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1981-035 NOTE Amended by Ordinance No 90-026 NOTE Repealed by Ordinance No 2001-193 AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING RULES OF PROCEDURE FOR THE CITY COUNCIL OF DENTON, TEXAS, PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, AMENDING ORDINANCE NO 76-48, AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE WHEREAS, the Constitution and Laws of the State of Texas, and the City Charter of the City of Denton, Texas, authorize the City Council of said City to promulgate and establish rules of procedure to govern and conduct meetings, order of business, decorum, etc , while acting as a legislative body representing said City, and WHEREAS, because of its desire to effectively and efficiently serve the public through the medium of public meetings it has become necessary to amend the guidelines relating to proper conduct of all parties present for such meetings, now, therefore, THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS, HEREBY ORDAINS SECTION I Ordinance No 76-48 is hereby amended to read as follows 1 AUTHORITY 1 1 Charter Pursuant to the provisions of Section ? 07 of the Charter of the City of Denton, Texas, the City Council hereby enacts these rules of procedure for all meetings of the City Council of the City of Denton, Texas During any meeting a reasonable opportunity shall be given for citizens to be heard under these rules These Rules of Procedure are enacted as guidelines to be followed by all persons in the Council Chamber including the City Administrative Staff, news media, and v~sltors 2 GENERAL RULES 2 1 Meetings to be Public Ail offlc:al meetings of the Council, except executive meetings or sess:ons permitted by the Texas Open Meetings Law, and all sessions of a Committee of the Council shall be open to the public 2 2 Quorum Four members of the Council shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business (Charter, Section 2 06) 2 5 C__ompell~ng Attendance No member shall be excused from attendance at a Council meeting except for good and valid reasons 2 4 Misconduct The Council may punish ~ts own members for misconduct 2 S M~nutes of Meetings An account of all proceedings of the Council shall be kept by the C~ty Secretary and shall be entered in a book constxtutlng the official record of the Council 2 6 Questxons to Contain One Subject Ail questions submitted for a vote shall contain only one subject If two or more points are involved, any member may reqmre a division, if the question reasonably admits of a division 2 7 R~ght of Floor Any member desxr~ng to speak shall be recognized by the Chairman, and shall confine his or her remarks to the sub3ect under consideration or to be considered No member shall be allowed to speak more than once on any one subject until every member wishing to speak shall have spoken 2 8 City Manager The City Manager, or Acting Ctty Manager, shall attend all meeting of the Council unless excused He may make recommendations to the Council and shall have the r~ght to take part in all discussions of the Council, but shall have no vote (Charter, Section $ 05(d)) 2 9 City Attorney The City Attorney, or Acting C~ty Attorney, shall be available upon request for all meetings of the Council unless excused and shall, upon request, give an op~n~on, either written or oral, on questions of law The City Attorney shall act as the Council's Parliamentarian RULES ~ REGULATIONS PAGE 2 2 10 City Secretary The City Secretary, or Acting C~ty Secretary, shall attend all meetxngs of the Council unless excused, and shall keep the offxc~al m~nutes and perform such other dutxes as may be requested of hxm by the Council 2 11 Officers and Employees Any officer or employee of the City, when requested by the C~ty Manager, shall attend any meetxng of the Councxl If requested to do so by the C~ty Manager, they may present xnformatxon relatxng to matters before the Council 2 12 Rules of Order These rules govern the proceedxngs of the Council ~n all cases, except that where these rules are sxlent, the most recent Edxtxon of Roberts Rules of Order revxsed shall govern 2 13 Suspensxon of Rules Any provision of these rules not governed by the Cxty Charter or Code may be temporarily suspended by the aff~rmatxve vote of four members of the Councxl The vote on any such suspensxon shall be taken by yeas and noes and entered ~n the mxnutes of the Council 2 14 Amendment of Rules These rules may be amended, or new rules adopted by the affxrmat~ve vote of four members of the Council, prowded that the proposed amendments or new rules shall have been ~ntroduced before the C~ty Council at a prior Council meeting 3 CODE OF CONDUCT 5 i Counc~lmembers (a) Durxng Councxl meetings, Councxlmembers shall preserve order and decorum and shall nexther by conversation