[Amended by Ord. No. 81-64; Ord. No. 84-60; Ord. No. 85-20; Ord. No. 87-1; Ord. No. 88-17; Ord. No. 91-4; Ord. No. 03-01]
Regular meetings of the City council shall be
held on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 5:30 p.m. When
the day of the regular meeting falls on a legal holiday or the City
council finds it inconvenient to meet, such meeting shall be held
on a date determined by the City council. All regular meetings shall
be held at the City hall or such other public place as the City council
may designate.
The mayor or a majority of the members of the
City council may call special meetings by notice to each member of
the council, personally served or left at his usual place of residence.
Adjourned or recessed meetings may be held at
such times as the City council may determine.
[Amended by Ord. No. 83-7; Ord. No. 86-20]
The City clerk or his representative, a competent
person, shall attend all meetings of the City council and make an
accurate record of all business transacted at each meeting. The City
engineer, City attorney, City treasurer, City administrator, City
administrative assistant, community development director, director
of administrative services, chief of police, and director of public
works shall likewise attend all meetings of the council, unless excused
by the mayor. All other City officers or employees shall attend council
meetings when requested to do so by the mayor or any councilman.
The mayor shall preside at all meetings of the
City council, with the right of veto as provided by state law. Any
resolutions or ordinances passed by the council must be signed by
the mayor and recorded by the clerk before the same shall be in force.
At all meetings of the council, the mayor shall have a vote, but he
shall have no vote when the council votes on the question of confirmation
of his appointments. In the absence of the mayor, the president of
the council shall exercise the powers of the office of the mayor until
his return.
[Amended by Ord. No. 81-7]
During the executive session the City council
may, by a vote of two-thirds of the members present, exclude from
the council chambers all persons except the mayor and councilmen.
Other persons may attend at the request of the City council.
The City council may elect one of their body
who shall be styled the "president of the council," who shall preside
at all meetings of the council in the absence of the mayor, and in
the absence of the president of the council, the council may elect
one of their own body to occupy his place temporarily, who shall be
styled "acting president of the council." The president and acting
president, when occupying the place of the mayor, shall have the same
privileges as other members of the council, and all acts of the president
and acting president, while so acting, shall be binding upon the council
and upon the City, as if done by the mayor.
A.
At the hour appointed for the meeting, the City council
shall be called to order by the presiding officer.
B.
The City clerk or some competent person acting for
him shall call the roll. If a quorum is present, the council shall
proceed to the business which may come before it.
C.
Four members of the council shall constitute a quorum
for the transaction of business at any meeting.
[Amended by Ord. No. 84-60]
The order of business at each regular City council
meeting shall be prescribed in the latest edition of Roberts Rules
of Order or such other order as the City council may from time to
time establish by consent of a majority of the members present.
The City council shall follow the procedure
established in the latest edition of "Robert's Rules of Order," unless
specific provisions of this chapter are applicable or unless the rule
concerned is in conflict with state law.
The mayor or presiding officer shall preserve
order, prevent personal reflections, confine members in debate to
the question and decide who shall be first heard when two members
rise at the same time. Any member of the City council, when called
to order by the presiding officer, shall at once suspend his remarks.
Each councilman, before speaking on any question,
shall address himself to the presiding officer by his proper title
and shall not proceed with his remarks until recognized and named
by the presiding officer.
No question on a motion shall be debated or
put to a vote unless the same is seconded. When a motion is seconded,
it shall be stated by the presiding officer before debate or action
thereon. Any motion shall be stated by the presiding officer before
debate or action thereon. Any motion shall be reduced to writing by
the councilman making such motion, upon request of the presiding officer
or any councilman.
If the question before the City council contains
more than one distinct proposition, any councilman may have the same
divided.
Any councilman may state his reason for voting
upon any question, either immediately before or immediately after
the vote is taken, but he shall confine his remarks to the subject
under consideration.
Each councilman who shall be present when a
question is to be voted upon shall vote thereon, unless excused therefrom
by the City council. He may, before the vote is called for, give his
reasons for not voting. If he is directly interested in the question,
he need not vote. When he is on trial, he shall not vote.
On the question of the passage of an ordinance
or resolution, the vote of the council shall be taken by ayes and
nays, and a record of the same shall be made upon the journal, which
shall show how each councilman voted.
A.
Petitions, memorials and all communications and papers
addressed to the City council, mayor or presiding officer, or presented
by a councilman in his place, may be read by the City clerk at the
request of a councilman or the presiding officer.
B.
