(a) Assignments of legislation preparation; temporary number designation. All legislation shall be prepared by the Administration as directed and assigned by the Mayor and in accordance with the form prescribed by the Law Director. The Mayor shall notify the Law Director of such legislative assignments in writing as the same are made and the Law Director shall promptly acknowledge such assignments to the Mayor and Clerk of Council in writing designating:
(1) The title of such legislation; and
(2) A. A temporary number: the consecutive number of legislative assignments for any given year followed by a hyphen and the abbreviated year of assignment enclosed in parenthesis (e.g., the designation of (7-76) would be associated with the seventh legislative assignment made in 1976).
B. All legislation shall include the temporary number in the upper right hand corner of the first page thereof and the agendas for regular Council meetings shall include the temporary number and title for each piece of legislation thereon. The temporary number of legislation shall be used in reference thereto until after passage, whereupon the permanent ordinance or resolution number assigned by the Clerk of Council shall be used.
(b) Transmission of legislation. The Law Director shall prepare or review, and place in approved form, all legislation in the order and as the Mayor shall direct. The Law Director shall transmit completed legislation to the Mayor and provide a copy of the same to the affected department head, together with any special instructions pertaining to the legislation. The Mayor shall transmit legislation to the Clerk of Council, giving priority to items in accordance with their relative importance and urgency, and the Clerk shall thereupon transmit copies of the same to the Council members without undue delay, retaining possession and custody of the originals. To the extent practicable, the Mayor shall cause copies of all legislation to be transmitted through the Clerk of Council to the Council members at least one week prior to the public meeting of Council at which such legislation is to be introduced.
(c) Requests for legislation by Council members. Requests for legislation by a Council member shall be made to the Mayor in writing and the Mayor shall engage the services of the Law Department and Administration, accordingly, when:
(1) The Mayor concurs in the request;
(2) The request is made by the President of Council;
(3) The request is part of the report recommended by the majority of a Council Committee; or
(4) The Mayor is directed to prepare the legislation requested upon motion carried by three affirmative votes of the Council members at a regular public meeting.
(5) Where requests by the President of Council or by the majority of a committee comprising less than three affirmative votes involve preparation of five or more pages and the legislation would not be in the best interest of the city in the opinion of the Mayor, the Mayor may appeal in writing the request to the full Council and the Mayor shall not be required to assign the preparation thereof unless and until directed by motion carried by three affirmative votes of the Council members at a regular public meeting.
(d) Legal opinions. Legal opinions by the Law Director shall be requested and transmitted in the same manner as legislation. All legal opinions shall be considered confidential, except in cases wherein opinions are directed by motion, carried by three affirmative votes of the Council members at a regular public meeting to be read and incorporated in the minutes of such meeting.
(e) Proclamations, promulgation and recording.
(1) Proclamations as authorized by the Charter or by Law shall, upon execution by the President of Council, be filed with the Clerk of Council who shall cause the following to take place with respect to each such proclamation.
A. Each shall be serially numbered, the same as ordinances and resolutions.
B. Copies thereof shall be made and delivered as soon as practicable to the other Council members, the Mayor and such other persons as directed by the President of Council.
C. Each shall be placed on the agenda for reading at the next regular meeting or special meeting called for such purpose by title and number assigned thereto.
D. Proclamations shall be maintained in bound volumes the same as ordinances and resolutions. The Council President shall cause proclamations to be read at the various meetings as they appear or are added to the agenda.
(2) Failure in any or all of the foregoing steps shall not act to invalidate an otherwise valid proclamation.
(Res. 1820, passed 3-30-1976; Res. 1868, passed 5-31-1977)