By Patrick Adrian [email protected]
CLAREMONT — City Councilor Nicholas Koloski raised continuing concerns about the Policy Committee, an advisory group to the City Council that has frequently operated in a way the council never intended.
On Wednesday, Koloski pointed to a number of agenda items recently handled by the Policy Committee without the City Council’s approval or knowledge. One of these items was a request by the Arrowhead Recreation Area for an ordinance review of Arrowhead’s alcohol service.
In an email to city administrators and city councilors on March 8, Arrowhead Director Chuck Allen requested an ordinance change to permit alcohol service, including hard alcohol, outside the lodge, such as a beer tent, or designated biergarten. This change would facilitate Arrowhead’s ability to host private functions seeking outdoor space by minimizing the amount of license and permit seeking.
This issue should have received discussion by the City Council, who might have expedited a solution in time, according to Koloski. Instead the matter went to the Policy Committee, where it did not appear on the committee’s agenda until its May 6 meeting.
“Mr. Allen’s request was seen by the Policy Committee 57 days after the request,” Koloski told the council. “And now you can add another month to that.”
According to the city website, the Policy Committee’s purpose is “to review the Claremont City Code.” Created by the council in 2016, the committee consists of three city councilors and two residents.
“Its purpose was to (serve) the council to take some of our workload off to address outdated ordinances,” Koloski told The Eagle Times on Friday.
In actuality much of the Policy Committee’s focus has been on creating new policies rather than reviewing old code. Several of these policies were tasked to the committee by the city council, including to establish a city Board of Assessors, a policy for food truck operations and guidelines for holiday displays on public property.
Recent items on the committee’s agenda were never directed by the city council, which deviates from past practice, when the council would be asked what policies the committee should prioritize, Koloski said.
“This was what I fully wanted to avoid (with this committee),” Koloski said. “A small section of the council having more information than the rest of the council and making decisions as a group of three and pushing that decision on the council.”
Circumventing the council’s role in the process also is arguably inefficient by diverting the committee’s time and resources to researching and drafting policy proposals that may not interest the council.
According to Koloski, the council decided against sending the draft to legal council. Koloski said that City Manager Ed Morris asked the committee if they wished to send the draft to legal review first, something that Koloski felt should never be a consideration, let alone occur.
Essentially, the committee might be spending taxpayer dollars to review a policy draft before knowing the council’s full opinion, Koloski said.
In the case of Arrowhead, Koloski said the matter could have been significantly streamlined had the item gone first to the council for a presentation and a discussion.
“There have been things that the council has done on our own, where we don’t send it to the policy committee for review,” Koloski said. “Nine people with community feedback are perfectly capable of making a decision.”
That decision, Koloski said, might involve enacting a policy or it could be something the council could address immediately with a motion and vote.
Mayor Charlene Lovett acknowledged that this issue, being an ordinance change request, should have been taken up first by the City Council.
In an email to The Eagle Times, Allen said this requested change — which Arrowhead has sought for several years — is not a simple policy change but ‘an ordinance change’ that will require a revision of the city ordinance and multiple readings by the council, as well as a public hearing.
The current ordinance restricts city parks, which includes Arrowhead, from outdoor alcohol service.
This “park” classification also explains why the Visitor Center Green, which is not defined as a “park” despite similar function, is able to host alcohol services more easily.
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