HomeMy WebLinkAbout(1978, 07/24) - A-10 - Amended - partial0 •
PROCEDURAL RULES FOR 'rHE CONDUCT OF CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS - Page Four
11. Powers and Duties of Presiding Officer.
a) Participation. The Presiding Officer may move, second, debate, and
vote from the Chair.
b) Seating Arrangement for City Council. The Mayor shall, following each
Councilmanic election and at such other time as he may deem it necessary,
establish the seating arrangement of the members of the Council. The
Mayor Pro Tempore shall always be seated immediately next to the Mayor.
C) Question to be Stated. The Presiding Officer or such member of the
City staff as he may designate shall verbally restate each question
immediately prior to calling for the'vote. Following the vote, the
City Clerk shall announce whether the question carried or was defeated.
The Presiding Officer in his discretion may publicly explain the effect
of a vote for the audience, or he may direct a member of the City staff
to do so, before proceeding to the next item of business.
d) Signing of Documents. The Presiding Officer shall sign all ordinances,
resolutions, contracts, and other documents necessitating his signature
which were adopted in his presence, unless he is unavailable, in which
case the signature of an alternate Presiding Officer may be used.
e) Sworn Testimony. The Presiding Officer may require any person
addressing the City Council to be sworn as a witness and to testify
under oath, and the Presiding Officer shall so require if directed to
do so by a majority vote of the Council.
12. Rules of Debate.
a) Getting the Floor. Every Councilman desiring to speak shall first
address the Chair, gain recognition by the Presiding Officer, and shall
confine himself to the question under debate, avoiding personalities and
indecorous language.
b) Questions to Staff. Every Councilman desiring to question the City
staff shall, after recognition by the Presiding Officer, address his
questions to the City Manager, the City Clerk, or the City Attorney,
who shall be entitled either to answer the inquiry himself or to designate
a member of his staff for that purpose.
c) Interruptions. A Councilman, once recognized, shall not be interrupted
when speaking unless called to order by the Presiding Officer, unless a
point or order or personal privilege is raised by another Councilman, or
unless the speaker chooses to yield to a question by another Councilman.
If a Cou 11man, while speaking, is called to order, he shall cease
speaking until the question of order is determined and, if determined
to be in order, he may proceed. Members of the City staff after recog-
nition by the Presiding Officer shall hold the floor until completion
C
0 •
PROCEDURAL RULES FOR THE CONDUCT OF CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS - Page Five
of their remarks or until recognition is withdrawn by the Presiding Officer.
d) Points of Order. The Presiding Officer shall determine all points of
order subject to the right of any Councilman to appeal to the Council. If
an appeal is taken, the question shall be, "Shall the decision of the
Presiding Officer be sustained?" A majority vote shall conclusively
determine such question of order.
e) Point of Personal Privilege. The right of a Councilman to address the
Council on a question of personal privilege shall be limited to cases in
which his integrity, character or motives are questioned or where the wel-
fare of the Council is concerned. A Councilman raising a point of personal
privilege may interrupt another Councilman who has the floor only if the
Presiding Officer recognizes the privilege.
f) Privilege of Closing Debate. The Councilman moving the adoption of an
ordinance, resolution or motion shall have the privilege of closing debate.
g) Limitation of Debate. No Councilman shall be allowed to speak more
than once upon any particular subject until every other Councilman desiring
to do so shall have spoken.
13. Remarks of Councilman and Synopsis of Debate. A Councilman may request
throught the Presiding Officer the privilege of having an abstract of his
statement on any subject under consideration by the Council entered in
the minutes. If the Council consents thereto, such statement shall be
entered in the minutes.
14. Protest Against Council Action. Any Councilman shall have the right to
have the reasons for his dissent from, or his protest against, any action
of the Council entered in the minutes. Such dissent or protest to be
entered in the minutes shall be made in :the following manner: "I would
like the minutes to show that I am opposed to this action for the following
reasons ... ."
15. Rules of Order. Except as provided in this Code, the City Charter, other
rules or practices followed by the City Council, or applicable provisions
of State law, the procedures of the Council shall be governed by the latest
revised edition of /!Roberts' Rules of Order.
t
16. Failure to Observe Rules of Order. Rules adopted to expedite the transaction
of the business of the Council in an orderly fashion are deemed to be procedural on
only and the failure to strictly observe such rules shall not affect the
jurisdiction of the Council or invalidate any action taken at a meeting that
is otherwise held in conformity with law.
