[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Seward
as Ch. 1, Art. 6, of the 1976 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Amended 3-4-2008 by Ord.
No. 3-08; 12-2-2008 by Ord. No. 22-08; 8-16-2011 by Ord. No. 16-11; 5-5-2015 by Ord. No. 2015-08]
A.
All requests for City Council agenda items shall be presented in
writing to the Mayor, City Administrator or City Clerk. In addition
to requesting agenda items at the designated time during Council meetings,
Council members may request items to be placed on the agenda at the
next regularly scheduled meeting, if feasible, by written request.
Any member of the public may request an item for the Council agenda
or administrative action by filling out a request form entitled "Request
for Council Agenda Item or Administrative Action." This form is available
at City Hall, or can be downloaded from the City's website at
cityofsewardne.gov. The deadline for the Council and the public for
adding items to the Council agenda shall be 12:00 noon on the Wednesday
preceding each regular meeting, unless the item is determined to be
of an emergency nature. The item requested will either be placed on
the next regularly scheduled Council meeting agenda, if feasible,
or handled administratively if a policy is already in place. The Mayor
and Council will be provided copies of all requests submitted. The
Council shall have the right to modify an agenda only for items of
an emergency nature. The deadline for the Mayor to add items to the
Council agenda shall be 24 hours before the commencement of the meeting,
unless the item is determined to be of an emergency nature.
B.
Notice
of meetings.
(1)
The method of communicating advance notice of the regular and special
meetings of the City Council shall be made by posting notice of such
meeting, with the agenda thereon, in the following public places of
the City of Seward, Nebraska:
(2)
Such notice shall contain the time and specific place for each meeting
and either an enumeration of the agenda subjects known at the time
of the notice, or a statement that such an agenda kept continually
current shall be readily available for public inspection at the office
of the Municipal Clerk. Except for items of an emergency nature, the
agenda shall not be altered later than 24 hours before the scheduled
commencement of the meeting. The Mayor will present any request for
an emergency item at the beginning of the next regularly scheduled
meeting, and the item will be subject to the final determination and
approval of the City Council.
[Amended 10-4-1983 by Ord. No. 25-83; 2-16-1993 by Ord. No. 3-93]
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
All regular, special, or called meetings, formal or informal,
of a public body for the purposes of briefing, discussion of public
business, formation of tentative policy, or the taking of any action.
[Neb. RS 84-1409(2)]
[Amended 10-4-1983 by Ord. No. 25-83; 9-15-1987 by Ord. No. 19-87]
A.
All public
meetings as defined by law shall be held in a municipal public building
which shall be open to attendance by the public. All meetings shall
be held in the public building in which the governing body usually
holds such meetings unless the publicized notice hereinafter required
shall designate some other public building or other specified place.
The advance publicized notice of all public convened meetings shall
be simultaneously transmitted to all members of the governing body
and to the public by a method designated by the governing body or
by the Mayor if the governing body has not designated a method. Such
notice shall contain the time and specific place for each meeting
and either an enumeration of the agenda subjects known at the time
of the notice, or a statement that such an agenda kept continually
current shall be readily available for public inspection at the office
of the Municipal Clerk. Except for items of an emergency nature, the
agenda shall not be altered later than: 1) 24 hours before the scheduled
commencement of the meeting or 2) 48 hours before the scheduled commencement
of a meeting of the governing body scheduled outside the corporate
limits of the municipality. The governing body shall have the right
to modify the agenda to include items of an emergency nature only
at such public meetings. Agenda items shall be sufficiently descriptive
to give the public reasonable notice of the matters to be considered
at the meeting.[1]
B.
The minutes
of the Municipal Clerk shall include the record of the manner and
advance time by which the advance publicized notice was given, a statement
of how the availability of an agenda of the then-known subjects was
communicated, the time and specific place of the meetings, and the
names of each member of the governing body present or absent at each
convened meeting. The minutes of the governing body shall be a public
record open to inspection by the public upon request at any reasonable
time at the office of the Municipal Clerk. Any official action on
any question or motion duly moved and seconded shall be taken only
by roll call vote of the governing body in open session. The record
of the Municipal Clerk shall show how each member voted, or that the
member was absent and did not vote.