or otherwxse delay or ~nterrupt the proceedxngs nor refuse to obey the orders of the Mayor (or Cha~rman) or the rules of the Councxl (b) A counc~lperson, once recognxzed, shall not be xnterrupted whxle speaking unless called to order by the Mayor RULES ~ REGULATIONS PAGE 3 (or Chairman), unless a point of order ~s raised by another member or the parliamentarian, or unless the speaker chooses to y~eld to questions from another member If a Counc~lperson is called to order wh~le he ~s speaking, he shall cease speaking immediately until the question of order ~s determined If ruled to be ~n order, he shall be permitted to proceed If ruled to be not ~n order, he shall remain s~lent or shall alter h~s remarks so as to comply w~th rules of the Council 3 2 Administrative Staff (a) Members of the admxnxstratxve staff and employees of the Cxty shall observe the same rules or vrocedure and decorum applxcable to members of the Councxl, and shall have no voxce unless and untx] recognized by the Chaxr (b) Whxle the presxdxng offxcer shall have the authorxty to preserve decorum xn meetxngs as far as staff members and Cxty employees are concerned, the Cxty Manager also shall be responsxble for the orderly conduct and decorum of all Cxty employees under hxs dxrectxon and control (c) The Cxty Manager shall take such dxsc~plxnary action as may be necessary to insure that such decorum xs preserved at all txmes by Cxty employees ~n Councxl meetxngs (d) All remarks and questxons addressed to the Council shall be addressed to the Council as a whole and not to any xndxvldual member thereof (e) No staff member, other than a staff member havxng the floor, shall enter xnto any dxscussxon e~ther dxrectly or xndxrectly w~thout permxssxon of the presxdxng offxcer 5 3 C~txzens: (a) C~txzens are welcome and xnvxted to attend ali meetxngs of the Council, and w~ll be admitted to the Councxl Chamber up to the fxre safety capacxty of the room RULES ~ REGULATIONS PAGE {b} Ail citizens will refrain from private conversations ~n the Chamber wh~le the Council ~s ~n session (c) Citizens attending Council meetings shall observe the same rules of propr~etry, decorum, and good conduct applicable to the administrative staff Any person making personal, impertinent, or slanderous remarks or who becomes boisterous wh~le addressing the Council or wh~le attending the Council meeting shall be removed from the room ~f the Sergeant-at-Arms is so directed by the presiding officer, and such person shall be barred from further audience before the Council during that session of the Council [d) Unauthorized remarks from the audience, stamping of feet, whistles, yells, and s~mllar demonstrations shall not be perm~ttd by the presiding officer, who shall direct the Sergeant-at-Arms to remove such offenders from the room In case the presiding officer shall fall to act, any member of the Council may move to require him to act to enforce the rules, and the affirmative vote of four {4) members of the Council shall require the presiding officer to act {e} No placards, banners or s~gns of any k~nd will be permitted in the Council Chamber except e×hlb~ts, d~splays and wsual a~ds used in connection with presentations to the Council prowded that such exhibits, d~splays and visual a~ds do not d~srupt the meeting $ 4 Enforcement The City Manager, in the absence of a designated law enforcement officer, shall act as Sergeant-at-Arms for the Council, and shall furnish whatever assistance ~s needed to enforce the rules of decorum here~n established 3 S Seating Arrangement The C~ty Secretary, C~ty Manager and C~ty Attorney shall occupy the respective seats in the Council Chamber assigned to RULES ~ REGULATIONS PAGE 5 them by the Mayor, but any two or more members of the Council may exchange seats 4 TYPES OF MEETINGS 4 1 Regular Meetings The Council shall meet at seven o'clock p m on the first and third Tuesday of each month or at any other times set by the Council, unless postponed or canceled for valid reasons All regular meetings of the Council will be held in the Municipal Bulldlng at 215 East McK~nney Street 4 2 Special Meetings Special meetlngs may be called by the Mayor, the C~ty Manager, or by any three members of the Council The call for a special meeting shall be f~led w~th the City Secretary ~n written form, and he shall post notice thereof as provided by law 4 S Emergency Meetings In case of emergency or urgent public necessity, which shall be expressed ~n the notice of the meeting, an emergency meeting may be called by the Mayor, the Cxty Manager or by three members o£ the Council, and ~t shall be sufficient ~£ the not~ce ~s posted two hours before the meeting is convened 4 4 Executive Meetings The Council may meet ~n an executive meeting or session pursuant to the reqmrements of the Texas Open Meetings