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sr-091410-8a~~ ;YOf City Council Report Santa Monica City Council Meeting: September 14, 2010 Agenda Item: To: Mayor and City Council ~r.~} From: Rod Gould, City Manager Subject: Council Meeting Rules and Procedures Recommended Action Staff recommends that the City Council: 1. Consider adopting the attached resolution amending the Rules of Order and Procedure for the Conduct of City Council meetings. 2. Repeal Resolution Number 10382 which established the present rules. 3. Direct staff to implement: a. Special one-topic meetings, as necessary b. Five-minute time limits on staff presentations, with exceptions granted by the City Manager c. An elapsed time display for Councilmembers and speakers 4. Consider adopting listed practices that promote shared responsibility for running Council meetings. Executive Summary Santa Monica's Council meetings are the business meetings of the municipal corporation. Rules and procedures have been crafted to support effective and efficient decision-making, transparency, and inclusiveness. Seven changes to existing policy and practice are proposed to streamline Council meetings without shortchanging the' legislative process or public dialogue.. Changes to policies related to the time and order of the meeting, accommodation to speakers with special needs, and the use of ad hoc committees would require amendments to the Rules of Order and Procedure. Use of special one-topic meetings, adoption of five-minute time limits on staff presentations, and elapsed time displays for speakers could be implemented at Council's direction. In addition, suggestions are offered to promote shared responsibility for running Council meetings. Background The Council rules were revised on May 22 2008 by adoption of Resolution Number 10290 and again on February 24, 2009 by adoption of Resolution 10382. While changes made in 2008 and 2009 have helped the meetings become more efficient 1 without forsaking the public process, the volume of items recently presented to Council and the large number of complex issues slated for the future has sparked a desire to revisit the issue of Council meeting rules and procedures. Staff reviewed the rules and procedures in place in over forty jurisdictions in California, Texas, and Colorado and identified eight areas where innovative practices have been put in place: (Attachment A) • Frequency of regular meetings • Use of workshops or study sessions • Standard adjournment time • Length of Council comments/limits on debate • Public comment time limits/repetitious comments/use of spokesperson • Staff presentation time limits • Special public hearings • Use of a timed agenda Santa Monica's current practices are in line with many other cities. However, opportunities for improvement exist. In July, the City's Executive Management Team, prompted by the innovations made by other cities, brainstormed additional refinements to the rules and procedures that govern Santa Monica's Council meetings. The goal of this effort was to identify practices that would aid in conducting the City's business in an efficient, transparent, and inclusive manner. The group developed athirty-item list of actions that might streamline Council meetings without shortchanging the legislative process or public dialogue. (Attachment B) Consensus emerged around seven of the items, which are discussed below. Discussion The seven items are changes to policy and practice that would facilitate focused attention and engagement in the City's business by Council, staff, and the public. Adoption of three of the seven items, listed first, would require amendment to the. Rules of Order and Procedure for the Conduct of City Council meetings. Another three of the 2 seven are modifications to practice and existing technology that can be made by staff, should Council concur with staff's recommendation and direct staff to implement the changes. The remaining item, which concludes the list, details practices that Councilmembers could adopt which would promote shared responsibility in running effective, efficient, and inclusive meetings. 1. Time and Place for Holding Regular Meetings Currently, the Council's regular meetings are set to begin at 5:45 p.m. for consideration of the Consent Calendar and Closed Session, and all other agenda items begin no earlier than 6:45 p.m. Closed Session is often, as it is intended, accomplished in one hour. However, the practice of convening the meeting, considering the Consent Calendar, adjourning the meeting, and moving to Closed Session during which time the public waits for Council to return, creates an uneven start-stop-start flow to the meeting and a disengagement with the public. Staff recommends that the Council's regular meetings begin at 5:30 p.m. to call the meeting to order and that gone-hour Closed Session follows immediately. This will effectively result in the public portion of the meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m., a time at which many members of the public can attend, and continuous consideration of the public agenda items. 2. Accommodation to Speakers with Special Needs A relatively recent revision to the rules allows a person with special needs the opportunity to request the opportunity to speak "early" and gives the presiding officer discretion to grant the request. This amendment was intended to ensure that disabled, elderly and very young people who could not stay at the meeting awaiting a particular agenda item could nonetheless offer their input. Based on the experience with this amendment, staff suggests that it be eliminated and that a different accommodation be offered to persons who cannot await the item on which they wish to offer input. The experience with the current accommodation has been problematic. The Council practice has been to hear all early speakers at the start of the meeting and to 3 automatically grant the opportunity to anyone who submits a chit. Understandably, presiding officers have been reluctant to make individualized determinations as to whether individuals requesting the accommodation actually need it or whether they could await their items. As a result, the start of every meeting is delayed for a small group of speakers who routinely speak early. Because each speaker addresses a number of items, the delays are significant. As a result of this practice, at every meeting, all other members of the public must wait longer for their items and their turns to speak. Staff has considered various possibilities for addressing this inequity while preserving opportunities for those with special needs to provide their input. Consideration was given to the possibility of requiring persons who want to speak early to demonstrate their need. However, this possibility appeared to be both overly intrusive and impractical. To avoid individualized determinations of need, staff suggests that all members of the public who cannot await their turns to speak on particular items be offered a different option: assistance at the meeting in preparing a written statement of their testimony.. A member of the Clerk's office could be available of the meeting to provide assistance, and the presiding officer could make an announcement at the start of each meeting about the availability of the accommodation. Of course, any member of the public would still be able to submit written comments in advance of the meeting or to contact Councilmembers individually. However, providing assistance at the meeting would allow anyone who cannot stay at the meeting the opportunity to provide their input with the certainty that it would be considered by the full Council. Such written statements would be distributed by the Clerk to Councilmembers and could even by read or summarized orally by the presiding officer at the end of the public hearing. If Council has concerns about this approach, staff recommends that it be implemented on a trial basis and then modified and improved according to experience. 