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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,May 11, 2015 Page 14 sues where someone was passionate, and regardless of how the discussion went, if the decision didn't go their way, they may feel it wasn't a respectful meeting. However, overall, Mayor Roe noted the desire was to do public business in a re- spectful manner. Regarding getting preliminary information earlier under the strategic initiative to "improve meeting management," Mayor Roe noted this was of benefit to the pub- lic as well as the City Council by involving them earlier in the process. Mayor Roe noted there would be obvious exceptions when negotiations were underway or developments not yet ready to make a formal application. However, Mayor Roe opined it would be beneficial to have mechanisms available if they didn't be- come overly cumbersome or burdensome to staff and as things were ready to be moved to a public forum. Councilmember McGehee opined that to here there seemed to be two points to consider under that initiative: that of the City Council as addressed, but also from staff's perspective. Councilmember McGehee noted there were times when staff brings things forward and the City Council didn't respond in a timely fashion, or the City Council didn't provide the information staff needed. Councilmember McGehee stated that this seemed, from her perspective, to be part of being re- spectful of each other and how the groups reacted to one another; but also opined that they were all adults and vigorous discussions should be available without showing any disrespect. City Manager Trudgeon admitted there were often challenges, especially when things were on a meeting agenda for discussion or action, but due to longer-than- anticipated discussion or time constraints, the item may be deferred to a future meeting, even though staff made themselves available at that time. Mr. Trudgeon recognized the improvements of the City Council in bringing questions or con- cerns to staff's attention prior to a meeting allowing them to address those ques- tions or remove or deferring an item if information was not immediately availa- ble. However, Mr. Trudgeon stated that the more that could be emphasized, the better, allowing staff to respond and the City Council to be better informed to make a decision. If the City Council could alert him or identify any problem are- as earlier in the meeting, Mr. Trudgeon noted he could release staff rather than having them sit through an entire meeting without their agenda items being ad- dressed. Mr. Trudgeon noted that this also involved managing agendas to make sure there was not too much business anticipated for a meeting, while allowing sufficient time to take care of business as needed. Councilmember McGehee opined that she had noticed an improvement in staff RCA's allowing for topics being more fleshed out, as well as allowing sufficient time on the agenda for discussion and to complete the agenda.