HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Res 4792 2000-03-13
RESOLUTION NUMBER ~
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF SEAL BEACH, CALIFORNIA,
EST ABLlSHING PROCEDURAL RULES FOR
CONDUCT OF COUNCIL MEETINGS.
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEAL BEACH DOES HEREBY RESOLVE AS
FOLLOWS.
Section I
Section 2.
Section 3
Section 4.
Section 5.
Regular Meetings. Regular meetings of the City Council shall be held on the
second and fourth Monday of each month at 7:00 p.m. (Established by Ordinance
Number 1056 - City Charter Section 407).
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Regular Adjourned Meetings. The City Council may adjourn or readjourn to a
date and hour certain which shall be specified in the adjournment and when so
adjourned each adjourned meeting shall be a regular meeting for all purposes.
(City Charter Section 407)
Special Meetings Special meetings may be called at any time by the mayor, or
by a majority ofthe City Council, by delivering personally or by mail, facsimile
or other electronic transmission written notice to each councilman and to each
local newspaper of general circulation, radio or television station requestillg
lIotice in writing Notice must be delivered at least 24 hours before the time of
the meeting as specified in the notice. The call and notice shall specifY the time
alld place of the special meeting and the business to be transacted. No other
business shall be considered Written notice may be dispensed with as to any
councilman who at or prior to the time the meeting convelles files with, the City
Clerk a written waiver of notice Such waiver may be given by telegram. Written
notice may also be dispensed with as to any councilman who is actually present at
the meetillg at the time it convenes. (Reference City Charter Section 408).
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Meetings to be Public -- Exception for Closed Sessiolls. All regular and special
meetings of the City Council shall be public However, the City Council may
hold closed sessions during a regular or special meeting, from which the public
may be excluded, for the purpose of considering the matters referred to in
Government Code Sectiolls 54950 et seq.
No member of the City Council, employee of the City, or any other person present
during a closed session of the Council shall disclose to any person the content or
substance of any discussion which took place during the closed session unless the
City council authorizes the disclosure of the information by majority vote.
Order of Business.
a) Call to Order
b) Pledge of Allegiance
c) Roll Call
d) Approval of Agenda
e) Annoullcements
f) Public Comments
g) PresentationsIProclamations
h) Council Items
i) Consent Calendar
j) Items Removed from the Consellt Calelldar
k) Public Hearings
I) New Business
m) Reports from Staff
n) Council Comments
0) Closed Session
p) Adjournment
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The order. of business shall not be changed except by majority vote of the City
Council
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Section 6
Section 7
Section 8.
Section 9.
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Resolution Nurnber~i17'~
Waiver of Reading - Ordinances and Resolutiolls in Full. Full reading of all
ordinances and resolutions adopted at a regular or adjourned meeting may be
waived by ullanimous vote of the City Council by one motion (e.g. during
approval of the consent calendar). Any member of the public may request full
reading of resolutions or ordillances with consent of the Council. (City charter
Section 412)
Ordinances. Prior Approval by Administrative Staff. All ordinances, resolutions
and contract documents shall, before presentation to the Council, be approved as
to form and legality by the City Attorney and examined and approved for
administratioll by the City Manager or his representative.
Reading of Minutes. Unless a reading of the millutes ofa council meeting is
requested by a member of the Council, the millutes may be approved without
reading if the City Clcrk has previously furnished each member with a copy.
Directions for changes in the minutes shall be made only by a majority action of
the City Council.
Rules of Debate
a) Presiding ofiicer may debate alld vote, etc The Mayor or other member of
the council presiding may move, second, and debate from the chair, subject
only to such limitations of debate as are by these rules imposed on all
members and shall not be deprived of any of the rights and privileges of a
councihnember by reason for his/her acting as the presiding officer.
b) Getting the Floor -- Improper References to be Avoided. Every member
desiring to speak shall address the chair, and, upon recognition by the
presiding officer, shall confine himself to the question under debate, avoiding
all personalities and indecorous language.
c) Interruptions. A member, once recognized, shall not be interrupted when
speaking unless it be to call him to order, or as otherwise provided in these
rules. Ifa member, while speaking, is called to order, he shall stop speaking
until the question of order is detennined, and, if in order, he shall be permitted
to proceed.
d) Motion to reconsider. A motion to reconsider action taken by the Council
may be made only on the date action was taken or at the next subsequent
meeting It may be made whether immediately during the same session, or at
a recessed or adjourned session. This motion must be made by one of the
prevailing side, but may be seconded by any member, and may be made at any
time and have precedence over all other motion or while a member has the
floor; it is debatable. Nothing in these rules prevents a member of the Council
from making or remaking the same of any other motion at a subsequent
meeting orthe Council.
e) Remarks of Councilmember - When Entered in Minutes A councihnember
may request, through the presiding officer, the privilege of having an abstract
of his statement on any subject under consideration by the Council entered in
the minutes.
f) Limitation of Debate. No councilmember shall be allowed to speak more thall
once upon a particular subject until every other councilmember desiring to do
so has spoken.
g) Councilmembers shall limit their comments under City Council Items to no
more than fifteen (15) minutes each and such time limit shall also be imposed
on other City Council agellda items
R,esolu:ti~n Number J./79~
Section 10.
Section II.
Sectioll 12.
Consent Calendar Items on the Consent Calendar are considered to be routine
and are enacted by one motion unless prior to approval of the agenda, a member
of the Council, staff or public, requests a specific item be removed from the
Consent Calendar for separate action.
