HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020 Amending Council Rules of ProceduresAppendix A to Ordinance No. XXXX
CITY OF WEST UNIVERSITY PLACE
RULES OF PROCEDURE
Part I. General Provisions
Rule 1. Scope of Rules. These rules shall govern the conduct of the Council and shall
be interpreted to insure fair and open deliberations and decision making.
Rule 2. Technical Parliamentary Forms Abolished. Except as specifically required by
these rules, the Council shall not use any formal points of parliamentary order, personal
privilege, parliamentary inquiry or other technical forms.
Rule 3. Rulings; Matters Not Covered. The presiding officer shall rule, initially, on all
questions of procedure. The ruling of the presiding officer may be appealed to the entire
Council. Any matter or order or procedure not covered by these rules shall be decided in
the same manner.
Rule 4. Interpretation. These rules are intended to supplement and shall be interpreted
to conform with the statutes of the State of Texas and the charter and ordinances of the
City of West University Place. In general, these rules shall be interpreted to allow the
majority to prevail but preserve the right of the minority to be heard.
Part Il. Time and Place of Meeting
Rule 5. Regular Meetings. The City Council shall meet in regular session on each
second and fourth Monday in each calendar month beginning at 6:30 PM. The City
Council, by motion, resolution or ordinance, may reschedule any regular meeting. If a
regular meeting falls on a legal holiday, it is automatically rescheduled for the following
Monday, unless rescheduled by the City Council.
Rule 6. Special Meetings. Calling special meetings is governed by Section 2.09 of the
Charter, which currently provides: "Special meetings may be called by the City Secretary
at the request of the Mayor or two Members of Council. The City Manager shall be notified
of all special meetings." A request for a special meeting shall be filed with the City
Secretary in written form unless made at a regular meeting at which all Council Members
are present.
Rule 7. Remote (Virtual) Meetings. As permitted by the Texas Open Meetings Act,
Chapter 551, Texas Government Code, a member of the City Council will be provided the
opportunity to attend City Council meetings remotely via video conference if he/she is not
physically able to attend a meeting and a quorum of the City Council will be physically
present at the meeting location.
Rule 8. Quorum, Majority Voting. Quorum and majority voting are governed by Section
2.10 of the Charter, which currently provides: A majority of Council, qualified and serving,
shall constitute a quorum at all meetings for the transaction of business, and no action of
the Council shall be of any effect unless it is adopted by the favorable vote of a majority
of Council present unless otherwise provided by this Charter.
Part III. Agenda
Rule 9. Preparation of Agenda; Requests. As a general rule the City Manager creates
each City Council agenda. The City Secretary prepares, posts and distributes notices of
meetings and assembles the agenda package. The City Manager is responsible for
approving each agenda package before posting. The City Manager must place a subject
on the agenda if the subject is requested by the Mayor or by two or more Council
Members.
Rule 10. Consent Agenda. In preparing an Agenda the City Secretary may separately
designate items as "Consent Agenda" which may be acted upon by the Council under
Rule 35. The "Consent Agenda" shall consist of routine items, which in the City
Secretary's determination can be appropriately considered as a group (without separate
discussion) at the Council meeting.
Rule 11. Agenda Deadline. All requests to place a subject on the agenda must be
provided to the City Secretary or City Manager by 12:00 noon on the fifth calendar day
preceding a meeting.
Rule 12. Requests to Include. Each request to include an agenda item shall be
forwarded to all members of the Council at the time the request is submitted to the City
Secretary or City Manager. When a Council Member will be absent from a meeting, the
Council Member may request that an item not be included and such request shall not be
unreasonably denied.
Rule 13. Withdrawal of Items. The person who requests an item be placed on the
agenda may withdraw the item from the agenda prior to the Council meeting, but in
withdrawing the item shall state the reason and such reason shall be transmitted to the
Council.
Rule 14. Council Action to Defer, Continue or Not Act. A Council Member wishing to
withdraw, defer or continue an item may make a motion to that effect. Such a motion
shall be considered before any other action on that item.
Rule 15. [Reserved]
Part IV. Conduct of Meetings
Rule 16. Roll Call. Before proceeding with the business of the Council, the City
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Secretary shall note the Members present, and enter their names in the minutes. The
presiding officer shall determine the presence of a quorum as required by law and these
rules.
Rule 17. Call to Order. The presiding officer shall call the meeting to order.
