Fort Walton Beach Council minutes — 11-13-07 regular minutes — reading text

with Holmes, Miller, Reeves, Garvie, Pullen, and Minich in favor (Hartwell absent).  Regular Council 11- 13- 07 209 DISCUSSION OF COUNCIL REQUEST Discussion of Council Member Pullen' s council request for all city staff contact with Jay adorn. Mr. Minich addressed the request for public information from Dr. Pullen that required 25 hours of staff time, questioned whether the request was related to City business, questioned whether Dr. Pullen had turned in all conversations he had, and questioned the reason for the request other than just wanting the information. r- Dr. Pullen replied he wanted information and asked for it, and yes it pertains to City business because the City was involved. He said he had reason to ask for it, he received the information, he has reviewed every piece of paper he received, and it was made available to everyone. He asked for the information because he wanted it and did not need a reason. Mr.Minich submitted if it is City business he did have to have a reason, that Dr. Pullen is a Councilman and if there is any business to do with the City it needs to be disclosed as it is public law; he could accept it if there was no reason and only wanted the information. Dr. Pullen stated he wanted the information, he asked for it and he received it. Mr. Minich recalled Dr. Pullen suggested that Mr. Holmes should pay for a phone call to the City' s labor attorney. He suggested Dr. Pullen should pay the City for the 25 hours of work put in for the information request. Dr. Pul1en stated his request was made as a public records request under State law. He made a point of order that this is not proper. The Mayor said it is stated in the Protocol Guide if it takes staff an inordinate amount of time to provide, then they need to know a little more so they can get specific input. He believed to ask carte blanche for everything violates the Protocol Guide. Dr. Pullen stated his original request was not done as a request from a Councilmember; his request was as a private citizen. The Mayor pointed out the request came out as a Council request because it came from a Councilman. Further questions included whether the thrust of the request was for clarification or for specific findings for process improvements or policy changes. Dr. Pullen replied it was for clarification. It was questioned whether there was still more information needed after the issue had been through the process of the CRA, staff, and Council approval. Dr. Pullen said he wanted to see how the process worked. Mr.Minich expressed as a City Councilman he is held to a higher standard than regular citizens, and believed if Dr. Pullen is going to make blanket requests to City staff without any reason other than he just wants it and it takes 25 hours, then he should pay the City back, especially following that he had asked Mr. Holmes to reimburse his request on City business to the labor attorney. The Mayor read from the Protocol Guide that states inquiry by Council of any staff, as allowed by the Charter, r should fol1ow the guidelines, the inquiry must be directly related to official City business and must not require the production or copies of files, paperwork, or documents used in the course of duties of staff, communications with other staff members, the expenditure of an unreasonable amount of time on the part of the staff member. He questioned whether the request had a caveat that if it takes more than three days to do then maybe it should r not be done. He expressed his concern with a lot of the blanket requests for information is that staff has already done it and it has been approved by Council, and then it is going back rehashing and beating dead horses in an inordinate amount oftime. He believed Mr. Minich has grounds for concern. Dr. Pullen stated he offered to pay for the copies and the offer stands. He had asked for the information under the State law where he would pay for the copies and the City Manager changed it to a Council request.  Regular Council 11- 13- 07 210 DISCUSSION OF COUNCIL REQUEST cont. Dr. Pullen was questioned on his findings and what the infonnation gave him that he did not have before. Dr. Pullen replied his request was made as a private citizen according to the Public Records Act, Chapter 119 Florida Statutes, and no reason is required. He said Florida Government in the Sunshine Law provides the right of access to governmental proceedings which includes all records with a few exceptions, and an elected member of government does not give up their rights as a private citizen. He explained the reason he requested the records was to better understand the due process of the City government. He went over the process followed on the flag pole approval and began reading emails that were included in the infonnation he received. The Mayor asked Dr. Pullen to