Current City Council meeting rules and agenda order for Regular, Special and Work Session meetings are codified in City ordinances at Sections 2-214, 2-221, 2-222 and 2-226. City Administrator Chris Kukulski and staff are recommending that the current Council Order of Business for Regular Meetings and Meeting Rules of Procedure for Regular and Work Session Meetings be re-formatted into a Council resolution along with some minor changes to these rules. This will allow more flexibility and efficiency  for the Council to make adjustments to its meeting agendas and meeting rules of procedure. Currently, for any changes to be made to the ordinances noted above there must be two readings at two separate Council meetings, an advertised public hearing and then thereafter any approved ordinance changes are not effective until thirty days after Second Reading. Having these Council operating rules in a Resolution is significantly more efficient since a resolution of this type can be placed on a Consent Agenda, requires only one meeting to be considered and is effective immediately upon Council approval.

Attached to this memo are proposed changes to the current ordinances along with a proposed new draft resolution. Most of the text in the current ordinance sections cited above contain strikethroughs indicating a repeal and those sections proposed to be repealed have been transferred into the draft Resolution.

New proposed additions to these rules as contained in the draft Resolution are shown by underlines. Although the suggested new language is minor it is nevertheless helpful and clarifies some common issues recurring with Council agenda items. For example, there is a proposed new language in Section 1(j), p.2 that provides for public comment on each Regular agenda item at the time that item is considered by the Council regardless of whether or not there is an actual public hearing required for that item. This allows public comment at the time the Council considers the item.

Also included in the draft Resolution is a proposed new land use hearing process in Section 3 (D)(1), PP 8-9. This is new language which staff believes will better assist the Council in its decision making on land use applications such as Zone Changes and Special Reviews by providing clarity, structure and predictability on presentations to the Council from staff and land use applicants as well as a more specific public comment process. 

Also contained within Section3(B)(15) of the draft Resolution  there is some proposed new language about refraining from communication on an item a Council Member realizes they likely have a conflict of interest.

As part of the Work Session presentation on this item, staff will also briefly discuss ex parte communications in the context of land use decisions. These guidelines are primarily discussed on a March 3, 2006, memorandum from the City Attorney's office also attached to this staff memo.

Staff recommends that the Council direct staff to include the ordinance repeal and amendments and the proposed draft Resolution to a near future Regular Council agenda for consideration.