Manner of Addressing Council.
a) Each person desiring to address the Council shall approach the podium and
whell recognized by the chair shall step to the microphone, state his/her name
and address for the record, state the subject he/she wishes to discuss, state
whom he/she is representing if he/she represents an organization or other
persons, and, unless further time is granted by majority vote of the Council,
shall limit his/her remarks to no more than five (5) minutes. All remarks shall
be addressed to the Council as a whole and not to an individual member No
question shall be asked ofa councilmember or a member of the City staff
without the permission of the presiding officer
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b) The presiding officer shall not recognize the same person to speak more than
once on the same subject except at the discretioll of the City Council unless
that person is deemed to be able to give expert advice needed by the Council
in their deliberations.
c) Spokesman for Group of Persons. In order to expedite matters and to avoid
repetitious presentations, whenever any group of persons wishes to address
the Council on the same subject matter, the presiding officer may request that
a spokesman be chosen by the group to address the Council and, in case
additional matters are to be presented by any other member of the group, to
limit the number of persons addressillg the Coullcil.
d) After Motion After a motion is made by a council member, it may be
secollded for discussion, and such discussion limited by councilmembers, or
to include discussion by the public, and the second shall so state. Discussion
on the subject shall then be limited to the Council unless a Council majority
requests that hearing from the public is in order at that time. Hearing from the
public shall be closed by order of the chairman and thereafter no member of
the public shall interrupt or address the Council from the audience on the
matter under consideration without first securing permission to do so by a
majority vote of the City Council.
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Rules of Decorum.
a) Councilmembers. While Ihe Council is in session, the members must preserve
order and decorum, and a member shall neither by conversation or otherwise
delay or interrupt the proceedings or the peace of the Council nor disturb a
member while speaking or refuse to obey the orders of the presidillg officer.
b) Employees Members of the City staff and employees shall observe the same
rules of order and decorum applicable to the City Council. Members of the
City staff may leave their seats during a meeting without first obtaining the
permission of the presiding officer,
c) Persons Addressing the Council. A person making impertinent, slanderous, or
profane remarks or who becomes boisterous while addressing the Council
shall be called to order by the presiding officer and, if such conduct continues,
may at the discretion of the presiding officer be ordered barred from further
audience before the Council during that meeting.
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d) Members of the Audience. A person in the audience who engages in
disorderly conduct such as stamping offeet, whistling, using profane
language, yelling, or any other type of demonstration, Ihe conduct of which
disturbs the peace and good order of the meeting, or who refuses to comply
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Resolution Numbe~j1~~
with the lawful orders of the presidillg officer, shall, upon instructions from
the presiding officer, be removed from the Council Chambers by the Sergeant
at Arms.
Section 13. Enforcement of Decorum. The Chief of Police, or such member of the police
department as he may designate, is Sergeant at Arms of the City Council and shall
carl)' out all orders given by the presiding officer for the purpose of maintaining
order and decorum at the Council meetings. A councilmember may move to
require the presiding officer to enforce the rules and the affirmative vote if a
majority of the Council shall require him/her to do so. (Reference City Charter
Section 410)
Section 14. Failure to Vote. EveI)' coullcilmember present shall vote unless he disqualifies
himself by reason of conflict of illterest. An abstention is an indication that a
councilmembcr does not wish his/her position to become known, or he/she has no
preference of position on the issue. For purposes of action of the Council, an
abstention shall neither be counted for the majority nor for the minority and shall
therefore have the effect in restllt of the vote whell counted, as though no vote
were cast The recorded and published vote, however, shall show the abstention.
Section 15. Tie Vote. Tie votes shall be lost motions and may be reconsidered
Section 16. Challging Vote A member may change his vote only ifhe makes a timely
request to do so immediately following the anllouncement of the vote by the City
Clerk and prior to the time that the next item in the order of business is taken up.
A councilmember who publicly annOUllces that he is abstaining from voting on a
particular matter may not subsequently withdraw his abstention.
Section 17. Establishillg Meeting Time Limit. The City Council shall not consider any new
agenda item after II 00 p.m. at any meetillg No later than 10.45 p.m the City
Council shall determine by a vote thereof to cOlltinue the meeting until the
remailling agenda items are resolved, or reschedule the remaining items to a date
certain prior to, the next meeting, or continue the items until the next meeting.
Section 18. Final Adjournment Hour. The City Council shall adjourn any meeting no later
than 11.59 p.m. on the date of said meeting.
Sectioll 19. Waiver of Adjournment Time. The provisions of Sections 17 and 18 may be
waived for any individual item only upon a majority vote of the City Council
PASSED, APPROVED and ADOPTED by~City Cmil of the City of Seal Beach,
California, at a meeting thereof held on thr~ay of ~h 2000 by the following vote:
AYES
Councilmemb
NOES:
ABSENT:
Councilmembers
1:.:
ATTEST:
Resolution Number~7~~
ST ATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF ORANGE ) SS
CITY OF SEAL BEACH )
I, Joanlle M. Yeo, City Clerk of the City of Seal Beach, califor'f'fk..:irebY certifY that the
foregoillg resolution is the original copy of Resolution Number on file in the office of
the City Clerk, passed, app;;:/1i1d adoPte~i~il 0 the City of Seal Beach at a
meeting thereof held on the _day of ,2000.
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