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Dick Swantz, the sponsor of the original resolution, said Thursday he was pleased the council was moving forward, but preferred to keep the review narrow, concerned his administrator piece would be buried under the scope of the approved study.
“I have some mixed emotions,” he said. “I’m real concerned that this thing is getting diluted or overloaded.”
Before Tuesday, Swantz’s proposed study was moribund, propped up only by the threat of a public referendum.
But with the accumulation of amendments — including one to study the size of the council — grew the support on the council.
Council members initially revised Swantz’s resolution to include a four-part presentation on various forms of government.
Those sessions, the council voted, will be held once a month for a half-hour before regular council meetings.
Members agreed after considerable haggling the city’s Finance and Personnel and Judiciary and Administration committees would conduct the studies from there.
Mayor Mark Johnsrud, however, threatened to veto the whole package if the assessments didn’t include the size of the 17-person council.
“... I do believe if you’re going to study administration, then you also have to study yourselves,” he told the council. “I think if we’re going to look at this organization, let’s look at it from the top to the bottom.”
“We put the general public through an awful lot,” he said. “And I think the size of this council is proportionately responsible for what we put people through.”
Council member Audrey Kader agreed with the value in addressing the size of the council, but like Swantz was worried about muddying the waters.
The genesis of Swantz’s proposal was to make over the day-to-day operations of the city.
“It didn’t have anything to do with policy making,” Swantz said. “This other issue is something that ought to be addressed separately.”
He introduced the administrator proposal in January, but it was tabled almost immediately, stifling most debate.
After a failed go at reviving the measure in March, Swantz last month called for a public referendum, hoping that would provide the momentum to move ahead with a study.
The council voted down and avoided the referendum Thursday by authorizing the sweeping study of City Hall.
The plan resembles movements to overhaul city operations earlier this decade that ultimately failed.
“It seems like we’ve come full circle,” Johnsrud said.
