People should be able to follow and understand the decision-making process. This means that they will be able to clearly see how and why a decision was made – what information, advice and consultation council considered, and which legislative requirements (when relevant) the council followed.
- INCREASED DIALOGUE AT CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS: We don't often get into discussions of policy at the council dais, but it's very helpful and productive when we do. I would increase the number of work sessions and also strongly encourage council socializing (like volunteering at the Food Bank on Thanksgiving week) in order to help foster regular public dialogue among council members, healthy relationships, and general comity so that councilors can more comfortably engage in difficult topics at Council Meetings. The public has the right to see us deliberate on all matters before the council (except a few executive session-level topics), so as Mayor I'll work at every meeting to foster open dialogue.
- P&Z APPLICATION QUESTIONS: Currently, the P&Z question about potential conflicts of interest simply relies on the applicant to state whether a conflict exists which may prevent them from carrying out their responsibilities. In the past, a simple "No" has sufficed for the Mayor. I would change the question to preclude the simple "No". Instead, I would require applicants to disclose any existing ties and relationships which may require the potential commissioner to recuse themselves from decisions. Such ties wouldn't prevent service as a commissioner, but they must be made known in advance. Failure to disclose these ties would be grounds for dismissal from the board. The public must have high confidence that the commissioners are acting in the best interest of the residents of Cedar Falls, rather than in the best interest of business partners. Public disclosure of business ties is a necessary step in achieving this.
- PUBLISH ALL CITY POLICIES AND MANUALS ONLINE: The public should have ready access to any city policy via a central online library, both for browsing and serious research. Currently, many policies are not available except by request (such as the city's Personnel Manual); others are scattered throughout the city's website, if you know where to look. I will work with staff to establish a numbering system and index for all city policy manuals to make it easy to refer residents to the 'source documents' for any municipal decision or action.
- FIRM CONTROL OF EXECUTIVE SESSIONS: By the Iowa Open Meetings Law, executive sessions are intended to be extremely limited in scope. As the presiding official, I will ensure that only the limited topic at hand (personnel, legal, law enforcement or real estate matters). This control is critical to ensure that no other topics are discussed simply as a way to avoid public accountability for them. The Iowa Open Meetings Law is clear on this.