All petitions, memorials and all communications and
papers which may be filed with or delivered to the City clerk prior
to the meeting of the council shall be laid upon the desk of the mayor
or the presiding officer.
[Amended by Ord. No. 84-59]
A.
Resolutions shall be used in every case where an ordinance
is not required and shall be appropriate in the following instances:
(2)
Directives of the council or staff member.
(3)
Adoption of a policy concerning employees, utilities
services or equipment.
(4)
Granting of a right or privilege to any person when
a contract is not required.
(5)
Changes in the master plan of the City.
(6)
Authorizing the issuance of bonds.
(7)
In every other case where it is deemed in the public
interest that a full and permanent record be made and kept of the
action of the City council.
B.
Resolutions shall be numbered consecutively, giving
first the calendar year, and shall bear titles which shall set forth
in general terms the subject matter, shall contain a resolving clause
and shall bear the date, signature of the mayor and attesting officer
and the seal of the City. The City clerk shall keep a permanent log
book in which the original of each resolution considered, whether
or not adopted, shall be kept.
[Amended by Ord. No. 81-133]
A.
All ordinances adopted and passed by the City council
shall be introduced in writing or typewriting. Ordinances shall be
fully and distinctively read by title on three different days. There
must elapse at least ten days between the first and third reading
of the ordinance. If three-fourths of the council shall declare an
emergency and suspend the rules, the council may, under the suspension
of the rules, by another three-fourths majority vote of the council,
pass an ordinance after reading of the same by title once, and have
it be in effect on the same day as such reading or on any other day,
as specified in the ordinance.
B.
Nothing contained in this section shall be construed
as prohibiting or preventing the council from passing any ordinance
in case of emergency as an emergency ordinance.
C.
All ordinances and resolutions must be authorized
by a councilman, and the author's name shall be part of and published
with the ordinance or resolution.
[Amended by Ord. No. 81-133]
A.
The style of each ordinance shall be "Be it ordained
by the governing body of the City of Evanston, Wyoming."
B.
Each ordinance shall be published in its entirety
in a newspaper of general circulation within the City of Evanston.
C.
Unless otherwise provided, an ordinance shall not
become effective until five days after it has been published.
The amendment or repeal of existing provisions
of this Code or the insertion of additional provisions in this Code
shall be done in the following manner:
A.
Ordinances amending existing sections shall designate,
by section number, the sections which are affected and set out in
full the new language of each section.
B.
Ordinances repealing existing sections shall designate,
by section number, the sections which are repealed.
C.
Ordinances adding sections to the Code shall designate
where such sections are to be inserted, in the following manner:
(2)
Ordinances adding new material not presently covered by a chapter heading in the Code shall be inserted in alphabetical order between existing chapters, based on the subject matter of the ordinance. The new chapter shall be numbered decimally as illustrated in the following example: An ordinance adding a new chapter which should be inserted between existing chapters 2 and 3 would be numbered 2.1, with the individual sections of such chapter being numbered 2.1-1 et seq.
The repeal of an ordinance which repeals a former
ordinance or provision of this Code shall not revive the former ordinance
or provision of this Code, unless expressly so provided.
A.
Each ordinance passed by the City council shall be
systematically identified by a number assigned to such ordinance pursuant
to the following systematic numbering system, which system is hereby
adopted:
B.
The number for each ordinance shall consist of the
last two digits of the year, followed by a dash and sequential numbering
system for all ordinances during that year, (e.g., the first ordinance
introduced in 1978 shall have as its ordinance number the number 78-1).
C.
The numbering system hereby adopted shall reflect
the sequence of adoption of all the City's ordinances from the adoption
of this Code, and the City shall assign a particular number to only
one ordinance.
In all cases where a motion is entered upon
the journal of the City council, the name of the member moving the
same shall also be entered.
A.
The City clerk shall keep a correct journal of the
proceedings of the City council and shall cause councilmen and officers
of the City to be informed of such duties as they may be charged with
from time to time by the council, and he shall perform such other
duties appertaining to him as City clerk. He shall not allow the journal,
records, accounts or papers to be taken from his table or out of his
custody, except by the regular mode of business of the council or
by an officer authorized to do so; and if any paper in his charge
shall be missing, he shall report the fact to the presiding officer
at once, in order that the loss may be inquired into.
B.
The journal of the proceedings of the City council
shall be open for inspection at all reasonable times.
[Added by Ord. No. 90-12]
Each City council member and the mayor shall furnish bond in the amount of five thousand dollars in accordance with Article V of this chapter.
