(a) General Rules.
(1) All Council meetings shall be conducted in accordance with the City Charter, the applicable laws of the State of Ohio, and, unless otherwise herein specified, the rules and procedures outlined in "Robert's Rules of Order". Robert's Rules of Order are interpreted to be used as an orderly means to conduct city business, and not as a methodology to hinder the process.
(2) All Council meetings shall be open to the general public and, whenever practical, advertised in advance in a newspaper of general circulation.
(3) The general public shall only be excused or excluded from meetings or portions of meetings that are legally conducted as "executive sessions" under Ohio's "Sunshine Law".
(4) Participation by the general public in the legislative process is encouraged and opportunities for public comment shall, whenever practical, be provided at every Regular Council meeting.
(5) Every member of Council shall attend each organizational, regular, special, and emergency meeting, or be excused as identified in the City Charter, Article III, Section 4.
(6) Minutes shall be recorded and maintained for all Council organizational, caucus, regular, special, and/or emergency meetings.
(7) Every member shall make reasonable efforts to notify the Clerk of Council of any expected absences from each organizational, special and emergency meetings.
(b) Regular Meetings.
(1) Council may also hold a public caucus session prior to any regular meeting in order to allow its members to be better prepared for the meeting and review the agenda for said meeting in advance. Council, with permission of the presiding officer, may also ask City staff members, the general public, and/or consultants to make presentations or disseminate essential information at any such public caucus or regular meeting. During the Public Comments and Closing Comments sections of a regular meeting, a three (3) minute time duration will be allowed to all speakers. Closing Comments may be on any topic.
(2) Rules of Debate, as set forth in subsection (j), do not apply during caucus sessions.
(c) Special Meetings. Council, with permission of the presiding officer, may also ask City staff members, the general public, and/or consultants to make presentations or disseminate essential information at any such special meeting. During the Public Comments and Closing Comments sections of a special meeting, a three (3) minute time duration will be allowed to all speakers. Public Comments shall be limited to Agenda items only.
(d) Emergency Meetings. Council, with permission of the presiding officer, may also ask City staff members, the general public and/or consultants to make presentations or disseminate essential information pertaining to the meeting subject matter at any such emergency meeting.
(e) Officers' Duties.
(1) Mayor - See Charter, Article II - The Mayor shall act as the President of Council, preserve order during those meetings, confine members to the question in debate, may represent Council or the City relating to a specific function, activity, or issue, as may be publicly authorized by Council, and shall perform all of the other duties outlined for the Mayor in the Charter. The Mayor shall be recognized as a member of Council and have the ability to place items of legislation on the agenda.
(2) Vice-President of Council - See Charter, Article II, Section 5 - The Vice-President of Council shall be elected by Council.
(3) Other Officers - Council may appoint and assign such other duties and responsibilities, not otherwise specified in the City Charter, as it deems necessary to conduct its business.
(f) Council Committees.
(1) Council by motion at any regular or special meeting may establish "standing committees" by affirmative vote of the majority of Council's total membership.
(2) In the absence of standing committees or a specific standing committee, Council shall function as a "committee-of-the-whole".
(3) Council may determine how many "standing committees" are to be established, each committee's area(s) of responsibility, and which members of Council shall be appointed to serve on each committee.
(4) In addition, Council may, from time to time, also establish "ad hoc" (special purpose or limited term) committee(s) on an "as needed" basis.
(5) Any "standing" or "ad hoc" committee of Council shall be comprised of two (2) voting members of Council, unless otherwise specified by the City Charter.
(6) Any committee of Council shall be limited in its powers and authority to acting as an arm of Council by overseeing or studying a particular issue, area of responsibility, or topic and by then reporting its findings and/or recommendations back to Council.
(7) No committee report may be forwarded to Council unless the committee has first met and authorized said report.
(8) Council committees shall have no administrative authority.
(g) Rules of Conduct.
(1) No more than one member of Council may speak at any one time at any meeting of Council.
(2) In order to speak, a member of Council must first be recognized by the presiding officer.
(3) No member of Council may solicit or accept any gift, gratuity, favor, or other form of payment from a person or firm who is under contract with the City, who is proposing to be put under contract with the City, or who otherwise provides any service or commodity to the City at the taxpayers' expense. (Article I, Section 4. CONFLICT OF INTEREST).
(4) See Charter - Article III, Section 12, INTERFERENCE WITH APPOINTMENTS.
(5) Foul, abusive, profane or obscene language is prohibited at all meetings of Council, regardless of the source of this language. The presiding officer shall dismiss any person from the meeting who uses such language.
(6) Side bar discussions between members of Council during the course of a meeting are distracting and potentially disruptive and are therefore discouraged.
(7) Accusations or suggestions of impropriety or illegal conduct and/or comments or attacks of a personal nature by members of Council and/or against members of Council are prohibited.
(8) Council shall follow the Ohio Ethics Commission ethics policy.
(9) The disclosure, to any person or party not a member of Council, of any confidential information discussed by or presented to Council in executive session, unless authorized by a majority vote of Council, is prohibited.
(10) Council members shall be considered a City employee and comply with the City Drug Free Workplace Policy, excluding the Discipline Section. Discipline issues that arise concerning Council members drug test shall be controlled by Section 121.03(h) Penalties and Violations of the Rules.
(11) Council does hereby resolve that the same standards of conduct found in subsections 121.03(g)(5)(7) shall apply to postings on the City’s Facebook Page and will be administered by the City Clerk. Said guidelines are as follows:
A. Foul, abusive, profane or obscene language is prohibited at all meetings of Council and on Facebook, regardless of the source of this language. Off topic Facebook comments may be deleted as well. The presiding officer or Facebook administrator shall dismiss any person from the meeting or the Facebook page who uses such language.
B. Accusations or suggestions of impropriety or illegal conduct and/or comments or attacks of a personal nature by members of the Facebook posts and/or against members of Council or other persons are prohibited.
(h) Penalties for Violations of the Rules.
(1) Any member of Council who is guilty of violating any rule contained herein as a first-time offense shall be judged guilty of contempt of Council and may, for such contempt, be orally sanctioned by a majority vote of Council during any public meeting of Council.
(2) Any Council member who is guilty of a second (2) offense of contempt of Council may be verbally sanctioned or sanctioned in writing by a majority vote of Council during any public meeting of Council. If a Council member is sanctioned in writing, said sanction shall be read into the record of the next regular Council meeting.
(3) Any Council member who is guilty of three or more offenses of contempt of Council may be removed from office as allowed under Article III Section 4 REMOVAL.
(i) Sponsoring Legislation.
(1) Normally, the Council member sponsoring a particular piece of legislation will be afforded the first opportunities to discuss it after the required motion bringing it to the floor has been made and seconded. All proposed legislation must be presented to the City Clerk by not later than 3:00 p.m. on the Wednesday immediately preceding the Council meeting at which the legislation is to be presented. For additions to the prepared agenda see Codified Ordinance Section 121.02.
(2) Any addition to the prepared agenda governing the meeting shall be approved by a majority vote of Council members present, before it can be added to the agenda.
(3) All Ordinances, Resolutions and Motions proposed by the City Council shall be in written form.
(4) All written submissions shall name the presenting party as “Sponsor” of the legislation and shall be so identified by the Clerk of Council on the agenda.
(5) The naming of a Sponsor does not restrict the addition of Co-Sponsors at any time before passage of the legislation.
(6) All written submissions without inherent time documentation shall be marked with time of submission by the Clerk of Council.
(7) All submitted legislation shall be placed on the agenda in the chronological order received.
(j) Rules of Debate.
(1) Each member of Council may be recognized not more than twice on any issue at any regular, special, or emergency meeting by the presiding officer and invited to comment on an issue before Council. Each time that a voting member is recognized, he/she shall be afforded not more than three (3) uninterrupted minutes during which to make his/her comments. After each voting member of Council has been afforded an opportunity to speak at least once on an issue, the Mayor may speak with the same limitations as those imposed upon the voting members of Council. The City Manager may also ask to be recognized by the presiding officer and, when recognized, participate in the discussion of an item before Council with the same limitations as those imposed upon the voting members of Council. Each member may ask for additional input with approval of presiding officer.
(2) This section does not apply to the caucus sessions.
(k) Order of Business. Council may hold a caucus session prior to each Regular meeting. Caucus sessions shall last no longer than one hour unless approved by a majority vote of members. The agenda for each Regular Council meetings shall include:
(1) Call to Order
(2) Pledge of Allegiance/Silent Prayer
(3) Roll Call
(4) Special Presentations by staff members or invited consultants
(5) Public Comments (limited to those items as identified on the agenda)
(6) Reports:
A. Mayor
B. Council Members
C. City Manager
D. Law Director
E. Changes to tonight's agenda
(7) Approval of Minutes
(8) Public Hearings
(9) Unfinished Business
(10) New Business
(11) Public Comments
(12) Closing remarks from the Mayor, City Manager, and Council Members
(13) Motion to recess to Executive Session (if necessary)
(14) Motion to adjourn
(l) Order of Business for Special Meetings. The agenda for each Special Council meeting shall include:
(1) Call to Order
(2) Pledge of Allegiance
(3) Invocation or Moment of Silence
(4) Roll Call
(5) Public Comments (limited to those items as identified on the agenda)
(6) Unfinished/New Business (As identified in Special Meeting Agenda)
(7) Motion to recess to Executive Session (if necessary)
(8) Public Comments (limited to those items as identified on the agenda)
(9) Motion to adjourn
(m) Order of Business for Emergency Meetings. The agenda for each Emergency Council meeting shall include:
(1) Call to Order
(2) Pledge of Allegiance
(3) Invocation or Moment of Silence
(4) Roll Call
(5) Unfinished/New Business (As identified in Emergency Meeting Agenda)
(6) Motion to recess to Executive Session (if necessary)
(7) Motion to adjourn
NOTES:
* Accusations or suggestions of impropriety or illegal conduct and/or comments or attacks of a personal nature are prohibited. The presiding officer may issue a warning the first time that a speaker fails to abide by this rule but shall declare the balance of a speaker's speaking time to have been forfeited if a subsequent offense should occur.
* Debates or exchanges between a speaker and a public official(s) shall be avoided.
* The Chair shall monitor each speaker's time and shall notify the individual that his/her speaking time has expired.
(n) Amendments, Modifications or Suspensions.
(1) Council may at any time, by 2/3 majority vote, review, amend, modify, or suspend these rules or establish such other rule(s) as it may deem necessary to conduct its business.
(2) A decision of the Chair may be overturned by a majority vote of Council.
(Ord. 2022-48. Passed 10-19-22.)