The following rules and order of business are hereby officially adopted for the transaction of the business of the Council.
(A) Procedure.
(1) Time of meeting. The regular meetings of the City Council shall be called to order at 6:30 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of each month, unless a different time is set by motion of the Council. If a regularly scheduled City Council meeting falls on a recognized city holiday, such meeting shall be held at 6:30 p.m. on the next following business day. Notice of any change of convening a regular meeting shall be given to the news media at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting time. The time of starting a special or adjourned meeting shall be set in the motion scheduling the meeting, in the call by the Mayor, or at the request by the necessary number of Council members hereinafter provided for calling a special meeting.
(2) Presiding officer. The Mayor, or in his or her absence, the Mayor Pro Tempore, shall preside. In the absence of both, the Council may appoint a temporary chairperson. The presiding officer shall call the meeting to order, preserve order and decorum, may have persons creating disorder removed from the meeting and decide all questions of order subject to an appeal to the Council. A member called to order shall immediately suspend his or her remarks until permitted by the presiding officer to explain. If there is no appeal, the decision of the chair shall be conclusive, but if the member appeals to the Council from the decision of the chair, the Council shall decide the question without debate.
(3) Quorum. A majority of the Council shall constitute a quorum to transact ordinary business, but a smaller number may adjourn from time to time, or any three may compel the attendance of absent members, and upon order therefrom, the Police Chief shall bring in the absentees. Upon order of the chair, the Clerk, or in his or her absence, the Deputy City Manager/Finance Officer, shall call the roll and record the same and preserve it in the minutes of the proceedings. The name of any member entering the meeting after the roll call has been taken shall be recorded in the minutes in the proper chronological order of business. The name of any member leaving the meeting shall be similarly recorded chronologically.
(4) Called meetings.
(a) The Mayor may, or upon the request of a majority of the members of the Council shall, call a special meeting of the Council and set such reasonable time as the circumstances warrant. All calls shall be made by personal notice or by leaving written notice at the residence or business office of the member. The Clerk shall record such notice of service in the minute book and each member shall subscribe signature to an acknowledgment of such notice if received.
(b) When a special meeting of the City Council shall be called by the Mayor, or otherwise, the purpose or object of the meeting shall be named in the call, and no other business except that specified therein shall be transacted at said special meeting.
(5) Order of business. Upon the appearance of a quorum, the Council shall proceed to the business before them. The order of business shall be as follows:
(a) Reading of the minutes of the last meeting and the approval, amendment or correction of the same. When copies of the minutes have been distributed to all Council members in advance of the reading, the Council may waive the reading and adopt the minutes;
(b) Approving the agenda prepared by the Clerk and making any revisions, deletions or additions, with particular attention to matters raised by letter, petition or remonstrance;
(c) Hearings and lettings on public improvements shall have precedence, together with resolutions thereon;
(d) Consideration of ordinances;
(e) Request of petitions from citizens;
(f) Presentation, consideration and approval of claims; but the motion acting upon claims may specify the disapproval or referral of any claim for further consideration or investigation by a committee or officer;
(g) Reports from special committees and discussion thereon; and
(h) Adjournment.
(6) Special meetings.
(a) Upon the call to order of a special meeting by the chairperson thereof, the Clerk shall call roll, and if a quorum is present, the Council may officially conduct a meeting. The reading of minutes of the previous meeting may be dispensed with, in which case such minutes shall be considered at a subsequent regular meeting and there acted upon. The Council may dispense with the consideration of claims and limit the receiving of requests and petitions to those pertinent to the subject of the call or purpose established at a prior adjournment. Upon approving the agenda for the meeting, the Council shall proceed in accordance therewith and the order of business established therein.
(b) Notice of the time and place of special called meetings shall be given the news media if time permits. Where an emergency prevents the giving of such notice, the nature of the emergency shall be stated in the minutes of that meeting.
(7) Meeting to be open. Meetings shall be open in compliance with public policy set by state law. However, closed meetings may be held, only in compliance with the applicable provisions of the state statutes.
(8) Agenda.
(a) The City Manager and City Clerk shall prepare a written agenda for each regular or special Council meeting.