Rule 18. Presiding Officer. The Mayor, or in the Mayor's absence or inability to perform,
the Mayor Pro Tem, shall be the presiding officer at all Council meetings. If both the
Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem are absent or unable to perform, the most senior Council
Member present shall preside. In the event two or more Members equally possess the
greatest seniority, then the eldest person among them shall preside. For this purpose,
seniority is measured by current, continuous service on the City Council.
When the Mayor or Council Member who would be the meetings' Presiding Officer is
attending remotely, the senior member of Council present at the physical meeting location
will be the Presiding Officer.
Rule 19. Control of Discussion. The presiding officer shall moderate discussion of the
Council on each agenda item to assure full participation in accordance with these rules.
The presiding officer will preserve order and decorum, preventing the impugning of any
member's motives or other personal comment not relevant to the orderly conduct of
business. The presiding officer shall request all speakers to keep comments brief and
relevant to the question before the Council. All persons present in the meeting room
should avoid abusive, rude or inappropriate conduct. See Chapter 38 of the Texas Penal
Code regarding the "hindering" of official proceedings.
Rule 20. Order of Consideration of Agenda. Except as otherwise provided in these
rules, each agenda item shall be considered in the numerical order assigned by the City
Secretary. Each agenda item shall be introduced by the presiding officer. To introduce
an item, it shall be sufficient to identify the item by the number assigned by the City
Secretary. However, as provided in Section 2.11 of the City Charter: Every ordinance
shall be introduced in writing or printed form and have a clearly summarized and fully
descriptive title or caption. After a measure is introduced, the standard procedure is as
follows:
(1) Reading of the measure by the City Secretary (or other person designated by the
presiding officer). Reading ordinances or resolutions by caption or summary is
allowed if the full text is available as prescribed by the Charter. (Note: Section
2.11 of the Charter currently requires additional steps for ordinances: "The
reading aloud of the title or caption of the ordinance shall suffice as a reading
provided that printed copies of the ordinance, in the form required for adoption,
are available to all members of Council and that a reasonable number of
additional copies is available to interested citizens present at the Council
meeting. A majority of the Council qualified and serving may require an
ordinance to be read in its entirety.")
(2) The City Manager or other person may present a staff statement.
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(3) Public comments that have been deferred to the agenda item.
(4) Discussion.
(5) Motion and second.
(6) Additional discussion, if necessary.
(7) Vote. Informal voice voting shall be used, unless a Council Member requests a
roll call vote. On a roll call vote, the moving member votes first, the seconding
member votes second, the remaining members vote in alphabetical order and
the presiding officer votes last (unless the presiding officer has moved or
seconded the motion). In case of a tie, the motion fails.
Rule 21. Presiding Officer's Right to Enter into Discussion. The Mayor (or other
presiding officer) as a Member of the Council may enter into any discussion.
Rule 22. Limit on Remarks. Each Council Member shall limit his or her remarks to a
reasonable length.
Rule 23. Presiding Officer's Right to Speak Last. The presiding officer has the right
to speak last on any item.
Rule 24. Closing Debate or Discussion. Debate or discussion shall be closed on any
item by the presiding officer with the concurrence of a majority of the Council present.
Except as provided by Rule 31, a call for the vote shall not close discussion if any Member
of the Council still wishes to be heard or the presiding officer determines the continued
participation of others will be helpful to the Council.
Part V. Citizen Participation
Rule 25. Public Participation. Comments and suggestions by the public are highly
valued and encouraged during those parts of a meeting designated for public
participation. Speakers should register in advance and should limit their presentations to
three minutes each. Speakers should direct all remarks and questions to the Council.
The presiding officer may refer a matter for investigation, response or other action. Public
comments by a speaker relating to a non -agenda item shall be heard after the pledges
at the beginning of a meeting. For comments relating to an agenda item, the speaker has
the option of speaking during the Public Comment Period or may defer his/her remarks
until the subject agenda item is addressed by Council. Council members may ask
questions of a speaker or discuss a matter raised by a speaker if the matter is included
as an item on the agenda. The Mayor may request a staff report or comments on an
agenda item before calling for public comments. The "Texas Open Meetings Act"
requires the City to post a notice, in advance, listing every topic or subject to be
considered by the Council. This law may prevent the Council from considering a subject
raised by a member of the public. In this case, the presiding officer may refer the matter,
and the Council may direct that the matter be placed on the agenda for an upcoming
meeting.
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Rule 26. Manner of Addressing Council. A person desiring to address the Council
shall step to the lectern or other designated place, state his or her name and address for
the record.
