AgdaPkt 2019-06-24 Joint SA PFA - Laserfiche WebLink

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8.A. - Page 2 of 7 ANALYSIS BCCs are primarily tasked with researching community issues, gathering public feedback and advising and making recommendations to the City Council in support of the City Council's strategic initiatives. In order to guide these efforts, the BCCs have recently adopted two-year work plans that have been presented to and approved by the City Council. A key factor to the productive functioning of BCCs is consistent attendance of all members at all BCC meetings. The City currently does not have an attendance policy that is applied across all BCCs. The Planning Commission, Housing and Human Concerns Commission and Library Board have provisions regarding attendance in their respective by-laws. Those provisions would be superseded by the proposed attendance policy, if adopted. A first draft of the proposed attendance policy was presented to the City Council's Governance Sub - Committee at its meeting on May 6, 2019. The Sub -Committee provided feedback at that time and an updated draft policy was presented to the full Council for review and adoption at its meeting on June 10, 2019. After Council discussion and feedback on June 10, further revisions were proposed and the item was sent back to the Governance Sub -Committee for additional review at its meeting on June 17, 2019. Following Governance Sub -Committee discussion on June 17, 2019, the following summarizes the primary provisions of the policy (as revised): • BCC members are expected to attend all Regular Meetings and will inform the BCC Chair and staff liaison of any absences as soon as possible and before the posting of the agenda • Absences, for any reason, from three consecutive Regular Meetings, or from more than twenty-five percent of all Regular Meetings over any twelve consecutive month period, shall result in that member's seat being declared vacant. The member will be provided notice and there is an opportunity to appeal. • BCC members must be present for at least fifty percent of a meeting in order to be counted as present. • Absences will be designated as excused or unexcused by determination of the BCC Chair in consultation with the staff liaison. • Parental leave for any period not to exceed three months may be automatically taken by a BCC member upon written notification to the City Clerk as soon as the need arises or as practicable prior to commencement of the actual leave of absence. • For all other types of leave, BCC members may request a leave of absence from anywhere from one regular meeting up to a period not to exceed three months. These requests will be determined by the City Clerk in consultation with the Mayor. • Requests to extend any leave of absence for up to an additional three months, including parental leave, will be considered on a case by case basis. • The City Clerk will provide the City Council with a BCC Attendance Report twice a year. • The City Council will consider attendance when making BCC appointments and evaluating the overall performance of a BCC. It is recommended that the policy be implemented upon adoption. The Sub -Committee also requested that staff assess how best to support mothers who serve on the City Council or a BCC and who are breastfeeding. Staff will prepare recommendations for the Governance Sub - Committee's consideration in the fall, to be followed by consideration by the City Council. Staff anticipate that any provisions adopted by the City Council will be memorialized in the City Council's Guide to City 747