Pursuant to Chapter 6, Article 9A, Section 3 of the West Virginia Code, the members of the Moundsville City Council do hereby adopt the following rules to make available, in advance, the date, time, place and agenda of all regularly scheduled meetings of the Moundsville City Council to the public and news media, except in the case of an emergency requiring immediate action, as follows:
(a) Regular Meetings. A notice shall be posted and maintained by the City Clerk at the front door of the Moundsville City Building of the date, time, and place for the holding of regularly scheduled council meetings. In addition a copy of the agenda for each regularly scheduled council meeting shall be posted on the front door of the City Building by the City Clerk not less than three days before such regular meeting is to be held. If a particular regularly scheduled meeting is canceled or postponed, a notice of such cancellation or postponement shall be posted at the same location as soon as feasible after such cancellation or postponement has been determined.
(b) Special Meetings. A notice shall be posted by the City Clerk at the front door of the City Building not less than three days before a specially scheduled council meeting is to be held, stating the date, time, place, and purpose for which such special meeting shall be held. If the special meeting is canceled or postponed, a notice of such cancellation or postponement shall be posted at the same location as soon as feasible after such cancellation or postponement has been determined.
(c) Presentations. All persons that desire to address the Moundsville City Council on items not on the agenda will be allowed to address the City Council under the General Public Hearing section of agenda, but no official action may be taken on new subject matter until it can be presented as an agenda item at a future meeting.
(d) Voting Procedures. Notwithstanding provisions of the City Charter to the contrary, no votes of City Council shall be cast by written ballot (pursuant to West Virginia Ethics Commission Advisory Opinion 2004-4 to the effect that The West Virginia Open Meeting Act supersedes the City Charter in this regard). Votes of City Council shall be by public roll call voice vote. The Clerk shall tally and announce the results of votes immediately thereafter.
(e) Minutes. Written minutes of all meetings of the City Council shall be prepared and maintained by the City Clerk and shall be available to all members of the public after being approved at the following regularly scheduled meeting, and shall include, at least, the following information:
(1) The date, time and place of the meeting;
(2) The name of each member of the governing body present and absent;
(3) All motions, proposals, resolutions, orders, ordinances and measures proposed, the name of the person proposing the same and their disposition; and
(4) The results of all votes and recordation of the vote of each member;
(5) A draft copy of the minutes, clearly marked, shall be available to the public within a reasonable time after the meeting.
(f) Executive Session. If authorized by one of the exceptions in W.Va. Code 29-6A-4, the West Virginia Open Meeting Act, the City Council may hold an executive session during any regular, special or emergency meeting. During the open portion of a meeting, prior to convening an executive session the Mayor or some other person shall identify the authorization for conducting an executive session and shall present it to the members of the public present at the meeting. An executive session shall only be held upon a majority affirmative vote of the members of the City Council and no decision shall be made in executive session.
(g) Media Broadcasts. The City Council shall allow the placement and use of equipment necessary for broadcasting, photographing, filming or recording a council meeting. The equipment shall be placed or used within the meeting room so as to prevent undue interference with the meeting. In the event the City Council determines that the size of the meeting room is not sufficient to accommodate all the members of the public present and the equipment and personnel necessary for broadcasting, photographing, filming and tape-recording in the meeting room without unduly interfering with the meeting the City Council may require the pooling and sharing of the equipment and personnel operating the equipment among the media.
(h) Agenda. The City Council shall prepare a written agenda for all scheduled meetings and shall distribute it in accordance with subsection (a) above. The agenda shall include those items upon which official action is anticipated and those known items to be presented to the City Council for informational purposes.
(i) Notice Period. For purposes of calculating the number of days in any notice period contained in these rules, the day of the meeting is not counted. Additionally, Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays are excluded. (Ord. 5-4-04)