Getting our house in order and Continuity planning for May/June 2023 transition....

[Mike Jaffe]

Team,

I think it would be wise for us to begin preparing for the upcoming May 2023 election and whatever changes it may bring to the Town's leadership. Because our current Council (including the Mayor) are all on the same 2-year cycle. It is possible that at some point, now or in the future, every member of the Council could be changed out by an election. And so I believe it is our responsibility to do our part to ensure the operation of our town is not negatively impacted by such changes.

In my past business life we called it Continuity Planning. It was intended to answer the question, what can be done ahead of time to ensure the business keeps running smoothly in the event there are significant leadership changes?

This would include things like:

1) Inventorying all assets belonging to the business along with identifying their location(s).
2) Documenting all points of interactions with those outside and vital to the running of the business.
3) Creating a "Run Book" that someone with minimal understanding of the business could pick up and use to operate the business in a successful fashion.
4) Cataloging all documentation and records along with identifying their location (s).
5) Documenting all login and password credentials for those systems that are a part of the business.
6) Documenting all financial components including names of those who have signature and approval authority.

There are other things which would likely also make this list but hopefully you get the idea.

In my mind, the "changing of the guard" that will occur to some extent every 2 years should not be an inherently disruptive event. We spoke at the beginning of our term about starting to lay the groundwork for the future of the Town of Poetry. I believe this is an important part of that.

Thoughts?

[Simeon White]

I think this is a great direction to be thinking and planning towards. To me, it’s split very distinctively between preparation the mayor makes for changeover, and preparation the councilmen make. As a councilman, I believe most everything I would pass onto the new members of the council would be informational. For the mayor however, who deals with loads of paperwork, deadlines, etc. I believe there would be significantly more to prepare in case of a transition.

Which brings up the practical side of this topic, if there can be a complete changeover, we need to be prepared. But if only 7 people run for councilman (4 of which being previously on the council) and 1 for mayor, then we’ll have at least 2 councilmen with experience and no changeover in the mayor position. In that scenario, due to number of applicants, we’ll have the equivalent of “staggered terms”.

On the other end, if we have 9 candidates for councilmen, and 3 for mayor, we’ll need to undergo quite a bit of preparation. I’ve noticed that for most small towns our size, they generally don’t have many applicants, so a complete turnover isn’t really a threat. But perhaps we’ll be the odd one out.

Perhaps we’ll be able to gauge the amount of preparation necessary by the number of applicants we get in.

But speaking of staggered terms, unless it becomes a necessity, I’m still generally wary of it. We’ll have to pay twice as much from a limited budget to have 2 elections instead of 1, we’ll have campaigning and signs out every single year, and, quite possibly, drama and difficulties concerning the elections twice as often.

I know it’s standard to implement staggered terms, but why take on that burden unless it’s clearly needed?

[Terry Fowler]

CM Jaffe
I like your proposal and unfortunately I’ve never been a part of a “Changing of Guards”. Just for simple housekeeping purposes I feel this is very important but I can’t imagine the chaos of a complete flip. Because you have done this before I lean to your expertise. Where do we start and how can I be involved?

[Terry Fowler]

CM White
(I thought I replied earlier but it must be lost in space or I didn’t select Post Reply ). From my understanding, the option to stagger the council terms was only for the inaugural council and after that everyone serves a two year term. The seats will more than likely become staggered by attrition. CM’s or mayors resigning due to a change of address outside the Town of Poetry or resignations due to an illness. But a some point we will more than likely be paying for an election every year.

[Simeon White]

CM White
(I thought I replied earlier but it must be lost in space or I didn’t select Post Reply ). From my understanding, the option to stagger the council terms was only for the inaugural council and after that everyone serves a two year term. The seats will more than likely become staggered by attrition. CM’s or mayors resigning due to a change of address outside the Town of Poetry or resignations due to an illness. But a some point we will more than likely be paying for an election every year.

I believe you’re right, the staggered terms were only for the inaugural council.

Surprisingly enough, if one councilmember resigns, the council could vote on who takes their place without an election. However, if two councilmembers step down, a special election would be run to fill the remainder of the unexpired term. There may not be much opportunity for natural staggering.

This is covered under Texas Local Government Code Sec. 22.010 which I’ll add a link to for those interested in reading it for themselves. I’ve also included the Secretary of State’s simplified version.

[Mike Jaffe]

I have submitted an agenda item request to our Secretary to add this topic to the upcoming agenda so that we can get the process going. It is my belief that the things that we do to accomplish this will also serve future councils and better ensure continuity of the Town's operation.

[Mike Jaffe]

Sadly the agenda item submittal cut-off time was posted incorrectly and so the agenda item I submitted to discuss and take action on getting our house in order for whatever leadership transition occurs after the May election has been delayed.

[Tara Senkevech]

Since you had it up here for quite some time, and because the cut off was incorrectly posted by the secretary (inadvertently by one day) , I will put this item on the agenda IF the attorney is unable to have ready an item topic requested to me on one other previous item. [I am am trying hard for time sake to limit agenda items]. I appreciate your posting items on the forum for discussion. Secretary Jana has prepared a memo regarding this topic from her expertise which will be included in the packet either for this month or next.

[Mike Jaffe]

Thank for the follow up Tara.

[Mike Jaffe]

Thanks that is...