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RES 96-01 RULES FOR CITY COUNCIL MEETINGSRESOLUTION NO. 96 - 01 A RESOLUTION of the City of Bainbridge Island, Washington relating to City Council procedures; establishing rules for City Council meetings and business; and revising Resolution No. 95-04. WHEREAS, the City Council desires to establish a format to regulate its affairs and enhance its policy making functions in a manner which is in the best interests of the City; now, therefore, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, WASHINGTON, DOES RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. Council Chair. At the first regular meeting in January of each year, the members of the City Council shall elect, from their number, a Council Chair who shall hold office at the discretion of the City Council. The Council Chair shall have the responsibilities described in Paragraphs 3A, 5D and 5G of this Resolution. Section 2. State of the City. At the first regular meeting in January of each year, the Mayor shall report to the City Council on the "state of the City" by itemizing the previous year's major accomplishments, describing the status of the personnel, equipment and finances of the City, and discussing the issues and events to come before the City during the upcoming year. Section 3. Presiding Officer. A. The Mayor, or in the Mayor's absence, the Council Chair, shall serve as the presiding officer at all regular and special meetings of the City Council. If neither the Mayor nor the Council Chair are present at a meeting, the presiding officer for the meeting shall be elected by a majority vote of the City Council members present at the meeting. B. The Council Chair or City Council member serving as presiding officer at a City Council meeting shall not lose the right to vote on matters coming before the City Council. C. The function of the presiding officer is to facilitate the orderly flow of City Council business in accordance with the City Council procedures set forth in this Resolution. The presiding officer shall preserve strict order and decorum at City Council meetings. The presiding officer shall state all questions coming before the City Council, provide opportunity for comment from the public and staff and discussion by Council members and the Mayor, and announce the decision of the City Council on all subjects. Procedural decisions made by the presiding officer may be overruled by a majority vote of the City Council. Section 4. Elimination of Deputy Mayor Position. The position of deputy mayor is eliminated. In the Mayor's absence, the City Administrator shall perform the executive functions previously performed by the Deputy Mayor. established: Section 5. Council Committees. A. The following standing committees of the City Council are created and 1. Finance and Personnel Committee; 2. Public Works and Transportation Committee; 3. Land Use Committee; 4. Community Relations Committee; 5. Operations and Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee. B. The standing committees shall inform and educate the City Council on existing City programs and issues, provide an opportunity to explore policy issues, provide an opportunity to explore policy alternatives as a part of the policy development process, make recommendations on proposed alternatives as a part of the policy development process, and make recommendations on proposed legislation within their areas of responsibility before the legislation is voted on by the City Council. The committees shall have no power or authority to commit the City or to take any binding action on the part of the City Council or the City. The committees shall be concerned primarily with policy matters and matters vested in the legislative body of the City, and shall not become involved in the supervision of the City departments or the administration of the City Government. Official correspondence which expresses the City's position on any issue must be signed by the Mayor. In general, the purpose of each committee shall be to review matters within the following subject areas: 1. Finance and Personnel Committee: Reviews, analyzes, and recommends actions and/or policies that pertain to vouchers, budgets, and financial management of the City; and the employment, compensation, benefits and other personnel issues; 2. Public Works and Transportation Committee: Reviews, analyzes and makes recommendations on streets and rights-of-way, recycling, public buildings, parks and docks, transportation, and public utilities, such as water, sewer and storm drainage; 3. Land Use Committee: Reviews, analyzes and makes recommendations on land use planning and marine activities; 4. Community Relations Committee: Reviews, analyzes and makes recommendations on human service issues, including social, youth, housing, senior citizens, public safety, and municipal court. Reviews, analyzes, and makes recommendations regarding economic issues. Provides a liaison function between the Council and citizens by actively meeting with community groups and citizens. The committee should coordinate with other Council committees regarding the information it receives from community groups and citizens and issues it wishes to consider to insure there is no duplication; 5. Operations and Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee: Provides a forum for coordinating activities between the executive branch, City Council, and boards, commissions, advisory committees, and agencies of the City. Reviews and recommends names of appointees to City positions, boards, commissions, advisory committees, and agencies for submission by the Mayor to the City Council for confirmation. Reviews, analyzes and makes recommendations on regional issues, including City policy for regional councils of governments, on the City's relationship with Kitsap County and state departments, and on City policy toward other local governments, such as school, fire, park and sewer districts. Reviews the proposed agenda for each Council meeting. C. Each standing committee of the City Council, except the Operations and Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee, shall consist of three City Council members. The Operations and Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee shall consist of the Mayor, the City Administrator, and three Council Members, provided, that one of the Council Members shall be the Council Chair. The Mayor and Council Chair shall co-chair the Operations and Intergovernmental Coordinating Committee. D. Standing committee membership shall be assigned on an annual basis. After the Council Chair is elected, the Council Chair shall consult with the City Council members and the Mayor regarding committee assignments, and