Law (Article 6252-17, V T C S ) 4 5 Recessed Meetings Any meeting of the Council may be recessed to a later t~me, prowded that no recess shall be for a longer per~od than until the next regular meeting 4 6 Not~ce of Meetings The agenda for all meetings shall be posted by the City Secretary on the C~ty's official bulletin board and notice o£ all meetings shall be g~ven by the C~ty Secretary pursuant to the reqmrements of the Texas Open Meetings Law (Article 6252-17, V T C S ) RULES ~ REGULATIONS PAGE 6 S CHAIRMAN AND DUTIES S 1 Chairman The Mayor, or in his absence, the Mayor Pro-Tem, shall preside as Chairman at all meetings of the Council In the absence of both the Mayor and Mayor Pro-Tem, the Council shall elect a temporary Chairman (Charter, Section 2 07) S 2 Call to Order The meetings of the Council shall be called to order by the Mayor, or in his absence, by the Mayor Pro-Tern In the absence of both the Mayor and the Mayor Pro-Tem, the meeting shall be called to order by the City Secretary, and a temporary Chairman shall be elected as provided above $ 5 Preservation of Order The Chairman shall preserve order and decorum, and confine members in debate to the question under discussion The Chairman shall call upon the Sergeant-at-Arms as necessary to enforce compliance with the rules contained herein S 4 Points of Order The Chairman shall determine all points of order, subject to the right of any member to appeal to the Council If any appeal is taken, the question shall be, "Shall the decision of the Chairman be sustainedv'' If a maoorlty of the members presents vote "No", the ruling of the chair is overruled, otherwise, it is sustained S S Questions to be Stated The Chairman shall state all questions submitted for a vote and announce the result A roll call vote shall be taken upon the request of any member, and upon the passage of all ordinances and resolutions $ 6 Substitution for Chairman The Chairman may call any other member to take his place in the chair, such substitution not to continue beyond adoournment S 7 Call for Recess The Chairman may call for a recess of up to fifteen (1S) minutes at regular intervals of RULES ~ REGULATIONS PAGE 7 approxxmately one hour at appropriate points ~n the meeting agenda, or ~f requested by any two members 6 ORDER OF BUSINESS 6 1 Agenda The order of bus~ness of each meeting shall be as contazned xn the agenda prepared by the Cxty Manager The agenda shall be a l~stxng by topzc of subjects to be consxdered by the Councxl Conduct of busxness at Specxal Meettngs will hkewlse be governed by an agenda and rules of procedure contaxned herexn 6 2 Presentatxons by Members of Councxl The agenda shall prowde a txme when the Mayor or any Councxlperson may bring before the Counczl any business that he feels should be delxberated upon by the Councxl These matters need not be specxfxcally lxsted on the agenda, but d~scussxon and formal actxon on such matters shall be deferred untzl a subsequent Counczl meetxng 6 3 Presentatxon by Cxtxzens Any person who wxshes to place a subject on the Counczl agenda shall adwse the Cxty Manager's Offxce of that fact and the specxfxed subject matter to whzch he desxres to place on the agenda no later than 5 00 P M Wednesday prxor to the Counczl meeting at which he wzshes the desxgnated subject to be conszdered Any person who wxshes to address the Counczl wxthout havxng made thxs preparatzon must have the unanxmous consent of the Councxl and w~11 be scheduled after all other regular busxness on the agenda has been completed Thzs rule does not apply to anyone appearxng at a publxc hearxng xn response to an offxcxal agenda notxce 6 ~ Txme Lzm~t Speakers before the Council are requested to lxmzt thezr remarks to fxve (5) mnutes or less 6 5 Oral Presentatxons by C~ty Manager Matters reqmr~ng the Council's attentxon or actxon whzch may have developed sxnce the deadlxne for delxvery of the wrxtten communxcatzon to RULES ~ REGULATIONS PAGE 8 the Council may be presented orally by the City Manager If formal Council action on a subject is reqmred, such action may be taken provided the provisions of the Texas Open Meetings Law have been satisfied 7 CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCES~ RESOLUTIONS~ AND MOTIONS 7 1 Printed or Typewritten Form Ail ordinances and resolutions shall be presented to the Council ~n printed or typewritten form The Council may, by proper motion, amend any ordinance or resolution presented to ~t and d~rect that the amended ordinance be placed on the next Council Agenda for adoption 7 2 C~ty Attorney to Approve Ali ordinances, resolutions, and contracts and amendments thereto, shall be approved as to form and legality by the C~ty Attorney, or he shall f~le h~s written op~n~on on the legality of such ordinance, resolution or contract prior to submission