1. Can I ask you a question?
2. Yeah.
3. Thank you, Are these optional duties (park board bylaws)? Or is there a reason that this is being treated as optional?
4. No, and I think... I mean... a lot of it is we've got the ordinances that control, right? Those are also rules and regulations over the parks. And I think there are other policies that have been adopted over time. But I don't think there's a... we're never going to have a policy for every decision, right? But if there's a certain area, including what you're talking about, where you'd like the board to adopt a policy...
5. But if I ask for the adopted and approved rules and regulations of the park and rec facilities, they can't be provided to me, right?
6. Well, I think the ordinances are part of that, right? And those are available online.
7. So are you saying that this is just referring to the ordinances, and there are no park board rules and regulations?
8. I think the ordinances are a part of that, right? And I think there are other policies there. And I think some of it is... some of them were adopted so long ago that it's like, "Well, at this point, they're not relevant."
9. So what are they referring to on the website that says the excerpts from the rules and regs? And it says the rules and regs from the park board can't be violated. What are they referring to there on the website?
10. I'm not sure if they have it. I haven't seen the website. I'm not sure.
11. You want me to pull it up?
12. Yeah. Sure.
13. Sure.
14. So park rules and ordinances. You Google it, you press it, it gives you permits, park rules from general park rules, Title 26, excerpts from park board rules and regulations. And it specifically says violation of park and recreation board policies will not be tolerated in the public parks. So what are we talking about?
15. ...I know you've made some open records requests.
16. Yeah, but they're not being fulfilled.
17. Are you sure? Because I think.... Because I think...
18. It's been since June.
19. Because when I talked to Destiny, I think she said she had put several. Have you checked the JustFOIA? And I think she had like 200 ready.
20. I haven't received them yet.
21. You might ask because I think there might be wires crossed because I think and it's a fairly new program, so that is part of it. But my understanding was that about 200 or more records were ready for you to see. So they should be accessible.
22. I haven't seen them yet. So what is that on the website? What is that? Why is that there? And what does it mean that it's showing excerpts from that and that they're not to be violated, but then they don't exist? It's just ordinances.
23. Well, I don't say they don't exist. I think there are some policies, and the board and the department are looking through to see which ones are really in effect, which are so old that really, it wouldn't be fair to say they were passed so long, they don't matter. And I think it's a process of looking through decades and decades.
24. Is there an amount of time that once the board adopts them and the council approves them, is there an amount of time that renders them ineffective?
25. I don't think it's black and white, but I think kind of looking at I think there's a process right now of looking through and seeing, does this even make sense anymore? I mean, there's some that have to do with property that we don't manage anymore.
26. So it's not completely that it's just the ordinances. It's that we don't know what they are because we don't know what's relevant, and we literally don't know what they are.
27. I think we're in a process, right?
28. Right. So we don't know is the thing.
29. The ordinances matter, right? They're there.
30. Yeah, the ordinances matter, but it's two different things.
31. Not really. I think those are part of what those are part of the rules and regulations.
32. They're part of it because they're two different things together that might make the whole.
33. Is there a particular one you're worried about?
34. I'm confused as to why it should be black and white. If the duties are adopt the rules, and I say, "Show me the rules," and everyone says, "Well, we don't know what they are. We're in a process of figuring them out," I think that to continue with business as usual and just doing actions on whatever we want while we can't identify what the rules are, I feel like that's going a little bit beyond the duties required by the charter and the bylaws. I think you have to fulfill the duties and be able to identify them when asked for them. And instead, we just can't even answer the question. We just move on like it wasn't even asked and we'll just move into the next month, and we'll move into the next month. But really, this has to happen before the board... if the board doesn't fulfill its duties, what is the board doing at that point? What can we do as people to make sure the board fulfills the duties? Because if they're allowed to operate without fulfilling their duties, what is that?
35. Two things. I mean, one, I really would check JustFOIA because I think the idea that nothing's been produced isn't correct, right? I think the department's working hard to identify that for you. And it may just be that's up to you.
36. It should be working hard to identify for themselves though.
37. That's part of it. But I also think, I mean, the ordinances that have been passed and codified, those are really part of the rules and regulations. And I think there are a few policies that also are part of these policies, but there aren't policies for every decision that's been passed. I think we're just going to go in circles.
38. There's not policies for every decision the board makes, but there should be policies for almost every decision the board makes.
39. I don't think that's true. I mean, think about the council. They don't have a policy for every decision that comes before them. I mean, some of it is judgment.
40. They're elected officials tho. They're kind of like... we bestow that trust into them when we elect them.
    
