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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2947 Council Rules ORDINANCE NO. ')..C\41 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE ASHLAND MUNICIPAL CODE, CHAPTER 2.04, RULES OF THE CITY COUNCIL WHEREAS, Article 8. Section 3 Council Meetings and Rules of the Ashland City Charter provides: The Council shall hold a regular meeting in the City at least once each month at a time and place which it designates. Other meetings may be called as the Council deems necessary, with notice given the Mayor and Council members and the public as provided by ordinance. Minutes of any such special meeting shall be presented at the next regular Council meeting. The Council shall adopt rules for its proceedings. WHEREAS, the City Council has met ten times over the course of one year to amend Ashland Municipal Code 2.04 Rules of the City Council WHEREAS, the City Council intends to further amend Sections 2.04.090,2.04.010 and 2.04.020 of the revised Rules of the City Council at a future date, and WHEREAS, the City Council intends with this amendment to replace Ashland Municipal Code 2.04 as set forth below. THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF ASHLAND DO ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1: Section 2.04, Rules of the City Council, is hereby amended to read as follows: 2.04 Rules of City Council Section 2.04.010 The Municipal Charter ofthe City, Article VIII Section 3, and the Ashland Municipal Code as well as the Oregon Revised Statutes governs many meeting requirements and actions of the Council. AUTHORITY These operating policies and procedures are established and adopted under the authority granted in the Ashland City Charter, Article VIII, Section 3. Section 2.04.020 MEETINGS A. Regular Meetings. The regular sessions of the Council are on the first and third Tuesday of each month unless otherwise arranged, beginning at 7:00 p.m. Meetings are required to end no later than 10:30 p.m. B. Special Meeting. 1 A special meeting may be called either by the Mayor or two members of the Council. Notice ofthe time and place of such special meeting and the subjects to be acted upon shall be delivered to all members of the Council at least 36 hours in advance ofthe time of the meeting, except in the case of an emergency, and the Council may consider and act only upon such matters as contained in the notice. C. Study Sessions. The Mayor or two members of the Council may call a study session at any time with 36-hour notice for the purpose of informing members of the Council as to City affairs. Study sessions are held so that Council can confer with staff and other experts on items under consideration that may eventually require official actions. Council may not deliberate towards a decision but can give staff direction to prepare materials for a regular Council meeting. D. Executive Sessions. All meetings of the City Council shall be held in open sessions, except meetings that may be closed for those purposes specified in the Oregon Public Meetings Law (ORS 192.610 to 192.690). These purposes include, but are not limited to, the employment and dismissal of public employees, the performance evaluation of the City Administrator and City Attorney, labor negotiations, real property transaction negotiations, and consulting with legal counsel on pending or threatened litigation. If any Councilors do not feel that an item should be in executive session they should state so in the executive session. Notice of executive sessions shall be given as required by State law and such notice must state the specific provision of law authorizing the session. The Mayor and City Councilors will act in accordance with State law regarding confidentiality of information discussed in Executive Sessions. At the commencement of each executive session, the presiding officer must state on the record that executive session information is confidential and may not be reported. Ifit does not so specify, the proceedings may be reported. E. Notice of Meetings. Advance notice of at least 36 hours shall be provided for all meetings. Notice shall be sent to a newspaper with general local circulation and posted prominently on the City's Web site. In the case of an emergency or when a state of emergency has been declared, public notice appropriate to the circumstances shall be provided and reasons justifying the lack of 36-hour notice shall be included in the minutes of such meeting. F. Quorum. As provided in Article VIII, Section 4 ofthe City Charter, the Mayor and not less than three Councilors, or four Councilors, constitute a quorum. A simple majority of the quorum present determines the action on any motion, question, ordinance, or 2 resolution. On questions requiring a two-thirds vote of the Council, as provided in the City Charter, there shall be required an affirmative vote of