RESOLUTION NO. 2021- 03
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA, ESTABLISHING RULES OF PROCEDURE
AND DECORUM FOR BOARD, COMMISSION AND COMMITTEE
MEETINGS AND REPEALING RESOLUTION NO. 2017- 41
California Law authorizes the City Council of the City of Fullerton to adopt, abolish, suspend, modify and/ or waive procedural rules for the conduct of board, commission and committee meetings.
In adopting these rules, the City Council understands that legislative bodies must first of all abide by the general laws of the State of California concerning rules of procedure for legislative bodies.
ROBERTS RULES ADOPTED AS A NON- BINDING GUIDE. Boards, commissions and committees will adopt the current edition of " Robert' s Rules of Order, Newly Revised" as a non- binding guide to the conduct of their meetings, to the degree that such rules do not conflict with State or local laws.
For purposes of this resolution the term " Presiding Officer" refers to the legislative body member presiding over the legislative body meeting. In most instances the Chair will serve as the Presiding Officer. The Vice -Chair will serve as the Presiding Officer in the Chair' s absence.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FULLERTON,
CALIFORNIA, DOES RESOLVE, DECLARE, DETERMINE AND ORDER AS FOLLOWS:
The Fullerton City Council adopts the following Rules of Procedure for its appointed boards, commissions and committees:
1. GENERAL LAWS. Boards, commissions and committees shall comply with all general laws of the State of California and all local laws which establish rules of procedure for legislative bodies.
2. DECORUM. All persons shall observe civility, decorum and good behavior. The City Council encourages citizen participation and expression of all points of view at all legislative body meetings. Unruly or disruptive conduct may result in removal from the meeting or meeting stoppage.
Legislative body members shall observe civility, decorum and good behavior, attend ethics training as required by AB 1234 and attend harassment - prevention training as required by City of Fullerton Resolution No. 2015- 36.
3. SIGNS. City Council recognizes the right of free expression. To preserve decorum and not infringe upon the public' s ability to view the legislative body Resolution No. 2021- 03
proceedings, audience members may hold signs provided the sign does not impede viewing or broadcasting of the meeting and does not otherwise violate meeting rules of procedure.
4. PHOTOGRAPHY / FILMING / AUDIO RECORDING. Media outlets planning on attending a legislative body meeting should contact the City's Public Information Coordinator, or designee, in advance of the meeting to ensure accommodations for broadcast and tripod cameras. The Fire Marshal, or designee, will ensure members of the media film in locations in compliance with safety regulations.
Complete or partial blocking of exit aisles is prohibited.
The public may photograph, film and/ or audio record proceedings of legislative bodies provided that the recording device operator remains in the public areas of the meeting room, keeps aisles clear ( for fire safety) and does not interrupt other members of the public in attendance or impede staff or legislative body members from conducting the meeting.
5. REGULAR MEETINGS. The legislative body shall hold regular meetings within the city limits only at the time, place and location indicated by Council resolution or other legislative action.
6. SPECIAL MEETINGS. Per the California Brown Act, the Mayor or a majority of the legislative body may call and give notice of special meeting with at least 24 hours' notice.
7. OPEN MEETINGS. All members of the public may attend all legislative body meetings except for Closed Sessions.
8. QUORUM. Each legislative body shall determine the number of its members necessary to be present to establish a quorum.
9. AGENDA. Secretary shall prepare an agenda for each legislative body meeting.
Staff will place items on the agenda as needed or by City Council direction.
Committee members may make a request during the meeting to add items to the agenda. Staff will add items that fall within the purview of the committee to a future agenda.
The order of items on the agenda shall be:
Call to Order
Roll Call
Pledge of Allegiance
Public Comments
Committee Member / Staff Communications and Reports
Consent Calendar
Public Hearings
Regular Business
Resolution No. 2021- 03
Items Pulled from the Consent Calendar
Agenda Forecast
Adjournment
10. EMERGENCY AGENDA MATTERS. Except as otherwise provided herein, the legislative body shall take no action on any matter not listed on the posted agenda.
However, the legislative body may take action on an item not appearing on the agenda if either: a) the legislative body determines by majority vote that the item is a statutorily defined " emergency" or b) the legislative body determines by a two- thirds vote that the need exists for immediate action on an item and the item only came to the attention of the members after posting of the agenda and cannot wait until the next regular meeting.
11. PROVIDING MATERIALS TO THE COMMITTEE DURING THE MEETING.
Members of the public may submit materials for distribution to Committee Members by submitting sufficient copies of the materials for all committee members plus two additional copies to the Secretary before or at the beginning of the meeting. All materials submitted to the Committee become part of the meeting record. The public may not utilize Council Chambers audio- visual equipment during the meeting.
12. CONSENT CALENDAR. The agenda may have routine matters grouped together for action, listed under the heading of " Consent Calendar." The agenda will contain a concise recommendation for each of these items in summary form. The legislative body may take action on all Consent Calendar items on the agenda by one motion, provided, that the Presiding Officer shall first advise the audience that the legislative body will act upon Consent Calendar items by one motion unless any member, individual or organization requests to pull one or more items from the Consent Calendar for further discussion and/ or clarification. In that event, the Presiding Officer will ask the legislative body to move the remainder of the Consent Calendar and then take up each item pulled from the Consent Calendar for individual consideration.
