Paul Prince
Councilmember
In last night's (1/16) City Council discussion on the Rules of Procedure (RoP), the fact that changing the RoP requires a super majority approval came up. This led to a tangential discussion asking whether the last time we changed the RoP it had not met this super majority requirement. I spent the morning reviewing the history in detail and there is/was no issue.
In fact, council voted UNANIMOUSLY to change the RoP on April 4, 2024. This was actually done as a consent agenda item after previously holding discussions about the RoP on 1/4, 1/18, 2/1, 2/15, and 3/21. This change included adding section 2.15 which clarifies that either Suspension or Amendment of the RoP requires a super Majority approval.
On 6/6/24, at Council member Roberts' request, we instructed the City Attorney to review the RoP against the City Charter, and particularly 3.13 "to identify and recommend necessary amendments to ensure full compliance and alignment with the charter". The City Attorney at that time did not complete that assignment before resigning his role with the City. In last night's meeting, I believe Mr. Roberts suggested it might be best for the new city attorney to hold off on doing this as we have a Charter Review Committee actively working which could result in changes of the charter that would impact such an evaluation.
Subsequently Council chartered a sub-committee to study the question of whether we should document any rules around the Procedures for Interaction between Council and City staff via changes to the code of ordinances. We discussed this in full council on 9/5, and 9/19. Ordinance No. 24-09-19-03 was passed on a 4-2 vote adding section 1.310 "Procedures for Personnel Interaction" to the City Code of Ordinances, under section 1.300 "City Council". Councilors Saum and Roberts opposed.
This combination of topics resulted in a year where it felt as though we debated procedures without end.
In fact, council voted UNANIMOUSLY to change the RoP on April 4, 2024. This was actually done as a consent agenda item after previously holding discussions about the RoP on 1/4, 1/18, 2/1, 2/15, and 3/21. This change included adding section 2.15 which clarifies that either Suspension or Amendment of the RoP requires a super Majority approval.
On 6/6/24, at Council member Roberts' request, we instructed the City Attorney to review the RoP against the City Charter, and particularly 3.13 "to identify and recommend necessary amendments to ensure full compliance and alignment with the charter". The City Attorney at that time did not complete that assignment before resigning his role with the City. In last night's meeting, I believe Mr. Roberts suggested it might be best for the new city attorney to hold off on doing this as we have a Charter Review Committee actively working which could result in changes of the charter that would impact such an evaluation.
Subsequently Council chartered a sub-committee to study the question of whether we should document any rules around the Procedures for Interaction between Council and City staff via changes to the code of ordinances. We discussed this in full council on 9/5, and 9/19. Ordinance No. 24-09-19-03 was passed on a 4-2 vote adding section 1.310 "Procedures for Personnel Interaction" to the City Code of Ordinances, under section 1.300 "City Council". Councilors Saum and Roberts opposed.
This combination of topics resulted in a year where it felt as though we debated procedures without end.
