SUMMARY OF A RETREAT OF THE CHAPEL HILL TOWN COUNCIL, AQUEDUCT CONFERENCE CENTER, SATURDAY, AUGUST 24, 1996 AT 8:30 A.M.

Mayor Waldorf called the session to order at 8:36 a.m. Council Members in attendance were Julie Andresen (arrived at 8:44 a.m.), Joyce Brown, Joe Capowski, Mark Chilton, Pat Evans, Richard Franck and Lee Pavao. Also in attendance were Town Manager Cal Horton, Assistant Town Managers Sonna Loewenthal and Florentine Miller, Town Attorney Ralph Karpinos, Assistant to the Mayor Alice Joyce, Personnel Director Pat Thomas and Assistant to the Manager Greg Feller. Also in attendance were retreat facilitators/Institute of Government staff members Anne Davidson and Peg Carlson.

Following a brief review of the day's tentative agenda, the Council initiated a discussion of roles and expectations for one another, the Mayor, Manager and Attorney.

General expectations of individual Council Members discussed were keeping each other informed with useful and relevant information, differentiating between setting policies and taking action, and setting measures of progress such as goals and objectives. The Council took a break between 9:43 and 9:54 a.m.

The Council next discussed Council Members' expectations of the Mayor, including: sharing information with Council Members, providing leadership, striving for Council consensus in the context of running meetings, leading Town dealings with other entities, handling the Mayor's job on a part-time basis, being "first among equals" and performing the Mayor's duties as set forth by laws, making decisions in the public arena, being the "desk of last resort" for citizen complaints, asking for outside help when needed and making the overall Council group work well together.

The Council also discussed its expectations of the Town Manager, including: carrying out Council actions and projects and reporting to the Council on their progress, performing duties consistent with prescribed laws, assuring that Town staff was aware of Council-adopted policies, asking the Council to clarify policies with multiple interpretations, managing the Town's daily operations, acting as a link between the Council and staff, supporting the Council's representation to other entities, making sure the Council knows of additional unmet needs, managing Town staff effectively and delegating appropriately, presenting the Council with a variety of information to make informed decisions, maintaining expertise in his profession and representing the Town at the staff level with other entities. Mr. Horton said he saw key elements of his role as Manager to be: being intellectually honest, presenting fair and balanced information, reporting problems to the Council, treating people with respect, courtesy and fairness and keeping Council Members well informed. The Council took a lunch break between 12:00 Noon and 12:50 p.m.

Following lunch, the Council engaged in an exercise for setting priorities led by Ms. Davidson and Ms. Carlson. The Council explored the possibility of utilizing Covey's four quadrant table as a resource tool in some of their decisionmmaking processes. Town staff was asked to make copies of a two-sided card to the Council, one side having a copy of Covey's chart and the other having a set of Council meeting groundrules adapted from a set of the same originated by the Institute of Government staff.

Referencing the Council Procedures Manual, Council Member Chilton suggested that a committee of two Council Members might be able to make progress on a follow-up report to the Council on possible changes to the manual. Council Members Chilton and Franck agreed to serve on the committee, with a report possibly being made to the Council in late September or sometime in October.

Following a brief evaluation of the day's session, the meeting concluded at 3:36 p.m.