A. Councilors may make inquiries of staff to increase their understanding of an issue or action. Councilors should limit requests for information from staff to questions that may be answered with minimal research. Requests that require significant staff time or resources (two (2) hours or more) should be directed to the City Manager and must be approved by the Mayor, City Manager, City Attorney or by a majority vote of the City Council.

B. Written information given by the Mayor, Councilors, City Manager, City Attorney, or City staff, including materials requested by individual Councilors and the Mayor, generally will be distributed to all Councilors with a notation indicating who has requested that the information be provided.

C. Individual Councilors should respect the separation between policy-making and administration. Councilors shall not pressure or direct City employees in a way that could contravene the will of the Council as a whole or limits the options of the Council. Councilors must not interfere with work performance, undermine the authority of supervisors, or prevent the full Council from having access to relevant information. Notwithstanding this subsection, nothing shall hamper the Council’s ability to evaluate the performance of the City Manager or the City Attorney.

D. The Mayor and Council members should strive not to criticize any person in a public meeting or in public electronic mail messages. The same expectation applies to City staff in the exercise of their official duties. Discussions and disagreements should focus on the content of the topic at hand. Nothing should limit a Councilor or staff person’s right to report wrongdoing.

E. Councilors with a concern about the performance of a particular staff person should express that concern to the Mayor, City Manager, or City Attorney. (Ord. 3224, replaced, 07/18/2023)