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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance No. 2480-2010tl+c ri'!y of KENAl, ALASKA Sponsored by: Mayor Porter and Council Members Molloy and Smalley CITY OF KENAI ORDINANCE NO. 2480 -2010 AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENAI, ALASKA, AMENDING KMC CHAPTER 1.15, RULES OF ORDER, TO ESTABLISH THE FORM OF THE COUNCIL AGENDA AND SET THE ORDER OF BUSINESS, TO EXPLAIN THE CONSENT AGENDA AND LIST OF PENDING LEGISLATION, AND TO MAKE CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. WHEREAS, under Chapter 1.15 of the Kenai Municipal Code the City enacted legislation to detail procedures for exercising the City Council's legislative powers vested to it under its Charter; and, WHEREAS, KMC 1.15.050 sets forth recommended guidelines for conducting the order of business for City Council meetings; but, those guidelines do not reflect current practices of the Council; and, WHEREAS, it is in the best interests of the City to formalize the order of business of City Council meetings, including providing more specific notice to citizens about when they may address the Council at times other than during scheduled public hearings; and, WHEREAS, while the practice of the Council has been to dispose of routine business items through the use of a consent agenda, and while the municipal code references the use of a consent agenda, the Code does not currently outline specific procedures about how the consent agenda works; and, WHEREAS, providing additional information about how the Council manages its consent agenda will clarify the effect of action taken under the consent agenda and, at the same time, will better inform the public about how the business of the City of Kenai is accomplished; and, WHEREAS, the City has no express rules regarding how long items postponed or tabled should be maintained on the agenda and further guidance is necessary to advise the City Clerk in maintaining a list of pending legislation. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENAI, ALASKA, as follows: Section 1. Form: This is a Code ordinance. Section 2. Amendment of Section 1.15.040 of the Kenai Municipal Code: The Kenai Municipal Code, Section 1.15.040, Agenda, is hereby amended as follows: New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED] Ordinance No. 2480 -2010 Page 2 of 5 1.15.040 Agenda. (a) The Mayor or other Council Member, City Clerk, City Attorney, or City Manager may sponsor an ordinance for introduction or a resolution for adoption, and such ordinance or resolution shall be placed on the agenda of the regular Council meeting requested by the sponsor. (b) The Mayor or other Council Member, City Clerk, City Attorney, or City Manager may request that a discussion item be placed on the agenda of a regular Council meeting, and such discussion item shall be placed on the agenda of the regular Council meeting requested by the sponsor. (c) A member of the public may request that a matter be placed on the agenda subject to policies and procedures adopted under subsection W. Being placed on the agenda on the "Scheduled Public Comment [PERSONS SCHEDULED TO BE HEARD]" portion of the agenda does not limit or restrict the requestor's ability to speak on a different subject for which public comment is allowed. (d) A sponsor, all co- sponsors, proposer or requester may request that an item be removed from the agenda before the agenda is published under the policies and procedures adopted under subsection (j) and such item shall be removed from the agenda, unless the item has been carried over or postponed from a previous agenda. (e) The City Clerk shall prepare the agenda for each Council meeting after consultation with the Mayor and City Manager, subject to subsections (a) through (d). A draft agenda shall be circulated to the Mayor and other Council Members, and the City Manager. (f) Notice of the date, time, place, and [FINAL] agenda for each Council meeting shall be given to the public by publication in a newspaper of general circulation and by posting to the City's website and to the official bulletin board at City Hall under policies and procedures adopted under subsection (j). Additional public notice of meetings may be given by other means. (g) A meeting packet containing the [FINAL} agenda, all legislative items, and [ALL] supporting documentation for all agenda items shall be distributed to the Mayor, Council Members, and the City Manager. (h) The City Clerk shall cause a copy of the meeting packet to be posted on the City's website and to be provided to the Kenai Community Library, in order to be made available for public viewing under policies and procedures adopted under subsection (j). The City Clerk shall cause a paper copy or electronic copy of the meeting packet to be provided to any member of the public, or to any organization, upon request under policies and procedures adopted