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.