REPORT TO GOVERNANCE AND ETHICS COMMITTEE
SUBJECT
Title
Review Meeting Management Protocol Options and Rosenberg's Rules of Order and Provide Direction to Staff
Report
BACKGROUND
The City Council has been using meeting management procedures set during its 2021 Priority Setting Session. During the March 13, 2023 Governance and Ethics Committee meeting, the Committee approved, as part of the workplan, to bring forth the meeting management protocols for review and discussion.
At the December 4, 2023 Governance and Ethics Committee Meeting, the Committee reviewed existing meeting management procedures used in practice. (Attachment 1) The Committee discussed factors such as time limits for the City Council to speak on an item and an additional secondary round of questions for the City Council, following the initial questions answered. During this discussion, the City's practice of using Robert's Rules of Order (Attachment 2) for parliamentary procedures was discussed. Because Robert's Rules can be overly formalistic and complex, it was suggested that Rosenberg's Rules of Order might be more useful as they are similar to Robert's Rules, but less complex and more oriented towards smaller legislative bodies, like City Councils and Committees. The Committee did not take any actions during the discussion and requested additional information about Rosenberg's Rules of Order (Attachment 3) to further analyze the options.
DISCUSSION
At this June 3, 2024 Committee meeting, staff will present options for consideration with the use of Rosenberg's Rules of Order. The Governance and Ethics Committee may consider options to continue Robert's Rules of Order or discuss options for Rosenberg's Rules of Order for meeting management procedures for public meetings.
Rosenberg's Rules of Order is a simplified set of parliamentary rules used in several cities throughout California, including the cities of Belmont, Cupertino, Fremont, Los Altos, San Mateo, Santa Rosa. Many institution...
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