(A) Roll call. The Mayor, or in his or her absence, the President of Council, shall take the Chair at the hour appointed for Council to meet and immediately shall call the Council to order. The roll shall then be called by the Clerk, who shall enter in the minutes of each meeting the names of members present thereat. In the absence of a quorum at the time appointed for a meeting, the members present may, by a majority vote, take a recess or recesses and cause the Clerk to procure the attendance of absent members.
(B) Temporary Chairperson. In case of the absence of the Mayor and President of Council, the Clerk shall call the Council to order. The Clerk shall call the roll, and if a quorum is found to be present, the Council shall proceed to elect by a majority vote a temporary Chairperson of the meeting until the appearance of the Mayor or President of Council.
(C) Substitute Chairperson. The Chair, i.e. Mayor, President of Council or temporary Chairperson, may call any other member to take his or her place as the Chair. Such substitution not to continue beyond adjournment.
(D) Appeals from decisions of the Chair. The Chair shall preserve decorum and decide all questions of order, subject to appeal to Council. If any member transgresses the Rules of Council, the Chair shall, or any member may, call him or her to order and in the later instance the Chair shall render a decision as to the point of order. In case of an appeal from a ruling of the Chair, the question shall be, “Shall the decision of the Chair stand as the decision of Council?” The Chair shall be sustained unless overruled by a majority vote of the members of Council present.
(E) Votes. All questions shall be stated and put by the Chair as follows.
(1) Roll call votes. The Chair shall declare the vote after the Clerk has announced the number of votes on each side.
(2) Viva-voce votes. The Chair shall declare the vote without reference to the Clerk; if in doubt about a viva-voce vote, the Chair may direct, or any member may call for, a division of Council, which shall be taken by a rising vote.
(3) Rising vote. The Chair shall not be in order for members to explain their votes while the vote is being taken.
(F) Chair’s power to vote. The Mayor shall have no veto power and shall have no vote except in the event of a tie vote of members of Council present, in which case the Mayor shall have the power to vote and his or her vote shall have the same legal effect as a vote of a member of Council. Any member of Council who is serving as Chairperson shall have the same power to vote as other members.
(Ord. 1142-00, passed 1-2-2001)