1. CALL TO ORDER

2. ROLL CALL

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: September 26, 2011 (click here)

4. PUBLIC COMMENT

For persons desiring to address the Committee on an item that is not on the agenda please note that each speaker is limited to three (3) minutes. The Brown Act limits the Committee’s ability to take and/or discuss items that are not on the agenda; therefore, such items are normally referred to staff for comment or to a future agenda.

5. ANNOUNCEMENTS/COMMUNICATIONS

6. DISCUSSIONS AND POSSIBLE ACTIONS ON MATTERS RELATED TO THE FOLLOWING ITEMS:

6-1. Charter Section 3.19 - specification of charges for copies of city records (10 minutes)

· Report from Vice Chair Baty regarding City finances associated copy charges

· Consider recommending amending Charter by substituting reasonable cost recovery for charge specification or changing the master fee schedule to conform with charges specified in Charter

7. DISCUSSIONS ON MATTERS RELATED TO THE FOLLOWING ITEMS:

7-1. Report on Council consideration of election method review process (20 minutes)

· Council member questions and criteria suggestions

· Council request to consider method for directly electing the Mayor as a part of the election method review process

7-2. Election method review step 1: develop Albany-appropriate criteria for judging methods (40 minutes)

· Consider Chapter 2 of “Behind the Ballot Box” by Douglas Amy, which regards criteria

· List possible criteria

· Discuss possible criteria

· Consider application of criteria, with equal or variable weighting or ranking/prioritization as some options

7-3. Election method review step 2: potential election methods (15 minutes)

· Preliminary discussion and listing of methods to be considered

7-4. Election method review motivation statement outline (10 minutes)

7-5. Comments in external forums regarding election method review (10 minutes)

· Consider if any responses, such as to inquiries or to provide correct information, are needed

· Formulate response outlines if necessary

7-6. Election method review outreach planning (15 minutes)

· List potential community organizations for outreach

· Formulate outreach statement

· Assign members to contact organizations

· Assign members to attend organization meetings or post information to organization forums

8. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

Committee member announcement of requests for future agenda items.

9. ADJOURNMENT

Please note that if you provide your name and address when speaking before the Committee it will become part of the official public record, which will be posted on the Internet.

Any writings or documents provided to a majority of the Committee regarding any item on this agenda will be made available for public inspection at the City Clerk’s Office at City Hall located at 1000 San Pablo Avenue, Albany during normal business hours.