City of Monroe, MI Council Proceedings

The City Council shall hold its first meeting of each calendar year on the first Monday in January at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall, except when the first Monday is an observed federal holiday, in which case the first meeting shall be held the following business day at 7:30 p.m. The City Council shall hold two regular meetings during each calendar month as set in the Annual Calendar of Regular Meetings pursuant to § 34-6.

All regular meetings of the Council shall be held in the Council Chambers of City Hall unless otherwise noted in the Annual Calendar of Regular Meetings pursuant to § 34-6 or changed pursuant to Subsection D below.

The Council may, by resolution, when necessary or appropriate, change the time and place of any regular meeting or modify the Annual Calendar of Regular Meetings or the Annual Calendar of Work Sessions. The resolution shall set forth the circumstances supporting such change. A resolution changing the time or place of a single meeting or session shall be published once in a newspaper of local circulation at least one week prior to the meeting to be held pursuant to the change, be posted by the Clerk/Treasurer pursuant to state law, be provided to each Council member, and be listed on the City's website. A resolution changing the Annual Calendar of Regular Meetings or the Annual Calendar of Work Sessions shall be published once in a newspaper of local circulation within one week of the passage of the resolution and at least one week prior to the first meeting or work session changed by the resolution, be posted by the Clerk/Treasurer, be provided to each Council member, and be listed on the City's website.

All regular meetings, unless closed pursuant to state law, shall be freely subject to recording by radio, television and photography at any time, provided that such arrangements do not interfere with the orderly conduct of the meetings under such rules as the Council may prescribe.

Each member of the Council shall be required to attend all sessions of the Council, unless excused by the Mayor or the Mayor Pro Tem acting on behalf of the Mayor.

The Council may compel the attendance of its members.

§ 34-3 Special meetings.

[Added 12-8-1998 by Ord. No. 98-020; amended 12-18-2017 by Ord. No. 17-012]

The Mayor and any one member of the Council, or any two members of the Council, may call a special meeting of the Council whenever in their opinions the public business may require it.

Wherever a special meeting shall be called, a written notice signed by the Mayor or the requesting member of Council shall be filed with the City Clerk/Treasurer and served upon each member of the Council either in person or by notice left at his or her place of residence at least two hours before the meeting and also sent to each member of Council via electronic mail, stating the date and hour of the meeting and the purpose for which such meeting is called, and no business shall be transacted at the meeting except such as is stated in the notice.

The time and manner of notice of a special meeting shall conform to the provisions of the Michigan Open Meetings Act.[1]

[1]

Editor's Note: See MCLA § 15.261 et seq.

§ 34-4 Work/study sessions.

[Amended 12-18-2017 by Ord. No. 17-012]

The Council may meet informally in work/study sessions which shall be open to the general public, pursuant to an Annual Calendar of Work Sessions, at the call of the Mayor or at the call of any two members of the Council, to review forthcoming programs of the City, receive progress reports on current programs or projects or receive other similar information, provided that all discussion and conclusions thereon shall be informal.

Work/study sessions shall not continue past two hours of their starting time, unless a majority of those Council members present choose to continue.

§ 34-5 Executive sessions.

Executive sessions or closed meetings shall be held in accordance with the provisions of the Michigan Open Meetings Act.

§ 34-6 Annual calendar.

[Amended 12-18-2017 by Ord. No. 17-012]

City Council shall establish an Annual Calendar of Regular Meetings at the first Council meeting held in January of each year. City Council shall also establish an Annual Calendar of Work Sessions at the first Council meeting held in January of each year. Said calendars shall include the date, time and location, if other than the Council Chambers of City Hall, of all regular meetings of the City Council, work sessions of the City Council, joint meetings with standing boards and commissions, and any periodic meetings required by statute or ordinance. The Annual Calendar of Regular Meetings and the Annual Calendar of Work Sessions shall be published once in a newspaper of local circulation in January of each calendar year, be posted by the Clerk/Treasurer, be provided to each Council member, and be listed on the City's website.

Any board or commission required to present an annual report to City Council shall do so at the joint meeting established by the annual calendar, unless otherwise requested.

§ 34-7 Rules of order; suspension of rules.

Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (1989) shall govern the proceedings of the Council in all cases, unless it is in conflict with the rule provisions of this article.

Any rule of procedure or the order of business may be suspended by a two-thirds vote of those members of Council present.

§ 34-8 Rules of debate.

