City Council Meeting Date: January 16, 2024
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Ben Martig, City Administrator
Title
Review and Discuss Amendments to Council Rules of Business and Appendices.
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council reviews and discusses the amendments to the attached City Council Rules of Business and related Appendices.
Summary Report:
The City Council annually reviews City Council Rules of Business and related Appendices and incorporates any amendments as necessary. Staff has incorporated two different options for amendments to the remote public participation section of the Rules. Staff has also removed a part of the section on Boards/Commissions since last year the Council adopted separate Board/Commission Rules of Business and moved the other portion of Boards/Commissions to the agenda section of the Rules of Business. There are two redline versions attached for Council discussion.
The following are some notes on the proposed added revisions to the Rules of Business for consideration:
Remote Public Participation
Remote links, via the Zoom platform, have been provided for every regular City Council meeting since mid-2021 as a way to offer more options for residents to participate in City Council meetings, especially those unable to attend the meetings in person. To date, the option has only been utilized three times by members of the public. The current process is for the Zoom link to be made available via the City’s meeting calendar. Any member of the public wishing to participate in the meeting, can enter the Zoom meeting. The A/V person running the meeting will then notify staff, who will then notify the Mayor if someone is wishing to speak remotely. Given that the meeting link is provided publicly, there is little control over who participates. While staff has initiated settings in the remote meeting to have some control over those joining the meeting, there are ways those wishing to disrupt the meeting can do so.
At the November 7, 2023 City Council meeting, individuals joined the Zoom link provided to the public and disrupted the meeting during the open public comment portion of the meeting by expressing derogatory racial and religious slurs. This is the second time a City Council meeting has been interrupted by “Zoom bombing” in recent years. While staff controls who enters Zoom meetings, they may not know if the person is legitimately wishing to participate or if the person is only attempting to create chaos, as was the situation on November 7th. In this situation, staff attempted to mute participants immediately but due to the fact there were multiple participants, they needed to end the Zoom meeting entirely to bring the situation under control.
In response to the recent event, staff is recommending changes to the current process of providing a remote link to any member of the public. Staff is recommending one of the following options for remote public participation:
1. Require prior registration of the public to participate in a meeting remotely
For this option, members of the public wishing to offer comments during a City Council meeting would be required to preregister by noon the day of the meeting. The individual would be required to provide their name, address, and phone number and/or email. Name and address are also required for anyone who currently requests to speak in advance of the meeting or fills out a card prior to or during the meeting. Phone number and/or email would be requested as a way to contact the individual prior to or during the meeting should there be technical difficulties.
In conjunction with this option, wording has been changed under the Meeting Agenda section to add preregistration language and etiquette changes for the participant.
2. Remove remote participation for the public.
For this option, public remote participation would be removed and public participation would be limited to written communication in advance of meetings and speaking in-person at meetings. Since remote public participation was added as an option at City Council meetings, it has only been utilized three times in approximately 50 meetings.
In conjunction with this option, wording has been deleted under the meeting agenda section to delete any reference to participating virtually.
Please note, neither of the above options impact other remote participants such as the City Attorney or consultants who are asked to participate in City Council meetings. The City will also be transitioning from Zoom to Microsoft Teams in early 2024 as the preferred remote meeting platform. This should not impact the ability of the City to offer remote options, if desired, but may require adjustments to the ways of working as staff becomes more familiar with the new platform.
Boards/Commissions
Staff eliminated the section with the heading Board/Commissions moving the first paragraph as a description under the Meeting Agenda section after Number 9. Mayor and City Council Member reports. The second paragraph of this section was deleted as it no longer pertains since the Council adopted Board/Commission Rules of Business in 2023.
In reviewing board and commission governance effectiveness, staff will be reviewing the Council Rules of Business and appendices to see if any additional changes need to be made in our next annual update. Staff will be reviewing options for public comment to see if there are more structured options to consider that could streamline the process and help make public comment more efficient and effective.
Proclamations
Due to the staff time involved in writing proclamations and processing them through the agenda system, staff is suggesting updating the Rules of Business to add the option of a Mayoral proclamation which would not require Council approval. This would allow groups who simply want a recognition for an organization or individual to utilize this process. The current process of proclamations being approved as resolutions by Council would still be allowed in cases where Council deems it more appropriate or where a separate presentation during the meeting is scheduled to occur.
This proposed change was not noted in the attached redline versions, but if Council agrees, the below changes will be incorporated to the Rules of Business that will be on the February 6, 2024 agenda for approval.
City Council Recognition of Citizens/Groups/Events
Proclamations will either be in the form of a resolution and submitted to the City Council for consideration and approval or as a Mayoral proclamation that will just be initiated by the Mayor with no Council approval.
The Mayor or individual City Council Members may recognize citizens or groups during the presentations portion of the City Council agenda.
Boards and Commissions
Staff is currently reviewing this “Boards and Commissions” section found on page 11. It doesn’t appear to be completely clear so it is being considered for amendment. Additionally, there is now a Board and Commission guide so the second paragraph likely can be amended or deleted. Suggested draft language will be coming as a supplemental memo item.
Boards/Commissions
Where discussions are being held with an organization, board or commission to which the Mayor or a City Council Member has been appointed as the City Council liaison or ex-officio, the City Mayor or Council Member will be kept informed of these discussions. Unless otherwise provided by ordinance or other law, the City Council liaison attends the meeting to facilitate a close working relationship but is not a formal member of the board. However, an ex-officio City Councilor shall be a non-voting fully participating member unless otherwise provided by the appointment, ordinance or other law.
Insofar as practical, City boards and commissions shall be governed by these rules of procedure unless they adopt other rules of procedure which shall be approved by the City Council. Board/Commission staff liaisons shall cause notice of meetings, agendas, minutes and related materials to be posted on the City’s website and preserved according to City procedures.
Other Amendments to Consider
The full current Rules of Business with appendices are also attached. The City Council may discuss other areas of the rules for clarification, questions or amendments to propose.
Alternative Options:
A. Require prior registration of the public to participate in a meeting remotely.
B. Remove remote participation for the public.
C. 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:
January 16, 2024 - Council reviews and discusses changes to Rules of Business
February 6, 2024 - Council approves Rules of Business amendments