41. But every board, every commission, elected official or not, there's not a policy document for every kind of decision that comes before them.
42. You read the first page of the 1994, which, as far as I'm concerned, that's the most recent one that we can prove that was approved by the board. And the whole front page talks about how important it is to have policies behind the framework for making decisions so that continuity is passed between the board members as the board changes. And it is important to have that. And I'm not asking to see a policy for every single possible decision. I want to see... I want to see the board fulfill its duties and provide this document. And it can't just be, "Well, it's the ordinances," because it's not just the ordinances. There's a difference. And to continue on business as usual without fulfilling the duties is unacceptable.
43. Well, I think we're working on it, right? We've got the ordinances. I think it's a process, given how long the park board's been in existence, to kind of go through all the records and find what policies are still around, what makes sense. And I think the department is working on that. And the department's.
44. Sure. So okay, theoretically, right? You find one that's been adopted by the board, approved by the council. Somewhere along the line, they forgot they even had it. And now they get to use their personal discretion to decide if it's something they want to keep or not. How is the decision-making process being followed through when it comes to the things that have gone through the right path to become a real thing, and just because people either have willfully or on accident forgotten or chosen to not act like they're real? Why is it up to... why is it up to that?
45. Well, I think, right, and I honestly have not been in all those conversations. So I hate to even, I think the department's looking at it. I mean, I think some you run into even like, "Was this ever approved by council?" So I think there's that where it's like there may be an issue where there's no record of it going to council. I think some just on their face, like, "This doesn't make sense anymore." Like I was saying, it's like this manages these are rules about something that we.
46. Who gets to decide that they don't make sense anymore?
47. 9:40 AM Well, just on their face. I mean, it's like if it's like.
48. Are they going to be brought to the public to be defined as, "On its face, this doesn't make sense, and we found it, and we're not going to do this one anymore"? Or is it just a silent decision being made?
49. I mean, I think if it's a gray area, it is worth discussing. I mean, the bylaws weren't a gray area, but that's something where they make the decisions. Do we reaffirm that these are still in effect? What I'm talking about is ones that just are impossible. We have a management agreement with the zoo. So some 40-year-old document about something that this board doesn't make decisions on anymore. That doesn't make sense. That part is now within the purpose.
50. Does the public still get notification of rules that we found and we found are no longer relevant? Or is it just...
51. I don't know. I don't know.
52. It's just very... it's not as transparent as you would hope it to be, being that it is public space. And we can't identify the rules. And as we identify them, they'll just decide if they're relevant or not. And we may or may not have any notification if they even existed in the first place.
53. It's unacceptable. It's just really not... it's just really not acceptable. I don't know.
54. We'll continue to have conversations with them. I mean, my part's kind of limited, but I appreciate your...
55. Who is in charge of that?
56. Well, I think a lot of it is the department looking through records. They kind of hold the records for the park board and the park department.
57. Okay. So are those records available to the public only through records requests, or can you go look through records?
58. I think records requests.
59. Okay.
60. All right.
61. Well, I guess I'll wait on those requests then.
62. I really think a lot of them are available. I think what I have heard from Destiny is a lot have been made available, but it looks like you hadn't clicked into it. So it may just be.
63. I'll check.

jic they delete this from the city website :)

Purpose of Excerpts

• Evidence: Writers use excerpts from original sources to support arguments

NONE

#neverforget

MODS HAVE NO POLICIES!

where are the mod policies?

If Section 3.7B requires the Board to adopt rules and provide governance, then a prolonged absence of maintained or updated rules raises a question of whether the Board is fulfilling its Charter duties.

If attendance has fallen to the point where a member cannot reasonably perform the duties of office, the City has a duty to evaluate whether neglect of duty exists under the Charter’s ‘for cause’ standard.

mods only

and better than ever

no optional body text