to the Council (Charter, Section 6 02) 7 3 D~str~but~on of Ordinances and Resolutions The City Manager shall prepare cop~es of all proposed ordinances and resolutions for d~str~butlon to all members of the Council at the meeting at which the ordinance or resolution ~s introduced, or at such earlier t~me as is expedient 7 4 Recording of Votes The ayes and noes shall be taken upon the passage of all ordinances and resolutions and the vote of each member shall be recorded ~n the m~nutes (Charter, Section 2 06(b)) 7 $ Majority Vote Required An affirmative vote of four (4) members is necessary to repeal any ordinance or take any official action ~n the name of the C~ty except as otherwise prowded ~n the Charter or by the laws of the State of Texas 7 6 Demand for Roll Call Upon demand of any member, the roll shall be called for yeas and noes upon any question before RULES ~ REGULATIONS PAGE 9 the Council It shall not be ~n order for members to explain their vote during the roll call 7 7 Personal Privilege The right of a member to address the Council on a question of personal pr~wlege shall be l~m~ted to cases ~n which his ~ntegr~ty, character, or motives are assailed, questioned, or ~mpugned 7 $ D~ssents and Protests Any member shall have the right to express dissent from or protest against any ordinance or resolution of the Council and have the reason therefor entered upon the m~nutes Such d~ssent or protest may be f~led ~n writing, and presented to the Council not later than the next regular meeting following the date of passage of the ordinance or resolution objected to 7 9 Voting Reqmred No member shall be excused from voting except for lack of ~nformat~on and except on matters ~nvolv~ng the consideration of h~s own official conduct, or where h~s personal ~nterests are ~nvolved, and ~n these ~nstances he shall abstain Any member prohibited from voting by personal ~nterest shall announce at the commencement of consideration of the matter and shall not enter ~nto d~scuss~on or debate on any such matter The member hawng briefly stated the reason for h~s request, the excuse from voting shall be made w~thout debate 7 10 Order of Precedence of Motions (a) The following motions shall have priority ~n the order ~nd~cated 1 Adjourn (when unqualified) and ~s not debatable and may not be amended, 2 Take a recess (when pr~wleged), 5 Raise a question of pr~wlege, 4 Lay on the table, S Prewous question (2/5 vote reqmred), L~mlt or extend l~m~ts of debate [2/5 vote reqmred), RULES § REGULATIONS PAGE 10 7 Postpone to a certain t~me, 8 Commit or refer, 9 Amend, 10 Postpone ~ndefxn~tely, 11 Ma~n motion (b) The f~rst two motions are not always pr~wleged To adjourn shall lose ~ts pr~wlege character and be a ma~n motion ~f ~n any way qualified To take a recess shall be pr~wleged only when other bus~ness is pending (c) A motion to adjourn ~s not ~n order 1 When repeated w~thout ~nterven~ng huslness or discussion, 2When made as an ~nterruptxon of a member wh~le speaking, 3 Wh~le a vote ~s being taken (d)Can be amended - others cannot be amended (e) A motion to amend shall be undebatable when the question to be amended ~s undebatable 7 11 Reconsideration A motion to reconsider any action of the Council can be made not later than the next succeeding official meeting of the Council Such a motion can only be made by a member who voted w~th the ma3or~ty It can be seconded by any member No question shall be twice reconsidered, except by unanimous consent of the Council, except that action relating to any contract may be recons~derd at any t~me before the f~nal execution thereof 7 12 The Prewous Question_ When the prewous question ~s moved and seconded, ~t shall be put as follows "Shall the ma~n question be now put~" There shall then be no further amendment or debate, but pending amendments shall be put ~n their order before the ma~n question If the motion for the previous question xs lost, the ma~n question remains before the Council An affirmative vote of three/f~fths of the Council RULES ~ REGULATIONS PAGE shall be required to move the prewous question To demand the prewous question ~s equivalent ~n effect to mowng "that debate now cease, and the Council ~mmedlately proceed to vote on the pending motion" In practice, th~s ~s done w~th the phrase "Call for the Question", or s~mply saying "Question" 7 15 W~thdrawal of Motions A motion may be withdrawn, or modified, by ~ts mover w~thout asking permission until the motion has been stated by the Chairman If the mover modifies h~s motion, the seconder may w~thdraw h~s second After the question has been stated, the mover shall neither w~thdraw ~t nor modify ~t without the consent of the Council 7 14 Amendments to Motions No motion or proposition of the subject d~fferent from that under consideration shall be admitted under color of