(a) Voting.
(1) Voting on all proposed legislation shall be oral and at open Council. The Clerk shall call the roll and each Council member shall respond "yes", "no" or "abstain". No other comments shall be considered proper during the voting. The order of voting by Council members shall rotate with each successive vote. After the voting is completed, the Mayor shall announce the result. Except as otherwise provided, these rules are by law the simple majority and shall carry any motion, ordinance or resolution. The vote of any member of Council shall not be questioned.
(Ord. 75-12. Passed 5-5-75.)
(2) All ballots taken pursuant to a regular vote shall be destroyed within twenty-four hours of such vote, unless Council, by a majority vote, votes to retain such ballots for a different period of time.
(Ord. 84-01. Passed 2-20-84.)
(b) Right of Floor. When any member is about to address Council, he or she shall respectfully address himself or herself to the Mayor and when recognized by the Chair shall confine himself or herself to the question under debate, avoid personalities and refrain from imputing the motives of any member's argument or vote. When two or more members ask recognition at the same time, the Mayor shall name the member who was first to speak and the exercise of such discretion by the Mayor shall not be subject to appeal under these rules.
The Mayor may, upon request of a Councilman, grant a citizen the right of floor and he or she shall confine himself or herself to the question under debate, avoid personalities and refrain from imputing the motives of any member's argument and vote, and he or she shall not be allowed to speak for a longer time than five minutes. (Adopting Ordinance)
(c) Time Limitation on Speaking. No person shall be allowed to speak for longer than five minutes at any one time without the permission of Council. No member shall speak more than once on the same motion until every other member desiring to speak on that motion has had an opportunity to do so, nor shall the Mayor or any Councilman speak longer than fifteen minutes upon the same motion, ordinance or question without the consent of Council. (Ord. 84-01. Passed 2-20-84.)
(d) Members Called to Order. If any member is speaking or otherwise transgresses the rules of Council, the Mayor shall call the offending member to order. The member so called to order shall immediately refrain from further comment unless permitted by the Mayor to explain. Any member may, by raising the point of order, call the attention of the Mayor to such transgression. The point of order shall be decided by the Mayor without debate. Each such decision of the Mayor shall be subject to appeal to Council.
(e) Right of Appeal. Any member may appeal to Council from a ruling of the Mayor. The member making the appeal may briefly state his or her reason for the same and the Mayor may briefly explain his or her ruling. There shall be no debate on the appeal and no other member shall participate in the discussion. The Mayor shall then put the question. "Shall the decision of the Chair be sustained?" If a majority of the members vote "yes", the ruling of the Chair is sustained, otherwise, it is overruled.
(f) Personal Privilege. Any member may rise to explain the matter personal to himself or herself and on stating that it is a matter of personal privilege, he or she shall be recognized by the Mayor but shall not discuss the question or issue in such explanation. Such explanation shall not consume more than five minutes of time, unless extended by consent of Council. Matters of personal privilege shall yield only to a motion to recess or adjourn.
(Ord. 75-12. Passed 5-5-75.)