OLD TOWN CITY COUNCIL
RULES OF ORDER AND PROCEDURE
COUNCIL MEETINGS
1.
Regular Council Meetings: The Council shall meet
in regular session in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 265 Main Street, Old
Town, Maine at 7:00 p.m. on the first Monday of each month. If the meeting day falls on a legally stated
holiday, the meeting shall be held on the Tuesday following the holiday.
2.
Council Meeting Agenda: All reports, communications, ordinances,
resolutions, contract documents, appointments, or other matters to be submitted
to the Council shall be delivered to the City Manager by 10:00 a.m. on the
Tuesday prior to the regular Monday meeting if they are to have consideration
at that meeting. Agenda items may be
submitted by Council members, by the City Manager or by either of these at the
request of interested citizens. Agenda
items must state clearly the scope and intent of the action to be taken. Items
entered for discussion that are not on the agenda may not be voted upon until
the next meeting.
3.
Special Meetings: As required by Article 2, Section 7 of the
City Charter: Special Meetings may be
called by the President and in case of absence, disability or refusal, may be
called by a majority of the members of the City Council. Notice of such meeting shall be served in
person or left at the residence of each member of the City Council at least 24
hours before the time of holding said special meeting. The person who calls the meeting shall notify
the public of the time and place through appropriate news media.
4.
Adjourned Sessions: Any session of the Council
may be continued or adjourned from day to day or for more than one day, but no
adjournment shall be for longer period than until the next regular meeting.
5.
Workshop Session: The Council may meet in
workshop session prior to any regular or special meeting. The Council President may call the Council
together for a workshop session at any time. The workshop session shall be
devoted exclusively to any matters regarding which the interchange of
information preliminary to public discussion is deemed essential. No formal vote shall be taken on any matter
under discussion nor shall any council member enter into a commitment with
another respecting a vote to be taken subsequently in a public meeting of the
Council, but an informal vote on any matter under discussion may be taken. The
press shall be notified and permitted to attend.
6.
Executive Session: An executive session may be called only by a
three-fifths (3/5) vote of the Council members present and voting. No ordinances, orders, rules, resolutions,
regulations, contracts, appointments, or other official action shall be finally
approved at an executive session. An
executive session shall not be used to defeat the purpose of Title l, Sec. 401,
M.R.S.A., which reads as follows:
"The Legislature finds and
declares that public proceedings exist to aid in the conduct of the people's
business. It is the intent of the
Legislature that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted
openly."
7.
Standing Committees, Special Committees, Board
Liaison
a.
Standing Committees shall be established by the
Council on the recommendation of the President of the Council.
b.
The President of the Council shall appoint
Councilors, as appropriate, to all standing committees, but two or more members
may exchange assignments by joining in a request to the Chairperson to that
effect.
c.
The President of the Council shall appoint all
Standing Committee Chairpersons.
d.
The President of the Council shall appoint
members to special committees and boards except as otherwise established by
Council action.
e.
Committee meetings: All committee meetings will
be called by the chairperson of the respective committee with the consent of
the regular members. The Council President is an ex-officio member of all
standing committees with the same rights and privileges as other committee
members.
f.
Standing Committee action shall be referred to
the next regular meeting of the Council, except that as an emergency measure
the Council may take action at any Regular or Special Council meeting.
g.
Actions approved by Standing Committees shall be
forwarded to the full Council. as affirmative motion without need of a second.
THE PRESIDING OFFICER
8.
Presiding Officer: The President of the Council, or in absence
of, the President Pro tempore shall take the duties at the hour appointed for
the Council to meet, and shall immediately call the members to order. The roll shall then be taken by the City
Clerk, who shall enter in the minutes of the meeting the names of the members
present.
9.
President pro tempore: In case of the absence of
the President, the Clerk shall call the Council to order and call the roll of
the members. If a quorum is found to be
present the Council may select a President pro tempore from among its number and
who shall exercise all the powers of the President. (Art. 2, Sec. 4, City
Charter).
