(A) (1) There shall be 5 standing committees of the Council as listed below:
(a) Finance; (The membership of this committee shall include all Council members when the civil city budget is being considered, and the chairperson shall be the Finance Committee Chairperson.)
(b) Planning and Development;
(c) Public Health and Safety;
(d) Public Works and Improvement; and
(e)
Cultural Arts; and
(f) Internal Controls Committee.
(2) Each committee shall consist of not less than 3 members appointed by the Council president. Both the majority and minority shall be represented on each committee. The Council President shall designate the Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson of each committee.
(B) There shall be appointed from time to time special committees as determined by the Council president or a majority of the Council. Any special committees shall have at least 3 members who are appointed by the Council president.
(C) The general responsibilities of each Council committee shall include the right to review all legislative proposals, reports and other pertinent information under its jurisdiction; and to monitor on a continuing basis the department, and bureaus and public officials under its jurisdiction. Each Council committee shall report periodically to the Council. All committees shall also deal with the issues referred to them by the President of the Council or by at least a majority of the Council.
(D) The first named Council member of each committee shall be Chairperson and, in his or her absence, the next named member.
(E) A committee shall meet on the call of the Chairperson or by the call of any 2 of its Council members in case the Chairperson is absent or declines to call the meeting.
(F) A special committee, when its report, if made, is disposed of and it has no other business, stands dissolved without motion; but an affirmative vote on recommitment has the effect of reviving the committee.
(G) When any matter has been referred to a committee, the Council member introducing the same shall have the right to meet with the committee during its deliberations thereon, but shall not vote.
(H) The rules of the Council as far as they are applicable shall be the rules of the committee, and procedure in the committee where not otherwise provided herein, shall follow the procedure of the Council.
(I) The proceedings of the committee shall be recorded by the Chairperson of the committee in a journal which shall, among other things, show those present at each meeting and include a record of the votes on any question on which a record vote is requested.
(J) (1) The Chairperson in the case of hearings to be conducted by the committee shall make public, pursuant to the office of the City Clerk, the announcement of the date, place, the subject matter of any hearing to be conducted on any measure or matter at least 1 week before the commencement of that hearing unless the committee determines that there is good cause to begin the hearing at an earlier date.
(2) In the latter event the Chairperson shall make such public announcements at the earliest possible date, but in no event shall the public announcement be shorter than 48 hours before the hearing.
(K) Council committees are authorized to hold hearings, receive exhibits, hear witnesses and report to the Council for final action, together with such recommendations as may be agreed upon by the committee.
(L) It shall be the duty of the Chairperson of each Council committee to report, within 30 days, with the exception of the budget, to the Council on all ordinances, resolutions, reports or other matters referred to it for consideration; and each Chairperson shall take or cause to be taken the necessary steps to bring such matters to a vote of the Council.
(M) (1) All hearings of a Council committee are open to the public and can be covered by the news media.
(2) However, in order to assure a respect to the conduct of the public hearings observing acceptable standards of dignity, propriety, courtesy and decorum, and to assure the proper fact-finding mission through the hearing process, the Chairperson may provide special rules governing such matters as to placement of microphones, location of cameras and the allocation of space for representatives of the media in the hearing rooms as circumstances may require.
(1979 Code, § 30.16) (Ord. 3116, passed 7-2-1979; Am. Ord. 3508, passed 1-17-1984; Am. Ord. 3923, passed 6-23-1989; Am. Ord. 4099, passed 1-25-1993; Am. Ord. 5753, passed 8-5-2019)