Plan Puts Brakes On Council Proposals Miggins Wants City Staffers To Look At Ideas Before Being Put On Agenda

City Manager Hank Miggins is asking City Council members tonight to let city staffers examine their proposals before they put them on a council agenda.

It’s an effort to assess the impacts proposals might have on the city before the council votes on them, Miggins said.

He pointed to the fiasco surrounding a traffic signal at Fifth and Freya, which the council voted to approve in a spontaneous gesture but which staff members later said would be expensive and wasteful.

The council is reconsidering its decision and the result is an East Central community that feels the city is reneging on its deal. Community members have vowed to appear in force at tonight’s council meeting.

“It shouldn’t have been done (voted on) the first time, because there were no staff studies to support that,” Miggins said Thursday.

While Miggins cited the traffic light as a reason the council rules should be modified, it will also have the effect of slowing the flood of resolutions and ordinances proposed by Councilman Steve Eugster.

Virtually all of the proposals generated by council members this year were introduced by Eugster.

Two weeks ago, Eugster introduced six proposals that would, among other things, dissolve the Parking Business Improvement District, spruce up First Avenue and Bernard Street and call for a vote on a $40 million street bond issue.

The street bond proposal will be discussed today, as will another of Eugster’s proposals that would allow voters to change the Park Board’s makeup from appointed members to elected commissioners.

Other council members balked at Eugster’s resolutions, but when Mayor John Talbott asked Eugster to hold off and refer them to a briefing session, he refused. Eugster also protested vigorously at Tuesday’s council meeting when Councilman Rob Higgins proposed to remove one of the items from the agenda.

When Miggins first proposed the change to the council rules May 22, Eugster said he had concerns.

“I can see the utility of this but I don’t want to be sandbagged by staff,” he said. “I don’t want to be elected to the council, then have to have a letter from home before I can legislate.”

Other council members endorsed the idea.

“The electorate deserves to know the impact of proposed legislation,” said Councilwoman Roberta Greene. “This is something that has been woefully lacking. Where does the money come from? Who is affected?”

Miggins said he thinks Eugster won’t object to the proposal, which the city manager has modified since he first introduced the idea.

“This does not pre-empt his rights,” Miggins said. “It says you can put items on the agenda. Just give me a week to do a staff report.”

The staff reports will outline the proposal’s impact in an unbiased, nonjudgmental way, Miggins said.

The reports will create more work for staff members, Miggins said, but “they would prefer to have a week to do this than have to recover later.”

This sidebar appeared with story: COUNCIL MEETING

The proposed change to the council’s rules will be on tonight’s agenda in the form of a resolution.

The council will hold a 3:30 p.m. briefing and a 6 p.m.

regular meeting today. Both sessions will be shown live on CityCable 5.