4 If this recommendation is adopted, meetings could start promptly at 6:30 p.m., and all members of the public would retain their opportunity to speak on their item or on any matter within the Council's jurisdiction, and those opportunities would come earlier for all. 3. Council Committees Large cities often utilize standing Councilmember committees to continually vet complex, topic-specific agenda items and develop recommendations for the larger body. For example, the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego have committees devoted to budget and finance issues, public safety concerns, and land use. These committees have appointed Councilmembers with delegated authority and hold regular meetings which are subject to the Brown Act. Meetings are publically noticed, staffed, and official minutes are kept. In comparison, ad hoc committees are established by legislative bodies as needed to allow less than a quorum to focus on a specific issue and then report back to the larger group. Ad hoc committees are used to help the legislative body work through special matters, or aid the movement of complex and time-sensitive items. Meetings are exempt from the Brown Act and cease when the item has been resolved. As a means to developing in-depth understanding of the City's complex business and maximizing the group's efficiency during public meetings, staff recommends that as a first pass at committee work, the Council consider adopting a rule that would allow for ad hoc committees of three or less members. Should Council wish to consider implementation of standing committees, staff will return with a detailed analysis of the additional staff resources necessary to support holding public Council committee meetings. 5 4. Special One-Topic Meetings Already this year, Council has convened two special meetings to hold FY10-11 budget study sessions, four special meetings to consider the proposed Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE), one special meeting for both adoption of the FY10-11 budget and consideration of the LUCE, and a special meeting to consider placing measures on the November 2010 ballot. While this may be slightly more than the norm, Council has a history of calling special meetings to dedicate the needed time to specific topics. With few or no other items on the agenda; special one-topic meetings allow Council, staff, and the public to engage in a robust process absent usual time constraints. Staff recommends continued and expanded use of special one-topic meetings as a means to enhance the quality of attention to the City's business. 5. Five-Minute Limit on Staff Presentations All Council agenda items are presented to Council and the public in advance of the meeting in the form of a written staff report. Written reports are comprehensive and detailed, include history, analysis, budget impacts, alternatives, and recommendations and serve as the item's written record. In addition, staff generally provides an oral and sometimes visual presentation during the meeting. The length and manner of staff presentations has varied widely, depending on the nature of the item. Given the production of an ample written report prior to the meeting, staff believes that in most cases the key elements of staff's presentation to Council - a summary of the item, staff's recommendation and corresponding rationale, and any changes since publication of the written report -can be conveyed in five minutes. Complex items may require additional time, which would be granted at the discretion of the City Manager. If Council concurs with this change in practice, staff will begin implementing it at the next meeting. 6. Ela sed Time Display for Councilmembers and Speakers Currently, the City Manager's Office provides a draft "timed agenda", an estimate of the approximate start and end times of each agenda item, to Council and others seated on the digs. The timed agenda is meant to serve as a guide to running a meeting that 6 adheres to the Council's current rule that no new item, other than public input, shall be considered after 11:00 p.m. unless approved by two-thirds of the body. Like the timed agenda, an elapsed time display for Councilmembers and individuals speaking at the podium could be a tool to help meetings stay on track. The new audio/visual system in the Council chambers allows for a timer to be triggered when a speaker's microphone is turned on, and turned off in tandem with the microphone.. Councilmembers and speakers at the podium would see a running clock on their display screen of the elapsed time since the speaker's microphone was turned on. The elapsed time display would not be visible to others and would remain on the display screen until the microphone was turned on again. Staff is not proposing time limits for Councilmembers or individuals speaking in response to Council questions. Rather, the self-timing function is offered as another tool to raise awareness of the length of time spent on an item. 7. Shared Responsibility for Running the Meeting Santa Monioa's Council meetings are the business meetings of the municipal corporation. Procedures are governed by Roberts Rules of Order. Rules advance a free interchange of information and public debate while providing a process that is meant to allow effective and efficient decision-making by the majority, fairness towards the minority, and the opportunity for each member as well as the public to voice an opinion. As there is much business for the Council to consider, deliberate, and decide all Councilmembers have a role in running meetings in an orderly and inclusive manner and the chair has the added responsibility of ensuring that members conform to the rules. In order to expedite the City's business, offer a clear and understandable audio and visual record, encourage participation by members and the public, allow for the equal consideration of all comments, and maintain transparency, staff offers a few reminders: speak one at a time 7 • be recognized by the chair before speaking • assure that statements and comments are on the subject matter and concise • assure that public comment is received as mandated by the Brown Act, maintain uniformity in providing equal time to all, do not publically agree or disagree with comments made or engage in dialogue with members of the public • use professional titles and formal methods of address Financial Impacts & Budget Actions There are no direct financial impacts to implementing the actions recommended in this report. Prepared by: Marsha Moutrie, City Attorney Maria Stewart, City Clerk Danielle Noble, Assistant to the City Manager, Management Services Approved: Forwarded to Council: Rod Gould, Rod Gould City Manager City Manager Attachments: A. Resolution B. Summary of Innovations in Council Meeting Rules C. Executive Team Brainstorming 8 Reference Resolution No. 10525 (CCS).