Rule 27. Total Time Limits. Total time for public comment on any subject under Council
consideration can be limited to a fixed period by the presiding officer. A majority vote of
the Council may extend the time limitations of this rule.
Rule 28. Matters on the Agenda. Public comments on matters on the agenda must be
kept relevant to the subject before the Council. The presiding officer shall rule on the
relevance of comments. Persons making irrelevant, personal, impertinent, or slanderous
remarks may be barred by the presiding officer from further comment before the Council
during the meeting. This rule does not prohibit criticism of the City or criticisms of actions or
omissions of the City
Rule 29. Matters Not On the Agenda. Discussion of matters not on the agenda is
usually governed by Section 551.042 of the Texas Government Code, which currently
provides:
(a) If, at a meeting of a governmental body, a member of the public or of the
governmental body inquires about a subject for which notice has not been given
as required by this subchapter, the notice provisions of this subchapter do not
apply to:
(1) a statement of specific factual information given in response to the
inquiry; or
(2) a recitation of existing policy in response to the inquiry.
(b) Any deliberation of or decision about the subject of the inquiry shall be limited to
a proposal to place the subject on the agenda for a subsequent meeting.
Persons making personal, impertinent, or slanderous remarks may be barred by the
presiding officer from further comment before the Council during the meeting. This rule
does not prohibit criticism of the City or criticisms of actions or omissions of the City
Part VI. Council Action
Rule 30. Motion Required. All action requiring a vote shall be moved by a Member of
the Council.
Rule 31. Motion to Reconsider. Except in case of a tie vote, a motion to reconsider
must be made by a Council Member who was on the prevailing side in the original action
or by a Council Member absent at the time of the original action. The motion must be
made at a meeting when the subject is on the agenda. See Rule 9.
Rule 32. Less Than a Full Deck. When only three Members of the Council are in
attendance at a meeting and an agenda item fails to receive two affirmative or negative
votes, the item shall, upon the request of any Council Member in attendance at the
meeting, be continued and placed on the agenda for the next Council meeting, and
continued thereafter upon the agenda for subsequent meetings until it shall receive
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sufficient affirmative or negative votes to pass or fail. If consideration of an ordinance is
continued under this rule, the ordinance shall not be considered to have been read or
voted upon.
Rule 33. Call for Vote. At the conclusion (or closure) of debate or discussion, the
presiding officer shall call for a vote, provided however, a majority of the Council present
may close further discussion and require a vote at any time.
Rule 34. Separate Consideration. Except as otherwise required by these rules each
agenda item shall be voted upon separately and each separate vote shall be recorded by
the City Secretary.
Rule 35. Action on Consent Agenda. Except as herein provided, the "Consent
Agenda" shall be considered as a group (without separate discussion on each item).
When the Consent Agenda is introduced, each Council Member has the right to remove
any item, in which case the item is handled under Rule 20. After items are removed, the
presiding officer shall ask the Members to indicate their votes on the remaining Consent
Agenda items. Each Member may indicate a separate affirmative vote on each remaining
item by saying "aye," or the Member may indicate a different vote on any particular item,
in which case that item is automatically removed from the Consent Agenda and handled
under Rule 20. The City Secretary shall record the votes on each item separately.
Rule 36. Consideration Out of Order. With the consent of the Council any agenda item
may be considered out of order, at the request of a Council Member.
Rule 37. Recording Names of Moving Members. The City Secretary shall record the
name of the Council Member making each motion and seconding each motion.
Rule 38. [Reserved]
Rule 39. [Reserved]
Part VII. Miscellaneous
Rule 40. Voting Required. Section 2.10 of the Charter requires Members to vote, as
follows:
Each member of Council present shall vote on every action taken by Council unless the
action involves the member's own conduct or presents a possible conflict of interest. In
that case, the member shall file with the City Secretary a written statement of the reason
for abstaining.
Any Member prohibited from voting by personal interest shall announce at the
commencement of consideration of the matter and shall not enter into discussion or
debate on any such matter.
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Any Council Member refusing to vote --and not excused from voting --shall be recorded in
the minutes as voting in the affirmative.
Rule 41. Suspension of Rules. These rules or any part hereof may be suspended for
a specific purpose, or any single meeting, by a vote of three-fourths of the Council
Members present.
Rule 42. Informal Requests. A Member of the Council, before or during the
consideration of any matter, or in the course of a hearing, may request and receive
information, explanations or the opinions of the City Manager, City Attorney, City
Secretary or any City employee present, all subject to Rules 24 and 33.
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