(1) Regular Meetings. The regular meetings of Council shall be held on the first and third Tuesday of each month, unless otherwise ordered by a vote of Council. Such meetings shall begin at 7:00 p.m. and continue until adjourned.
(Ord. 2020-114. Passed 11-17-20.)
(2) Special Meetings. Upon written request of the Mayor, the President of Council or any three members of Council, special meetings of Council may be called. Written notice thereof shall be given by the Clerk of Council by serving the same upon the Mayor and each member of Council personally, or by leaving such notice at his usual place of residence at least twenty-four hours before the time specified for such meeting. The Mayor and each member may waive such notice, and any defect or irregularity in the service of such notice shall be conclusively waived by attendance at such meeting. Only such matters as are set forth in such notice shall be considered and acted upon.
(3) President of Council. The President of Council or, in his absence, the Vice President of Council, shall take the chair at the hour for the meeting of Council and shall call Council to order. A quorum being present, Council shall proceed with the order of business. A majority of all members elected or appointed must be present to constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from time to time and shall have the power to compel the attendance of absent members.
(4) Vice President of Council. The President of Council shall designate a member of Council who shall perform the duties of such office in the absence or disability of the President of Council during his term.
(5) Order of Business. The order of business of Council shall be as follows:
(a) Roll call.
(b) Prayer.
(c) Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
(d) Reading and approval of minutes, with or without correction.
(e) Reports of standing committees.
(f) Reports of special committees.
(g) Correspondence.
(h) Visitors may address Council.
(i) Unfinished business.
(j) New business.
(k) Introduction of ordinances and resolutions.
(l) Announcement of committee meetings.
(m) Announcements and reports of the Mayor and department heads or commissions.
(n) Comments from members of Council.
(o) Adjournment.
All questions relating to the priority of business shall be decided by the President of Council without discussion or debate. Any matter may be made a special order of business at any meeting with the assent of five members of Council.
(6) Change in Order of Business. The order of business shall not be changed except with unanimous consent or suspension of the proceeding rule.
(7) Adjournment. A motion to adjourn shall always be in order except during roll call. When a motion is made to adjourn, it shall be in order for the President of Council, before putting the question, to state any fact to Council relating to conditions of the business of Council which would seem to make it advisable or inadvisable to adjourn at that time.
(8) Preserving Order. The President of Council shall at all times preserve order and decorum. He shall decide questions of order, subject to an appeal to Council by any member. No member shall speak more than once on such appeal. Where procedural questions arise which are not provided for by general law or by ordinance, Robert's Rules of Order, revised, shall govern. The Director of Law shall serve as parliamentarian.
(9) Control of Council Chamber. The President of Council shall have direction and control of the Council Chamber in case of any disturbance or disorderly conduct in the Council Chamber or so near thereto as to disturb the orderly proceedings of Council and may cause the same to be cleared.
(10) Members Presiding. The President of Council may name any member to perform the duties of the chair during any meeting at which the President of Council is present.
(11) Committees. The President of Council shall appoint all committees, whether standing or special, and the Mayor and President of Council shall be ex-officio members thereof, provided, however, that on motion of any member of Council and a majority of five members of Council, any such appointment may be overruled and, in such event, Council may fill such appointment by an affirmative vote of five members of Council.
(Ord. 1970-103. Passed 10-6-70.)
(12) Standing Committees. The standing committees of Council shall be appointed by the President of Council not later than January 20 of each year. The committees and the number of members of each committee shall be as follows:
Full - seven members
Economic Development - three members
Environmental Planning - three members
Finance - three members
Parks and Recreation - three members
Personnel - three members
Safety - three members
Service - three members
Water Pollution Control Center - three members
The first named member of any committee shall be the Chairman.
(Ord. 1994-20. Passed 1-18-94.)
(13) Legislative Committee. (EDITOR'S NOTE: This subsection was repealed by Ordinance 1994-20, passed January 18, 1994. )
(14) Special Committees. Special committees for the consideration of special measures or matters, or for the performance of special legislative functions, may be appointed by the President of Council.
(15) Committee Quorum. A majority of all members of a committee shall constitute a quorum.
(16) Committee Meetings. It shall be the duty of the Chairman to give notice of all committee meetings. The affirmative vote of a majority of all members constituting such committee shall be necessary to report any matter out of committee or to make any recommendation with respect to any subject referred to such committee. Three consecutive absences from committee meetings shall operate to suspend the member from such committee, unless excused by the remaining members thereof. All suspensions shall be reported to Council forthwith. No committee or member thereof shall be permitted to incur any expense without first receiving the consent of Council.
(17) General Committee. Meetings of the General Committee or Committee of the Whole may be called by the Chairman thereof at any regular meeting or at any special meeting at which all members of Council are present, and such announcement shall be deemed due notice.
(18) Members Desiring to Speak. When any member of Council desires to address such body, he shall address the chair and say "Mr. President". If the President of Council desires to recognize the member, he shall announce the member's name. In the event two members desire to speak at the same time, the President of Council shall name the member who is to have the floor. No member shall speak more than twice on the same question, except with permission of Council. He shall confine himself to the question under discussion or debate and shall avoid personalities. No member shall speak upon any one question, ordinance or resolution more than a total of ten minutes at any meeting, unless additional time is granted by a majority vote of Council upon motion.
(19) Transgression of Rules. If any member, in speaking or otherwise, transgresses the rules of Council, the President of Council shall call the offending member to order. Any member may, by raising a point of order, call the attention of the President of Council to such transgression and the point of order shall be decided by the President of Council without debate.
