FAIRMONT– Prior to the Fairmont City Council meeting on Monday, the council went through a training session led by representatives from the League of Minnesota Cities. The topic of the training was on making and implementing final decisions and accountability.

This was the council’s second session with LMC. The first one, which took place before the last council meeting on Jan. 24, went over effective and efficient communication as well as the roles and responsibilities of the council as a whole versus individual council members. How to get items placed on and removed from the agenda was also discussed.

The latter was a big topic of conversation during Monday’s training as well.

Aisia Davis, a Research Attorney for LMC, went over a presentation that touched on the basic roles of a city council and said that when acting in a formal legislative capacity, the council comes together to discuss, debate and finally decide on important issues affecting the city and community.

“If the council is continuously re-hashing issues the city has already debated and decided, you could run into some problems,” Davis said.

She said consistently revisiting previous council actions can create confusion among council members, staff and residents about what has been passed or decided for the city.

“There can be cost associated with re-hashing old council actions and that could be through staff time spent researching, any city attorney legal opinions or reviews of previous actions or even contract issues that might come up,” Davis said.

She stressed the importance of making sure bringing up something is worth the council’s time, especially if it’s something that has already been passed.

Aimee Gourlay, who is also with LMC, was present during the training session. She spoke of a survey given to the council that asked what most needs to be worked on.

“There was a comment on how much information council members are given and if they’re getting enough before voting, as a way to make sure that the issue doesn’t get revisited,” Gourlay said.

She said a few people talked about finding compromise, given there’s a divided council right now. She said sometimes talking about an issue can feel personal.

She asked the council members what they feel needs to be worked on.

Council member Randy Lubenow said, “the biggest thing for me is agenda items. If somebody wants something, you said at the presentation last time that one council member should be able to put something on the agenda. That doesn’t always seem to be the case.”

Mayor Deb Foster said as for adding things to the agenda, her concern is that when items are asked to be added to the agenda the night of the meeting, no one has details about it.

“For one thing, for me, it’s not right for the public. The public has access to the agenda once it goes out and if items are moved the day of the meeting, members of the public or members of the press aren’t going to know those items are being added until that moment. I haven’t seen anything productive about that,” Foster said.

She also made a comment about decision making, saying that once a decision is made by council majority, it’s time to move on to the next series of issues.

“Those are two of the concerns I have,” Foster said.

The council engaged in conversations about whether an item should be added to the agenda after it’s already been discussed. It also spoke about when items should be added to the agenda after it’s come out. The agenda is released on the Thursday before the Monday evening meeting.

Gourlay asked council member Britney Kawecki if she had any concerns. Kawecki said when an item is on the consent agenda, no discussion is allowed.

“I believe that that discussion should be had. I feel that certain council members, probably me in particular, are being stripped of that,” Kawecki said.

She said that when you’re not able to discuss something, it makes you want to bring it back to the council.

Foster filled Gourlay in about some past instances where some council members made a motion to have items removed from the consent agenda but the council majority denied the motion.

“The majority of the council, when they speak, that’s the answer. Whether we like that or not, that’s the way the majority of the council wants it to go. That’s how it works,” Foster said.

She said when the council doesn’t want to discuss something, the same topic shouldn’t be bought up at the next council meeting but they’ve run into that several times.

The council continued discussion about when an item should be added to the agenda. The general consensus was, after the agenda is out, unless it’s something urgent, an item additional should be held off until the next meeting.

Council member Bruce Peters brought up some concerns about the consent agenda, which he said includes items the council is basically rubber stamping. Foster added that many of the consent agenda items have been talked about during budget conversations.

City Administrator Cathy Reynolds said if a council member has specific questions about an item on the consent agenda, staff needs prior knowledge so they can have information available.

“If you pull it and ask it for the first time here, we may or we may not have that answer available to discuss it,” Reynolds said.

Gourlay said that the council talked about unity being a goal. While they operate on a majority vote, she asked how they can get to unity.

Lubenow said, “Since I’ve been on the council, there’s been division, which I think there is in the world today. I hear councils all the time, Minneapolis 5-4, this and that.”

He said the fastest way to fail is to try to please everyone and no matter what you think is a good idea, 20 to 40 percent are against you automatically.

Foster said that in the past when an item didn’t pass, council members have let it go. She said the issue now is that some council members can’t let something go.

Reynolds said, “Unity isn’t a 5-0 (vote). Unity can be 3-2 but unity comes from constructive conversations, constructive disagreements and doing it in that context and then standing behind a decision once a decision is made.”

After the rest of the presentation, Gourlay shared some more comments council members included in their survey. She said one person said there was a huge communication problem. She asked if anyone had anything to share.

Peters said he recently had a question from a constituent about a boat ramp so he brought it to the city administrator and then it went to the head of the parks and the answer came back to him.

“It works. Communications are excellence if you follow the chain of command,” said Peters.

Gourlay asked the council if it had questions regarding code of conduct or if it had an interest in that. Foster said she thinks any organization now should have a code of conduct as expectations are different now than they’ve ever been and that she supports having a code of conduct.

Gourlay said she thinks the council has a general baseline but if it has questions, she can come back for another training session.