Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999 06 14 Informational Item D COMMISSION AGENDA June 14, 1999 Meeting Consent Informational X Public Hearing Regular ITEM D ~ Mgr. / Dept. Authorization REQUEST: The City Manager is informing the City Commission of the progress and accomplishments that the City Clerk's Office has made since February 23, 1999. PURPOSE: The purpose of this Agenda Item is to inform the City Commission of the progress that has been made since February 23, 1999, and what the direction of the City Clerk's Office IS. CONSIDERATIONS: With the resignation of City Clerk, Margo M. Pierce, and the appointment of Andrea Lorenzo-Luaces as the Interim City Clerk, on February 22, 1999, the City Clerk's Office has made significant changes and improvements, as outlined as follows: Agendas and Minutes: are being submitted in a standardized format that is consistent across the board - including all City Commission Meetings and all of the City's Advisory Boards. This standardized format may change from time to time, based on new and better ideas that we feel will provide a more informative and easier to read format. Extra emphasis is being placed on accuracy of information; timeliness; and precise record keeping practices. In addition, all current department personnel understand the need to have current meeting minutes approved on a "next meeting basis", and they will strive to maintain this standard. CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS JUNE 14, 1999 INFORMA TIONAL AGENDA ITEM D PAGE20F4 Minutes for the City Commission are currently being brought up to date, in the order that the meetings were held. The Interim City Clerk, Ms. Lorenzo-Luaces is planning to get all the previous Commission Meeting Minutes (including Workshop Minutes) to the Commission, (for your approval), by the July 12, 1999 Regular Meeting. The delay in completing this any sooner has been due to Ms. Lorenzo-Luaces attending to most of the tasks required of the Deputy City Clerk, in addition to the numerous responsibilities of also being the Interim City Clerk. However, the City Commission Minutes will be current very soon, and like all the other Boards, they will comply with the same previously mentioned standards for completion. The Minutes for the Tuscawilla Beautification and Lighting District Advisory Committee have been totally brought up to date (since February 23, 1999), and will also continue to meet this standard. The City's other Advisory Boards (the Beautification of Winter Springs Board; the Board of Adjustment; the Board of Trustees; the Code Enforcement Board; and the Planning and Zoning/Local Planning Agency) minutes have always had all related minutes and correspondence delivered on a meeting to meeting basis, and this will of course continue. Miscellaneous Records: prior to February 23, 1999, the records maintained by the City Clerk's Office were not necessarily arranged in the most desirable of filing systems. However, since February 23, 1999, every document has been sorted and an excellent filing system has been implemented. These files now contain an original copy of record, (for future reference), and the actual Action taken by the Commission has also been included to complete the record. For your information, to accomplish this monumental task - staff reviewed every document and separated the documents into Commission Agenda Files. They then organized the files by year, then by month, then by meeting. By following this process, stafftot;illy organized all of the records; found proof of exactly which meetings had taken place; and arranged the information (following the Agenda fonnat) for each and every meeting. In addition, they attached the official minutes, which showed the direction or approval of the Commission - which has never been done (here) before. The remaining records comprised miscellaneous documentation. This will later be organized and filed by date, for easy retrieval. Codification: on February 23, 1999, Ms. Lorenzo-Luaces sent out a Memorandum asking for the assistance of the City's other Departments, in tenns of getting the City's Code of Ordinances up-to-date. In addition to working with the other Departments, staff in the City Clerk's Office has gone through all of the above mentioned documents, and the previous Agenda Packages CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS JUNE 14, 1999 INFORMATIONAL AGENDA ITEM D PAGE 3 OF 4 trying to locate every Ordinance or Resolution that had been misplaced. This has been an extremely time-consuming and complex task, as each Resolution or Ordinance had to be verified (by referring to the City's official minutes), for complete accuracy. At this point, we are referring some questions (on some problem Ordinances and Resolutions) to the City Attorney for his opinion. We then plan to forward the appropriate Ordinances to the Municipal Code Corporation for codification, hopefully prior to August 1 S\ 1999. In addition, we are acquiring information on getting our Code of Ordinances on a website, and/or CD-ROM. You will of course be informed of the continuing progress, in regards to this project. Records Management: Ms. Lorenzo-Luaces has met with the City's Records Management Consultant, Mr. Steve Lewis on two separate occasions since February 23, 1999. Both have reviewed some basic concepts of the City's plan, and are following through on standardizing the filing of the City's records, as per your direction. In addition, Ms. Lorenzo-Luaces has recently toured a highly recommended site (the Iron Mountain facility in Auburndale, Florida) for possible future off-site storage of City documents. Public Document Changes: The City Clerk's Office is asslstmg my office with a review of changes involving documents often requested by the public, and the related costs for such public records. Suggested recommendations will be fOlwarded to the City Commission, prior to July 26, 1999. Miscellaneous: In addition to the major accomplislmlents completed in about a three month time frame, the day-to-day functions of the City Clerk's Office are being attended to with great concern for accuracy and with the sincere desire to significantly improve previous office practices. Such day-to-day tasks includes completing all requests for public records; preparing for the upcoming November election; maintaining all contracts; and numerous other duties. There are plans for setting up several databases to include contractual information; information from City meetings; and other information of municipal concern. The Interim City Clerk, Ms. Lorenzo-Luaces has asked that you be made aware that many of the successes outlined in this progress report are due to the sincere caring and diligence of the staff of the City Clerk's Office. Many of the day..to-day accomplishments that have been completed are truly due to the "sincere" efforts of Ms. Martha Jenkins and Ms. Amy Lovingfoss. One final note, the above mentioned accomplishments completed thus far, are just some of the major tasks that have been completed, and are by no means a complete and CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS JUNE 14, 1999 INFORMATIONAL AGENDA ITEM D PAGE 4 OF 4 thorough itemization of everything that has been modified, improved or completed in the City Clerk's Office, since Febmary 23, 1999. IMPLEMENTATION: As described above. ATTACHMENTS: None. COMMISSION ACTION: