The council may resolve itself into a committee of the whole council. The vice mayor shall be chair of the committee of the whole council, but may designate another member to preside or act as chair at such times and for such periods as they may desire. In the absence of the vice mayor, the committee of the whole council shall be chaired by the at-large member present who received the second highest number of votes in the previous general election when at-large elections were held. If no at-large member is present, the committee of the whole shall elect one of its members to serve as chair. The committee of the whole shall be charged with handling personnel matters relating to the council office staff. A quorum for the committee of the whole shall be eight (8). The budget, finance and economic development committee shall resolve itself into the committee of the whole during the review of the mayor's proposed budget and return to the original budget, finance and economic development committee structure upon adoption of the budget. If the vice mayor is absent, the current chair of the budget, finance and economic development committee shall preside.
1) Prior to the mayor's annual budget address, the chair of the budget, finance and economic development committee will assign council members to various link committees. The five (5) link committees (each made up of three (3) council members), are tasked with reviewing a section of the mayor's proposed budget. The chair of the budget, finance and economic development committee shall assign a chair for each link.
2) The link committees shall adopt a meeting schedule to meet with commissioners and division directors to review and discuss budget requests. These meetings shall be scheduled to avoid overlap so that the chief administrative officer (CAO), commissioner of finance and their staff, and the council core staff may attend.
3) The chair of the link committee shall report the committee findings and recommendations to the full council during a committee of the whole budget meeting (section 4.105). The chair of the budget, finance and economic development committee may determine the best process and order for the committees to report their findings.
4) In the event that a link makes a recommendation that requires additional funding, it shall be the responsibility of the link committee to locate the source of the funds to cover the additional expense. The full council shall vote to approve or deny any recommendation brought forward by the link committee as well as the recommended funding source.
(Res. No. 599-2023, § 2, 11-2-23)