The Mayor, or such other member of the Council as may be presiding, may debate from the Chair, subject only to such limitations on debate as are by these rules imposed on all members, and shall not be deprived of any of the rights and privileges of a Council member by reason of acting as the presiding officer.

Every member desiring to speak shall address the Chair, and upon recognition by the presiding officer, shall confine himself or herself to the question under debate, avoiding all personalities and indecorous language.

No member of Council may speak more than once on the same question until every member desiring to speak on the question shall have been heard.

No matter foreign to the subject under consideration shall be received under color of an amendment.

The Council member moving the adoption of an ordinance or resolution shall have the privilege of closing the debate.

§ 34-9 Manner of addressing the Council.

Any person wishing to address the Council shall step up to the podium, state his or her name and address in an audible tone of voice for the record, and, unless further time is granted by the Council, limit his or her address to three minutes. A person may not give up or relinquish all or a portion of his or her time to the person having the floor or another person in order to extend a person's time limit in addressing the Council.

All remarks and questions shall be addressed to the Council as a body through the presiding officer.

No person, other than the Council and the person having the floor, shall be permitted to enter into any discussion, either directly or through a member of Council, without the permission of the presiding officer.

Any person who does not wish to address Council from the podium may print his or her name and address and the comment or question which he or she would like brought before Council on a card provided by the Clerk/Treasurer and return the card to the Clerk/Treasurer before the meeting begins. The Clerk/Treasurer will address the presiding officer at the start of citizen comments on the agenda, notifying him or her of the card comment, and will read the card into the record for response.

Any person making personal, impertinent or slanderous remarks or who shall become boisterous while addressing the Council shall be forthwith, by the presiding officer, barred from further audience before the Council, unless permission to continue is granted by a majority vote of the Council.

§ 34-10 Motions.

The following motions and no other motions shall be received when a question is under debate:

(1)

To adjourn;

(2)

To lay on the table;

(3)

To move the previous question; and

(4)

To amend.

These several motions shall have precedence in the order stated. The motion to adjourn shall be decided without debate.

Any member of Council having voted on the prevailing side on any question may move for a reconsideration thereof at the same or the next regular meeting or adjourned meeting, but there shall be no more than one reconsideration of any question without unanimous consent.

§ 34-11 Clerk of Council; duties.

The City Clerk/Treasurer shall serve as Clerk of the Council unless the Council shall otherwise provide by resolution. The Clerk of the Council shall:

Keep a journal of the Council proceedings where minutes of all regular and special meetings and study sessions shall be recorded, which minutes shall be authenticated by the signature of the officer presiding at the meeting and by the Clerk of the Council. Such minutes shall be maintained in the office of Clerk/Treasurer and be open to public inspection, except for proceedings of closed meetings as permitted by state law.

Preserve and record all ordinances and resolutions adopted by the Council.

After the close of each year, or other appropriate time frame, with the advice and assistance of the City Attorney, bind, compile or codify, or arrange for such services, all the ordinances and resolutions or true copies thereof which remain in force and effect.

Properly index the record books, compilations and codification of ordinances and resolutions or arrange for the same.

Publicly advertise for bids in the name of the Council for all contracts for the doing of any work or the furnishing of any materials, supplies or labor, or for the hiring of teams or vehicles, where public advertisement is required by state law or otherwise. This general direction to the Clerk of the Council to cause public advertisement for bids to be published shall in no way affect the requirements that the Council must let each contract at the receipt of bids.

Provide secretarial and clerical services for the Council members in the discharge of their official duties.

Have such other duties as Council may be resolution prescribe or the Mayor may from time to time require.

§ 34-12 Presiding officer of the Council; duties.

[Amended 4-20-2015 by Ord. No. 15-004]

The Mayor, as the presiding officer of the Council, shall perform the following duties:

Preside at Council meetings, preserving strict order and decorum at all regular and special meetings of the Council and confining members in debates to the question under discussion.

Approve vouchers chargeable to appropriations (limited to personal expenditures by Council members), provided that each voucher has been listed on a Council agenda and the Council has taken no contrary action at its next regular meeting.

Approve vouchers chargeable to the City Council account for stationery, clerical services or the like, which need not be listed on the Council agenda.

Have such other duties as the Council may prescribe by resolution.

§ 34-13 Committees and boards.

[Added 4-20-2015 by Ord. No. 15-004]

All committees and boards shall be created by Council by resolution or ordinance. The members of such committees or boards shall perform such duties, make such investigation and have and/or report on such matters as may be properly referred to them. No committees shall be appointed for administrative purposes.