at least four Councilors to exercise any such special powers. If the roll call shows no quorum present, as defined by Section 4 of Article VIII of the City Charter, the Councilors in attendance may direct the Chief of Police to notify the absent members, except those known to be unavoidably detained, that their presence is required to enable the Council to proceed with business. Should any then fail soon to appear, the members present shall adjourn to a date fixed by them and all agenda items will be continued to the next regular meeting. G. Emergency Meeting Procedures and Quorum. The City Administrator is responsible for implementation of the Emergency Management Plan. When the City Administrator determines that a state of emergency exists, the administrator will make a declaration to that effect and request the Mayor to call a special meeting of the Council in order to ratify the declaration of emergency. The special meeting of the Council will occur as soon as possible after the declaration of emergency. A quorum of the Council may not be possible due to emergency circumstances and is not required for the special meeting. Notice ofthe special meeting can be made in the most expedient manner determined by the Mayor and need not be 36 hours in advance. H. Robert's Rules of Order. Robert's Rules of Order shall be the authority for the government ofthe Council during its sessions, when not in conflict with the City Charter and these code rules. Failure to strictly follow Robert's Rules of Order shall not be cause to void or otherwise disturb a decision or action of the Council. The Council will strive to be clear in its proceedings. I. Voting. When a question or motion is put to a vote by the chair, each member present shall vote for or against the motion unless the Council excuses that member from so doing. If thereafter the Mayor or any member calls for a roll call vote, then each member must vote. The Mayor can only vote in the case of a tie, and then is required to vote. 1. Reconsidering a Vote. A motion to reconsider a vote can be made only once and at the session at which the motion or matter was adopted, or at the next regular meeting of the Council, provided that no vote to reconsider shall be made after the ordinance, resolution, or act has been officially recorded, filed or transmitted or otherwise gone out of the possession of the Council. K. Council Deliberation. It is the duty of the Mayor or presiding officer to ensure that each Council member has the opportunity to speak. Councilors should ask the Mayor to be recognized. No member shall speak more than once until every member choosing to speak shall have 3 spoken or waived their right to do so. No member shall speak twice on a motion on the floor without leave of the Mayor or presiding officer. Council members speak only for themselves and shall be open, direct and candid. They work to keep discussion moving, and call for a "process check" if the discussion becomes bogged down. Time limits may be set on topics by the Mayor, by the presiding officer, or by a consensus of the Council. L. City Attorney as Parliamentarian. The City Attorney is designated as parliamentarian for the Council. Questions of parliamentary rules may be referred to the City Attorney through the presiding officer for interpretation. The final ruling rests with the presiding officer. Section 2.04.030 AGENDAS The City Administrator is responsible for the preparation of the Council agenda. A. Topics will be added to a Council agenda based on timeliness of the topic and with consideration of the number of items already scheduled for the Council. Matters to be considered by the Council shall be placed on an agenda to be prepared by the City Administrator from the following: 1. All items considered by the Council during study sessions, which require official action from the Council. 2. All items which are required by law or policy to be presented to the Council. 3. All other items that the City Administrator, City Attorney or Mayor present to the Council for action. 4. Items placed on the agenda in accordance with paragraphs B and C of this Section. 5. Requests of City Boards, Commissions, and Committees. B. A Councilor may request that an item prior to initial Council discussion, that does not involve staff time, policy research, or drafting of an ordinance, be placed on the Council's agenda. The Councilor shall notify the City Administrator no later than noon of the Wednesday prior to the Council meeting. The City Administrator shall determine the order of business of the item. The City Administrator may request that the matter be deferred until a later meeting if the agenda of a particular meeting is already lengthy. Council members will endeavor to have subjects and any materials they wish considered submitted prior to finalization of the Council packet. C. A Councilor who desires major