Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutITEM III City Council Rules of Procdedure SECTION 3- ORDER OF BUSINESS OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA Change section 3.1 - Council Committee Reports Council Committee Chairs report on action and activities of their respective Council Committees. The Chair should defer detailed reporting reqardinq resolutions and ordinances that are on the current Council aqenda until thev make the motion(s) for those issues. Change section 3.15 - Ordinances Add: The person making the motion should qive a verv brief description of the issue without simply repeatinq the ordinance title as read by the City Attornev and mav choose to comment on anv results of Committee action reqardinq the issue. Change section 3.16 - Resolutions Add: The person makinq the motion should qive a verv brief description of the issue without simplv repeatinq the resolution title as read by the Citv Attornev and mav choose to comment on any results of Committee action regardinq the issue. New paragraphs in Section 16 to clarify the role of the Committee Chair. SECTION 16 - COUNCIL COMMITTEES AND CITIZEN ADVISORY BOARDS (add these four paragraphs) 16.5 Committee Chairpersons will have broad discretion in conducting their meetings. They will generally follow Roberts Rules of Order. However, they may choose to allow informal Committee discussion without specific recognition of the speaker by the chair. 16.6 Committee Chairpersons may allow audience participation that is related to the agenda item being discussed by the Committee. Audience participation regarding subjects that have not been published as part of the agenda should not be allowed. The Chair should make it clear, when allowing audience participation, that a public hearing is not being held. 16.7 Committee Chairpersons will approve all agenda items and may, at their discretion, remove or add agenda items during the course of the meeting. 16.8 Committee Chairpersons will review and approve the minutes of Committee meetings. SECTION 18 - COUNCIL COMMUNICATION 18.1 Communications - Generallv All letters, memoranda, and interactive computer communication involving City Councilmembers and members of advisory boards and commissions, the subject of which relates to the conduct of government or the performance of any governmental function are public records. Copies of such letters, memoranda, and interactive computer communication may not be provided to the public or news media without the filing of a public records request with the City Clerk. 18.2 Written Communications - Written letters and memoranda received by the City, addressed to the Council as a body will be photocopied and provided to all Councilmembers, and a copy kept according to the City's Records Retention Schedule. 18.3 Electronic Communications A. Councilmembers are encouraged to use city email accounts to respond to email communications. This allows for proper record retention B. Informal messages with no retention value and that do not relate to the functional responsibility of the recipient or sender as a public official, such as meeting notices, reminders, telephone messages and informal notes need not be retained. Users may delete these messages once their administrative purpose is served. C. All other messages that relate to the functional responsibility of the recipient or sender as a public official constitute a public record. Such records will be automatically saved as city records, and are subject to public inspection and copying. D. Councilmembers will forward any non-city account e-mail that pertains to City business to their city email address for retention as a public record. E. If a citizen sends an e-mail to a Councilmember and requests that it be included in the record of a particular public hearing, the Councilmember will forward said e-mail to the City Clerk. F. If a Councilmember wishes to send e-mail to a city staff member, the Councilmember may send that message directly to the staff member, but shall copy said e-mail to the Mayor. G. Staff will not review e-mail unless a public records request is received. H. Councilmembers should avoid e-mail exchanges which ultimately involve four or more council members. For example, if one Councilmember communicates to two Councilmembers, then that communication is forwarded to a fourth, a quorum has now participated and a meeting subject to the Open Public Meetings Act has occurred. Note that the fourth Councilmember need not reply to participate since a Councilmember may be silent during a regular open meeting without depriving a board of its quorum. This scenario is sometimes referred to as a"rolling quorum." 1. Councilmember may send an informational e-mail to the entire Council without creating a meeting subject to the Open Public Meetings Act if it is made clear in such e-mails that the e-mail is informational only and that no response is desired. J. E-mail should be used cautiously when seeking legal advice or to discuss matters of pending litigation or other "confidential" City business. In general, e-mail is discoverable in litigation, and even deleted e-mail is not necessarily removed from the system. K. Confidential e-mail communications should not be shared with individuals other than the intended recipients, or the attorney-client privilege protecting the document from disclosure may be waived.