10. Council
Privileges: The President may move,
second, declare by unanimous consent, subject to the following
limitations. As it is the function of
the Council President to preserve order and provide a fair hearing, the
President shall reserve the right to speak first and last on any subject before
the Council. If the President wants to
actively participate in the debate in any other manner, the President should stand
down and call another member to take the role of President with the unanimous
consent of the other members of the Council.
The Council President should not resume the Presidents role until the
pending question is disposed of.
11. Decorum
and Order: The President shall preserve decorum and decide all questions of
order and procedure, subject to appeal to the Council.
a.
During Council meetings, councilors shall
preserve order and decorum and shall neither by conversation or otherwise delay
or interrupt the proceedings nor refuse to obey the order of the presiding
officer or the rules of the Council.
Every councilor desiring to speak shall address the President and, upon
recognition by the President, shall confine their self to the question under
debate and shall avoid all personalities and indecorous language. Every councilor desiring to question the
administrative staff shall address the question to the City Manager who shall
be entitled either to answer the inquiries or to designate some member of the
staff for that purpose. A councilor once
recognized, shall not be interrupted while speaking unless called to order by
the President, unless a Point of Order is raised by another member, or unless
the speaker chooses to yield to questions from another member. If a councilor is called to order while
speaking, the Councilor shall cease speaking immediately until the question of
order is determined. If ruled to be in order,
the Councilor shall be permitted to proceed.
If ruled to be not in order, the Councilor shall remain silent or shall
alter the remarks so as to comply with rules of the Council. All members of the Council shall accord the
utmost courtesy to each other, to City employees and to public members
appearing before the Council and shall refrain at all times from rude and
derogatory remarks, reflections as to integrity, abusive comments, and
statement as to motives and personalities.
Members shall be removed from the meeting for failure to comply with
decisions of the presiding officer or for continued violations of the rules of
the Council. If the President fails to
act, any member may move to require the President to enforce the rules and the
affirmative vote of a majority of the Council shall require the presiding
officer to act.
b.
Members of the administrative staff and
employees of the City shall observe the same rules of procedure and decorum
applicable to members of the Council.
While the presiding officer shall have the authority to preserve decorum
in meetings as far as staff members and City employees are concerned, the City
Manager also shall be responsible for the orderly conduct and decorum of all
City employees under the Manager’s direction and control. The City Manager
shall take such disciplinary action as may be necessary to ensure that such
decorum is preserved at all times by City employees in Council meetings. Any staff member or City Manager desiring to
address the Council or members of the public shall be recognized by the
President, shall state their name for the record, and shall limit remarks to
the matter under discussion. All remarks
and questions addressed to the Council shall be addressed to the Council as a
whole and not to any individual member thereof.
No staff member, other than staff member having the floor, shall enter
into any discussion either directly or indirectly without permission of the
President.
c.
Public members attending Council meetings also
shall observe the same rules of propriety, decorum, and good conduct applicable
to members of the Council. Any person
making personal, impertinent, and slanderous remarks or who becomes boisterous
while addressing the Council or while attending the Council meeting shall be
removed from the room if a police officer is so directed by the President. Unauthorized remarks from the audience,
stamping of feet, whistles, yells, and similar demonstrations shall not be
permitted by the President, who shall direct a police officer to remove such
offenders from the room. Aggravated
cases shall be prosecuted on appropriate complaint signed by the
President. In case the President shall
fail to act, any member of the Council may move to require the President to act
to enforce the rules, and the affirmative vote of the majority of the Council shall
require the presiding officer to act.
d.
Any public member desiring to address the
Council shall be recognized by the President, shall state their name and
address in an audible tone for the record, and shall limit remarks to the
question under discussion. All remarks
and questions shall be addressed to the Council as a whole and not to any
individual member thereof. All remarks and questions addressed to the
administration of the City shall be addressed to the City Manager and not to
any individual City employee. No person
other than members of the Council and the person having the floor shall enter
into any discussion either directly or through a member of the Council without
the permission of the presiding officer.
