CITY COUNCIL MEETING POLICY
1. PURPOSE:
The City of Fontana (“City”) wishes to establish a decorum policy for City meetings to create a safe and controlled environment for members of the public.
2. ORGANIZATIONS AFFECTED:
• City Council meetings
• Commissions and Committees*
*Note: This Policy shall also apply to the City's Commissions and Committees. In applying this Policy to City Commissions and Committees, the term "Council" shall be interpreted to mean the name of the City Co mmission or Committee, the term "Mayor" shall be interpreted to mean "Chairperson", and the term "City Clerk" shall be interpreted to mean the staff member responsible for providing support to the Commission/Committee.
3. POLICY:
3.1. Roberts Rules of Order.
The proceedings of the City Council (“Council”) shall be guided under the latest revised edition of "Roberts Rules of Order," on all matters pertaining to parliamentary procedure, but no ordinance, resolution, pro ceeding or other action of the Council shall be invalidated nor the legality thereof otherwise affected by the failure or omission to observe or follow such rules. In the event of a discrepancy between R obert's Rules of Order and this Policy and Procedure, this Policy and Procedure shall prevail.
3.2. Manner of Addressing City Council.
Each person who desires to address Council is requested to submit a speaker card to the City Clerk . After being called upon , only the speaker recognized may proceed to the lectern to address Council . The speaker may state for the record his/her name and city of residence, but shall not be required to do so.
3.3. Time Limitation.
Members of the public may speak for three (3) minutes. Notwithstanding, if the speaker utilizes the services of a translator to address Council, the speaker shall have six (6) minutes to speak. At Council’s request, where Council is acting in a fact-finding or hearing capacity, the Mayor may grant additional time (unless overruled by a majority of Councilmembers present) to speakers on agenda items.
Speakers on non-agenda items may speak for three (3) minutes during the public communications portion of the meeting.
The time that a speaker devotes to responding to Council inquiries shall not be deducted from their allotted speaker time. The Mayor or Council reserves the right to adjust the aforementioned time limits based on the number of speakers who wish to address the Mayor and City Council.
3.4. Assignment of Speaker Time—Prohibited.
Members of the public may not assign their speaker time to another person.
3.5. Addressing City Council.
The purpose of addressing the Council is to communicate formally with the Council r egarding matters that relate to Council business or citizen concerns within the sub ject matter jurisdiction of the Council. Persons addressing the Council on an agenda item shall confine their remarks to the matter under consideration. Speakers may be asked to clarify how their comments relate to the matter at hand. Speakers may address the entire Council or individual Councilmembers, and, if allowed by the Mayor, chair, or City staff.
3.6. Decorum and Enforcement.
Once recognized, members of the public shall not be interrupted when speaking unless to be called to order by the Mayor to: (i) curtail extraordinary repetition, (ii) curtail speech that is irrelevant to the City Council’s subject matter jurisdiction, (iii) explain how his or her speech relates to the City’s subject matter jurisdiction, or (iv) address some other point of order. If a speaker is interrupted to be called to order, the speaker shall cease speaking until the question of order is determined, and if in order, he or she shall be permitted to proceed, with additional time allotted for the time taken to determine the question of order.
Members of the public shall not engage in conduct that disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the City Council meeting. Any person who so disrupts the meeting is subject to removal from the meeting.
Prior to removing anyone from a City meeting, the Mayor (or other designated chair) shall issue a warning to the person found in violation of this Section specifying the behavior giving rise to the warning and explaining the grounds for which such conduct subjects the person to expulsion. The person receiving such no tification shall be asked if he or she understands such warning, but shall not be required to accept it.
If at any time during the same meeting, the person is found to have violated this Section a second time, the City Council meeting will go into recess .
Following such recess, the person will receive a subsequent warning by the Chief of Police (or his or her designee) and a final reminder that his/her conduct subjects the person to expulsion. The person receiving such notification shall be asked if he/she understands the warning, but shall not be required to accept it.
If at any time during the same meeting, the person is found to have violated this Section a third time, the City Council meeting will go into a second recess and the person will be removed from the respective City Council Meeting.
Members of the public receiving notice of disruption pursuant to this Section shall have the right, prior to being removed from the meeting, to ask the Mayor to consult with th e City Attorney on the grounds for expulsion, and to submit a point of order on the grounds for expulsion. The City Council may override this decision with a majority vote. Motions must be seconded in order to proceed to a vote.