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(A) Subject to the provisions of this subchapter, the public shall have the right to attend and the right to speak at meetings of public bodies, and all or any part of a meeting of a public body, except for closed sessions called pursuant to § 31.17, may be videotaped, televised, photographed, broadcast, or recorded by any person in attendance by means of a tape recorder, camera, video equipment, or any other means of pictorial or sonic reproduction or in writing.
(B) It shall not be a violation of this section for any public body to make and enforce reasonable rules and regulations regarding the conduct of persons attending, speaking at, videotaping, televising, photographing, broadcasting, or recording its meetings. A public body may not be required to allow citizens to speak at each meeting, nor may it forbid public participation at all meetings.
(C) No public body shall require members of the public to identify themselves as a condition for admission to the meeting. The public body may, however, require any member of the public desiring to address the body to identify himself or herself.
(D) No public body shall, for the purpose of circumventing the provisions of this subchapter, hold a meeting in a place known by the body to be too small to accommodate the anticipated audience.
(E) No public body shall be deemed in violation of this section if it holds its meeting in its traditional meeting place which is located in this state. No public body shall be deemed in violation of this section if it holds a meeting outside of this state if, but only if:
(1) A member entity of the public body is located outside of this state and the meeting is in that member's jurisdiction;
(2) All out-of-state locations identified in the notice are located within public buildings used by members of the entity or at a place which will accommodate the anticipated audience;
(3) Reasonable arrangements are made to accommodate the public's right to attend, hear, and speak at the meeting, including making a telephone conference call available at an instate location to members, the public, or the press, if requested 24 hours in advance;
(4) No more than 25% of the public body's meetings in a calendar year are held out-of-state;
(5) Out-of-state meetings are not used to circumvent any of the public government purposes established in the state Open Meetings Act;
(6) Reasonable arrangements are made to provide viewing at other instate locations for a videoconference meeting if requested 14 days in advance and if economically and reasonably available in the area; and
(7) The public body publishes notice of the out-of-state meeting at least 21 days before the date of the meeting in a legal newspaper of statewide circulation.
(F) The public body shall, upon request, make a reasonable effort to accommodate the public's right to hear the discussion and testimony presented at the meeting.
(G) Public bodies shall make available at the meeting, for examination and copying by members of the public, at least one copy of all reproducible written material to be discussed at an open meeting.
(H) Public bodies shall make available at least one current copy of the Open Meetings Act posted in the meeting room at a location accessible to members of the public. At the beginning of the meeting, the public shall be informed about the location of the posted information.
(Prior Code, § 1-609) (Ord. 1707, passed 10-3-1983; Ord. 1789, passed 4-21-1986; Ord. 2005-2723, passed 2-7-2005; Ord. 2006-2773, passed 7-3-2006)
Statutory reference:
Similar state law provisions, see Neb. RS 84-1412
(A) The regular meetings of the governing body shall be held in the City Council Chambers. Regular meetings shall be held on the first and third Mondays of each month at the hour of 5:30 p.m., except if the regular meeting day falls on a holiday, then the meeting shall be the following day.
(B) Special meetings may be called by the Mayor, City Manager, or two members of the City Council, the object of which shall be submitted to the Council in writing. The call and object, as well as the disposition thereof, shall be entered upon the journal by the City Clerk. On filing the call for a special meeting, the City Clerk shall notify the Council members of the special meeting, stating the time and its purpose. Notice of a special meeting need not be given to a Council member known to be out of the state, or physically unable to be present.
(C) The Council shall hold its regular meeting on the first Monday in December following the general elections in every even numbered year.
(D) A majority of all members elected to the Council shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but a less number may adjourn, from time to time, and compel the attendance of the absent members. At the hour appointed for the meeting, the City Clerk shall proceed to call the roll of members and announce whether a quorum is present. If a quorum is present, the Council shall be called to order by the Mayor, if present, or if absent, by the Vice President of the Council. In the absence of both the Mayor and the Vice President of the Council, the City Council members shall elect a President pro tempore.