(b) The closing deadline for a request to the Clerk by individual citizens or a Council member for placing an item on the agenda shall be not less than 80 hours before the convening of the meeting using the agenda. The Clerk may decline a request of a citizen subject to an appeal to any Council member who may order such item to be entered into the agenda. No person may request to appear on the agenda after opening of the meeting unless the circumstances of the request appear to the Mayor or the Council on the advice of the City Attorney, to be such as to warrant adding thereto the matter so requested, and then only at the time of perfecting the agenda. The tentative agenda shall be dispatched so that it normally will be in the hands of every Council member not later than 48 hours before the start of the regular meeting to which it applies, and posted at the city hall at least 24 hours before the opening of the meeting. The place of posting shall be officially designated by resolution.
(9) Rules of Order.
(a) Robert’s Rules of Order, Revised, shall govern wherever a procedure is not specified in these rules.
(b) The foregoing rules may be suspended for a certain meeting or a certain purpose only by the unanimous vote of the Council members present at the meeting.
(c) No standing rule or order of the Council shall be rescinded or changed without one week’s previous notice in writing being given of the proposed change; nor shall any rule be rescinded without a vote of three-fourths of the members elected to the City Council.
(10) Motions. No motion or resolution shall be put to a vote until it has been seconded. When seconded, the motion shall be stated by the Mayor or presiding officer before debate. Upon request of the chair or any Council member, the motion shall be reduced to writing. All resolutions shall be presented in writing. In all cases where a resolution or a motion is entered in the minutes of the meeting, the name of the member moving the same and the member making the second shall be entered. Resolutions shall appear in the minutes by title only if the Clerk keeps a permanent book of resolutions.
(11) Withdrawal of motions. After a motion or resolution is stated by the chair, it shall be deemed in the possession of the Council, but it may be withdrawn at any time before decision or amendment.
(12) Voting. Voting shall be by “yes” or “no” and shall be recorded by name in the case of ordinances and resolutions and by the number of “yeses” or “noes” in the case of ordinary motions. Whenever a member abstains, his or her vote shall be recorded as an abstention so that the total vote and abstentions shall equal the number present. At the request of two members, the vote of each member on any motion shall be recorded in the minutes. No member shall vote on any question in which he or she has a conflict of interest as defined by Iowa Code §§ 362.5 and 362.6 unless permitted therein and the provisions thereof for determining the voting record shall be followed. An abstention shall be deemed as a “yes” vote except where the member has a conflict of interest, which conflict shall be stated at the time of abstention.
(13) Readings and amendment of ordinances.
(a) All proposed ordinances shall have a separate consideration on three different days unless there is a motion to dispense with the second and/or third consideration and a three-fourths majority of the Council shall so approve. Actual reading of the ordinance shall not be required if written copies are available or unless two or more members request it. An ordinance may be amended after first or during second consideration and before voting the ordinance for passage on second consideration. After placing the ordinance on third and final consideration or voting for dispensing with the second and/or third consideration, the ordinance may not be amended but shall be voted on for final passage unless tabled, postponed or referred to a committee. Any proposed ordinance not voted on for final passage must be returned to second consideration status if it is to be amended. When a question is postponed indefinitely, it shall not be again introduced or acted upon by the Council for the ensuing two months.
(b) On motion to “strike out and insert,” the paragraph to be amended shall first be read as it stands, the words proposed to be struck out, and those to be inserted, and finally the paragraph as it would stand if so amended.
(c) A motion simply to lay a question on the table is not debatable but a motion to lay on the table and publish, or any other condition, is subject to amendment and debate.
(14) Motion to reconsider.
(a) A motion may be reconsidered at any time during the same meeting or at the first meeting held thereafter. A motion for a reconsideration being once made, and decided in the negative, shall not be renewed.
(b) A motion to reconsider must be made and seconded by members who voted in the majority, by those on the prevailing side, or by those who were absent and did not vote upon the question to be reconsidered.
(c) No question shall be reconsidered more than once, nor shall a vote to reconsider be reconsidered.
(B) Organization.
(1) The Council may provide for the creation of standing or special committees of Council members and may provide for the jurisdiction, authority and operation of such committees as the Council deems appropriate.
(2) The Mayor shall appoint the members and designate the chairperson of all committees so created.
(Prior Code, § 1-5-8) (Ord. 488, passed 1-19-1998; Ord. 587, passed 7-21-2003; Ord. 648, passed 10-2-2006; Ord. 698, passed 3-1-2010)