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11• Process - Public Hearing Since a public hearing is a more formal procedure and often requires certain procedures and actions to be legal, the meeting rules are changed accordingly. The primary aim of a public hearing is to take input from the public. To accomplish this in the most effective manner, the Mayor will introduce the hearing with an explanation of the issues. The Mayor will give this explanation or a person designated by the Mayor. The use of explanatory visual aids is encouraged. Following the explanation, input from the public will be taken. Prior to accepting input though, the Mayor will state the areas where input will be appropriate, the maximum time to be allotted to any individual presenter and any other procedural rules deemed appropriate to guarantee that all concerned parties have a fair and adequate opportunity to be heard. All individuals wishing to speak must fill out and submit and identification form and speak in to a recording microphone. Individuals not wishing to speak in public may provide a written statement. The Council may take up to 15 minutes to review written statements presented at the meeting. If the Council decides not to act on the issue at the public hearing meeting, it may by majority note extend the time where written input will be taken to a day not later than one week before the net meeting where a deciding vote is planned.. All speakers are expected to be business -like, to the point and courteous. Anyone not abiding by these rules will be considered to out of order. The Council will refrain from initiating a discussion during the public input phase of the hearing except to clarify points brought up. Once the public testimony phase is complete, the Mayor will announce the public hearing to be closed and the Council will revert back to its open discussion mode of operation. From this point on, public input will only be appropriate when solicited by the Council. It shall be the intent of the Council to vote on the issue at the same meeting as the public hearing and as close in time to the public hearing as possible. Should it be necessary to defer voting until a later date, the procedure will be clearly explained to the audience. If the motion contains conditions, as may occur in conditional use or variance requests, those conditions will be conveyed in writing to the requestor. If the public hearing is the result of a resident request and that request is denied in whole or in part, reasons of fact supporting the denial will be made part of the public record. F:\Council Meetings\Councihstanding rules of conduct.doc 35