11. Quorum: A majority of the
Council constitutes a quorum. If less
than a quorum convenes at any meeting, the majority of those present may send a
police officer or any other person for any or all of the absent members, as the
majority of the members agree. If a
quorum cannot be obtained, the meeting may be adjourned as provided by Rule 4.
OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES
12. Election
of Officers: Article 2, Section 4. City
Charter. At its first meeting following the annual election, or as soon
thereafter as possible, the Council shall elect by majority vote, one of its
members as President of Council for the ensuing year, and until a successor is
elected and qualified.
13. Clerk
and Employees: The Clerk and other officers and employees of the City are under
the control and direction of the President during sessions of the Council.
14. Appointments:
Consideration of all appointments whether by Council or the City Manager with
the advice of the Council shall be deferred until the next meeting following
their initial introduction.
15. City
Manager: The City Manager shall attend
all meetings of the Council, except when removal is being considered. The Manager shall keep the Council fully
advised as to the financial condition and needs of the City. The Manager may make recommendation to the
Council and may take part in discussions on all matters concerning the welfare
of the City, but may not vote.
16. City
Clerk: The City Clerk is ex officio
Clerk of the Council. The clerk shall keep a minute book in which shall be
recorded, in chronological order, minutes of all proceedings of the Council and
such other duties as may be ordered by the Council. Within one week after each meeting, the Clerk
shall furnish each councilor with a copy of the minutes of the proceeding
meeting. In the absence of the Clerk,
the Council shall appoint a temporary clerk to perform the duties.
17. City
Attorney: The City Attorney shall attend
all regular meetings of the Council. The Council, the President, the City
Manager, or the Chairperson of the School Board may at any time call upon the
City Attorney for an oral or written opinion to decide any question of
law. He may be asked to state his
opinion upon any rule of parliamentary procedure, which opinion shall not be
binding on the Council.
18. Officers
and Employees To Attend: The head of any
department, or any officer or employee of the City, when requested by the City
Manager or the Council, through the City Manager shall attend any regular,
adjourned, or special meeting and confer with the Council on all matters
relating to the City.
DUTIES AND PRIVILEGES OF MEMBERS
19. Seating
Arrangement: Members shall occupy the
respective seats in the Council chamber assigned to them by the Council
President, but any two or more members may exchange seats by joining in a
written notice to the President to that effect.
20. Right
of Floor: When recognized by the
President a member shall confine them self to the question under debate, avoid
personalities, and refrain from impugning the motives of any other member's
argument or vote. No member shall
address the President or demand the floor while any vote is being taken.
21. Personal
Interest: A member stopped from voting
by personal interest need not remain in the Council chamber during the debate
and vote on any such matter.
22. Right
of Appeal: Any member may appeal to the
Council from a ruling of the presiding officer.
If the appeal is seconded, the member making the appeal may briefly
state the reason for it, and the presiding officer may briefly explain their
ruling. There shall be no debate on the
appeal, and no other member shall participate in the discussion. The presiding officer shall then put the
question, "Shall the decision of the President be sustained?" If a
majority of the members present vote in favor the ruling of the President is
sustained; otherwise, it is overruled.
23. Limitation
of Debate: No member shall be allowed to
speak more than once upon any one subject until every other member choosing to
speak thereon shall have spoken and no member shall speak more than twice upon
any one subject, nor for a longer time than ten minutes, without leave of the
Council.
24. Voting: Every member present when a question is put
shall vote either "Yes" or "No," unless the Council shall,
for special reason, excuse them from voting.
Application to be excused from voting must be made before the votes are
called for. The member having briefly
stated the reason for their request, the decision thereon shall be made without
debate.
25. Demand
for Roll Call: Upon demand of any
member, made before the negative has been put, the roll shall be called for
yeas and nays upon any question before the Council. It shall not be in order for members to
explain their vote during roll call.
