City of Fontana
POLICY AND PROCEDURES
Subject:
City Council Meeting Policy
Section 20-47
Effective Date 09-05-2023
Issued Date 09-05-2023
Approval Date: 09-05-
2023
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.
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 Commission 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] 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, proceeding 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 Robert'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 the duration of time determined by the presiding officer. Notwithstanding, in accordance with the Brown Act, if the speaker utilizes the services of a translator to address Council, the speaker shall have double the number of 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 regarding matters that relate to Council business or citizen concerns within the subject 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.
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.
The City Council will strive to ensure each person who wishes to speak during public comment periods shall be treated with respect by the Council and the audience. In order to maintain ADA compliance and clear access to the podium for speakers, members of the public not speaking or making their way to or from the podium shall keep these aisleways clear.
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 ordering the removal of any person or group of persons 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 notification 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 presiding officer may call a 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 presiding officer may call a recess and the person will be removed from the meeting.