1 RESOLUTION NO.
A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
BURBANK ADOPTING MODIFIED RULES FOR THE
CONDUCT OF COUNCIL MEETINGS AND REPEALING
RESOLUTION NO. 17-28,970
THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK RESOLVES:
A. The following rules shall govern the conduct of meetings of the Burbank City Council:
1. DAY AND TIME OF MEETINGS. Pursuant to §2-203 of the Burbank Municipal Code the Council shall hold regular meetings on at least two Tuesdays of each month, such days to be determined by the C ity Manager for the following year on an annual basis , except as may be otherwise ordered by the Presiding Officer and Council. The open session of regular meetings for conducting agendized City business shall begin at 6: 00 p.m., or as soon thereafter as a quorum of the Council is present.
When there is insufficient business to conduct, or when it does not appear that a quorum will be present, or for the convenience of the Council or the public, City Manager in consultation with the Presiding Officer may direct that one or more scheduled regular meetings be canceled.
2. CLOSED SESSION. Closed sessions of the Council may be held immediately preceding the regular meeting of the Council with the beginning time thereof noted on the posted agenda. Prior to such closed sessions , the Council shall convene in open session only for the limited purpose of receiving Public Comments on the closed session items. Closed sessions shall also be held at other times as determined and ordered by the Council, or as otherwise called, as provided by law.
3. MEETING ON HOLIDAYS OR CITY ELECTION DAYS. When a day fixed for any regular meeting of the Council falls upon a day designated by law as a legal or national holiday, or on a City Election day, the Council meeting for that day shall be canceled.
4. SPECIAL MEETINGS. Special meetings of the Council may be held at any time upon the call of the Presiding Officer or upon the call of three (3) of the members of the Council. Notice of any such meeting shall be given to all of the members of the Council by service on each Council member at least twenty -four (24) hours prior to the time fixed for holding such meeting of a written notice signed either by the Presiding Officer or the members of the Council making such call and specifying the business to be considered at the special meeting. Such service shall be sufficient if delivery of a copy of the notice is made to the office or usual address of the Council member. If a Council member is out of the City, service may be made by facsimile or email transmission if receipt is acknowledged. Notice of such meeting may be waived ATTACHMENT 2
2 pursuant to the provisions of State law. Only the business referred to in the call for the special meeting and specified for the consideration of the Council may be considered.
5. AGENDA. (a) The purpose of a Council meeting is to conduct the business of the City. All reports, communications, ordinances, resolutions, contract documents, and other matters to be submitted to the Council at its regular Tuesday meeting shall be delivered to the City Clerk by such reasonable date and time as the Clerk may from time to time determine. Such items may be submitted by the City Manager (on behalf of City Departments), the City Attorney, the City Clerk, and the City Treasurer.
(b) Such items may a lso be submitted by any member of the City Council at a meeting thereof. Unless the Council by majority vote agrees at that meeting to place such item on a future agenda, the item will come back at a subsequent meeting for consideration by the full Council as to whether it shall be placed on a future agenda for consideration.
(c) Agenda setting for the Joint City Council/Burbank Unified School District (BUSD) meeting shall adhere to the following process:
1) The City Manager will compile and present a list of proposed agenda items, including staff -initiated items and subjects previously requested by Council Members, to the BUSD/Council Subcommittee (Subcommittee), which is comprised of the Burbank Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Manager and the BUSD Board President, Vice President, and Superintendent. 2) The Subcommittee shall meet and discuss the City’s propos ed agenda items along with items proposed by BUSD and agree on a tentative agenda for the joint meeting. Per Council’s direction, the City Attorney will attend the Subcommittee meetings.
3) The tentative agenda will be presented to the City Council for its review and approval at a public meeting.
4) The approved list of agenda items will be posted on the City’s agenda forecast for a minimum of thre e weeks before the scheduled joint meeting.
Additional topics can be requested during the joint meeting as items for future discussion.
(d) The City Clerk shall prepare an agenda of all items delivered to the City Clerk’s Office according to the order of business designated by the City Manager , and deliver or mail to each member of the Council, the City Manager, and the City Attorney a copy of the Agenda and a copy of all the available support documents on or before the Friday preceding the Council meeting. When Friday is a holiday, the City Clerk shall deliver or mail the Agenda and support documents on the previous day which is not a holiday.
