The following rules shall govern the regular and special meetings of Council:
(a) Opening Proceedings. The Mayor, or in his or her absence, the President of Council, or, in the absence of both, the President pro tempore, shall take the chair for the meeting and immediately call the members to order. A quorum for the meeting shall be determined by Section 3.07 of the Charter. In the absence of a quorum at the hour appointed for the meeting, the then members present may, by a majority vote, recess for a period not to exceed one hour in order to obtain a quorum.
(b) Roll Call. The Clerk of Council shall call the roll and enter into the minutes the members present or absent at the meeting and proceed with the Council agenda.
(c) Order of Business. All meetings of Council shall be open to the public in accordance with the Charter and statutes of Ohio providing for open meetings. Each written agenda for regular and special meetings of Council shall be approved at a prior workshop and published by the Clerk of Council in advance of each regular or special meeting. The agenda shall be administratively prepared by the City Manager or his/her designee after each workshop and delivered to the Clerk of Council for publication. All agenda items shall be identified by title or subject matter and item or ordinance/resolution number. An item which appears on a subsequent agenda shall be additionally identified by the month and agenda number when initially entered (e.g., 4-22) or, in the case of ordinances and resolutions, by the history of its previous readings, including dates of those readings. The minutes of the Council meeting shall identify matters by item number or ordinance/resolution number. The Mayor may declare a brief recess during the course of the meeting as appropriate. The order of business shall be as follows:
(1) Call to Order;
(2) Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag;
(3) Roll Call;
(4) Approval of minutes of previous meetings;
(5) Honorary resolutions;
(6) Proclamations by Mayor;
(7) Holding of public hearings in order of agenda;
(8) Public comment;
(9) Reading of any correspondence including petitions and recommendations received by the Mayor or members of Council at their discretion; Council Comments;
(10) Reports of Council committees;
(11) Reports or presentations of City Council other committees, City officials, the City Manager, or community organizations;
(12) Nominations, appointments, and elections;
(13) Consent agenda - At the request of any member of Council, without cause, an item in this portion of the agenda can be removed and placed on the legislative portion of the agenda for regular action. The consent agenda may include reports from various departments, bid awards, items having had two previous readings, acceptance of property and dedications, easement agreements, and such other items as Council determines as provided in these Council rules. Items which may not be included on the consent agenda are those which impose a tax or propose a levy or question for popular consideration on the ballot. Action on any item on the consent portion of the agenda shall not eliminate the need for a greater majority vote if one is called for by the Charter or these Council Rules. The consent agenda requires two motions; one to suspend the rules and a second motion for approval;
(14) Legislation - All ordinances and resolutions that are not part of the consent agenda, including those that were removed from the consent agenda;
(15) Adjournment/Recess: Unless the Council shall, by a two-thirds vote, agree to continue, no discussion or action on any item of business shall be initiated or continued after 11:00 p.m., and at that time, a regular meeting of the Council shall be recessed until the next meeting;
(16) Adjournment.
(Ord. 22-79. Passed 7-19-22.)
(d) Minutes. The official minutes of any meeting of the Council shall consist of a written summary of the topics of discussion by the Council and its actions during the meeting, as well as a record of those Council members and City officials in attendance and the starting and ending times of the meeting and any executive sessions held thereat. The official minutes of any meeting of Council shall also consist of a permanent audio and video recording of the meeting, excluding executive sessions, which permanent audio and video recording shall be referred to in the written summary of the minutes. Unless a reading of the written summary of the minutes of a Council meeting is requested by a member of Council, such minutes may be approved without reading if the Clerk of Council has previously furnished each member with a copy of a written summary of such minutes. The Clerk of Council, or the clerk pro tempore appointed by Council in the Clerk's absence, shall be responsible for providing for the audio and video recording of the Council meetings and in the event of a failure to audio and video record any such meeting, for producing written minutes of the meeting in sufficient detail to summarize the discussions and actions taken at the meeting. It shall be the duty of the Clerk of Council to furnish an accurate written summary of all items considered and action taken on the items considered at the proceedings of regular or special meetings of Council to each member as soon as possible and to provide access to the audio and video recorded minutes to each member upon request.
(e) Suspension of Rules Relating to Reading Resolutions, Ordinances and Bylaws. No resolution, ordinance, or bylaw of a general or permanent nature, or granting a franchise, or creating a right, or involving the expenditure of money, or the levying of a tax, or for the purchase, lease, sale, or transfer of property, shall be passed unless it has been fully and distinctly read on three (3) different days. Council may dispense with this rule provided there is an affirmative vote of at least six (6) members if seven (7) are present, or an affirmative vote of at least five (5) members if only five (5) or six (6) are present; the affirmative vote of four (4) members or less shall not be sufficient to suspend this three (3) reading rule regardless of the number of members present at a Council meeting. The vote on suspension of the rule requiring reading on three (3) separate days shall be taken by yeas and nays, separately on each resolution or ordinance (except as may be dispensed with in the consent portion of the agenda), and the Clerk of Council shall enter such vote on the minute book, together with the names of the members voting yea and members voting nay.
(f) Robert's Rules of Order. The procedures and deliberations of Council, except as otherwise provided by the Charter or an ordinance of Council, shall be governed and controlled by the provisions of the most current revised edition of Robert's Rules of Order.
(g) Decorum. No person shall address the Council until recognized by the chair. For the consideration of others who may wish to be heard, all speakers will be asked to limit their presentations to five minutes. A speaker may be heard again subject to the ruling of the chair for no longer than two minutes. Persons attending City Council meetings will at all times exhibit orderly behavior, respectful of others. A person exhibiting disorderly behavior may be asked by the Mayor to be seated and refrain from further comment, or may be removed from the meeting.
(h) Comments and Questions. All comments will be made to the chair. No questions are to be directed to Council members or to members of the Administration.
(i) Speaking. No member of Council may speak twice in a row. Every other member must first be offered the opportunity to speak.
(j) Closing Discussions. The chair will make the decision to “close” off the discussion if it leaves the subject being discussed.
(k) Order of Roll Call in Connection with Council Voting. For each roll call vote of Council members in connection with a motion, ordinance, resolution or other vote of Council in the course of a regular or special Council meeting, the Clerk shall call the roll in alphabetic order according to the first letter of the last name of each Council member present; provided that with the second and each succeeding call of roll during a meeting, the Clerk shall begin the roll call with the Council member who was called second in the immediately preceding roll call.
(l) Public Hearings. When a public hearing is required by the City Charter, City codes and ordinances, or State law, the Clerk of Council shall set the date and time of the public hearing in compliance with any legal requirements for such public hearings. The Council may, however, revise a public hearing schedule by a motion that is passed by at least four members of Council, provided that the revised schedule for the public hearing is in compliance with all legal requirements.
(Ord. 97-212. Passed 8-19-98; Ord. 02-111. Passed 6-5-02; Ord. 07-47. Passed 6-6-07; Ord. 13-114. Passed 10-2-13; Ord. 14-72. Passed 5-21-14; Ord. 15-136. Passed 9-1-15; Ord. 21-47. Passed 5-18-21; Ord. 24-25. Passed 3-19-24.)