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Home My WebLink About13.F.3. 2014 City Council Meeting Policies and ProceduresConsent Business 13. F. 3. SHAKOPEE TO: Mayor and City Council Mark McNeill, City Administrator FROM: Brad Tabke, Mayor DATE: 01/07/2014 SUBJECT: 2014 City Council Meeting Policies and Procedures (F) Action Sought The City Council should adopt City Council meeting operating policies and procedures for 2014. It should also approve a change in format of the meetings itself. Background Annually, the mayors of Shakopee have defined their expectations and proposed operating policies to govern City Council meetings. I would like to continue the following practices for City Council meeting operations in 2014, to wit: 1. The "Council Member Report" should include both a Council liaison report, and any concerns from the Councilmember. The liaison report should be given for each meeting held by the organization where a Councilmember is the appointed liaison. If the Councilmember is unable to attend the meeting, he or she should obtain meeting minutes or contact the organization for information to report to the Council. A Councilmember may also use this time to report on immediate concerns of the public which are not on the agenda, keeping in mind, however, that the faster action is usually to notify staff separately of the issue. 2. If an issue presents a conflict of interest, the affected Councilmember must abstain from voting, and leave the Council dais if a discussion of the item is necessary. 3. Citizens are encouraged to utilize the "Recognition of Involved Citizens by City Council" portion of the agenda. There will be a maximum of five minutes per person/subject. Action generally will not be taken during that meeting on items brought up by a citizen. If an order must be resolved immediately, it should be placed under the "Other Business" portion of the agenda. If action is necessary, but not immediately warranted, the issue will be deferred to a future City Council agenda. This will also be the point in the meeting where there will be any special presentations which are to be made by the Mayor. 4. Reasonable deviations from the set agenda may be attempted to accommodate audience members. Public Hearings will be heard in the order in which they are placed on the agenda. S. To the greatest extent possible, we will follow parliamentary procedure as outlined in "Robert's Rules of Order ". I shall adhere to the following concepts: 0 • Only those having the floor as recognized by the Chair shall speak. • Encourage both audience members and Council members to address the Chair. • Encourage that motions be descriptive of action sought, i.e. not simply "move the requested action". • Make a strong effort to ensure that motions are made only in the affirmative. • Allow any member to make modifications to a motion, if acceptable to the maker, but only prior to the start of discussion as signaled by the Chair. • The Chair will not make a motion. • Disallow discussion on a motion until seconded. • Generally follow that the member who makes a motion will be given the first opportunity to speak in discussion. • Generally recognize any member who has not spoken on a question over one who has. • Rule against explanation of vote by members during voting. • Declare a unanimous vote if a motion receives any votes on one side and none on the other. • For the record, the Chair will make a report the results of all votes indicating those members who voted in the minority. 6. "Other Business" agenda items will be included as a regular part of each agenda. 7. Any audience member or Councilmember may ask to have an item removed from the consent agenda. As a courtesy of the City staff, if a Council member is intending to remove an item from the Consent Agenda, they should notify the City Administrator by noon on the day of the meeting. If notification is not given for removing an item from the Consent Agenda, the action may be deferred, and placed on the next available City Council Agenda. An exception may be made if the action is time sensitive. 8. Prior to adoption of the consent agenda, I will ask for any additions or deletions from the consent agenda. A synopsis of each item proposed to be adopted as the consent agenda will be read prior to a vote being taken. 9. I will make every effort to be protective of staff, Council, and citizens from personal or unnecessary derogatory attacks. 10. Out of respect for City staff, please submit questions to the City Administrator by noon on meeting day. Doing this will allow staff to better prepare and facilitate an efficient meeting. A development question may be asked during the meeting, but if an answer is not available, an agenda item may need to be tabled until the next meeting. Changes for 2014 A major change which I would like the Council to consider beginning in 2014 is to have the first meeting of the month (first Tuesday) be primarily to discuss "workshop" issues. There will continue to be routine items in a "consent agenda" format, and issues which are time critical (public hearings, award of bids, and the like) will also be accommodated. However, I would like the Council to be able to devote the majority of those meetings to more in -depth discussions of policy issues, or have meetings with other policy boards- -SPUC, the School Board, County Board, etc. The Council is invited to suggest topics for workshops. Due to the logistics of the workshop format, I do not anticipate the need to televise these meetings. The third Tuesday of the month (the second regularly scheduled Council meeting) will be for conducting normal business. The second meeting is being recommended so that items being referred to the Council from advisory boards and commissions (most notably the Planning Commission/BOAA and EDAC) will have more immediate follow up. Recommendations coming from the Park and Recreation Advisory Board (which meets the fourth Monday of each month) would be deferred to the second meeting. Recommendation I recommend that the Council adopt the policies and procedures outlined in this memo, and endorse the single business meeting/workshop meeting proposal as described. Budget Impact None Relationship to Vision This supports Goal F, "Housekeeping ". Requested Action If the Council concurs, it should, by motion, adopt the following: 1. Council meeting policies and procedures as outlined. 2. Adopt a business meeting/workshop meeting monthly format, to be effective February 1, 2014. Attachments: