REPORT TO GOVERNANCE AND ETHICS COMMITTEE
SUBJECT
Title
Action on a Council Policy for Meeting Management Procedures and Protocols for Recommendation to the City Council for its Consideration and Approval
Report
BACKGROUND
At the Special Governance and Ethics Committee meeting held on July 2, 2024, staff prepared a report to the Committee (Attachment 1) which presented options for consideration with the use of Rosenberg's Rules of Order ("Rosenberg's") for meeting management procedures for public meetings. During the item, staff presented differences between Robert's Rules of Order (the current parliamentary system used by the City) and Rosenberg's. Existing "local" rules for procedures that the City had been formally adopted or were being using as a matter of informal policy and practice were also presented.
The Governance and Ethics Committee approved a motion to direct staff to prepare meeting management policies and procedures based upon Rosenberg's for Committee, and ultimately Council consideration. As part of the motion, they also asked staff to include provision to split public comment between the beginning and end of a meeting, at the discretion of the presiding officer, if a substantial number of public presenters proposed to speak, and a significant amount of agendized items still remained to be considered.
The Committee also discussed the need for consistency and enforcement in the application of the rules, the pros and cons having interactive discussions during question periods versus the efficiency of asking all questions at once.
DISCUSSION
Staff has developed a recommended formal policy and procedure, Council Policy 054 ("City Council Meeting Management Procedures and Protocols") for consideration by the Committee. Some of these rules are consistent with current Council practices that had not been formalized. Other proposed rules and procedures are taken directly from Rosenberg's, or are based upon best practices used by other cities in ...
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