REPORT TO GOVERNANCE AND ETHICS COMMITTEE
SUBJECT
Title
Review and Discussion of Council Policy 030 Adding an Item on the Agenda
Report
BACKGROUND
Over the past few years, Council Policy 030 (Attachment 1) has been discussed and reviewed by the Governance and Ethics Committee on a number of occasions and amended by the City Council twice. In 2019, at a special meeting on governance issues, the City Council discussed the Policy and how it pertains to referrals from Council. Council action was to refer the matter to its Governance and Ethics Committee. In early 2020, with a recommendation from the Governance and Ethics Committee, the Council approved and amended the Policy to clearly state the Council must take action on written petitions by a majority vote for an item to be referred to a future meeting. In September 2020, upon recommendations from the Governance Committee, the Council further amended the Policy to clearly state when the Council is considering adding an item to a future agenda, the discussion is limited to whether the item should be added to a future agenda and a meeting date, not the merit of the item. A Council Item Request Form to implement the Policy was also approved at that time.
At the September 28, 2021 City Council meeting, a written petition (Attachment 2) was submitted by Councilmember Suds Jain to revisit the policy for how a member of the public can place an item on the agenda which was referred to the Governance and Ethics Committee.
At the March 13, 2023 Governance and Ethics Committee meeting, the Committee approved the 2023 workplan which included the review and discussion of Council Policy 030 at the June 5, 2023 Committee meeting. The Committee members requested a review of the Policy and its intended use to add items to the agenda.
DISCUSSION
The purpose of Council Policy 030 is to establish a clear and effective process for members of the City Council and the public to have items, within the jurisdiction of the City Cou...
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