(e) The City Clerk shall make the Agenda and the available support documents available to the public in the City Clerk’s Office, the Central Library and all branch libraries on the Friday preceding each Council Meeting and on the City’s web site; or when Friday is a holiday, the City Clerk shall make the Agenda and those support documents received available on the Thursday preceding the Council Meeting. (f) The City Clerk shall cause the Agenda to be posted in three public buildings on the Friday preceding the Council Meeting. In the event Friday is a holiday, the
3 Agenda shall be posted no later than 5:00 p.m. , on the Thursday preceding the Council Meeting. No matters other than those on the Agenda shall be acted upon by the Council except as may otherwise be provided by the laws of the State of California. (g) The City Clerk may prepare, post and distribute one or more Addenda to the Agenda adding additional agenda items to be considered by the Council if such Addenda are posted at least 72 hours prior to the beginning of a regular meeting, or any continued, or adjourned regular meeting.
6. ORDER OF BUSINESS. Promptly at the hour set on the day of each regular meeting the members of the Council, the City Clerk, the City Manager and the City Attorney shall take their regular stations in the Council Chambers, and the business of the Council shall be taken up for consideration and disposition in the order determined by the City Manager, except as may be otherwise ordered by the Presiding Officer or Council, and subject to the provisions of Section 12 of these rules relating to public comments.
7. CONSENT CALENDAR. The City Manager may direct the City Clerk to combine one or more agenda items expected to be non- controversial or routine into a Consent Calendar on the Agenda . The Consent Calendar items may be acted upon jointly by one vote of the Council. Council members may ask brief, clarification questions on Consent Agenda items, but if questioning is to be extended then the item should be removed from the Consent Agenda and considered separately.
8. LENGTH OF MEETINGS. Regular meetings of the City Council shall end no later than 11:00 p.m. , unless such meetings are extended by the affirmative vote of at least three Council members and Council confers with the City Manager to review the status of the remaining items and determine the best manner to proceed.
Notwithstanding the 11:00 p.m. cutoff, i f an item is in the midst of being heard or considered at the cutoff time of 11:00 p.m., it can be completed prior to adjournment. If at the conclusion of a Council meeting agenda items remain to be considered, such items are automatically continued until the next regular meeting unless otherwise directed by the Council.
9. PRESIDING OFFICER. The Mayor, or in the Mayor’s absence, the V ice- Mayor, shall be the Presiding Officer and at the hour appointed for the meeting shall call the Council to order. In the absence of the Mayor and Vice- Mayor, the most senior Council member present shall call the Council to order and shall act as the temporary Presiding Officer. Upon the arrival of the Mayor or Vice- Mayor, the temporary Presiding Officer shall immediately relinquish the chair upon the conclusion of the business immediately before the Council.
The Presiding Officer shall preserve order at all meetings of the Council. The Presiding Officer shall state every question coming before the Council, announce the decision of the Council on all subjects and decide all questions of order, subject, however, to an appeal to the Council, in which event a majority vote of the Council shall govern and conclusively determine such questions of order.
4 10. ROLL CALL. Before proceeding with the business of the Council, the City Clerk or the C ity Clerk’s deputy or assistant shall call the roll of the members, and the names of those present shall be entered in the minutes.
11. RULES OF DEBATE; VOTING. (a) The Presiding Officer , Vice-Mayor or such other member of the Council as may be presiding may move, second, and debate from the chair, subject only to such limitations of debate as are by these rules imposed on all members and shall not be deprived of any of the rights and privileges of a Council member by reason of his or her acting as the Presiding Officer. (b) Every member desiring to speak shall address the chair, and, upon recognition by the Presiding Officer, shall confine himself or herself to the question under debate, avoiding all personalities and indecorous language. (c) A member, once recognized, shall not be interrupted when speaking unless it be to call the member to order, or as herein otherwise provided. If a member, while speaking, be called to order, he or she shall cease speaking until the question of order be determined, and, if in order, the member shall be permitted to proceed. Being out of order shall include, but shall not be limited to, exceeding any speaking time limit established by the Council.