(Prior Code, § 1-610) (Ord. 1680, passed 4-4-1983; Ord. 1794, passed 4-21-1986; Ord. 2005-2723, passed 2-7-2005; Ord. 2015-2916, passed 5-18-2015; Ord. 2019-2983, passed 7-1-2019)
Statutory reference:
Similar state law provisions, see Neb. RS 16-401, 16-402, 19-615, 19-617
The business and proceedings of the meeting of the Council shall be conducted in accordance with the following rules.
(A) The presiding officer may refer back to any order of business after passing it, if there is no objection from any Council member.
(B) The presiding officer shall preserve order at all meetings and when any Council member is called to order, he or she shall be seated until the point is decided. All questions of order shall be decided by the presiding officer, subject to appeal to the Council. In such appeal, a Council member shall state briefly what in his or her opinion the ruling should have been and upon this appeal being seconded, the question of the appeal shall be put by the presiding officer.
(C) When a question is being put by the presiding officer, no Council member shall leave the Council Chambers.
(D) If not covered in this section, questions of procedure and conduct at Council meetings shall be decided by the President of the Council in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order.
(E) Upon request of any Council member, any motion or resolution shall be reduced to writing before being acted upon.
(F) No motion shall be put or discussed until it has been seconded.
(G) The minutes of the meeting shall show the Council member who offered or introduced a motion, resolution, or ordinance and the Council member seconding the same.
(H) The "yeas" and "nays" upon any question shall be taken and entered on the minutes on request of any Council member.
(I) The Council may reprimand or censure any of its members for improper behavior as Council member.
(J) Any resolution, ordinance, or motion may be withdrawn by its introducer or mover with consent of the Council member seconding same, before same is voted upon.
(K) Motions to reconsider may only be made by a Council member who voted with the majority.
(L) The presiding officer may reasonably limit the time during which any person not a member of the Council may address a Council meeting.
(M) The presiding officer may express his or her opinion on any subject being discussed or debated by the Council.
(N) The rules may be suspended on the affirmative vote of three-fourths of the members of the Council.
(Prior Code, § 1-611) (Ord. 2005-2723, passed 2-7-2005)
Statutory reference:
Similar state law provisions, see Neb. RS 16-403
(A) There is hereby established a consent agenda procedure for the transaction of certain routine business at Council meetings. The intent of this procedure is to expedite the conducting of routine business at Council meetings to allow more time to be devoted to substantive issues by condensing the time necessary to process routine items, but yet allowing an opportunity for full discussion in consideration of the items if appropriate.
(B) The procedure to be followed is as follows.
(1) Items considered by the City Manager to be of routine and non-controversial nature may be placed by him or her on the agenda for regular Council meetings and special Council meetings under the heading of "consent agenda." The items shall be clearly worded to indicate action to be taken by the Council.
(2) At the Council meeting, the Mayor will review those items placed on the consent agenda and ask if any member of the Council or public in attendance wish to have an item removed from the consent agenda and placed on the regular agenda. Requests are not debatable, and will be complied with without discussion.
(3) After all items have been removed from the consent agenda, as requested by a member of the Council or public in attendance, the Council will then consider adoption of the actions recommended and specified in the consent agenda by a single motion and vote of the Council.
(4) All items listed on the consent agenda shall be recorded in the minutes individually and in their proper form, and the vote recorded adopting the recommended and specified action on the consent agenda shall be shown as the vote on each item in the minutes.
(Prior Code, § 1-612)
The Council or any committee of the members thereof shall have power to compel the attendance of witnesses for the investigation of matters that may come before them. The presiding officer of the Council, or chairperson of the committee for the time being, may administer the requisite oaths. The Council or committee shall have the same authority to compel the giving of testimony as is conferred on courts of justice.
(Prior Code, § 1-613)
Statutory reference:
Similar state law provisions, see Neb. RS 16-406
ELECTIONS
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