0 •
PROCEDURAL RULES FOR THE CONDUCT OF CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS - Page Six
17. Addressing the Council.
a) Manner of Addressing Council. Each person desiring to address the Council
shall step up to the microphone in front of the rail, state his name and
address for the record, state the subject he wishes to discuss, state whom
he is representing if he represents an organization or other persons, and,
unless further time is granted by majority vote of the Council, shall
limit his remarks to five (5) minutes. All remarks shall be addressed
to the Council as a whole and not to any member thereof. No question shall
be asked a Councilman or a member of the City staff without the permission
of the Presiding Officer.
b) Spokesman for Group of Persons. In order to expedite matters and to
avoid repetitious presentations, whenever any group of persons wishes to
address the Council on the same subject matter, it shall be proper for the
Presiding Officer to request that a spokesman be chosen by the group to
address the Council and, in case additional matters are to be presented
by any other member of said group, to limit the number of such persons
addressing the Council.
c) After Motion. After a motion has been made or a public hearing has
been closed, no member of the public shall address the Council from the
audience on the natter under consideration without first securing permission
to do so by a majority vote of the City Council.
18. Rules of Decorum.
a) Councilmen. While the Council is in session, the members must preserve
order and decorum. Each Council member shall conduct himself with decorum
and shall neither, by conversation or otherwise, delay nor interrupt the
proceedings or the peace of the Council, nor disturb any member while
speaking or refuse to obey the orders of the Presiding Officer. Members
of the Council shall not leave their seats during a meeting without first
obtaining the permission of the Presiding Officer.
b) Persons Addressing the Council. Any person making impertinent, slanderous,
or profane remarks, or who becomes boisterous while addressing the Council,
shall be called to order by the Presiding Officer and, if such conduct con-
tinues, may at the discretion of the Presiding Officer be ordered barred
from further audience before the Council during that meeting.
7
0 •
PROCEDURAL RULES FOR THE CONDUCT OI' CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS - Page Seven
c) Members of the Audience. No person in the audience shall engage in
disorderly conduct such as hand clapping, stamping of feet, whistling,
using profane language, yelling, and similar demonstrations, which conduct
disturbs the peace and good order of the meeting, or refuse to comply with
the lawful orders of the Presiding Officer. Upon instructions from the
Presiding Officer it shall be the duty of the Sergeant at Arms to remove
any such person from the Council Chamber and to place him under arrest.
d) Persons Authorized to be Within Rail. No person excpet members of the
Council and the City staff shall be permitted wtihin the rail without the
consent of the Presiding Officer.
e) Enforcement of Decorum. The Chief of Police, or such member or members
Of the Police Department as he may designate, shall be Sergeant at Arms of
the City Council and shall carry out all orders given by the Presiding
Officer for the purpose of maintaining order and decorum at the Council
meetings. Any Councilman may move to require the Presiding Officer to
enforce the rules and the affirmative vote of a majority of the Council
shall require him to do so.
19. Motions -- Second' Not Required. A motion by any member of the Council,
including the Presiding Officer, may be considered by the Council.without
receiving a second.
20. Voting Procedure. Any vote of the Council, including a roll call vote,
may be registered by the members by answering "Yes" for an affirmative
vote or "No" for a negative vote upon his name being called by the City
Clerk, or by pressing a switch to cause a green light to show for an
affirmative vote or a red light to show for a negative vote upon a vote
being called for by the Presiding Officer. The result of any vote regis-
tered by means of a lighting system shall be audibly announced by the
City Clerk and recorded in the minutes as the vote.
21. Disqualification for Conflict of Interest. Any Councilman who is dis-
qualified from voting on a particular matter by reason of a conflict of
interest shall publicly ,state or have the Presiding Officer state the
nature of such disqualification in open meeting. Where no clearly dis-
qualifying conflict of interest appears, the matter of disqualification
may, at the request of the Councilman affected, be decided by the other
Councilmen. A Councilman who is disqualified by reason of a conflict of
Interest in any matter shall not remain in his seat during the debate
and vote on such matter, but shall request and be given the permission
of the Presiding Officer to step down from the Council table and leave
the Council Chamber. A Councilman stating such disqualification shall
not be counted as a part of a quorum and shall be considered absent for
the purpose of determining the outcome of any vote on such matter.