(d) A motion to reconsider any action taken by the Council may be made at the meeting where such action was taken. It may be made either immediately during the same session, or at a recessed or adjourned session thereof. Such motion may be made by any member and may be made at any time and shall have precedence over all other motions. It shall be debatable.
(e) Unless a member of the Council states that he or she is not voting, or unless a Council member is not present in the Council Chambers during a vote, a Council member’s silence shall be recorded as an affirmative vote.
12. ADDRESSING THE COUNCIL. (a) Under the Agenda heading of “Public Comments” just prior to a Council Closed Session, members of the public may address the Council in -person or telephonically on any item on the Closed Session Agenda.
Under the Agenda heading of “ General Public Comments” prior to the action items on the Agenda, any person may address the Council in-person or telephonically on any item within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Council , however, in order to be fair, a person that chooses to use the general public comment period to address an agendized report instead of waiting for the report to be heard will not be able to speak on that item for a second opportunity. Under the Agenda heading of “Reports to Council” after each oral staff report, but prior to Council deliberation of the item, any person may address the Council in-person on the subject matter of said agenda item only. (b) Public comment cards must be submitted prior to the commencement of each public comment period. Speaker time limits will be established based on the number of individuals who would like to comment during each period:
1-20 Speakers – 3 minutes each
21-39 Speakers – 2 minutes each
40+ Speakers – 1 minute each
5 (c) In addition to or instead of providing public comments in person before the Council, individuals may choose to demonstrate their position on an agenda item by selecting support, oppose, or neutral on the public comment card and give a brief explanation as to their position, if so desired. Any such comment cards will be passed to the Council and the Presiding Officer . The Presiding Officer and/or City Clerk shall announce prior to deliberation the number in support, opposed or neutral.
Individuals may also submit written communications t o the Council on any item within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Council, and such written communications shall be made part of the record of the meeting. Speakers seeking to present documents to the City Clerk for distribution to the City Council at the meeting must provide ten (10) copies of such documents or the documents will not be accepted. A caution advising of this rule shall be made available to potential speakers prior to the meeting.
(d) Each person addressing the Council shall, when his or her name is called, approach the microphone in front of the rail and shall limit his or her comments to the subjects and to such time as is allowed by this section. All remarks shall be addressed to the Council as a body and not to any member thereof. No person, other than the Council and the person having the floor, shall be permitted to enter into any discussion, either directly or through a member of the Council, without the permission of the Presiding Officer. No question shall be asked of a Council member except through the Presiding Officer.
(e) In addition to the time limits noted above, the following time limits shall apply for addressing the Council:
(1) For adjourned, continued, or Special Council meetings where Public Comments are authorized, any person may address the Council in -person with speaking time limits stated in Section 12 ( b) on any item on the Agenda of the adjourned, continued, or Special Council Meeting.
(2) When Public Comments during Hearings are allowed separately from the Public Comments for the general meeting, the Public Comments shall be accepted in- person or telephonically with speaking time limits stated in Section 12 ( b) and such comments shall be limited to the subject of the Hearing. (3) For presentations by the Appellant at a Hearing, the total time limit for all speakers or other presentations on behalf of the Appellant shall be fifteen (15) minutes for the complete presentation.
(4) For presentations by the Applicant at a Hearing, where the Applicant is not also the Appellant, or in a Hearing where there is no Appellant, the total time limit for all speakers or other presentations on behalf of the Applicant shall be fifteen (15) minutes for the complete presentation. Where there is both an Applicant and a separate Appellant, the Applicant shall speak second.
(5) B oth the Applicant and the Appellant at a Hearing shall have ten (10) additional minutes for a rebuttal. Where there is both an applicant and an Appellant, the Applicant shall have the opportunity to speak last.
(6) Where the Applicant is the Appellant and there was a different Appellant (“Original Appellant”) at the Board, Commission, or Committee from which the appeal was subsequently taken to the Council, the Original Appellant is also allowed fifteen
6 (15) minutes for a presentation which shall include all speakers or other presentations during such period.
