Review Time Limits for City Council Meetings

The purpose of this discussion is to review possible time limits for City Council meetings.  For the sake of discussion, a few examples of what other Minnesota cities have in place are as follows:

Duluth  

• No meeting of the council shall continue past 11:00 p.m.
• An uncompleted meeting may be adjourned to the next regularly scheduled meeting

Lake Elmo

• The last item on the agenda will be commenced no later than 12:00 midnight
• If all business has not been completed by 12:00 midnight, the meeting shall be continued to another date and time following notice provisions 

Maplewood

• Policy requires a majority vote to go past 11:00 pm.
• If the meeting is not extended past 11:00 pm, the (Monday) meeting is automatically continued to Thursday at 5:00 pm

Victoria

• Meetings have a mandatory adjournment of 11:00 p.m.  
• A supermajority vote of the Council can supersede this requirement

The City of Ramsey may wish to consider implementing a policy on this matter.  Based on the City Council's feedback, staff will work with the City Attorney to draft language to be reviewed at a future meeting.  

 

Up to 15 minutes

Not Applicable 

Brian Hagen, Interim City Administrator

Based on discussion