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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC RES 03-010 A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE STANDING RULES OF CONDUCT FOR CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS FOR THE YEAR 2003 Meeting Sheet IIIIIIVIIIVIIIVIIIVIIIVIIIIIIIIIII 104499 Box: 31 Folder: RES 2003 Document: CC RES 03-010 A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE STANDING RULES OF CONDUCT FOR CIN COUNCIL MEETINGS FOR THE YEAR 2003 1 • CITY OF ST. ANTHONY RESOLUTION 03-010 A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE STANDING RULES OF CONDUCT FOR CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS FOR THE YEAR 2003 BE IT RESOLVED,that the City Council of the City of St. Anthony hereby adopts the City Council Standing Rules 2003 for conducting City Council meetings during the year 2003 which said rules are attached herewith. • Adopted this I L4—day of 5 yi Lw r� ,2003. r- / 1 ayo ATTEST: . City Clerk Reviewed for Administration: CityManger • CITY OF ST. ANTHONY 2002 STANDING RULES FOR CONDUCT OF CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS INTRODUCTION In the belief that the best decisions are made by the best informed decision makers and that the public decision process is best served when the public has every opportunity to present views, the following rules are established to govern regular and special Council meetings as well as formal public hearings. There are several goals behind these rules. In general, free and open discussion by all interested parties should be an essential part of the decision-making process. The Council process should have as little procedural overhead as possible. Time is better spent on substantial matters rather than performa matters. MEMBERSHIP The formal Council membership consists of the four Councilmembers and the Mayor. All five have one vote each and all five can introduce motions. For purposes of leading the • meeting, the Mayor, or in the absence of the Mayor, the Mayor Pro Tem, will be considered the Chairperson. A quorum of the Council is three members. A quorum is required to do official business. Meetings of the Council shall be held at City Hall on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm. Council work sessions will be called from time to time, as the Mayor and Council deem necessary, Work sessions will typically be held on the first Tuesday of the month and will begin at 7:00 pm. RULES Order of Business The following shall be the order of business of the Council: CALL TO ORDER PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ROLL CALL APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA PROCLAMATIONS AND RECOGNITIONS • COMMUNITY FORUM - Individuals may address the City Council about any item not included on the regular agenda. Speakers are requested to come to the podium, state their name and address for the secretary's record, and limit their remarks to five minutes. Generally, the City Council will not take official action on items discussed at this time, but may typically refer the matter to staff for a future report or direct that the matter be scheduled on an upcoming agenda. CONSENT AGENDA - These items are considered routine and will a enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a Councilmember or citizen so requests, in which event the item will be removed from the Consent Agenda and placed elsewhere on the agenda. PUBLIC HEARINGS COMMISSIONS AND STAFF REPORTS GENERAL POLICY BUSINESS OF THE COUNCIL REPORTS FROM COUNCILMEMBERS AND CITY MANAGER INFORMATION AND ANNOUNCEMENTS ADJOURNMENT • Agenda To be considered, an item must be on the agenda and the agenda must be distributed to all the Councilmembers and any other persons having responsibility for an item at least three working days prior to the meeting. An agenda can be modified with addenda by a majority vote but this should be used only for minor items or items with extreme time constraints. An item can be moved from the consent agenda to the action agenda at the request of any Councilmember. Since there will be audience and cable TV viewers not familiar with each item, the chair will give a brief explanation of each item as it is addressed. The order of items on the agenda need not be followed absolutely. The Mayor may adjust the order in the interest of: • Filling in time before a scheduled item, i.e., a public hearing. • Grouping several items to best make use of consultant time. • Accommodating individuals who have attended the meeting specifically to provide • input on an item. -2- • Process - Regular and Special Council Meetings For these proceedings the Council will use the "open discussion" procedure. That is, discussion is open to any member before or after a motion is made. This privilege is also extended to the City Manager, and any of the consultants who may have an interest in or can contribute to the item at hand. The Mayor can make liberal use of the "unanimous consent" procedure. That is, items that in the judgement of the Mayor are likely to be unanimously approved can be introduced for approval with the statement: "If there are no objections..........stands approved (or denied)." If any Council member has an objection, the item reverts to the standard motion procedure. This "unanimous consent" procedure cannot be used for items requiring formal votes, i.e., resolutions or for approval of the consent agenda. The standard motion procedure is that each motion requires a second. This also applies to amendments. Any motion, by any member, shall be reduced to writing upon request of any member. No motion shall be put to a vote until it has been stated by the recorder at the request of any member of the Council. To eliminate confusion, only one amendment will be considered at a time and that amendment must be germane to the motion. An amendment cannot itself be amended. If a change to an amendment is deemed appropriate, the amendment should be withdrawn and reintroduced accordingly. • The general mode of voting will be by acclamation but with enough clarity that the individual votes can be recorded in the minutes. If in doubt, the clerk can request clarification. Each individual's vote will be entered in the minutes. Any member may abstain from voting or disqualify himself/herself. The reason for disqualification or abstention must be stated by the member and entered into the minutes. If a member disqualifies himself/herself, he/she may leave the room while the issue is being considered. Roberts Rules of Order (Revised) shall govern the Council procedures not covered by the Standing Rules of the Council. The meeting will be video taped and the tape will be retained for 3 months following approval of the minutes of the meeting. The standard retention can be extended if in the judgement of the Mayor, City Manager, City Clerk or any Councilmember, such action is warranted. If the Council action is the result of a resident request and that request is denied in whole or in part, reasons of the fact supporting the denial will be made part of the public record. -3- • Process - Public Hearings 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 identification form and speak into 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 vote extend the time where written input will be taken to a day not later than 1 week before the next 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 be out of order. The Council will refrain from initiating a discussion during the pubic 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. If the public hearing is to set an assessment rate, the assessment formula(s) under discussion cannot be altered. This implies that the Council has fully discussed any formulas prior to the hearing and that the appropriate legal, fiscal and engineering . consultants have passed on formula(s) viability, legality, and feasibility. -4- • If the hearing is to set an assessment, it cannot be scheduled later than the first meeting in September. This is to allow time to correct errors prior to the time needed to certify the rolls to the county. MAYOR PRO TEM The Mayor Pro Tem shall be appointed in January of each year. The first Mayor Pro Tem after adoption of this rule shall be the Councilmember with the most continuous time on the Council. The position shall then be rotated among Councilmembers based on time of continuous service. If two or more members have identical seniority, the appointment shall be based on alphabetical order by last name. A Councilmember may not serve as Mayor Pro Tem twice until all other Councilmembers have been Mayor Pro Tem. A Councilmember may decline the appointment for good cause and maintain his/her place in the rotation for appointment the following year. ADOPTION/MODIFICATION/SUSPENSION These rules can be adopted, modified or suspended in whole or in part by a majority vote of the Council. If suspended, they are automatically reinstated at the next meeting. ANNUAL REVIEW These rules will be reviewed annually at the first meeting in January. INTERPRETATION The Mayor will interpret the rules. However, the Mayor's interpretation can be appealed by any Councilmember and can be overruled by a majority vote. -5-