policy research and discussion or drafting of an ordinance should first raise the issue at a meeting under Other Business from Council members prior to more than two hours of any staff time being spent on the issue. The Councilor may also request that the discussion of this item be formally placed on the agenda in accordance with paragraph B of this Section. The Council should consider items in light of City priorities, including adopted City Council Goals, and workload. The Council must agree to proceed with an issue or ordinance before staff time is 4 spent preparing the matter for Council action. The Councilor may present information or a position paper or ask for a department report or committee recommendation. Councilors who agree that staff time can be spent on a particular item are not bound to support the issue when it comes before the Council for a vote. D. Any topic may be added to an agenda by a majority vote of the Councilors present. Generally these items should be limited to items of timeliness or emergencies. E. Postponing Agenda Items. If a Councilor will be absent from an upcoming regular meeting, the Councilor may request during a regular meeting that consideration of an agenda item be postponed to a future regular meeting. The request will be honored if the majority of the Council votes in favor of postponement and the matter is not time-sensitive. If the request to postpone is made outside a regular Council meeting, the Councilor requesting the postponement shall submit a request to the Mayor or City Administrator in writing or by email as early as possible. The request to postpone will be honored unless the majority ofthe Council votes not to postpone the item or if the matter is time-sensitive. F. Council Packets. Written materials, from Councilors, staff and citizens, which are related to agenda items to be included in the Council packet, must be submitted to the City Administrator's office no later than 12:00 noon six days in advance of the Council meeting for which it is intended. Materials submitted must include author's name and address. G. Study Session Agenda Preparation. The City Administrator prepares the agenda for the study sessions from: 1. Items requested by the Mayor and members of the Council to be listed on the agenda. 2. Items deemed appropriate by the City Administrator. 3. Business from the Council pertaining to committee reports and other business. 4. Items requested by City Commissions, Committees or Boards. Items appearing on the Council study session agenda shall be assigned a time limit and the Mayor shall hold discussion to within the time frame, unless the consensus of the Council is to extend the time limit until an issue or item is discussed and resolved. Section 2.04.040 CONDUCT OF MEETINGS A. Presiding Officer. The Mayor, or in the Mayor's absence, the Chair of the Council, shall preside at the meetings of the City Council. In the absence of these officers at any meeting, the Councilors present shall appoint a Chair Pro-Tern and proceed with the meeting. The Chair, except the Mayor, may vote on all motions other than appeals from decisions made while acting as presiding officer. 5 The presiding officer shall be responsible for ensuring order and decorum is maintained. Comments and disagreements should be addressed to the topic at hand and avoid negative personal remarks. Attendees and speakers are required to strictly abide by the directions of the presiding officer. Behavior or actions that are unreasonably loud or disruptive shall be cause for removal from Council meetings. Failure to abide by the presiding officer's instructions constitutes "disruption of a lawful assembly" as provided in ORS 166.025(1)(c). Disruptive behavior includes engaging in violent or distracting action, making loud or disruptive noise or using loud or disruptive language, and refusing to obey an order ofthe presiding officer. Signs are not permitted and will be considered disruptive. · The presiding officer may set time limits on agenda items. Section 2.04.050 ORDER OF BUSINESS At the first meeting in January, after the roll call, the presentation of the Mayor's State ofthe City address shall be first in order. The Mayor or presiding officer may change the order of business on the agenda. The required order of business has been established by ordinance is as follows: A. Roll Call. B. Approval of minutes of the previous meeting. Ifthere are no corrections or objections to the minutes, they shall be considered approved; otherwise, to be approved by vote. The minutes as approved shall be signed by the Mayor and City Recorder. C. Special presentations, proclamations and awards. This item on the agenda is used to acknowledge special recognition and awards given to the City or for the Mayor to announce proclamations, which serve to encourage and educate the community. Proclamations shall be made and