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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Res 4679 1999-02-08 RESOLUTION NUMBER ~ A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEAL BEACH, CALIFORNIA, ESTABLISHING PROCEDURAL RULES FOR CONDUCT OF COUNCIL MEETINGS. THE CITY COUNqIL OF THE CITY OF SEAL BEACH DOES HEREBY RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS: I Section 1. Section 2. Section 3. section 4. 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). 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 of the city Council, by delivering personally or by mail written notice to each councilman and to each local newspaper of general circulation, radio or television station requesting notice in writing. Notice must be delivered personally or by mail at least 24 hours before the time of the meeting as specified in the notice. The call and notice shall specify the time and 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 convenes 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 meeting at the time it convenes. (Reference City Charter Section 408). I Meetings to be Public -- Exception for Closed Sessions. 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 sections 54950 et seq. I 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. section 5. I Section 6. I Section 7. section 8. Section 9. I Resolution Number~~~~ Order of Business. a) Call to Order b) Pledge of Allegiance c) Roll Call . d) Approval of Agenda e) Presentations/Proclamations f) Public Comments (30 minutes) g} Council Items h) Consent Calendar i) Items Removed from the Consent Calendar j) Public Hearings k) New Business l) Reports from Staff m) Public Comments n) Council Comments 0) Closed Session p) Adjournment The order of business shall not be changed except by majority vote of the city Council. Waiver of Reading - Ordinances and Resolutions in Full. Full reading of all ordinances and resolutions adopted at a regular or adjourned meeting may be waived by unanimous vote of the city Council by one motion. Any member of the public may request full reading of resolutions or ordinances 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 administration by the city Manager or his representative. Reading of Minutes. Unless a reading of the minutes of a council meeting is requested by a member of the Council, the minutes may be approved without reading if the city Clerk 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 officer may debate and 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 councilmember 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. Resolution NUmber~~~ Section 10. section 11. 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. If a member, while speaking, is called to order, he shall stop speaking until the question of order is determined, 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 of the Council. c) I e) Remarks of Councilmember - When Entered in Minutes. A councilmember 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. I f) Limitation of Debate. No councilmember shall be allowed to speak more than 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 agenda items. Consent Calendar. Items on the Consent Calendar are considered to be routine and are enacted by one motion unless prior to enactment, 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. I a) Each person desiring to address the Council shall approach the podium and when 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 I I Section 12. I Resolution Numbe~~J1~ 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 of a councilmember or a member of the City staff without the permission of the presiding officer. b) The presiding officer shall not recognize the same person to speak more than once on the same subject except at the discretion 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 addressing the Council. d) After Motion. After a motion is made by a councilmember, it may be seconded 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. Rules of Decorum. a) Councilmembers. While the 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 presiding officer. Members of the Council shall not leave their seats during a meeting without first obtaining the permission of the presiding officer. b) Employees. Members of the city staff and employees shall observe the same rules of order and decorum applicable to the city Council, with the exception that members of the city staff may leave th~ir seats during a meeting without first obtaining the permission of the presiding officer. Resolution NUmber~ section 13. section 14. section 15. section 16. section 17. 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. d) Members of the Audience. A person in the audience who engages in disorderly conduct such as stamping of feet, whistling, using profane language, yelling, or any other type of demonstration, the conduct of which disturbs the peace and good order of the meeting, or who refuses to comply with the lawful orders of the presiding officer, shall, upon instructions from the presiding officer, be removed from the Council Chambers by the Sergeant at Arms. c) I 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 carry 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). I Failure to Vote. Every councilmember present shall vote unless he disqualifies himself by reason on conflict of interest. An abstention is an indication that a councilmember 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 result of the vote when counted, as though no vote were cast. The recorded and published vote, however, shall show the abstention. Tie Vote. Tie votes shall be lost motions and may be reconsidered. Changing Vote. A member may change his vote only if he makes a timely request to do so immediately following the announcement 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 announces that he is abstaining from voting on a particular matter may not subsequently withdraw his abstention. I Establishing Meeting Time Limit. The city Council shall not consider any new agenda item after 11:00 p.m. at any meeting. No Resolution Numbe~ 79' f later than 10:45 p.m. the city council shall determine by a vote thereof to continue the meeting until the remaining 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 19. Final Adjournment Hour. The city council shall adjourn any meeting no later than 11:59 p.m. on the date of said meeting. 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. I section 18. PASSED,cAPPROVED and ADOPTED by the City Council of the city Of~~l Beach, c~nia, at a meeting thereof held on the ~day of AA..n.AA/, 1999 by the following va e: AYES: Councilmembe NOES: ABSENT: I Mayor 1/ STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) COUNTY OF ORANGE ) SS CITY OF SEAL BEACH ) I, Joanne M. Yeo, City Clerk of the city of Seal Beach, California, do hereby certify that the foreg inq resolution is the original copy of Resolution Number on file in the office of the city Clerk, passed, appro ed and adopted by the City Council of~the city of~~each at a meeting thereof held on the ~ day of .I ht A 1 ~ 1999. ' 1