under subsection (j). At least one paper copy of the meeting packet shall be made available to the public at the meeting. (i) The City Clerk shall provide paper copies of any late materials to the Mayor, each Council Member, City Manager, and City Attorney. The City Clerk shall also make paper copies of late materials available to the public at the meeting. (j) The administration may [WILL] develop policies and procedures to implement this section, subject to review and approval of Council. New Text Underlined; [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED} Ordinance No. 2480 -2010 Page 3 of 5 (k) Failure to comply with the above policies and procedures or with any administrative policies will not invalidate any ordinance or Council action as long as there was a good faith effort at compliance by the City Clerk. Section 3. Amendment of Section 1.15.050 of the Kenai Municipal Code: The Kenai Municipal Code, Section 1.15.050, Order of business, is hereby amended as follows: 1.15.050 Order of business. (a) The order of business for every regular meeting of the City Council shall [MAY] be outlined on an agenda [DEEMED TO BE MOST EFFECTIVE FOR REGULAR COUNCIL MEETINGS. THE ORDER OF BUSINESS MAY BE SPECIFIED BY A WRITTEN AGENDA OR CALENDAR OR OTHER CUSTOMARY DESIGNATION FOR SCHEDULING OF THE ORDER OF' BUSINESS]. (b) The following shall be the order of business at the regular meetings of the City Council [A GUIDE FOR THE COUNCIL'S AGENDA, BUT NOT A MANDATORY FORMAT FOR THE ORDER OF BUSINESS, CAN BE AS FOLLOWS]: (1) Call to Order [ROLL CALL]: pledge of allegiance, roll call, and a[A]genda [APPROVAL,] and consent agenda approval (public comment shall be permitted on items included on the consent agenda); a Scheduled Public Comment; 13l Unscheduled Public Comment; (4[2]) Public Hearings [(FOR ORDINANCES OR PROGRAMS AS ANNOUNCED)]; (5) Minutes of Previous Meetings; [(3) PERSONS SCHEDULED TO BE HEARD; (4) CORRESPONDENCE (READING VERBATIM NOT REQUIRED IF COPIES DISTRIBUTED TO THE ENTIRE COUNCIL);] (6[51) Unfinished [OLD], Business; (7[6]) New Business; [(7) REPORTS; (8) PERSONS PRESENT BUT NOT SCHEDULED TO BE HEARD.] (8) Commission and Committee Reports; L9[ Report of the Mayor; (10) Reports from Administration; (11) Additional Public Comment: citizen comments and Council Member comments; (12) Executive Session (when applicable); (13) Pending Legislation and (14) Adjournment. New Text Underlined; [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED Ordinance No. 2480 -2010 Page 4 of 5 (c) Those items on the agenda that are considered routine by the City Manager and the City Clerk shall be identified by an asterisk (or similar notation) next to the item as listed on the agenda and thereby included under that portion of the agenda entitled "Consent Agenda." Unless a Council Member requests that an item on the consent agenda be considered under the regular meeting agenda, and thus removed from the consent agenda, items listed as part of the consent agenda shall be considered, introduced, adopted, accepted, etcetera, as appropriate for the item listed on the agenda, by motion of the Council and roll call vote under "Call to Order, consent agenda approval." Those items approved under the consent agenda shall appear in the Council minutes as if acted upon individually. The Council shall consider an item removed from the consent agenda in its proper numerical order as indicated on the regular agenda. (d) If the Council desires to transact business out of its regular order, it may do so upon approval of a motion to suspend the rules, which motion must be approved by a two thirds vote of the Council members in attendance. In the alternative, as each agenda item comes up, a majority of the Council can at once lay it on the table and thus reach any question which it desires to dispose of first. Lel The City Clerk shall maintain a list of tabled and pending items. This list shall be stricken at the end of the meeting at which the certification of a regular election of any Council Member takes place. ffj The administration may develop policies and procedures to implement this section, subject to review and approval of Council. jgj Failure to comply with the above policies and procedures or with any administrative policies will not invalidate any ordinance or Council action as long as there was a good faith effort at compliance by the City Clerk. Section 4. Severability: If any part or provision of this ordinance or application thereof to any person or circumstances is adjudged invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such judgment shall be confined in its operation to the part, provision, or application directly involved in all controversy in which this judgment shall have been rendered, and shall not affect or impair the validity of the remainder of this title or application thereof to other persons or circumstances. The City Council hereby declares that it