shall then make a recommendation to the City Council as to committee memberships. The City Council may approve or modify the recommendations of the Council Chair. The Council Chair shall also make recommendations regarding chairs for each committee, giving due regard to seniority, previous experience and expertise. No City Council member, except the Council Chair, may serve as chair of more than one committee. Each City Council member may be appointed to either two or three committees. E. Each standing committee shall meet on a regular, announced basis. Each City department head should attend meetings of the committee which has responsibility for City policies concerning that department. The City Administrator and Mayor may attend committee meetings as desired. F. The standing committees shall consider, review and make recommendations to the City Council concerning matters referred to them by the City Council and Mayor. The Mayor, committee chairs, and City boards, agencies, and commissions are encouraged to suggest items to the City Council which should be considered by a committee. Each committee shall have general responsibility as indicated in Paragraph B of this section to investigate, collect and review appropriate information for the formulation of possible City Council action, and to make recommendations to the City Council. G. Whenever an item is referred to a standing committee, the presiding officer shall establish a date by which the committee shall report back to the City Council. The Council Chair shall monitor the issues being considered by each committee, and report periodically to the City Council and Mayor on the progress of the committees. If the City Council concludes that a committee is not making satisfactory progress on an issue, the City Council by a majority vote may remove the issue from the committee and bring the issue before the City Council for action. H. At the City Council meeting designated for a committee recommendation, in the appropriate place on the City Council agenda, a report from the standing committee shall be made by the standing committee chair or an alternate designated by the chair. A minority report may be given by any committee member who dissents from the report by the majority. Oral reports shall be sufficient, unless the City Council by a majority vote directs the committee to prepare a written report. I. When necessary, the Mayor may assign staff assistance to a standing committee. Section 6. Attendance at Council Meetings. The City Administrator, City Attorney, and City department heads should attend all City Council meetings. The presiding officer may excuse the City Attorney and any staff member when their attendance is clearly not necessary. Section 7. Readings of Proposed Ordinances. A. Every ordinance shall appear on the Council's agenda by title on three occasions prior to its passage. These appearances are known as "readings", and shall proceed in the following manner: 1. The first reading shall occur at the first City Council meeting at which the proposed ordinance is brought before the City Council. At this meeting, the presiding officer shall assign the proposed ordinance to a standing committee for review and recommendation. If two or more committees have jurisdiction over the proposed ordinance, the presiding officer shall determine which committee will be assigned the proposed ordinance, or whether two or more committees shall study different aspects of the proposed ordinance. Multiple committee review may be done concurrently. The presiding officer shall set a date on which the assigned committee or committees shall report to the City Council on the proposed ordinance. 2. The second reading of a proposed ordinance shall occur at the City Council meeting at which the standing committee or committees report the recommendation on the proposed ordinance to the City Council. 3. The third reading of a proposed ordinance shall occur at the City Council meeting at which the City Council votes on the proposed ordinance. B. The City Council may take public input on the proposed ordinance at any of the three readings of the proposed ordinance, or at such other time as the City Council deems appropriate. Generally, the City Council shall take public input at the second reading of the proposed ordinance. C. Prior to calling for a vote on a proposed ordinance, any City Council member may request the proposed ordinance be read in full, unless a full reading is declared unnecessary by a vote of a majority of the City Council. D. The City Council may, at any time, modify or waive the three reading procedure described above for any proposed ordinance, or standing committee review of any proposed ordinance, by a vote of one more than a majority of City Council members present. Section S. Preliminary Council Meeting A eg nda. A preliminary agenda of a regular City Council meeting shall be posted at City Hall, the City Council meeting place, the Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce, the Bainbridge Island Ferry Terminal, and the Bainbridge Island Public Library, and shall be distributed to the City's official newspaper, on or before 5:00 PM on the Friday before a regular City Council meeting. Section 9. Council Meeting _ Agenda. A. The agenda for each City Council meeting shall be developed by the Mayor after consultation with the Operations and Intergovernmental Co-ordinating Committee. City Council members may have an item placed on the agenda by submitting the request in writing to the Mayor with copy to the Council Chair at least five business days prior to the next scheduled Council meeting. B. The agenda shall be available to the public at the entrance to the City Council meeting place, and shall be followed in order unless the presiding officer determines that a variation from the agenda is appropriate. The presiding officer may announce time limits on agenda items when appropriate. C. A designated public comment period shall be placed on each City Council meeting agenda. During the public comment period, the public may bring issues not on the agenda to the City Council's attention and inform the City Council of the public's concerns. The City Council may answer questions and clarify issues, but lengthy discussions shall not take place during this period. Section 10. Speaking Procedures. A. City Council member speaking procedure for an agenda item under consideration shall be as follows: 1. A City Council member desiring to speak shall address the presiding officer, and upon recognition by the presiding officer shall confine the statement to the question under discussion. 2. Any City Council member, while speaking, shall not be interrupted unless it is to call that member to order. 