(Neb. RS 84-1408, 84-1409, 84-1411, 84-1413)
[Amended 10-4-1983 by Ord. No. 25-83; 2-16-1993 by Ord. No. 4-93; 2-7-1995 by Ord. No. 13-95; 10-16-2007 by Ord. No. 37-07]
A.
Any public body may hold a closed session by the affirmative vote
of a majority of its voting members if a closed session is clearly
necessary for the protection of the public interest or for the prevention
of needless injury to the reputation of an individual and if such
individual has not requested a public meeting. The subject matter
and the reason necessitating the closed session shall be identified
in the motion to close.
(1)
Closed sessions may be held for, but shall not be limited to, such
reasons as:
(a)
Strategy sessions with respect to collective bargaining, real
estate purchases, pending litigation or litigation which is imminent
as evidenced by communication of a claim or threat of litigation to
or by the public body;
(b)
Discussion regarding deployment of security personnel or devices;
(c)
Investigative proceedings regarding allegations of criminal
misconduct; or
(d)
Evaluation of the job performance of a person when necessary
to prevent needless injury to the reputation of a person and if such
person has not requested a public meeting.
(2)
Nothing in this section shall permit a closed meeting for discussion
of the appointment or election of a new member to any public body.
B.
The vote to hold a closed session shall be taken in open session. The entire motion, the vote of each member on the question of holding a closed session, and the time when the closed session commenced and concluded shall be recorded in the minutes. If the motion to close passes, then immediately prior to the closed session the presiding officer shall restate on the record the limitation of the subject matter of the closed session. The public body holding such a closed session shall restrict its consideration to matters during the closed portions to only those purposes set forth in the motion to close as the reason for the closed session. The meeting shall be reconvened in open session before any formal action may be taken. For purposes of this section, "formal action" shall mean a collective decision or a collective commitment or promise to make a decision on any question, motion, proposal, resolution, order, or ordinance or formation of a position or policy but shall not include not include negotiating guidance given by members of the public body to legal counsel or other negotiators in closed sessions authorized under Subsection A(1)(a) of this section.
C.
Any member of the public body shall have the right to challenge the
continuation of a closed session if the member determines that the
session has exceeded the reason stated in the original motion to hold
a closed session or if the member contends that the closed session
is neither clearly necessary for 1) the protection of the public interest
or 2) the prevention of needless injury to the reputation of an individual.
Such challenge shall be overruled only by a majority vote of the members
of the public body. Such challenge and its disposition shall be recorded
in the minutes.
D.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to require that any meeting
be closed to the public. No person or public body shall fail to invite
a portion of its members to a meeting and no public body shall designate
itself a subcommittee of the whole body for the purpose of circumventing
the Open Meetings Act (Neb. RS 84-1407 through 84-1414). No closed
session, informal meeting, chance meeting, social gathering, e-mail,
fax, or other electronic communication shall be used for the purpose
of circumventing the provisions of the Act.
E.
The Act does not apply to chance meetings, or to attendance at or
travel to conventions or workshops of members of a public body at
which there is no meeting of the body then intentionally convened,
if there is no vote or other action taken regarding any matter over
which the public body has supervision, control, jurisdiction, or advisory
power.
(Neb. RS 84-1410)
[Added 2-15-2005 by Ord.
No. 11-05[1]]
No person or public body shall fail to invite a portion of its
members to a meeting, and no public body shall designate itself a
subcommittee of the whole body for the purpose of circumventing this
articles or the Open Meetings Act. No closed session, informal meeting,
chance meeting, social gathering, e-mail, fax, or electronic communication
shall be used for the purpose of circumventing the requirements of
this article or the Act.