(7) For any other hearings or appeal, not specifically included in this section, the total time limit for all speakers or other presentations on behalf of the person or entity affected shall be fifteen (15) minutes for the complete presentation, including any rebuttal time.
(8) T he Presiding Officer may lengthen the time for the appellant, if any, and applicant, if any, during a public hearing based on the complexity of the project and/or grounds of appeal, subject to a contrary determination by a majority of the Council. (f) The Presiding Officer, any Council Member, or the City Attorney may interrupt a speaker to raise a Point of Order if the Presiding Officer, Council Member or City Attorney feels that the speaker is addressing items that are outside the specified subjects for that period of Public Comments. The Presiding Officer shall rule on such Point of Order, which decision may be appealed by any Council member to the full Council. Upon the decision by the Presiding Officer, or by the Council upon appeal, that a speaker is addressing items that are outside the specified subjects for that period of Public Comments, the speaker shall, if time remains, be allowed to continue speaking on items within the specified subjects for that period of Public Comments. Any speaker who refuses to limit his or her comments to items within the specified subjects for that period of Public Comments may be declared out of order and is subject to the loss of the remaining time to speak and, if necessary, removal from the chambers as specified in the rules of the Council.
(g) The time limits contained in this section are personal, and except as otherwise provided in this section may not be shared with other speakers, the result of which would be to allow such speaker a time greater than the limits specified. In addition, the time limits may not accumulate from one period of Public Comments to another or from one meeting to another.
(h) Nothing in this section shall be construed as a grant of a right to speak at a meeting of the City Council or at any portion of such meeting where such right has not elsewhere been granted.
(i) In the event that multiple appeals have been consolidated into one hearing, each Appellant shall be provided its full time allotment and the order of each Appellant’s presentation/rebuttal shall be determined by the date that the notice of appeal was filed.
Furthermore, in such situation, the Applicant, if any, shall be allotted the same amount of time as all appellants collectively use during their presentation. In the case of multiple appellants, the Applicant, if any, may speak after the Appellants openings. (j) Where it appears in the discretion of the Presiding Officer that the number of speakers during a Public Comment period, or at a Hearing, will make it difficult to complete the business of the City at a reasonable hour or before the 11:00 p.m. cutoff time, the Presiding Officer may reduce the speaking time for each speaker , subject to contrary determination by a majority of the Council.
13. RESPONDING TO PUBLIC COMMENT. At the end of general public comment the City Council, City Manager and/or City Attorney may briefly respond to the public comments. Their response, if any, shall be brief and in accordance with the Brown Act.
7 14. COUNCIL COMMENTS. Each regular Council meeting agenda should include an item entitled Council Comments. Council comments shall conform to the strictures of the Brown Act. Comments may include notifications of or attendance at community events, functions and other activities. It is an opportunity for Council to briefly report on any committee, board or commission assignments. This is also the time reserved for Council to report on attendance at meetings subject to disclosure pursuant to AB 1234. Concerns or matters of current, pending or future Council deliberations should not be discussed during Council Comments and no action may be taken on any item.
15. NON-EXCLUSIVE RULES AND DEVIATION THEREFROM. The rules set forth herein are not exclusive and do not limit the inherent power and general legal authority of the Presiding Officer or Council to govern the conduct of the meetings as may be considered appropriate under particular circumstances for purposes of orderly and effective conduct of City business. Any deviation from these rules does not limit nor affect the jurisdiction of the Council or any final decision of Council on any matter, decision, permit or entitlement.
B. Resolution No. 17-28,970 is hereby repealed.
PASSED and ADOPTED this ____ day of September, 2024.
___________________________
Nick Schultz
Mayor
Approved as to Form:
Attest: Office of the City Attorney
_________________________ By: _______________________ Kimberley Clark, City Clerk
Joseph H. McDougall
City Attorney
8 STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ) ss.
CITY OF BURBANK )
I, Kimberley Clark, City Clerk of the City of Burbank , do hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution was duly and regularly passed and adopted by the Council of the City of Burbank at its regular meeting held on the ____ day of September, 2024, by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
____________________________
Kimberley Clark, City Clerk