13. PUBLIC HEARINGS. In the event the City Attorney or Staff requests continuation of a noticed public hearing item, the Committee will continue the item to a date certain, regularly scheduled meeting.
14. MOTIONS. The legislative body uses motions to conduct its general business unless the law specifically requires action by resolution or a good reason exists for formalizing the action by resolution.
15. PROCESSING OF MOTIONS. When a member makes a motion, another member must second the motion to proceed and the Presiding Officer may so state. Once the Presiding Officer has stated the motion, the maker of the motion may not modify or withdraw the motion without consent of the legislative body. The legislative body may amend the motion with the approval of the maker. The maker Resolution No. 2021- 03
of a motion has the first right of debate.
A. Motions Out of Sequence: The Presiding Officer may at any time, by majority consent of the legislative body, permit a member to propose a motion out of the agenda sequence.
B. Division of the Question: If the question contains two or more complete propositions, each capable of standing alone, the legislative body may, by majority vote, divide the questions into separate parts for consideration and vote.
C. Substitute Motions: A substitute motion seeks to replace a paragraph, section, article or the entirety of a main motion with new language and takes precedence over the main motion. The Committee considers a substitute motion before considering the main motion. Committee Members consider one substitute motion at a time and will dispense with the substitute motion on the floor before making a new substitute motion.
16. VOTING. On the passage of every motion, the Presiding Officer shall call for the vote by voice or roll call. The recording secretary shall enter the results of the vote in the minutes. Any member may change his/her vote before the next order of business.
A. Voice Vote. The Presiding Officer shall ask, in this order, those in favor to state " Aye", those opposed to state " Nay" and those abstaining to state Abstain". After calling for the vote, the Presiding Officer will state whether the motion passes or fails and the tally of the votes in favor, opposed and abstaining.
B. Roll Call Voting. The legislative body shall take a roll call vote when required by law or upon demand of any member made before or after a voice vote upon any question. The recording secretary shall take the roll call vote.
C. Failure to Vote. Every member should vote unless disqualified for cause or by the decision of the City Attorney. Members should avoid self disqualification which results in a tie vote thwarting action.
D. Abstention. A member cannot be compelled to vote. He/She may abstain from voting, but in doing so, consents that a majority of the quorum may act for him/ her.
E. Tie Vote. A tie vote on any matter under consideration constitutes denial of the motion except for appeals of a decision of the Presiding Officer ( as described in # 14) where a tie vote sustains the Presiding Officer' s decision.
17. RECONSIDERATION. Any member who voted with the majority on a matter may Resolution No. 2021- 03
move for reconsideration of any action taken on that matter at the same meeting or have the matter entered into the minutes for reconsideration at the next succeeding meeting, providing no legal rights have intervened between said meetings to create estoppel. After the legislative body has acted on a motion for reconsideration of a matter, it may not consider any other motion for reconsideration thereof without unanimous consent.
18. APPEAL. Any member may appeal any decision or ruling of the Presiding Officer.
The Presiding Officer shall call for a roll call vote to determine if legislative body desires to sustain his/ her decision. A majority or tie vote shall sustain the Presiding Officer' s decision.
19. MINUTES. The recording secretary will record the action minutes of the legislative body meeting and present a final draft of the minutes to the legislative body for approval; the legislative body may then, by motion, make such corrections as conform to fact before approving the draft minutes.
A. The minutes should contain a clear and concise statement of legislative body actions, including all motions made and the vote thereon. The legislative body may choose to direct the recording secretary to include reasons for making a motion, debate and public speaker comments.
B. For all items, including when the legislative body may act in a quasi- judicial proceeding, such as on an assessment or zoning matter, the recording secretary shall record in the minutes the names and city of residence ( if provided) of persons addressing the legislative body, the subject matter to which the remarks relate and whether the person spoke in support or opposition to a matter.
C. The recording secretary shall retain recordings of meetings in accordance with the City' s Records Retention Schedule.
D Recusals: Members recusing themselves from discussion on a particular agenda item shall publicly state the reason for recusal and exit the meeting room. The recording secretary will include the reason for recusal and the time the member exited and returned to the meeting room in the minutes.
ADOPTED BY THE FULLERTON CITY COUNCIL ON FEBRUARY 2, 2021.
Bruce Whitaker
Mayor
Resolution No. 2021- 03
ATTEST:
City of Fullerton
RESOLUTION CERTIFICATION
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF ORANGE ) SS
CITY OF FULLERTON )
RESOLUTION NO. 2021- 03
I, Lucinda Williams, City Clerk and ex -officio Clerk of the City Council of the City of Fullerton, California, hereby certify that the whole number of the members of the City Council of the City of Fullerton is five and that the City Council adopted the above and foregoing Resolution No. 2021- 03 at a regular meeting of the City Council held February 2, 2021 by the following vote:
COUNCIL MEMBER AYES:
COUNCIL MEMBER NOES:
COUNCIL MEMBER ABSTAINED
Whitaker, Dunlap, Jung, Silva, Zahra
None
None
COUNCIL MEMBER ABSENT: None