great tool,” Murphree said. “We’ve got good staff and a good attorney that at anytime we’ve been in executive session and we start moving into the ‘gray area’, staff and council says we need to step away from that as well as a number of council members do that, too.”

Asked if he fears down the road that the public will come back to council and say they (council) had a legal presentation like this and now they (council) can’t say they didn’t know the laws, Murphree said no.

“Clarity is what I try to speak to as often as possible,” Murphree said. “There are certain issues that are absolutely intended for those in that room to make the decision and we can’t bring to the public or we’ll be sued. Then again, there are issues that have to be wholly in the public or else we run into legal issues. I think our council very much needs to be aware of that at this time.”

For Murphree, one clear message he wants to get across is why council is there in the first place.

“We’re not up there to make secret deals with people; we’re there to run the business of the people,” Murphree said. “We don’t want to screw around with the taxpayers’ money or the people’s trust.”

Murphree also wants to see the public continue to be involved with council meetings and other city related meetings.

“The more interesting the topic, the more people show up,” Murphree said. “We have a steady group of people that attend council meetings. The people there are involved in the community and interested in making sure that things go forward in a positive way.”