26. Personal
Privilege: The right of a member to
address the Council on a question of personal privilege shall be limited to
cases in which their integrity, character, or motives are assailed, questioned
or impugned.
27. Dissents
and Protest: Any member shall have the
right to express dissention or protest against any ordinance or resolution of
Council and have the reason therefore entered upon the journal. Such dissent or protest must be filed in
writing, couched in respectful language, and presented to Council not later
than the next regular meeting following the date of passage of the ordinance or
resolution objected to.
28. Excusal
from Attendance: No member shall be
excused from attendance at a Council meeting, without notification to the City
Clerk prior to the meeting.
29. Excusal
During Meeting: No member may leave the
Council Chamber while in regular session without permission from the President
of the Council.
30. Appointment
to Municipal Boards and Commissions: All appointments to City Boards and
Commissions shall be made in accordance with statutes and the City Charter.
COUNCIL
PROCEDURE
31. Order
of Business: The business of all regular
meetings of the Council shall be transacted in the following order, unless the
Council changes the order:
AGENDA
OLD TOWN CITY COUNCIL
(DATE, PLACE & TIME OF MEETING)
I.
Call to Order
II.
Flag Salute
III.
Roll Call
IV.
Approval of the Minutes
V.
Petitions, Communications and Citizens' Requests
VI.
Reports
A.
Council President
B.
Standing Committees (Finance, Public,
Administrative & Economic Services; Landfill, Legislative, Sewer, Airport
& Housing sub-committees)
C.
City Councilors
D.
City Attorney
E.
Special Committees
F.
School Board Liaison
G.
City Manager
VII.
Consent Agenda
VIII.
Public Hearings and Second Reading of
Ordinances
IX.
Old Business
X.
New Business
XI.
Adjournment
At each meeting, the minutes of
the preceding meeting shall be read, unless the reading is dispensed with by
consent of the Council. If no objection
is made to the minutes, the President shall declare them approved.
32. Documents
Prepared by Manager: The Manager shall
have copies of all ordinances, resolutions, and documents ready for delivery to
the Council by 8:00 p.m. on Friday before which they are to come before the
Council for consideration.
33. Procedure
of Motions: When a question is before
the Council no motion shall be entertained except: (a) to adjourn, (b) to recess, (c) to table,
(d) for the previous question, (e) to refer, (f) to amend, and (g) to postpone
indefinitely. These motions shall have
precedence in the order indicated. Any
such motion, except a motion to amend, shall be put to a vote without debate.
34. Committee
of the Whole: When the Council shall
decide to go into Committee of the Whole, without objection, the regular
officers shall continue to serve, otherwise the Council shall appoint a
Chairperson to preside, and the President of the Council shall leave the
chair. The rules of the Council as far
as applicable shall be observed in the Committee of the Whole. , except that no
limit shall be placed on the frequency of speaking, that the yeas and nays
shall not be taken and that motion to rise and report progress shall always be
in order and shall be decided without debate.
35. Motions
To Be Stated by the CouncIl President - Withdrawal: When a motion is made and
seconded, it shall be stated by the President before debate. Any member may demand that it be put in
writing by the Clerk. A motion may not
be withdrawn by the mover without the consent of the member seconding it.
36. Motion
Out of Order: The Council may at any
time permit a member to introduce an ordinance, resolution, or motion out of
the regular order.
37. Motion
to Adjourn - When Not in Order - Not Debatable:
A Motion To
38. Adjourn
Is In Order At any Time, Except As Follows:
(a)
When repeated without intervening business or
discussion;
(b)
When made as an interruption of a member while
speaking
(c)
When the previous question has been ordered; and
(d)
While a vote is being taken. A motion to adjourn
is debatable only as to the time to
which the meeting is to be adjourned.
39. Motion
To Table: A motion to table precludes
all amendments or debate of the subject under consideration. If the motion prevails, consideration of the
subject in the same session may be resumed only upon the affirmative vote of at
least 5 members of the Council.
