There is hereby created and established a Steering Committee for the City of Garnett, which shall consist of fifteen (15) members, all of whom shall be residents of Anderson County, Kansas. All members shall be appointed by the governing body. The Steering Committee will adopt the following membership structure:

15 Members

Chairperson

Vice Chairperson

Secretary

Treasurer

Media Spokesperson

(Ord. 4260)

Members shall serve 3-year terms. Appointments shall be made by the Garnett City Commission. Initially, the appointments shall be made such that five of the positions are for a term of one year and an additional five of the positions are for a term of two years. In the event of a vacancy in any position prior to the expiration of the term, the Garnett City Commission shall appoint a replacement member for the remaining, unexpired portion of that term. All Board members shall hold office until their successors are appointed and qualified.

(Ord. 2460)

Members of the Steering Committee shall serve on a volunteer basis without compensation.

(Ord. 4260)

The Steering Committee shall:

(a)    CHAIRPERSON: Provides overall leadership to the project to ensure it works collaboratively and is responsible for running the meetings of the Steering Committee to ensure meetings Stay on track.

(b)    VICE-CHAIRPERSON: Assumes the Chairperson's role in the event of an absence from the Chairperson.

(c)    SECRETARY: Records and distributes accurate minutes to all board members.

(d)    TREASURER: Records and distributes accurate financial statements (if any) to all board members.

(e)    CORE TEAM: Has voting responsibilities. The Core Team is composed of all Steering Committee Board members, including the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Secretary, and Treasurer.

(f)     SUBCOMMITTEES: The Steering Committee may find it necessary to create committees of its own participants or from others for specific activities. Any subcommittee will be created by a majority vote delegating a member of the Core Team as the Chairperson for the Subcommittee.

(g)    PROJECT CONSULTANTS AND RESOURCE EXPERTS Technical advisors or resource people may be invited to provide information or be engaged to conduct specific project activities. They will work collaboratively with the team.

(Ord. 4260)

The purpose of the Steering Committee is to support a broad based public engagement process that aims to engage all sectors of the community in order to suppot1 the development of a Garnett Strategic Plan. The Steering Committee will make its decisions and recommendations based on Robert's Rules of Order. The final results of this process will be incorporated into the drafts of the Strategic Plan. Once final documents are completed, they will be sent to the City Commissioners for final approval and adoption.

The scope of the Steering committee includes:

• Participation in the development of a community analysis.

• Support the community outreach process.

• Assist with the design and implementation of a public engagement process.

• Assist with the development and distribution of project communications.

• Help increase involvement by community members in the process.

• Assist with carrying out project activities.

• Assist with synthesis and analysis of community input.

• Foster a collaborative community process.

• Develop a final Steering Committee product.

It is the joint responsibility of the Core Team to ensure that these ground rules are observed. Participants are free to question, in good faith, actions of others that may come within the scope of these ground rules. Participants of the Steering Committee are representatives of a broad range of interests, each having concerns about the outcome of the process. All parties recognize the legitimacy of the interests and concerns of others and expect that their interests will be represented as well. Thus:

• Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

• The motivations and intentions of the participants will be respected.

• The personal integrity and values of participants will be respected.

• Stereotyping will be avoided.

• Disagreements will be regarded as "problems to be solved", rather than as "battles to be won".

• Participants commit to listen carefully to each other, recognize each person's concerns and feelings about the topic, ask questions for clarification, and make statements that attempt to educate or explain. Participants should not assume that any one person knows the answer. Listen to understand, not debate.

• All participants take responsibility for getting both individual needs met and for getting the needs met of other participants. Participants commit to keeping their colleagues/constituents informed about the progress of these discussions. Everyone shares responsibility for the success and failure of this process as well as for the enforcement of these ground rules.

• Constructive candor is encouraged and can be an effective tool. Participants commit to stating needs, problems, and opportunities, not positions.

• Participants commit to search for opportunities and alternatives. The creativity of the group can often help find the best solution for the community as a whole.

• Participants agree this effort is a priority in time and will try their best to attend all meetings.

• Participants agree to verify rumors at a meeting before accepting them as fact.

• Participants agree to disagree. The point of this process is to foster open discussion of issues; in order to facilitate this, we need to respect each other's right to disagree.

• Participants agree that anyone may leave this process but will respectfully inform the team in writing.

(Ord. 4260)

While all meetings will be open to the media, participants agree that to get maximum benefit from the process, a climate that encourages candid and open discussion should be created. In order to create this climate, participants agree to not attributing suggestions, comments, or ideas of another participant to the new media or nonparticipants. Formal statements should be made by an appointed media spokesperson. We refer all media to the given spokesperson. The spokesperson will work with the Steering Committee to ensure statements are correct.

(Ord. 4260)