BLUE FOLDER ITEM
Blue folder items are additional back up material to administrative reports and/or public comments received after the printing and distribution of the agenda packet for receive and file.
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
SEPTEMBER 2, 2025
P.1 DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING CHANGES TO THE RULES OF
CONDUCT AND DECORUM FOR CITY COUNCIL AND COMMISSION MEETINGS,
REDONDO BEACH MUNICIPAL CODES RELATED TO CITY BOARDS AND
COMMISSIONS, AND THE POSSIBLE CREATION OF AN ON-CALL POLICE, FIRE, AND
HOMELESS SERVICES COMMISSION
• EXISTING RULES OF CONDUCT
RULES OF CONDUCT
FOR
COUNCIL MEETINGS
ADOPTED JULY 11, 1977*
RULES OF CONDUCT FOR CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS
It is the policy of the Redondo Beach City Council to:
1) Provide an opportunity for public input on all matters of City business; and 2) Conduct its meetings in an efficient, business-like manner.
To achieve this goal, the City Council has adopted certain rules and procedures governing the conduct of its meetings. Your compliance with these Rules of Conduct is appreciated.
I. COUNCIL PARTICIPATION VIA TELECONFERENCE UNDER PROVISIONS OF
THE BROWN ACT AND CITY CHARTER
The City Charter requires that a quorum of the members of the City Council must be present in the Chamber in order to call a meeting to order, thus only two members of the City Council and the Mayor may participate in meetings by remote location(s) under normal or regular (non-emergency) circumstances. Public access and participation must also be accommodated by the Councilmember or Mayor at the remote location.
A. First-come, first-served basis - the first two Council members to notify the City Clerk shall be given priority and may participate in City Council meetings virtually, either by cell phone and/or Zoom teleconference.
1. Priority shall be given for remote participation for reasons of medical issues with Council approval.
2. Limited to nine (9) meetings per year per Councilmember, subject to Council approval thereafter.
B. Notification to the City Clerk ([email protected]) and Mayor via email by each Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. preceding each published Tuesday City Council meeting agenda, and shall include the following information.
1. Name and address of remote location or hotel (by law, this information will be included on the posted Agenda); and
2. Cell phone number of Council or Mayor participant.
C. Posting of Agenda: The Councilmember or Mayor shall cause the City Council Agenda to be posted at the door of the room, conference room, or front door of residence where the Councilmember will remotely participate in the meeting.
1. Proof of Posting: The Councilmember and/or Mayor will announce at the City Council meeting that the agenda was posted at the remote location accordingly to law (either 72 hours in advance of the Regular Meeting or 24 hours in advance of a called Special Meeting) for the record.
D. Costs: For use of a hotel conference room, if arranged by the Councilmember and/or Mayor, costs shall be paid from Mayor and Council travel budget. (Hotel staff/concierge may post Council Agenda at publicly accessible location.)
E. Computer on Loan – Upon the request of the Councilmember or Mayor, the City IT Department may loan a laptop computer for their use at remote locations.
II. CONSENT CALENDAR
A. All business items, except those formally noticed for public hearing, are placed on the Consent Calendar.
B. The Mayor will ask whether any member of the City Council or any member of the public wishes to have a Consent Calendar Item(s) “pulled for discussion” and acted upon separately. Items removed from the Consent Calendar will be taken up under the section “Items for Discussion Prior to Action.”
All remaining items on the Consent Calendar will be approved in one motion; the title of all ordinances and/or resolutions will be read in full by the City Clerk.
III. QUASI-JUDICIAL PUBLIC HEARINGS (i.e. land use applications or appeals; licenses; permits)
C. All public hearings shall be conducted in accordance with the following sequence of steps:
1. Announcement and motion to open public hearing;
2. Motion to receive and file affidavit of publication, case file, and written correspondence;
3. Staff presentation;
4. Public testimony and presentation of evidence;
a. Proponent maximum of 1 hour;
b. For one appellant a maximum of 1 hour, 2 appellants, a maximum of 45 minutes each, and 3 appellants or
more, 30 minutes each;
c. Public comment 3 minutes each;
d. Appellant rebuttal 20 minutes for each appellant;
e. Proponent rebuttal 20 minutes x number of
appellants.
5. City Council questions;
6. Motion to close public hearing;
7. City Council discussion and debate;
8. Motion and action.
D. After the hearing has been closed, no person shall address the City Council unless the public hearing is re-opened by a majority vote of the Council. A public hearing shall be re-opened only when there is additional relevant evidence that could not have been presented during the scheduled opportunity for public testimony.
E. The Mayor, members of the City Council, and City staff shall refrain from interrupting a speaker during his/her allotted time for public testimony.
Questions and/or responses shall be held until the end of the speaker’s full presentation.