would have enacted the remainder of this ordinance even without such part, provision, or application. Section 5. Effective Date: Pursuant to KMC 1.15.070(f), this ordinance shall take effect one month after adoption. New Text Underlined; [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED Ordinance No. 2480 -2010 Page 5 of 5 PASSED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KENAI, ALASKA, this fifth day of May, 2010. ATTEST: Carol L. Freas, City Clerk PAT PORTER, MAYOR New Text Underlined' [DELETED TEX7BRACKETED] Introduced: April 21, 2010 First Reading: May 5, 2010 Second Reading: May 19, 2010 Adopted: May 19, 2010 Effective: June 19, 2010 MEMO: TO: Council Members Boyle, Eldridge, Marquis, and Moore FROM: Bob Molloy (joined by Mayor Porter and Council Member Smalley) DATE: April 14, 2010 SUBJECT: Ordinance 2480 -2010, Amending Chapter 1.15, Rules Of Order, To Establish The Form Of The Council Agenda And Set The Order Of Business, To Explain The Consent Agenda And List Of Pending Legislation, And To Make Conforming Amendments Ordinance 2480 -2010 makes clarifications to how the Council's regular agenda is set, and provides Code authority for the new administrative policies and procedures that Council has been working on per Resolution No. 2010 -07, sponsored by Mayor Porter, with Vice Mayor Smalley as a co- initiator. Currently, the City's Code provides only loose guidelines to suggest an order of business. The City Attorney informs me that it is a common for municipal ordinances to mandate a specific order of business rather than just to provide general guidelines. In addition, the existing categories of agenda items listed in KMC 1.15.050(b) do not identify the categories of the City's business as conducted today and do not speak to all of the several opportunities during a Council meeting that members of the public have to address the Council. In addition to public hearings, the Council provides the public three other times to participate in a given Council meeting, including scheduled "scheduled public comment," "unscheduled public comment," and "citizen discussion." Currently, KMC 1.15.050(b) does not include any reference to "citizen discussion." It is appropriate to codify these opportunities for the public to speak, thereby giving greater assurance to the public that their individual and collective voices can be heard other than only at times of public hearing. The proposed ordinance adds a new subsection (c) to KMC 1.15.050 to better define how the consent agenda process works. It is not intended that the change would alter current practice. The list of agenda items and order of business (discussed above) also clarifies that the public has an opportunity to comment on items included on the consent agenda. This is also consistent with the proposed administrative policies which emerged from the Council work session on Resolution No. 2010 -07. Because the ordinance amends subsection (b) of KMC 1.15.050 to mandate the order of business, rather than merely provide loose guidance, flexibility is needed to permit the Council to take matters out of order, as the Council sees fit. Thus, the ordinance adds a new subsection (d) to provide guidance to the Council about how to call up a matter out of the order published on the agenda. It explains the parliamentary procedure that applies to take up matters out of order without the need to research the rule each time. The ordinance adds a new subsection (e) that clarifies when pending matters should be removed from the agenda. The procedure identified in the new ordinance reflects accepted practices under Robert's Rules of Order, the City Attorney has said. New subsections (f) and (g) to KMC 1.15.050 are added to allow for the development of the administrative policies and procedures that we are working on under Resolution No. 2010 -07 and to caution that a failure to comply with any code or policy will not invalidate Council action so long as good faith efforts of compliance are made. These sections echo the same provisions in KMC 1.15.040, which we added to the Code last year. Finally, the ordinance changes wording in KMC 1.15.040 and .050 to be consistent with current usage and terminology and to make minor clarifications. For example, today, the Council uses the phrase "scheduled public comment" rather than the phrase "persons scheduled to be heard." Updating the terminology does not change the current practice or process; but, it will provide better notice to members of the public about their right to address the Council. It can be confusing when the Council and the City Clerk use one term, but another term is published in the Code describing the same process. The amended terminology is consistent with the administrative policies and procedures also being considered at the April 21 Council meeting under Resolution No, 2010 -07. I respectfully request your support of proposed Ordinance No. 2480 -2010.