Woodbury council adds city attorney statement to Jan. minutes, approves consent agenda

The Woodbury City Council on Jan. 8 approved routine consent agenda items and directed staff to amend the Dec. meeting minutes to include a verbatim statement from City Attorney Sandstrom describing the council’s procedural authority to act on items that were not explicitly listed on a regularly scheduled agenda.

Council member discussion focused on a passage near the end of the prior meeting’s minutes. Council Member Wilson asked that language be added on page 10, before the transportation report, referencing attorney Sandstrom’s comment that the council “had leeway to take action on an item on its regularly scheduled agenda” and that the council had decided at the workshop to take action that night.

After back-and-forth about whether the minutes should remain summary or include the phrasing verbatim, the council voted to amend the minutes. Council members moved that staff extract the verbatim text from the meeting video at the approximate time stamp cited by Wilson and insert that excerpt into the minutes; the motion passed on roll call with all members voting in favor.

Earlier in the meeting the council approved the consent agenda items 7B through 7I by roll call. Council Member Santini, Council Member Stafford, Council Member Wilson, Council Member Morris and Mayor Burt each voted “Aye” on the consent items as recorded in the meeting.

City Attorney Sandstrom told the council he considered his procedural commentary “a relatively mundane and routine piece of procedural input” and left the decision about inclusion to the council.

Ending: The council directed staff to update the minutes with the verbatim excerpt from the meeting video and approved the updated minutes and consent items.