come to the conclusion of his findings. Dr. Pullen continued reading emails and his conclusion that what came forward to Council was an ordinance written by the attorney for the private landowner that did not go back before the Municipal Planning Board, there was no proper notification and public input. He said his questions are what is the responsibility of staff and the Charter Officers, were the proper procedures followed, and is the ordinance legal. g... j J The Mayor suggested the next step to Dr. Pullen is to fonnalize those questions to staff to receive a response. Dr. Pullen expressed his question is whether it was legal because it did not go back to the Municipal Planning Board. The City Attorney said the flag pole issue was a very long process and to her recollection they went to the Municipal Planning Board twice and in her opinion it is perfectly legal or she would not have let it come to Council to be read twice and passed. The Mayor brought up Dr. Pullen' s request for communications received or sent to the Mayor rrom October 20 to November 1, 2007 and was curious about the reason for the request. Dr. Pullen replied there was a reason and he addressed it in a request for infonnation to Mr. Wiltsie along those same lines which he has not received yet. The Mayor stated that a blanket request for infonnation is a waste of his time and a waste of staff time. Dr. Pullen replied he will be more specific and the Mayor will receive an email on it shortly. Mr. Holmes brought up Dr. Pullen' s recent personnel request about a City employee and questioned if that was starting to cross the line on getting into personnel issues since the reason for the request is unknown. The Mayor brought up another recent request made by Dr. Pullen asking for notes from staff meetings, Charter Officer meetings and weekly status meetings with the Finance Director for July 10 and 17 and questioned the reason for those specific dates. Dr. Pullen replied rather than going to the meetings he would ask to see what took place, they were random meetings and he wanted to see what is going on in the City. The Mayor then mentioned the request for his notes by Dr. Pullen because he heard he was questioning people, collecting affidavits and possibly audio tapes. The Mayor stated he is at City Hall regularly and people stop by to see him with or without appointments and talk about everything, and he does not take notes. The Mayor was unsure where Dr. Pullen got the idea that he was questioning people, making audio tapes and taking affidavits because Council said there would not be an investigation of anything that is going on but the email implied that he is perfonning an investigation and he is absolutely not. Dr. Pullen thanked the Mayor for answering one of his questions and he would withdraw his request. Mr. Minich moved to censure Dr. Pullen for violating the Protocol guide. Mr. Holmes seconded motion. In response to the question on how the protocol guide was violated, Mr. Minich responded it is for asking staff to do an inordinate amount of time for nothing. Discussion ensued on what is considered unreasonable and how the 25 hours of staff time was detennined. The City Manager explained each staff member directed to prepare that particular request wrote down the number of hours spent on that particular project and she believed that is a very conservative estimate on the amount of time. Discussion continued with an exchange of views on what is reasonable and unreasonable on requests for infonnation. The Mayor called for the vote on the motion to censure Dr. Pullen for violating the Protocol guide and it carried by a vote of 4 to 3 with Holmes, Reeves, Minich, and the Mayor in favor and Miller, Garvie and Pullen opposed (Hartwell absent).  11- 13- 07 Regular Council 211 RECESS The meeting recessed at 9: 10 p. m. RECONVENE The meeting reconvened at 9: 20 p. m. GENERAL EMPLOYEES f"'"Discussion regarding General Employees Pension Fund. Mr.Miller requested a review on what Fiduciary entails and what a Directed Brokerage Agreement means. r The Finance Director recalled one of her recommendations was to make sure that all the people who work with the Fund, especially the Investment Advisor, would be considered a Fiduciary or had the clause in the contract. has She believed Council made a motion that the Pension Attorney should look at that, he is reviewing that; and a letter to Council dated October 29th and he will be present on November 27th to discuss the issue. provided for She said a financial director definition of a fiduciary means you have a higher level of ethical responsibility She then Directed Brokerage Agreement is when any investment truth and correctness to the fund. explained a house requires that you route your trades through their desk. Mr. Miller wished to know the time table to get the results of the peer review of the Actuary. The Human