Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Governance Procedures topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council debates access to department heads; staff to clarify policy language on liaison contacts
Summary
Council and staff debated whether individual council members may meet directly with department heads; council asked staff to propose clarified policy language to allow brief, respectful informational contacts while routing substantive requests through the town manager.
March 3, 2025 ' During a lengthy discussion about council-to-staff communication, Payson council members and department heads debated whether individual council members may meet directly with department heads and, if so, under what conditions.
Council members said they need the ability to contact department leaders informally to understand operational details, answer constituent questions and build working relationships; several councilors said past practice had chilled those conversations and asked for clearer, permissive language. Department heads and the acting town manager said the existing policy allows limited contacts for straightforward questions but that council requests requiring more than an hour of staff time should be directed to the full council so that the town manager can ensure work priorities and staff capacity are balanced.
Town Attorney Christina Werther and the acting town manager explained the rationale for the rule: the town manager is responsible for directing staff workload and ensuring council'wide direction is respected rather than piecemeal assignments from individual council members. Council members said they were not seeking direction-making authority but requested a practical path for brief, constructive meetings and a formalized liaison role to help department heads and councilers coordinate.
Council consensus at the meeting was to ask staff to propose clearer language that preserves the town manager's role in assigning work while explicitly permitting respectful, time-limited council-member discussions with department heads and establishing a process to track and report substantive follow-up items to the full council. Staff agreed to draft proposed revisions to the council-staff interaction policy and return the language for a future vote.
Ending: Council asked staff to prepare revised policy language to ensure clear, consistent practice: simple informational contacts would be permitted; requests that require significant staff time would be routed through the town manager and, the council said, department heads should not feel punished for answering reasonable informational inquiries from council members.
