Council asked the finance committee to begin work on establishing a local spending threshold and to review the Board of Control's composition and procedures. The effort will involve the finance committee, the mayor's administration and legal staff.

Council members said residents and some council members have expressed concern that Board of Control items sometimes appear on short notice in order to allow administration spending. Councilmember Kathy Pucci reviewed the background: the city previously had a local limit of $15,000 that required council approval for higher amounts, but a sentence in the charter referencing state law required conforming to the state statute; at the time that state statute was $50,000, and it has since been raised, she said. Pucci said the Charter Review Commission placed a change on the ballot that allowed the city to adopt its own local legislation regarding spending thresholds.

The council directed the finance committee to work with the mayor and legal counsel (Mr. Raguse/Reguze) to examine what an appropriate local spending threshold would be and to consider the Board of Control's makeup and quorum rules. Council noted the capital improvement plan approval would not be redundant with any threshold the council sets because the capital plan already represents council's approval of specific capital projects and their estimated amounts.

The finance committee scheduled an initial meeting on the thirteenth to begin the review and said it would report back to the council and the Committee of the Whole for further action. Councilmembers and administration staff noted that the Board of Control posts an Excel spreadsheet listing items for each meeting on its online agenda, but members asked staff to improve the timing and transparency of when that posting appears so council and the public have adequate notice.

Councilman Butler (staff) and other members described that the Board of Control posting is available on the online agenda even if the public-notice message that establishes the meeting date/time does not include the item list; councilmembers raised concern about whether that list is consistently posted with sufficient lead time.

Council agreed the finance committee should lead a review and return with recommendations.