[Amended 10-4-1983 by Ord. No. 25-83]
When it is necessary to hold an emergency meeting without reasonable advance public notice, the nature of the emergency shall be stated in the minutes, and any formal action taken in such meeting shall pertain only to the emergency. Such emergency meetings may be held by means of electronic or telecommunications equipment. The provisions of § 78-1.9 of this article shall be complied with in conducting emergency meetings. Complete minutes of such emergency meetings specifying the nature of the emergency and any formal action taken at the meeting shall be made available to the public by no later than the end of the next regular business day. (Neb. RS 84-1411)
[Amended 8-7-2007 by Ord.
No. 20-07; 10-16-2007 by Ord. No. 35-07]
A.
Each public body shall keep minutes of all meetings, showing the
time, place, members present and absent, and the substance of all
matters discussed.
B.
The minutes of all meetings and evidence and documentation received
or disclosed in open session shall be public records and open to public
inspection during normal business hours.
C.
The minutes of all meetings shall be written and available for public
inspection within 10 working days or prior to the next convened meeting,
whichever occurs earlier. An additional 10 days shall be allowed the
City Clerk in writing and making available for inspection such minutes
in the event of the Clerk's serious illness or an emergency which
prevents him/her from writing such minutes and making them available
to the general public within 10 working days as set forth herein.
(Neb. RS 84-1413)
[Amended 9-19-1978 by Ord. No. 1138]
A.
Any action taken on any question or motion duly moved and seconded
shall be by roll call vote of the public body in open session, and
the record shall state how each member voted, or if the member was
absent or not voting. The requirements of a roll call or viva voce
vote shall be satisfied by the municipality utilizing an electronic
voting device which allows the "yeas" and "nays" of each member of
the governing body to be readily seen by the public.
B.
The vote to elect leadership within a public body may be taken by
secret ballot, but the total number of votes for each candidate shall
be recorded in the minutes.
(Neb. RS 16-503, 17-616, 84-1413)
The Municipal Clerk, Secretary, or other designee of each public
body shall maintain a list of the news media requesting notification
of meetings and shall make reasonable efforts to provide advance notification
to them of the time and place of each meeting, and the subjects to
be discussed at that meeting. (Neb. RS 84-1411)
[Amended 10-4-1983 by Ord. No. 25-83; 10-1-1985 by Ord. No. 12-85; 10-16-2007 by Ord. No. 36-07]
A.
Subject to the Open Meetings Act, the public has the right to attend and the right to speak at meetings of public bodies, and all or any part of a meeting of a public body, except for closed sessions called pursuant to § 78-1.4, may be videotaped, televised, photographed, broadcast, or recorded by any person in attendance by means of a tape recorder, camera, video equipment, or any other means of pictorial or sonic reproduction or in writing.
B.
It shall not be a violation of this section for any public body to
make and enforce reasonable rules and regulations regarding the conduct
of persons attending, speaking at, videotaping, televising, photographing,
broadcasting, or recording its meetings. A body may not be required
to allow citizens to speak at each meeting, but it may not forbid
public participation at all meetings.
C.
No public body shall require members of the public to identify themselves
as a condition for admission to the meeting, nor shall such body require
that the name of any member of the public be placed on the agenda
prior to such meeting in order to speak about items on the agenda.
The body may require any member of the public desiring to address
the body to identify himself or herself.[1]
D.
No public body shall, for the purpose of circumventing the provisions
of the Open Meetings Act, hold a meeting in a place known by the body
to be too small to accommodate the anticipated audience.
E.
No public body shall be deemed in violation of this section if it
holds its meeting in its traditional meeting place which is located
in this state.
F.
No public body shall be deemed in violation of this section if it
holds a meeting outside of this state if, but only if:
(1)
A member entity of the public body is located outside of this
state and the meeting is in that member's jurisdiction;
(2)
All out-of-state locations identified in the notice are located
within public buildings used by members of the entity or at a place
which will accommodate the anticipated audience;
(3)
Reasonable arrangements are made to accommodate the public's
right to attend, hear, and speak at the meeting, including making
a telephone conference call available at an in-state location to members,
the public, or the press, if requested 24 hours in advance;
(4)
No more than 25% of the public body's meetings in a calendar
year are held out-of-state;
(5)
Out-of-state meetings are not used to circumvent any of the
public government purposes established in the Open Meetings Act;
(6)
Reasonable arrangements are made to provide viewing at other
in-state locations for a videoconference meeting if requested 14 days
in advance and if economically and reasonably available in the area;
and
(7)
The public body publishes notice of the out-of-state meeting
at least 21 days before the date of the meeting in a legal newspaper
of statewide circulation.
