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Regular Council Meeting June 22, 2015 Page 6 told them the two easiest ways to accomplish this would be either to retain seven single member districts and add an eighth position, which would be the mayor position. Mr. McIlyar said the Charter Review Committee would have to decide along with the City Council whether or not they wanted to give the mayor the power to vote. Mr. McIlyar said the other option was to redraw the seven single member districts into six single member districts increasing each district in population by about 600 -700, but they would need to make sure not to delude the minority districts so that they do not end up with a retrogression situation. Council Member Plata said there was a meeting at Dr. Hashmi's office regarding the Police Department between the City Manager, Police Chief, Council Member Lancaster and Janice was there taking notes. He said the discussion centered on the morale problems and the other problems within the police department, contributing in the loss of police officers. Council Member Plata said it was a very constructive meeting that came with approval from the City Manager and Police Chief to allow him to have face -to -face meetings with police officers in order to get their feelings and input on the issues. He also said the hope was that if major issues existed, they could and would be addressed, if at all possible. Council Member Plata said he felt that Chief Hundley was a very responsible man, and all indications from speaking with him showed that he cares for the people working in the police department. He said he would like to meet with a few more people before he makes his final report, which will be at the next council meeting. Council Member Plata emphasized the ultimate goal was that if big issues arose; changes could be implemented for the good of the City and all police officers working now and in the future. Mayor Hashmi pointed out that whatever suggestions are made to the Police Chief and City Manager, and that the City Manager was eventually responsible as the Council was only a policy making authority. He said if the Council could help the police department retain police officers then they should do so. Mr. Godwin said the recycling item was an item they discussed about a year and a half ago when they looked at two or three different options. At that time, Mr. Godwin said he recommended they try to do something with recycling and he thought the best way to do that was to move forward with drop -off sites. He said they should be geographically dispersed to encourage people to participate, such as parks and elementary schools. Mr. Godwin said he and Public Works Director Jerry McDaniel would be visiting with some other jurisdictions, and with Ms. Spencer who was in the recycling meeting. Mr. Godwin said they discussed earmarking funds for a particular park or the trail from collection and sell of recyclables. Council Member Frierson inquired of Mr. Godwin if this was fundamentally different than what had already been presented twice to the Council. Mr. Godwin said not as far as the basics of it, but what was different was the process and they were trying to be a little more aggressive by owning the bins and contracting with someone to purchase the recyclables. Council Member Frierson inquired about the costs and Mr. Godwin said he would get back to Council in the next several weeks. Mayor Hashmi expressed he felt this was a good idea, because if the City was able to sell the recyclables collected that money could fund improvements for the trail and parks. Council Member Lancaster favored the idea and added that it would also lessen what goes into the landfill. Mayor Hashmi also said one of the suggestions made was that the money saved from not paying the landfill fees could be set aside and matched by the City to also be spent on improvement of the trail and parks. Council Member Clifford said it was good idea and