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Home My WebLink About11/15/2011 Study Session Minutes w w w . ARAN: STUDY SESSION MINUTES 11555 W. Civic Center Drive, Marana, Arizona 85653 Council Chambers, November 15, 2011, at or after 6:00 PM Ed Honea, Mayor Patti Comerford, Vice Mayor David Bowen, Council Member Herb Kai, Council Member Carol McGorray, Council Member Jon Post, Council Member Roxanne Ziegler, Council Member STUDY SESSION CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL. Meeting called to order by Mayor Honea at 6:06 p.m. Town Clerk Bronson noted that there was a quorum present; Council Member Post was excused. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCEIINVOCATION/MOMENT OF SILENCE. Dispensed with until the regular meeting by order of Mayor Honea. APPROVAL OF AGENDA. Motion to approve the agenda by Vice Mayor Comerford, second by Council Member McGorray. Passed unanimously 6 -0. DISCUSSION/DIRECTION/POSSIBLE ACTION 1: Presentation: Relating to Boards, Commissions and Committees; discussion and direction regarding the creation of the Marana Citizens' Forum. Presented by Gilbert Davidson. Mr. Davidson noted that both presentation items involve interaction and engagement with Marana citizens. The Citizens' Forum will be an overview of what has been proposed previously and the mechanisms involved in bringing the project to fruition. This is a new concept of engaging citizens in an entirely new way. The traditional model has been citizen commissions which tended to focus on specific issues in a particular realm. The Citizens' Forum is designed to bring all of those minds and life experiences to a roundtable format and allow people to talk about a broad policy issues that affect the overall community. This will be a facilitated process which will culminate in action plans to be presented to Council and other community groups for follow -up. If Council votes in favor of this item, it will suspend the current Citizen Advisory Commissions which have been relatively inactive. Staff anticipates holding three to four Forums annually beginning January 2012. Mr. Davidson outlined membership and the appointment process as well as the term limits, giving members at least four to six Forum opportunities. Current commissioners would be invited to participate automatically for November 15, 2011 Study Session Minutes 1 the first term. He then outlined the session, topic selection and presentation of recommendations processes as well as the methods of notification to citizens to participate. He further noted that each Forum could take two to three months. Council will have the ability to guide the discussion of steps going forward once the recommendations are presented. As each Forum develops, action steps may change or be tweaked. Mr. Davidson stated that he had spoken to Tara Jackson, the president of the Arizona Town Hall, and she is very intrigued and excited about this project and has offered her assistance with the first Forum. 2: Presentation: Relating to Community and Employee Education and Development; presentation relating to the Community Connections and Employee Connections programs. Presented by Del Post and Jocelyn Bronson. Mr. Post led the discussion by highlighting the umbrella label of "Out & About in Marana" for community and employee programs. He noted that the engagement programs being developed are an effort by staff to adhere to the Strategic Plan in becoming an organization of excellence. He thanked the staff in the Clerk's Office, Human Resources and Graphic Design for their efforts in putting these programs together. Ms. Bronson began by clarifying that these are new names for old programs in order to better meet the initiatives and goals of the Strategic Plan which was adopted in 2009. For the benefit of Council who were not familiar with these programs, the Community Connections program is the former CREW (Citizens Resources and Education Workshop) program, and Employee Connections was formerly Marana 101, an employee orientation based on CREW started by Josh Wright in 2006. CREW started in 2003 as a mechanism to educate and familiarize citizens with how local government operates and how they can have better access to their government and community partners. Both programs were temporarily suspended in 2008 when budget cuts curtailed many outreach programs due to a lack of staff and other resources. Community Connections is another opportunity for civic engagement which staff hopes will lead citizens not only to a better understanding of services provided, but also provide volunteer resources for programs such as the Citizens' Forum. The Employee Connections program is focused under Progress and Innovation and designed to assist employees to understand the workings within their department as well as give them a better understanding of the need for interdepartmental connections so that they can become better ambassadors for the town. She then stated that a survey is currently on the Town Clerk web page for citizens to give feedback on what they would like. Council indicated that they were glad to see these programs coming back and perhaps staff could even look into bringing back the Police Academy and GAIN programs. Relative to questions from Council, Ms. Bronson expanded on the relationship between the Community Connections, Employee Connections and other programs under "Out & About." Executive Session pursuant to A.R.S. §38- 431.03 (A)(3), Council may ask for discussion or consultation for legal advice with the Town Attorney concerning any matter listed on this agenda. ADJOURNMENT. Meeting adjourned by order of Mayor Honea at 6:46 p.m. November 15, 2011 Study Session Minutes 2 CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing are the true and correct minutes of the Marana Town Council study session meeting held on November 15, 2011. I further certify that a quorum was present. e s'�� 1 1 ►rj �� ,, i, silAZ RPORp�F I celyn C. nson, Town Clerk _ $ 0 i November 15, 2011 Study Session Minutes 3