HomeMy WebLinkAbout94-079 CC ResolutionRESOLUTION NO. 94-79
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF TEMECULA ADOlYFING RULES OF ORDER FOR THE
CONDUCT OF CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS
The City Council of the City of Temecula does hereby determine, resolve, and order as
follows:
Section 1. Role of the Mayor:
A. The Mayor is responsible for conducting the meeting; and should not actively
participate in discussion. The Mayor should reserve comment until all of the Councilmembers
have spoken.
B. The Mayor should require that all comment be directed to him/her. Cross talk
between Councilmembers should be ruled out of order by the Mayor.
Section 2. Rules of Order for City Council Meetings - The City Council shall conduct
business by motion in accordance with the following rules of order.
A. Obtaining the Floor. Any Councilmember wishing to speak must first obtain the
floor by being recognized by the Mayor. The Mayor must recognize any Councilmember who
seeks the floor when appropriately entitled to do so.
B. Time !,imits. Time limitation on agenda items and items added on a subsequent
need basis are as follows:
1. Each Councilmember shall be allowed three (3) minutes. Councilmembers
shall not be allowed to defer any portion of their time to another Councilmember. However,
unused time may be added to the second round of three minutes to each Councilmember following
opening the discussion to the public for comment.
2. The Public comment portion shall be no more than 30 minutes. A member
of the public who wishes to address the Council on an agenda item shall complete a request to
speak form and submit it to the City Clerk. Each member of the public that has completed a
request to speak form and has filed it with the City Clerk before the Council gets to that item shall
be given five (5) minutes to speak.
C. Motions The Mayor or any member of the Council may call an action on any
matter before the Council by making a motion. Before the motion can be considered or debated
it must be seconded. Once the motion has been properly made and seconded, the Mayor shall
open the matter for debate offering the furst opportunity to debate to the moving party and,
thereafter, to any Councilmember properly recognized by the Mayor. Once the motion has been
fully debated and the Mayor calls for a vote, no further debate will be allowed, provided however,
Councilmembers may be allowed to explain their vote.
Council participation during the presentation of public testimony or staff reports
shall be limited to questions asked at the conclusion of the testimony. No general discussion shall
be permitted until the testimony is completed and a motion is on the floor. Council comment, not
relevant to the motion should be reserved for the Council comment portion of the agenda.
Comments inconsistent with this aforementioned should be ruled out of order by the Mayor.
D. Y_atiag All Councilmembers present at a meeting when a motion comes up for a
vote shall vote for or against the motion or abstain. If the vote is a voice vote, the mayor shall
declare the result and note for the record all "aye" votes and all "no* votes. The Council may also
vote by roll call upon request of the Mayor or a member of the Council. Regardless of the
manner of voting, the results reflecting all "aye" and ~no" votes must be clearly set forth for the
record. In order to be adopted, a motion requires the "aye" vote of a majority of the quorum
present, unless the vote of three Councilmembers is required by statute, ordinance or resolution.
An abstention shall not be counted as an "aye" or *no" vote, but the Councilmember abstaining
shall be counted for the purpose of determining the quorum. A tie vote means no action has been
taken.
E. Proced~ral Rules of Order Once the main motion is properly placed on the floor,
several related motions may be employed in addressing the main motion, and if properly made
and seconded, must be disposed of before the main motion can be acted upon. The following
motions are appropriate and may be made by the Mayor or any Councilmember at any appropriate
time during the discussion of the main motion. They are listed in order of precedence. The first
three subsidiary motions are not debatable; the last three are debatable.
1. Subsidiary Motions
a. Iay on the Table/or Table Any Councilmember may more to lay
the matter under discussion on the table. This motion temporarily suspends any further discussion
of the pending motion without setting a time certain to resume debate. In order to bring the
matter back before the Council, a motion must be adopted that the matter be taken from the table.
A motion to lake from the table must be made at the same meeting at which it was placed on the
table or at the next meeting of the Council held within 14 calendar days of the original meeting.
Otherwise the motion that was tabled dies, although it can be raised later as a new motion.
