(A) Addressing the Council. Subject to compliance with rules of order and decorum, members of the public have an absolute right to address the Council at open meetings during oral communications segments of the agenda, subject to reasonable time constraints imposed by the presiding officer or a majority of Council members present. Consistent with the Brown Act, speakers are limited to speaking on items presented on the agenda and to items within the subject matter jurisdiction and authority of the City Council and/or city.
(B) Manner of addressing Council. At the appropriate time, any person wishing to address the Council should stand, proceed to the lectern and wait to be recognized by the presiding officer of the meeting. After being recognized, the speaker should state his or her name and place of residence for the record. The speaker should address comments only to the Council from the lectern.
(1) All remarks and questions should be addressed to the Council as a whole and not to any specific Council member, staff, the audience, or the media. No question should be asked of a Council member or staff member without first obtaining permission from the presiding officer of the meeting.
(2) Comments should be fundamentally impersonal: the subject of the debate is the issue, not any of its proponents or opponents. A motion and its consequences may be attacked vigorously, but speakers should not attack the motives, character, or personality of a member, speaker, or any other person, either directly or by implication or innuendo, improper language, irrelevancy, dilatory tactics, or disorderly conduct, including, but not limited to, use of signs or other means to disrupt the meeting. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no speaker will be censured or prohibited from speaking based upon the content of his or her remarks, but may be removed from the meeting if the presiding officer of the meeting or a majority of the Council members determines the speaker is out of order pursuant to this chapter, and the speaker’s conduct is disrupting, disturbing or otherwise impeding the orderly conduct of the Council meeting.
(C) Time limitation. Every member of the public addressing the Council shall limit his or her remarks to a maximum of three minutes during all speaking opportunities; provided, that comment shall not exceed two minutes per speaker during oral communications just prior to adjournment. When large numbers of persons wish to speak, the presiding officer of the meeting may announce a reduction of the speaking time allotted to each person so all persons wishing to speak may do so.
(1) Each person normally is allowed only one opportunity to comment on each item of business or during oral communications. When any group wishes to address the Council on the same subject, it is appropriate for the presiding officer of the meeting to request a spokesperson be chosen to represent the group to avoid redundancy.
(2) No express time limits are imposed on any appellant or respondent during quasi-judicial proceedings (i.e., appeals, statutorily required public hearings, and other proceedings involving due process rights such as appeals of land use decisions and denials of business license applications); however, the presiding officer of the meeting may limit repetitive presentations and curtail irrelevant remarks.
(Ord. 1347, passed 12-15-10; Am. Ord. 1358, passed 6-19-13; Am. Ord. 1384, passed 3-16-16)