placed on the agenda at the discretion of the Mayor. Requests for recognition under this agenda item should be submitted in writing to the Mayor. D. Consent agenda. Routine business items may be listed by the City Administrator under this item, which shall be acted upon in its entirety, except that the Mayor or any member of the Council may request that any item be moved to the regular agenda under the appropriate section of business. E. Public hearings shall conclude at 9:00 p.m. and be continued to a future date to be set by the Council, unless the Council by a two-thirds vote of those present, extends the hearing(s) for one-half hour until 9:30 p.m. at which time the Council shall set a date for continuance and shall proceed with the balance of the agenda. Not more than two land-use appeal hearings shall be scheduled for any regular meeting of the 6 Council. The City Administrator may, in the administrator's discretion, schedule additional legislative hearings depending on the anticipated length of the Council meeting. Persons wishing to speak are to submit a "speaker request form" prior to the commencement ofthe hearing and deliver the form to the City Recorder. The Mayor or presiding officer is to inform the audience of this requirement to submit the form prior to the commencement of the hearing. No testimony will be accepted on public hearings that have been closed. F. Public forum. Public forum is an opportunity for the public to comment on items which are not included on the agenda. The agenda for public forum is 15 minutes, unless a majority of the Council votes to extend the time. Persons wishing to speak are to submit a "speaker request form" prior to the commencement of the forum and deliver the form to the City Recorder. The Mayor or presiding officer is to inform the audience on requirements for submission of the form. Members of the public may speak about any topic during the public forum, unless the topic is indeed on the agenda for the same meeting. If a member of the public wishes to speak on an agenda item or public hearing item they may do so at the time set aside for those topics (see Section E. above). Public forum is not to be used to provide or gather additional testimony or information on a quasi-judicial matter. Public testimony will not be accepted on a public hearing where the record has been closed if the matter is still pending. The Mayor will set time limits for people who ask to speak during public forum. In general the time limits should be set to enable all people who wish to speak to complete their testimony. Time limits shall not be so short as to not allow speakers to address their topic. When possible and feasible, preference will be given to individuals who reside within the Ashland city limits. Persons who do not reside in the City may be placed at the end of the list of those wishing to speak at public forum. G. Unfinished business. H. New business. 1. Ordinances, resolutions and contracts. a. Every ordinance is to be enacted in accordance with Article X of the City Charter. Copies of the ordinance shall be e-mailed to Council members and the Mayor at least fourteen days prior to the meeting. Council members may review the ordinance and forward suggestions for changes to the City Attorney for consideration. Minor changes may be incorporated, substantive changes will be considered at the time of first reading. Any substantive changes to the ordinance 7 must be verbally noted at first reading. Council members must submit comments to the City Attorney no later than 12:00 noon on the Wednesday prior to Council meeting. Titles of lengthy ordinances will be published in the local paper at least seven days in advance of the Council meeting thus allowing the ordinance to be read by title only at the Council meeting. b. Resolutions may be placed on the consent agenda and voted upon. Resolutions do not require a roll-call vote. c. The voting on all ordinances may be by roll-call vote and recorded in the minutes showing those numbers voting for and those voting against. J. Other business from Council members. Section 2.04.060 IDENTIFICA nON OF FISCAL IMPACT OF POLICY DECISIONS A. When the City Council adopts a program or policy, it shall indicate how it expects that program or policy will be funded; e.g., which existing taxes or fees the Council expects to increase and by how much, or which current City programs or department expenditures the Council expects to reduce to fund the new program or policy. However, ifthe Council cannot reasonably identify a potential funding source, it shall so indicate. B. As used in this Section the term "program or policy with significant revenue implications" includes an ordinance or a resolution in which implementation may entail expenditures in any budget year in excess of one and one-half percent (1.5%) of the City's annual General Fund budget, and which may require an increase to existing taxes or fees or an imposition of new taxes or fees. C. The provisions ofthis Section shall not apply to extraordinary expenditures in situations of, or necessitated by, public emergencies. Section 2.04.070 RIGHTS OF CITIZENS Citizens may speak on any item not on the agenda during public forum. Any citizen has the right to present an item to the City Council during public forum. On behalf of the City, any Councilor may request the item be placed on a future agenda. Section 2.04.080 CONDUCT WITH CITY EMPLOYEES The City Council will work with City staff in a spirit of teamwork and mutual cooperation. 8 A. Councilors may make inquiries of staff to increase their understanding of an issue or action. Councilors should limit requests for information from staff to questions that may be answered with minimal research. Requests that require significant staff time or resources (two hours or more) should be directed to the City Administrator and must be approved by the Mayor, City Administrator, City Attorney or by a majority vote of the City Council. B. Written information given by the Mayor, Councilors, City Administrator, City Attorney, or City Staff, including materials requested by individual Councilors and the Mayor, generally will be distributed to all Councilors with a notation indicating who has requested that the information be provided. C. Individual Councilors should respect the separation between policy-making and administration. They shall not pressure or direct City employees in a way that could contravene the will of the Council as a whole or limits the options of the council. They must not interfere with work performance, undermine the authority of supervisors, or prevent the full council from having access to relevant information. Notwithstanding this paragraph, nothing shall hamper the Council's ability to evaluate the performance of the City Administrator or the City Attorney. D. The Mayor and council members should strive not to criticize any person in a public meeting or in public electronic mail messages. The same expectation applies to City staff in the exercise of their official duties. Discussions and disagreements should focus on the content of the topic at hand. Nothing should limit a Councilor or staff person's right to report wrongdoing. E. Councilors with a concern about the performance of a particular staff person should express that concern to the Mayor, City Administrator, City Attorney. Section 2.04.090 COMMISSIONS, COMMITTEES and BOARDS A. Establishing Commissions, Committees or Boards. B. Council Ad-hoc Committees. C. Membership Appointments. D. Mayor Membership on Ashland Budget Committee. E. Student Membership on Commission and Committees. F. Membership Removal Process. G. Changing or Dissolving a Commission, Committee or Board. Section 2.04.100 OPERATING POLICIES and PROCEDURES COMMISSIONS, COMMITTEES and BOARDS A. Public Meeting Law. B. Robert's Rules of Order. C. Deliberation. D. Agendas and Minutes. 9 E. Absences. F. Quorum. G. Code of Ethics. H. Lobbying. I. Goals. J. Role of Staff. K. Final Decision-Making. L. Number of Meetings. M. Notice. N. Representing the Commission, Committee or Board. O. Budget. P. Expenses. Q. Committees. R. Suspension of Operating Procedures Section 2.04.110 COUNCIL LIAISONS A. Role and Responsibilities of Council Liaisons. B. Attendance. C. Deliberations. D. Respect. E. Council Information. F. Vacancies. G. Vacancies. H. Reporting to the Council. I. Liaison Appointment Process. J. Removal from a Liaison Assignment. Section 2.04.120 COUNCILOR EXPENSES A. The City will reimburse a Councilor or the Mayor for expenses that are directly related to City business in accordance with the City's reimbursement policy. Councilors are required to submit all statements as required by ORS 244. SECTION 2.04.130 Severability. If any section, provision, clause, sentence, or paragraph of this Ordinance or the application thereof to any person or circumstances shall be held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the other sections, provisions, clauses or paragraphs of this Ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this Ordinance are declared to be severable. SECTION 2.04.140 Codification. Provisions of this Ordinance shall be incorporated in the Ashland Municipal Code and the word "ordinance" may be changed to "code", "article", "section", or another word, and the sections of this Ordinance may be renumbered, or re-Iettered, provided however 10 that Sections 2 thru 3, unincorporated Whereas clauses and boilerplate provisions need not be codified. ) The foregoi ordinance was first read by title only in accordance with Article X Section 2 ) ofthe City Charter on the f > day of~7. and du ASS and ADO on this 1b y ~ ~J B bar M. Christensen, City Recorder SIGNED and APPROVED this / 9 day of /Je~007. Reviewed as to form: \~ , Mayor 11