amendment A motion to amend an amendment shall be ~n order, but one to amend an amendment to an amendment shall not be ~n order 7 1S Appropriations of Money Before formal approval by the Council of motions prowd~ng for appropriation of money, ~nformat~on must be presented to the Council showing the purpose of the appropriation In addition, before f~nally acting on such an appropriation, the Council shall obtain a report from the C~ty Manager as to the availability of funds and h~s recommendations as to the desirability of the appropriation 7 16 Transfer of Appropriations At the request of the C~ty Manager, and w~th~n the last three (5) months of the budget year, the Council may by resolution transfer an unencumbered balance of an appropriation made for the use of one department, d~wslon, or purpose, but no transfer shall be made of revenues of earnings of any nontax supported public utility to any other purpose RULES ~ RMGULATIONS PAG~ 32 8 CREATION OF COMMITTEES~ BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS 8 1 Council Committees The Council may, as the need arises, authorize the appointment of "ad hoc" Council committees Any committee so created shall cease to ex~st upon the accomplishment of the special purpose for which it was created or when abolished by a ma3orlty vote of the Council 8 2 Citizen Boards~ Commlss~ons~ and Committees The Council may create other Committees, Boards, and Commissions to assist ~n the conduct of the operation of the City government with such duties as the Council may specify not ~ncons~stent with the C~ty Charter or Code Memberships and selection of members shall be as provided by the Council ~f not specified by the City Charter or Code Any Committees, Boards, or Commissions so created shall cease to ex~st upon the accomplishment of the special purpose for which it was created, or when abolished by a ma3orlty of the vote of the Council No Committee so appointed shall have powers other than advisory to the Council or to the City Manager, except as otherwise specified by the Charter or Code 9 VOTES REQUIRED Questions on which the voting requirement is varied by the Charter, State Statutes and these rules are listed below 9 1 Charter and State Statutory Requirements (a) Charter Amendment - Five Votes Ordinances submitting proposed Charter amendments must be adopted by a two-th~rds vote of the Council (Article XI, Section 5, Texas Constitution and Article 1165, Revised Civil Statutes) For a seven member Council, this means five members must vote affirmatively (b) Levying Taxes - Five Votes Ordinances prowd~ng for the assessment and collection of taxes require the approval of two-thirds of the members of the Council (Article 1055, Revised Civil Statutes ) RULES ~ REGULATIONS PAGE 15 (c) Changing Paving Assessment Plans - Five Votes Changes ~n plans for paving assessment reqmre a two-th~rds vote of the Council (Article l105b, Section 10, Revised Civil Statutes ) (d) Changes in Zoning Ordinance or Zoning Classifications In cases of a written protest of a change in a zoning regulation or zoning classification by the owners of twenty (20%) percent or more either of the area of the lots ~ncluded in such proposed change, or of the lots immediately adjoining the same and extending two hundred feet (200') therefrom, such amendment shall not become effective except by the favorable vote of three-fourths (3/4) of all members of the City Council slx (6) votes of the City Conc~l ~s required to overr~de the decision of the Planning and Zoning Commission that a zoning change be denied 10 RULES SUSPENSION OR AMENDMENT 10 1 Suspension of Rules Any provision of these rules not governed by the C~ty Charter or Code may be temporarily suspended by a majority vote of the Council The vote on any such suspension shall be taken by yeas and noes and entered upon the record 10 2 Amendment of Rules These rules may be amended, or new rules adopted by the affirmative vote of four (4) members of the Council, provided that the proposed amendments or new rules shall have been Introduced ~nto the record at a prior Council meeting 11 SEVERABILITY CLAUSE That ~f any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence, clause, phrase or word ~n th~s ordinance, or application thereof to any person or c~rcumstances ~s held ~nval~d by any court of competent jurisdiction, such holding shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance, and RULES ~ REGULATIONS PAGE 14 the City Council of the C~ty of Denton, Texas, hereby declares it would have enacted such remaining portions despite any such ~nvahdlty PASSED 1981 ]FICI~ARD-O '~TEWART,~ MAYOR -~7~' CIT~ OF DEN~rON, TEXAS CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM C J TAYLOR, JR , CITY ATTORNEY CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS RULES ~ REGULATIONS PAGE