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decisions based on technical knowledge or professional judgments rather than planning or policymaking. mioi tM.5rim, -I I There are several important factors that roust be looked at. First of all, you must look at the decision being made. Discretionary 0 can apply to all types of decisions in manor different areas inciud.ing, but not limited to, land use, personnel} permits and licensing, and streets and roads (including but not limited to, street construction, inspection or maintenance policies or plans and decisions related to the signing of streets and roads). Discretionary immunity can also apply to decisions related to capital expenditures and use of staff and policies related to responses to emergencies. Another factor that must be considered is who is making the decision. The Higher up you go the easier it is to prove the decision was made in a policy making or planning level. However, not all decisions made by the city council, mayor or city administrator are automatically entitled to discretionary immunity. Similarly, some decisions made by lower level employees may also be discretionary. Tile operative principal is that statutory discretionary immunity protects planning level decisions. Another factor that courts took at to determine whether or not a decision is at the "'planning level9i is whether or not the decision or policy involves a weighing of social, political, economic or safety considerations. A good example of a discretionary decision would be a city's snow plowing policy. Many cities have such policies and they frequently involve the weighing of social, political, economic or safety considerations. Social factors would include the effect of salt, sand and chemicals on the environment, the need for people to get to work or school year round and providing access to all citizens to all city facilities. Political factors may include voters' expectations of a certain level of services, downtown. merchants" expectations of service, and voters' expectations to be able to park their car on the stmt. In addition, snow plowing policies almost always involve the weighing of safety considerations, including the safety of a plow operator and the safety of the general public. For safety reasons, cities may schedule particular times when snow removal should be done and place restrictions on the number of hours that a plow operator may operate a ploy without taking at least ten to twelve hours off between shifts. Finally, snow plowing policies frequently involve a weighing of economic considerations such as the budget for snow removal and whether or not the city will authorize over time and the city's long term need to purchase and maintain snow removal equipment. Are Where Reasons other than Discretionary Immunity for a City to Engage in and Keep Records of Policy and Planning Decisions? Yes. First and foremost keeping records of policy and planning decisions helps implement the policy or plan and helps evaluate implementation and effectiveness of the policy or plan. For instance, maintenance policies may provide guidelines for a public works operation. They 2