(20) Reference to Committees. Any matter brought to the attention of Council may be referred by the President of Council to a standing or special committee as will in his judgment and discretion be proper. All such matters shall be investigated and a report made to Council as a whole within such time as is fixed by the President of Council. A motion to discharge a committee of further consideration of any matter referred to it shall be in order upon the expiration of the time so fixed. Roll call shall be had on such motion and a majority of the members of Council must vote favorably upon the motion before the adoption thereof.
(21) Delivery of Proposed Legislation to Committee. All legislation prepared by the Department of Law shall be delivered to the members of the proper committee within a reasonable time before the meeting of Council at which such legislation shall be considered. Such committee shall review the legislation and give its report with its recommendation at the meeting of the General Committee or Committee of the Whole.
(22) Reading of Legislation. All ordinances and resolutions may be read by caption only rather than in their entirety provided every member of Council has had delivered to him, prior to the time at which the meeting was called to order, a copy of such legislation. In the event any member of Council has not had such legislation so delivered to him then the same shall be read in its entirety by the President of Council or by some other member of Council or of the administration designated by the President. No ordinance or resolution granting a franchise or creating a right or involving the expenditure of money or the levying of any tax or for the purchase, lease, sale or transfer of property or of a general or permanent nature shall be passed unless the same has been read either by caption only or in its entirety on three different days. Council may dispense with this rule by a vote of two-thirds of its members by a separate vote on such suspension taken by "yea" or "yes" and "nay" or "no" on each separate piece of legislation sought to be excluded from the three readings rule. The Clerk shall enter such separate vote on the Journal or Minute Books of Council together with the names of the members voting "yea" or "yes" and those voting "nay" or "no". In the event a motion to suspend the rule requiring three readings is passed prior to a vote being taken on the passage or adoption of any legislation and an amendment is offered and approved prior to such final vote being taken, no further separate vote need be taken on suspension of the rule as to three readings. In the event any legislation has initially been introduced and read by caption only, then the reading of the caption of such ordinance or resolution at any subsequent meeting held on any subsequent day shall constitute a further reading of such ordinance or resolution. Upon the third such reading of such ordinance or resolution the same may then be passed or adopted upon the affirmative vote of any four members of Council. In the event such ordinance or resolution contains an emergency clause, but has not been preceded by a separate vote to declare the same an emergency measure, then such ordinance or resolution shall not become effective immediately upon its passage or adoption but rather at the earliest period allowed by law. At any time any ordinance or resolution containing an emergency clause is introduced, the introduction or reading of the same may be followed by a combined motion to suspend the rule requiring three readings and to declare the same an emergency and such motion can only be passed by the concurrence of at least five members of Council.
(23) Sergeant at Arms. At each regular or special meeting of Council, the Chief of Police, or such officer or member of the Division of Police as he shall designate, shall be in attendance and shall perform the duties ordinarily performed by a sergeant at arms.
(24) Publication of Ordinances and Resolutions. Public notice of passage of its ordinances or adoption of its resolutions by Council shall be by title or caption only, which shall be posted on the City website for two consecutive weeks. However, this rule shall not apply to ordinances and resolutions required to be published in full by the mandatory provisions of the State Constitution. Nor shall it apply when ordinances are revised, codified, rearranged, published in book form and certified as correct by the Clerk of Council. In the latter case, such publication in book form shall be a sufficient publication. The ordinances so published, under appropriate titles, chapters and sections, shall be held the same in law as though they had been published in a newspaper. Such ordinances shall be made available for public perusal in the office of the Clerk of Council, and Director of Finance.
(25) Posting of Ordinances and Resolutions. In addition thereto, the Clerk of Council shall cause an authenticated copy of each ordinance and resolution passed or adopted by Council to be posted in a conspicuous place on the first floor lobby of the Municipal Building for a period of one calendar month following such passage or adoption. The certificate of the Clerk of Council to the fact of such posting shall be conclusive evidence of the fact of such posting and any defect, error or omission in or of such posting shall not constitute any error in any proceeding involving such legislation. Such act of posting shall be for the convenience of the public.
(26) Providing Copies of Agenda Legislation at Meetings. At each regular meeting of Council, solely as a convenience to and for the information of the public, and not to affect the validity of any legislation, the Clerk of Council shall, prior to the start of such meeting, cause to be posted outside the Council meeting room a copy of each separate piece of legislation appearing in the new legislation portion of the agenda for such meeting. Whenever possible and if practicable, the Clerk shall, likewise, provide copies of legislation appearing on the unfinished business portion of the agenda for such meeting.
(27) Public Improvements and Levying Assessments. The procedure for making public improvements and levying assessments therefor shall be in accordance with the law of the State. Advertising for competitive bids and the awarding of contracts shall be in accordance with the applicable laws of the State.
(28) Seal of the City. The Clerk of Council shall be custodian of the seal of Council. In the center of such seal shall appear the Great Seal of the State of Ohio, around which, reading clockwise, beginning at the lower left side, shall appear the words "City of Willoughby, Ohio, Clerk of Council". An impression of such seal shall be fixed to any documents required by law to bear the seal of Council, on such other documents as the Clerk of Council may wish to identify with such seal; any contracts, notes or bonds of the City which seal shall be the same as that of the Council except that it shall read "Mayor of the City of Willoughby, Ohio".
(29) Voting Roll Call. The order of roll call for the purpose of voting shall be changed for each regular meeting of Council by having the members of Council rotate alphabetically in voting first, for that particular meeting.
(30) Addressing Council. During the portion of the meeting at which visitors are allowed to speak, no visitor may speak more than once nor for a period of time longer than three minutes, or such longer period of time as may be set by the President of Council, until every other member of the audience has been afforded an opportunity to speak. Thereafter, any persons having previously addressed Council may have a second opportunity to address Council for an additional period of time not to exceed two minutes. Council, by the vote of five of its members, may at any time suspend this rule.
(Ord. 1970-103. Passed 10-6-70.)