3. No City Council member shall speak a second time upon the same issue before opportunity has been given each City Council member to speak on that issue. B. Audience member speaking procedure, when addressing the City Council on items under consideration, is as follows: 1. The public may be permitted to speak at a designated time prior to the City Council voting on any ordinance, resolution or motion. When deemed appropriate, a sign-up list will be made available to the public at the entrance of the City Council meeting place. 2. In addressing the City Council, each person shall stand and, after recognition by the presiding officer, state the person's name. Each person's comments shall be limited to three minutes unless further time is given by the presiding officer. All comments shall be made to the City Council as a body and not to any individual City Council member. 3. No person shall be permitted to comment without first being recognized by the presiding officer. The presiding officer shall recognize members of the public in the following order: subject under discussion; agenda; (a) Persons designated by the presiding officer to introduce the (b) Persons whose request to be heard is contained in the written (c) Persons listed on the public sign-up list; (d) Persons seeking recognition from the floor. 4. Any person whose conduct is abusive or disruptive to the City Council meeting may be prohibited from further speaking and audience participation, or may be removed from the City Council meeting by the presiding officer, unless permission to continue is granted by a majority vote of the City Council. 5. Members of the public may not speak a second time until all other members of the public have been given an opportunity to speak. 6. After the public comment period is concluded, no further public comment will be permitted during City Council debate, unless in response to specific questions from City Council members. 7. The attached "Public Participation Rules of Procedure" will be made available to the public at all council meetings. Section 11. Parliamentary Procedure. Questions of parliamentary procedure shall be governed by Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised (latest edition). All City Council members and the Mayor shall have an abbreviated version of the Rules of Order, if available, in City Council notebooks. Section 12. Minutes. A. City Council proceedings will be tape recorded. Summarized minutes of each meeting shall be prepared and provided to the City Council for review and approval. B. Tapes of the meetings will be made available to the public for listening or copying. If any person other than a City employee wishes to obtain a verbatim copy of a tape or any portion of a tape, he or she may do so by paying a reasonable fee as determined by the City Clerk to cover transcription and administrative costs. PASSED by the City Council this 4th day of January, 1996. APPROVED by the Mayor this 5th day of January, 1996. c-� A-'-� 14 U�-a� JANET K. WEST, Mayor ATTEST/AUTHENTICATE: SUSAN P. KASPER, City Clerk FILED WITH THE CITY CLERK: December 29, 1995 PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL: January 4, 1996 RESOLUTION NO. 96-01 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION RULES OF PROCEDURE AUDIENCE COMMENTS This is an opportunity for the public to address the City Administration and Council on problems, issues, or items of concern. This is not an appropriate time to make comments on items scheduled elsewhere on the Agenda or items which will be heard in a Public Hearing. Essentially, this opportunity is an oral substitute for a letter, although the latter is preferred so that the facts and observations can be reviewed in a more orderly and efficient manner. M hqd When recognized by the Chair, those desiring to speak should stand and state their full name, address and relationship to the City (e.g., City resident, City property owner, business owner/employee, etc), Comments may be used to summarize an issue, with a memorandum of the particulars being submitted to the Clerk. A three (3) minute limit must be strictly observed. Response A response may be made by the Administration or Council immediately or the issue may be referred to the Administration or a Council Committee for a later response. AGENDA ITEMS The public may address the Council on items scheduled on the Agenda, if time permits. Essentially, this opportunity is an oral substitute for a letter, although the latter is preferred so that the facts and observations can be reviewed in a more orderly and efficient manner. PUBLIC HEARING The purpose of a public hearing is for citizens, taxpayers and others to provide the Council with information and opinions on the subject for which the hearing was convened. It is an official "on -the - record", one-way communication geared toward giving Council Members data they should consider in their decision-making process. How to Participate 1) individuals desiring to speak may be asked to sign up prior to the hearing or the chair may 'simply declare the hearing open and call for comments for or against the issue. 2)'-, Those desiring to speak are called by the Chair. They should state their name, address and relationship to the City (e.g., City resident, City property owner, business owner/employee, etc.) and give their testimony. 3) Statements should be limitad in length. Complex information should be put in writing with copies provided to the Clerk for insertion into the record and distribution to the Council. 4) Repetition should be avoided. Unless new information is available, support or disagreement should be simply stated, if previous speakers have made the same points. 5) To allow every participant a fair opportunity to be heard, statements shall not exceed five (5) minutes in duration. 6) Council Members, Administration and other members of the audience will remain silent during testimony so that each point of view -and information can be fairly considered. Questions will not be answered during the testimony portion of the hearing. The Council may consider these remarks and questions during their deliberation. 7) When the last person has been called (or the predetermined completion time has arrived) the Chair will close the public portion of the hearing and open the subject for Council discussion/decision. QUASI -,JUDICIAL PUBLIC HEARING In order to allow every participant a fair opportunity to be heard, statements should not exceed five (5) minutes in duration during quasi-judicial public hearings (which shall be announced as such by the Chair). Each person will be allowed a second opportunity to speak, but no person may speak a second time until everyone has had an opportunity to address the Council.