HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.20220307
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SPECIAL MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL MARCH 7, 2022
At 5:30 p.m. Mayor Torre called the regular meeting to order with Councilors Doyle, Hauenstein, and
Mesirow present. Absent was Councilor Richards.
Mayor Torre said the purpose of the special meeting is the city manager, Sara Ott’s, review. Council has
been working on preparing a review letter preparing an official statement of strengths and goals for the
next year. This is chance to finish up this work in public forum upon Ms. Ott’s request. He wants her
goals to be achievable and realistic.
Ms. Ott said she requested this to be a public meeting as opposed to an executive session. This is a
valuable transparency exercise, and she’s open to discuss any portion of this review.
Mayor Torre said they are ahead of the game in large part due to Ms. Ott’s work. We value her financial
management, ability to build external relationships, leadership and personnel management, and
prioritization of council goals. We want to continue to improve communication and are still working on
that as a carryover goal to improve council and city communications. They are looking for her to use
active listening and summarizing skills and looking for commonality. Listening to individual input from
council members and weave that into considerations.
Ms. Ott requested how the council will focus on how they conclude their discussions and direction being
given to staff. She wants more information on council relationships.
Mayor Torre said they are trying to refine how you want to receive direction. We’ve asked for your help
in refining these processes and how we can make this better.
Councilor Hauenstein feels that self-governance is where he draws a line. He spoke about rules of
engagement. One of his concerns is to implement policy and not direct the council. It’s our responsibility
to clarify how we relate to each other and what our relationships are with city staff. This is our joint
responsibility. Communications are always a difficult thing, and he doesn’t feel the city manager should
be directing council on these areas.
Councilor Doyle agrees with Councilor Hauenstein. Being a part of this review was not easy. He’s
learning a lot, but he thinks the city is run like a well-oiled machine due to Ms. Ott’s leadership.
Councilor Mesirow said we have room for improvement, and this is a council led discussion and we’re
asking for Ms. Ott’s partnership.
Mayor Torre said they have started drafting some working agreements.
Councilor Hauenstein said he thinks they would benefit from working with a facilitator specialized in
working relationships.
Mayor Torre doesn’t feel the same. A lot of the ground rules and regulations are out there, and we just
need to follow them.
Mayor Torre spoke about their goals and expectations, and he read some comments from Councilor
Richards since she was absent.
Ms. Ott asked for clarification on social media accounts. Mayor Torre said that was a communication
issue and maybe was a comment from an individual and not the group. Maybe this has to do with
protocols on how we use social media and how we don’t.
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SPECIAL MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL MARCH 7, 2022
Councilor Hauenstein said he wants more communication as to what the mood and stress levels are of
staff. Ms. Ott explained an exercise called “fasten your seatbelts” and she’s finding that staff is burning
out due to the market changes and labor market and this needs to be a focus this year or our success
gained from the class and comp study will be lost.
Mayor Torre said they will work on cleaning up the language of the document together.
Councilor Mesirow applauded Ms. Ott for doing this publicly.
City Attorney, James R. True, introduced the executive session regarding the city manager review and
contract negotiation regarding the city manager.
Councilor Hauenstein motioned to move into executive session; Councilor Mesirow seconded. Roll call
vote: Doyle, yes; Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried.
Mr. True pointed out that they would move into executive session and adjourn the meeting from there.
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Nicole Henning, City Clerk