G.
The public body shall, upon request, make a reasonable effort to
accommodate the public's right to hear the discussion and testimony
presented at the meeting.
H.
Public bodies shall make available at the meeting or the in-state
location for a telephone conference call or videoconference, for examination
and copying by members of the public, at least one copy of all reproducible
written material to be discussed at an open meeting. Public bodies
shall make available at least one current copy of the Open Meetings
Act posted in the meeting room at a location accessible to members
of the public. At the beginning of the meeting, the public shall be
informed about the location of the posted information.[2]
(Neb. RS 84-1412)
[2]
Editor's Note: Original § 1-610 of the 1976
Code, Meetings; governing body, which immediately followed this subsection,
was repealed 10-1-1985 by Ord. No. 13-85.
[Amended 8-20-2002 by Ord. No. 29-03; 12-18-2012 by Ord. No. 40-12]
When the regular meeting date of the City Council shall fall
on a legal holiday, the Mayor and Council shall meet on the evening
of the day following such legal holiday.
The change in office shall be made as follows: The Mayor and
Council shall meet on the first regular meeting date in December of
each year in which a municipal election is held and the outgoing officers
and the outgoing members of the Council shall present their reports,
and upon the old Council having completed its business up to said
time, the outgoing members of the Council shall surrender their offices
to the incoming members, and the outgoing officers shall thereupon
each surrender to his successor in office all property, records, papers
and moneys belonging to the same. (Neb. RS 16-302.01)
The newly elected Council shall convene at the regular place
of meeting in the City on the first regular meeting in December of
each year in which a municipal election is held immediately after
the prior Council adjourns and proceed to organize itself for the
ensuing year. The Mayor elected for the new municipal year shall call
the meeting to order. The Council shall then proceed to examine the
credentials of its members and other elective officers of the City
to see that each has been duly and properly elected, and to see that
such oaths and bonds have been given as are required. After ascertaining
that all members are duly qualified, the Council shall then elect
one of its own body who shall be styled as "President of the Council."
The Mayor shall then nominate his candidates for appointive offices.
He shall then proceed with the regular order of business. It is hereby
made the duty of each and every member of the Council, or his successor
in office, and to each officer elected to any office, to qualify prior
to the first regular meeting in December following his election. All
appointive officers shall qualify within two weeks following their
appointments. Qualification for each officer who is not required to
give bond shall consist in his subscribing and taking an oath to support
the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State
of Nebraska, the laws of the municipality and to perform faithfully
and impartially the duties of his office, said oath to be filed in
the office of the Municipal Clerk. Each officer who is required to
give a bond shall file the required bond in the office of the Municipal
Clerk with sufficient sureties, conditioned on the faithful discharge
of the duties of his office, with the oath endorsed thereon. (Neb.
RS 16-302.01)
[Amended 10-1-1985 by Ord. No. 13-85; 8-20-2002 by Ord. No. 30-02; 12-21-2010 by Ord. No. 30-10]
A.
The meeting of the governing body shall be held in the meeting place
of the municipality. Regular meetings shall be held on the first and
third Tuesdays of each month at the hour of 7:00 p.m.
[Amended 10-1-1985 by Ord. No. 13-85]
A.
Special meetings may be called by the Mayor, or by four members of
the City Council, the object of which shall be submitted to the Council
in writing. The call and object, as well as the disposition thereof,
shall be entered upon the journal by the Municipal Clerk. On filing
the call for a special meeting, the Municipal Clerk shall notify the
Councilmembers of the special meeting, stating the time and its purpose.