40. The
Previous Question: When the previous
question is moved and seconded, there shall be no further amendment or debate;
but pending amendments shall be put in the order before the main question. If a motion for the previous question fails,
the main question and any pending amendments remain open for debate.
41. Amend
An Amendment: A motion to amend an amendment is in order, but one to amend an
amendment to an amendment may not be introduced. An amendment modifying the intention of a
motion is in order, but an amendment relating to a different motion is not in
order.
42. Motion
To Postpone: All motions to postpone, except a motion to postpone indefinitely,
may be amended as to time. If a motion
to postpone indefinitely is carried, the principal question shall be declared
lost.
43. Yeas
and Nays: On the passage of every
ordinance or resolution, the vote to be taken by yeas and nays and entered in
full upon the record. Every member shall
be required to vote, unless excused for cause by vote of the Council. The vote shall be for or against a pending
ordinance or resolution and not on the report of the committee thereon.
44. Procedure
in Absence of Rule: In all cases where
the parliamentary proceedings are not herein determined, "Roberts' Rules
of Order" shall be taken as authority to decide the course of the
proceedings.
45. Anonymous
Communications: Unsigned communications may not be introduced in meetings.
46. Tie
Vote: In case of a tie in votes on any
proposal, the proposal shall be declared lost except in a ruling by the
President. In cases where the ruling of
the chair is an issue, Rule 23 shall prevail.
ORDINANCES AND
RESOLUTIONS
47. Introduction: All Ordinances and resolutions shall be
introduced in the Council in printed or written form.
48. Review: All proposed ordinances shall be prepared by
the City Attorney and by his certification that they are correct in form.
49. Procedure: Art. 2, Sec. 9, City Charter. All ordinances,
orders and resolutions except orders or resolutions making appropriations of
money, shall be confined to the subject, which shall be clearly expressed in
the title. The appropriation order or
resolution shall be confined to the subject of appropriations only. No ordinance and no appropriation resolution
shall be passed until it has been read on two separate days, except when the
requirement of a reading on two separate days has been dispensed with by a 4/7
vote of the members of the City Council.
The yeas and nays shall be taken upon the passage of all ordinances and
entered on the record of proceedings of the City Council by the Clerk. The yeas and nays shall be taken on the
passage of any resolution when called for by a member of the City Council. Every ordinance shall require on final
passage the affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the Council.
a.
Public hearing on ordinances: Every ordinance before final passage shall be
published in one or more newspapers published and circulated in Penobscot
County and shall take effect and be in full force ten days from and after it
shall have received final passage by the City Council and have been approved,
in case such approval is required by law, by some justice of the Supreme
Judicial Court.
b.
Within ten days after its final passage or after
said approval by such justice said ordinance shall be published in full in one
or more of the newspapers in Penobscot County, but the failure to publish said
ordinance, either before or after final passage shall not affect its validity
or force. No resolution shall take
effect until ten days after its passage.
c.
Emergency ordinance: The City Council may, by vote of 5/7 of its
members, pass emergency resolutions to take effect at the time indicated
therein, but such emergency orders or resolutions shall contain a section in
which the emergency is set forth as defined.
MISCELLANEOUS
50. Privilege
of Floor: No persons except members of the Council and officers named in the
rules, and persons invited by the presiding officer of the Council or by vote
of the Council, shall be admitted within the bar of the Council chamber, and
the President shall cause this rule to be rigidly enforced.
51. Permission
Required to Address Council: Persons
other than members of the Council and City officers are not permitted to
address the Council except with permission of the President.
52. Suspension
of Rules: Any provisions of these rules
not governed by the charter ordinances may be temporarily suspended at any
meeting of the Council by majority vote.
The vote on the suspension shall be taken by yeas and nays and entered upon
the record.
53. To
Amend Rules: These rules may be amended or new rules adopted by majority vote
of the Council. An amendment must be
submitted in writing at a preceding meeting and shall be placed on the next
agenda under the order of new business.