94-79
b. Move Previous Question Any Councilmember may move to
immediately bring the question being debated by the Council to a vote, suspending any further
debate. The motion must be made and seconded without interrupting one who already has the
floor. A majority vote of the quorum present is required for passage.
c. l.imit or Extend Ijmits of Debate Any Councilmember may vote
to put limits on the length of debate. The motion must be made and seconded and requires a
majority vote of the quorum present to pass.
d. Postpone to a Time Certain/Continue Any Councilmember may
move to postpone debate and action on the motion to a date and time certain.
e. Commit or Refer Any Councilmember may move that the matter
being discussed be referred to staff, a committee or a commission for further study. The motion
may contain directions for the staff, committee or commission, as well as a date upon which the
matter will be returned to the Council's agenda. If no date is set for returning the item to the
Council agenda, any Councilmember may move, at any time, to require that the item be returned
to the agenda.
f. Amend Any Councilmember may amend the main motion or any
amendment made to the main motion. Before the main motion may be acted upon, all
amendments and amendments to the amendments must first be acted upon. an amendment must
be related to the main motion or amendment to which it is directed. Any amendment which
substitutes a new motion rather than amending the existing motion is out of order and may be so
declared by the Mayor.
2. Motions of Privilege, Order and Convenience The following actions by
the Council are to insure orderly conduct of meetings and for the convenience of the Mayor and
Councilmembers. These motions take precedence over any pending main or subsidiary motion
and may be debated except as noted.
a. Call for Orders of the Da~ Any Councilmember may demand that
the agenda be followed in the order stated therein. No second is required and the Mayor must
comply unless the Council, by majority vote, sets aside the agenda order of the day. This motion
is not debatable.
b. Quesfon of Privilege Any Councilmember, at any time during the
meeting, may make a request of the Mayor to accommodate the needs of the Council or his/her
personal needs for such things as reducing noise, adjusting air condition, ventilation, lighting, etc.
Validity of question is ruled on by the Mayor.
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c. Recess Any Councilmember may move for a recess. No second
is required and the Mayor must comply unless the Council, by majority vote, sets aside the
motion.
d. Ac[joum Any Councilmember may move to adjourn at anytime evea
if there is business pending. The motion must be seconded and a majority vote is required for
passage. The motion is not debatable.
e. Point of Order Any Councilmember may require the Mayor to
enforce the rules of the Council by raising a point of order. The point of order shall be ruled
upon by the Mayor.
f. Appeal Should any Councilmember be dissatisfied with a ruling
from the Mayor, he/she may move to appeal the ruling to the full Council. The motion to appeal
requires a second, and the ruling of the Mayor may be overturned by a majority vote.
g. Suspend the Rules Any Councilmember may move to suspend the
rules if necessary to accomplish a matter that would otherwise violate the rules. The motion
requires a second and a majority vote is required for passage.
h. Division of the Question Any Councilmember may move to divide
the subject matter of a motion which is made up of several parts in order to vote separately on
each part. This motion may also be applied to complex ordinances or resolutions.
i. Reconsider Except for votes regarding matters which are
quasijudicial in nature or matters where rights have vested by law or matters which require a
noticed public hearing, the Council may reconsider any vote taken at the same meeting, but no
later than the next regular meeting, to correct inadvertent or precipitant errors, or consider new
information not available at the time of the vote. The motion to reconsider must be made by a
Councilmember who voted on the prevailing side, must be seconded and requires a majority vote
of the quorum for passage, regardless of the vote required to adopt the motion being reconsidered.
If the matter is to be reconsidered at the next regular meeting, a Councilmember on the prevailing
side must ask the City Clerk to place the matter on the agenda, or otherwise comply with
Government Code Section 54956.5. The matter to be reconsidered takes no special preference
over other pending matters and any special voting requirements related thereto still apply. Except
pursuant to a motion to reconsider, once a matter has been determined and voted upon, the same
matter cannot be brought up again at the same meeting.
j. Rescind, Repeal or Annul The Council may rescind, repeal; or
annul any prior action taken with reference to any legislative matter so long as the action to
rescind, repeal or annul complies with all the rules applicable to the initial adoption, including any
special voting or notice requirements or unless otherwise specified by law.
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Section 3. Council Authority The Council shall have the authority to waive provisions
of the procedures establish by this Resolution unless the procedure is required. Failure of the
Council to follow the procedures established by this Resolution shall not invalidate or otherwise
affect any action of the Council.
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED, this 26th day of July, 1994.
Ron Roberts, Mayor
ATTEST:
[SEAL]
STATE OF CALIFORNIA)
COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE) ss
CITY OF TEMECULA )
I, June S. Greek, City Clerk of the City of Temecula, do hereby certify that the foregoing
Resolution No. 94-79 was duly and reg,,larly adopted by the City Council of the City of Temecula
at a regular meeting thereof held on the 26th day of July 1994, by the following vote:
4 COUNCILMEMBERS: Birdsall, Mufioz, Parks, Roberts
NOF~:
0 COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: 1 COUNCILMEMBERS Stone
June S. Greek, City Clerk
R~ 94-79