IV. ITEMS PULLED FROM THE CONSENT CALENDAR FOR DISCUSSION a. These agenda items shall be considered in accordance with the following sequence of steps:
i. Introduction of item;
ii. Staff presentation, if required;
iii. Public comment and/or questions;
iv. City Council questions;
v. City Council discussion and debate;
vi. Motion and action.
b. After a motion has been made, no person shall address the City Council without first securing permission of the presiding officer. c. The Mayor, members of the City Council, and City staff shall refrain from interrupting a speaker during his/her allotted time for public testimony.
Questions and/or responses shall be held until the end of the speaker’s full presentation.
V. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION – RULES PERTAINING TO ALL PUBLIC
TESTIMONY
Order of priority for receiving public testimony:
1) Email communications received & filed by Council
Emails received by 3:00 p.m. on date of meeting are compiled/organized by Agenda Item or as “Public Participation on Non-Agenda items” and transmitted to the City Council (blue folder procedure); 2) Public in attendance in Chamber;
3) Public participating via Zoom/phone calls; and
4) eComments submitted via public agenda calendar portal, (2200 characters maximum entry; equal to ~3 minutes verbal). City Clerk will announce the number of eComments for each item and their position (neutral, support, oppose).
a. Public Participation on non-agenda items will follow Public Hearings; b. The “public participation” portion of the agenda shall be reserved for the public to address the City Council regarding general problems, questions or complaints.
c. No person shall address the City Council without first being recognized by the presiding officer.
d. Each person in attendance in the Chamber wishing to address the City Council shall step to the microphone, clearly state his/her name and address for the record, state the subject he/she wishes to discuss, and proceed with his/her remarks.
e. Remarks shall be limited to three (3) minutes.
f. In situations where an unusual number of people wish to speak on an item, the presiding officer may place reasonable limits upon the time allocated for that item, and for each individual speaker. Such time limits shall allow for full discussion of the item by interested parties or their representative(s). Groups are encouraged to designate a spokesperson who may be granted additional time to speak.
g. All remarks shall be addressed to the City Council as a whole and not to any member thereof. No questions shall be directed to a member of the City Council or the City staff except through, and with the permission of, the presiding officer.
h. Speakers shall confine their remarks to those which are relevant to the subject under consideration.
i. Speakers are encouraged to present new evidence and points of view not previously considered, and avoid repetition of statements made by previous speakers.
j. No person shall speak twice on the same item without first securing permission of the presiding officer; such additional remarks shall be limited to one (1) minute.
VI. RULES AND ENFORCEMENT OF DECORUM
a. The Mayor, or in his/her absence, the Mayor Pro Tempore, shall be the presiding officer at all regular and special meetings of the City Council.
The presiding officer shall enforce these procedural rules of conduct. The Chief of the Police, or his designated representative, shall be the sergeant-at-arms of the City Council meetings.
b. Procedural rulings a subject to the concurrence of the City Council. Any member of the City Council may move to require the presiding officer to enforce the rules and the City Council, by majority vote, may require him/her to do so.
c. Any person making impertinent, slanderous, or profane remarks, loud or unusual noise, or who becomes boisterous, threatening, or offensive while addressing the City Council, so as to interrupt the orderly conduct of the meeting, or who fails to step down and yield the floor after allotted time for remarks has expired, shall be called to order by the presiding officer.
d. The presiding officer shall be mindful of the following sanctions which may be applied in appropriate circumstances:
Government Code Section 54957.9:
In the event that any meeting is willfully interrupted by a group or groups of persons so as to render the orderly conduct of such meeting unfeasible and order cannot be restored by the removal of individuals who are willfully interrupting the meeting, the members of the legislative body conducting the meeting may order the meeting room cleared and continue in session. Only matters appearing on the agenda may be considered in such a session. Representatives of the press or other news media, except those participating in the disturbance, shall be allowed to attend any session held pursuant to this section. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the legislative body from establishing a procedure for readmitting an individual or individuals not responsible for willfully disturbing the orderly conduct of the meeting.
Penal Code Section 403:
Every person who, without authority of law, willfully disturbs or breaks up any assembly or meeting that is not unlawful in its character, other than an assembly or meeting referred to in Section 302 of the Penal Code and Section 18340 of the Elections Code, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
VII.CLOSED SESSIONS
If Closed Sessions are to be held, pursuant to Sections 54956.7, 54956.8, 54956.9 and 54957 of the Brown Act, they will be scheduled as the last items on the Agenda.
VIII. MEETING ADJOURNMENT
As a general guideline, the City Council intends to conclude its meetings at or before 11 p.m. At 10:30 p.m., or as soon thereafter as possible, the City Council will determine which remaining agenda items, if any, will be considered after 11 p.m. Any agenda items not completed will be carried over to the following Tuesday.
*Amended: September, 16, 1986; April 12, 1988; June 1, 1993; July 6, 1993; September 18, 2018; January 11, 2022; and April 12, 2022; and November 8, 2022..