This article shall be known as the city public meetings policies.
(Ordinance 2011-01-10-11, sec. 1,
adopted 1/10/11)
(a)
Unless
a particular meeting of the city council or a board, commission or
panel contains or requires a public hearing on the topic under consideration,
the mayor or other presiding officer may, as provided by these rules,
limit or prevent public participation in any consideration of the
topic or subject before the body.
(b)
The
members of the city council, board, commission or panel may, by a
majority vote, override the decision by the presiding officer to limit
public participation, thus allowing the public participation.
(Ordinance 2011-01-10-11, sec. 2,
adopted 1/10/11)
The mayor or other presiding officer of the city council or
city board, commission or panel may give preference to residents of
the city over nonresidents in participation in any comments in public
meetings involving city business; provided that the mayor or other
presiding officer shall not unreasonably discriminate.
(Ordinance 2011-01-10-11, sec. 3,
adopted 1/10/11)
The city council establishes the following meeting rules for
and limits on the amount of time allotted to citizen comments or participation
in discussion of items on the agenda and for items not on the agenda
where there is no compliance with open meetings notification and where
no action can be taken:
(1)
The
mayor or other presiding officer may hold a comment period at the
beginning of the first regular council meeting of each month for comments
not related to a public hearing on the agenda.
(2)
Any
citizen may sign up to address the council prior to the meeting. A
sign-in sheet will be available twenty (20) minutes before the meeting.
(3)
The
topic will be listed on the sign-in sheet and the comments shall pertain
to the topic listed.
(4)
The
citizen may address the council for a maximum of two (2) minutes.
(5)
The
council is interested in hearing about problems and possible solutions.
(6)
Personal
attacks on elected officials, appointed officials, or employees will
be prohibited.
(7)
All
comments will be made at the podium in front of the council. The citizen
shall state their name and physical address before beginning their
comments.
(8)
This
is not a question and answer session. The mayor or councilmembers
are not obligated to answer questions or comment on your remarks.
(9)
In
the interest of time, multiple people who come to speak on a single
topic are asked to choose a spokesperson to represent the group.
(10)
If requested, the city staff will reply to your concerns in writing
within the next month. Staff replies will be copied to the mayor and
council.
(11)
If a citizen would rather make written comments, the comments will
be dispersed to the mayor and council after the meeting.
(12)
Except at public hearing or citizen comment time, the audience shall
refrain from comments unless recognized by the mayor or other presiding
officer.
(Ordinance 2011-01-10-11, sec. 4,
adopted 1/10/11)
The mayor or other presiding officer of the city council, board,
commission or panel shall have the right to limit discussions, comments,
signs or public outbursts in any public meetings in order to facilitate
the conduct of business of the city.
(Ordinance 2011-01-10-11, sec. 5,
adopted 1/10/11)