Notice of a special meeting need not be given to a Councilmember known
to be out of the state or physically unable to be present. A majority
of the members of the City Council shall constitute a quorum for the
transaction of business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day
to day and compel the attendance of the absent members. Whether a
quorum is present or not, all absent members shall be sent for and
compelled to attend.
B.
At the hour appointed for the meeting, the Municipal Clerk shall proceed to call the roll of members and announce whether a quorum is present. If a quorum is present, the Council shall be called to order by the Mayor, if present, or, if absent, by the President of the Council. In the absence of both the Mayor and the President of the Council, the City Councilmembers shall elect a President Pro Tempore. All ordinances passed at any special meeting shall comply with procedures set forth in Chapter 72, Article I, of the Seward Municipal Code.
(Neb. RS 16-401)
[Amended 6-1997 by Ord. No. 17-97; 11-21-2000 by Ord.
No. 53-00; 3-15-2005 by Ord. No. 11-05]
A.
A meeting of an organization created under the Interlocal Cooperation
Act (Neb. RS 13-801), the Joint Public Agency Act (Neb. RS 13-2501),
or the Municipal Cooperative Financing Act (Neb. RS 18-2401 et seq.)
or of the governing body of a risk management pool or its advisory
committees organized in accordance with the Intergovernmental Risk
Management Act (Neb. RS 44-4301 et seq.) may be held by means of videoconferencing
if:
(1)
Reasonable advance publicized notice is given;
(2)
Reasonable arrangements are made to accommodate the public's
right to attend, hear, and speak at the meeting, including seating,
recordation by audio or visual recording devices, and a reasonable
opportunity for input such as public comment or questions to at least
the same extent as would be provided if videoconferencing was not
used;
(3)
At least one copy of all documents being considered is available
to the public at each site of the videoconference;
(4)
At least one member of the governing body or advisory committee
is present at each site of the videoconference; and
(5)
No more than 1/2 of the governing body's or advisory committee's
meetings in a calendar year are held by videoconference.
B.
Videoconferencing or conferencing by other electronic communication
shall not be used to circumvent any of the public government purposes
established in the Open Meetings Act.
C.
VIDEOCONFERENCING
For the purpose of this section, the following definition applies:
Conducting a meeting involving participants at two or more
locations through the use of audio-video equipment which allows participants
at each location to hear and see each meeting participant at each
other location, including public input. Interaction between meeting
participants shall be possible at all meeting locations. (Neb. RS
84-1409)
(Neb. RS 84-1411)
A.
A meeting of the governing body of an entity formed under the Interlocal
Cooperation Act or the Joint Public Agency Act or of the governing
body of a risk management pool or its advisory committees organized
in accordance with the Intergovernmental Risk Management Act may be
held by telephone conference call if:
(1)
The territory represented by the member public agencies of the
entity or pool covers more than one county;
(2)
Reasonable advance publicized notice is given which identifies
each telephone conference location at which a member of the entity's
or pool's governing body will be present;
(3)
All telephone conference meeting sites identified in the notice
are located within public buildings used by members of the entity
or pool at a place which will accommodate the anticipated audience;
(4)
Reasonable arrangements are made to accommodate the public's
right to attend, hear, and speak at the meeting, including seating,
recordation by audio recording devices, and a reasonable opportunity
for input such as public comment or questions to at least the same
extent as would be provided if a telephone conference call was not
used;
(5)
At least one copy of all documents being considered is available
to the public at each site of the telephone conference call;
(6)
At least one member of the governing body of the entity or pool
is present at each site of the telephone conference call identified
in the public notice;
(7)
The telephone conference call lasts no more than one hour; and
(8)
No more than 1/2 of the entity's or pool's meetings
in a calendar year are held by telephone conference call.
B.
Nothing in this section shall prevent the participation of consultants,
members of the press, and other nonmembers of the governing body at
sites not identified in the public notice. Telephone conference calls,
e-mails, faxes, or other electronic communication shall not be used
to circumvent any of the public government purposes established in
the Open Meetings Act.[1]
(Neb. RS 84-1411)
