(A) Definition of DECORUM according to Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary; “decorum, 2. Propriety and good taste in conduct or appearance, synonyms: DECENCY, PROPRIETY, DIGNITY, ETIQUETTE: DECORUM suggests conduct according with good taste, often formally prescribed; DECENCY implies behavior according with normal self-respect or profession or condition in life; PROPRIETY suggests an artificial standard of what is correct in conduct or speech; DIGNITY implies reserve or restraint in conduct prompted less by obedience to a code than by a sense of personal integrity or of social importance; ETIQUETTE is the usual term for the detailed rules governing manners and conduct and for the observance of these rules.”
(B) The Presiding Officer (Chair) shall preserve decorum and decide all points of order, subject to appeal to the Council.
(C) (1) The Council members shall help the Presiding Officer preserve decorum during Council meetings and shall not, by conversation or other action, delay or interrupt the proceedings or refuse to follow the authorized directions of the Presiding Officer or these Council rules.
(2) Council members are encouraged to avoid the use of facial expressions which may convey “smirking”, disbelief, anger or boredom while others are speaking.
(3) Council members shall, when addressing city staff, the Council or members of the public, confine themselves to the questions or issues then under discussion, shall not engage in personal attack, shall not impugn the motives of any speaker and shall at all times, while in session or otherwise, conduct themselves in a manner appropriate to the dignity of their office.
(4) It is never appropriate for Council members to engage in hostile cross-examination, belligerently challenge or belittle a speaker or make personal attacks or bigoted remarks of any kind, under any circumstance. Council members should be aware that their body language and tones of voice, as well as the words they use, can appear to be intimidating or aggressive.
(5) Council members shall dress with dignity and avoid clothing with written messages, especially those which suggest the Council member is not impartial on an issue which is or is likely to come before the Council or which can reasonably be considered an effort to intimidate the Council and/or members of the public.
(D) Members of the city staff and all other persons attending Council meetings shall observe the same rules of procedure, decorum and good conduct applicable to the members of the Council.
(E) (1) Any person who makes personal, impertinent or irrelevant remarks or who becomes boisterous while addressing the Council or attending a Council meeting or who interferes with the conduct of the meeting in violation of these rules, may be removed from the room, after fair warning, if the Presiding Officer so directs. In case the Presiding Officer should fail to act, any member of the Council may obtain the floor and move to require enforcement of this rule; upon affirmative vote of the majority of the Council present, the person or persons shall be removed as if the Presiding Officer so directed, stamping of the feet, whistles, yells and cursing are similarly not permitted.
(2) Such person or persons may be barred from further in person audience before the Council and, in aggravated cases, an appropriate complaint shall be issued by the Presiding Officer to prosecute this person or persons.
(F) If a meeting is disrupted by members of the audience, or the Council, the Presiding Officer may order that the Council Chamber be cleared and a recess called until order is restored.
(G) (1) It shall be the policy of the city to have such an officer present at all regular and special meetings. The officer shall carry out all authorized orders and instructions given by the Presiding Officer for the purposes of maintaining order and decorum at the Council meetings. If the officer determines that the actions of any person who violates the order and decorum of the meeting constitutes a violation of any provision of any law, the officer may cite such person, or place such person under arrest and cause such person to be prosecuted under the provisions of the applicable law, or take other appropriate action as outlined in the county’s Official Police Manual.
(2) Before the officer is directed to remove any person from a Council meeting for inappropriate behavior as described in these rules, that person shall be given a warning by the Presiding Officer to cease his or her conduct.
(Ord. 2007-01, passed 4-5-2007)