City Council Meeting Date: May 7, 2024
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Lynette Peterson, City Clerk
Title
Consider Amendments to Council Rules of Business and Appendices.
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council approves a motion to approve the amendments to the attached City Council Rules of Business and related Appendices going into effect June 1, 2024.
Summary Report:
The City Council annually reviews the City Council Rules of Business and related Appendices and incorporates any amendments as necessary. The Council reviewed and approved initial amendments at the February 6, 2024 Council meeting. After discussion regarding certain sections of the rules of business, Council had discussion that it was preferred to amend the Council and Board and Commission Rules of Business to make certain sections as stand-alone Council policies. These policies have been standard practices in the Rules of Business. The Council reviewed these at their April 9, 2024 Council Work Session.
The sections that have been moved to stand-alone policies in the Council Rules of Business are: City Council Recognition of Citizens/Groups/Events (Council Policy 1.06 Proclamations and Resolution Policy); Role of City Attorney Related to the Mayor or individual City Council Members (Council Policy 1.07 Role of City Attorney Related to City Council and Board and Commission Members Policy); and Boards/Commission (Council Policy 1.08 Council Liaison and Ex-Officio Member Policy). These draft policies have been included as exhibits of both the Council Rules of Business and the Board and Commission Rules of Business. These policies will be brought to the Council for approval with a larger group of policy updates at the May 21st meeting and will go into effect on June 1, 2024.
Also, staff has explored potential alternatives in which public comment is received at Council Meetings. This is in reaction to some input received with an interest to have more meaningful interactions for the public seeking answers or input as well as more engaging ways to interact with the City Council. Also, the length of time of public comment has also provided challenges to complete business planned at regular meetings resulting in cases where deliberation is limited during the meeting, meetings are extended beyond their end time or items are delayed to future meetings as time has expired. Planning in advance for the upcoming meetings is also challenging with the uncertainty of length of the public comment time period.
In an effort to create a more resident friendly approach to the public comment period, the City Council will make changes to the current public input portion of the City Council meetings. It will transition to a listening session prior to regular meetings that will allow residents to interact with the Council as opposed to just speak to them. From 6:00PM until 6:20PM, the City Council will be available in a less formal, resident-friendly setting to receive public comment on matters not on the current agenda by related to City business. Guidelines for Council Listening Sessions have been prepared and are attached to the Rules of Business as Appendix E. The regular agenda will then start at 6:30PM. At the April 9, 2024 work session, the Council discussed starting the listening session at 5:30PM. Councilor Sokup requested the listening sessions start at 6:00PM and pointed out that it may be more convenient for those wishing to attend the session. Minus a few exceptions, all City Council meetings and board and commission meetings start at 6:00PM so starting the listening session at 6:00PM would keep consistency across City meetings. This listening session will be implemented on a trial basis beginning at the first June meeting (June 4) and will be reevaluated to determine if adjustments need to be made.
Staff made changes to public comment procedural instructions for regular agenda items to include wording for if a public hearing has been held on a particular matter.
Staff made minor changes to Appendix B Rules of Decorum. Appendix C Public Participation Guide has been amended to reflect the Rules of Business changes.
A full set of the Rules of Business for the City Council are attached as a redline version including the Appendixes. The City Council may discuss other areas of the rules for clarification, questions or amendments to propose.
Alternative Options:
The Council could leave the Rules of Business as is and not amend and the current Rules of Business would remain in place.
Financial Impacts:
Not applicable.
Tentative Timelines:
ü April 9, 2024 - Council reviews and discusses changes to Rules of Business
• May 7, 2024 - Council approves Rules of Business amendments
• June 1, 2024 - The Council Rules of Business goes into effect
• June 4, 2024 - Council Listening Sessions begin