San Bruno
City Council Meeting
December 13, 2022
REVISION: Section 9. Meetings of the draft Policies and Procedures
In general, the changes are minor. They address the following issues. • Section 9.C.6 – Clarifies and simplifies the process for submitting questions on agenda items.
The changes also combine language that was in this section with duplicative text that appeared in Section 9.C.13 (which has now been deleted). • Section 9.C.7 – Title revised to clarify the subject matter. Title now reads “Councilmember Abstention or Recusal from Consent Items.”
• Section 9.C.8 – Covers Consent Items when a Councilmember wants to make a Comment or request to move an item to Conduct of Business for discussion/questions. The new language aligns to the current process where the Mayor asks if any Councilmember has a brief comment on a consent item (which does not move the item to Conduct of Business) versus when there is desire for a discussion and/or questions and the item will be moved to the Conduct of Business section.
• Section 9.C.13 – As noted above, this section was deleted and incorporated into Section 9.C.6.
City Council Policies and Procedures Manual
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19 meeting, without requiring identification or registration on the part of the public to attend. These rules also apply to the same type of locations outside of the United States.
3. The City Council and members of sta ff will make every effort to end its meetings before 11:00 p.m. At 10:30 p.m. during a regular or special meeting, the City Council will decide by majority vote and announce whether it will begin consideration of any agenda items after 11:00 p.m. and, if so, which specific items will be discussed.
4. It is recommended that a Councilmem ber or staff notify the Presiding Officer prior to the meeting if they desire to reorder an item on the agenda.
5. Regular meeting agendas will in clude an item for “Council Committee Report Out”, placed before “Comments from Councilmembers”. This item will be an opportunity to inform the full City Council of significant agenda items or updates from Council subcommittees or ad hoc committees.
For detailed Committee Reports, the Councilmember(s) shall notify the City Clerk at [email protected] (with a copy to the City Manager and City Attorney) of the subject of their comments one week prior to the meeting, so that the topic may be placed on the agenda in accordance with the Brown Act. Brief announcements or reports do not need to be placed on the agenda as an item.
6. Council Questions on Agenda Items Prior to Meeting - Councilmembers are encouraged to submit any detailed questions on agenda items to the City Manager or the City Attorney as soon as possible. This will allow senior staff to request information from other City staff that may not be present at the meeting and provide time to formulate a response. A City Councilmember may request that the City Council remove an item from the Consent Calendar; however, the Councilmembers should strive to notify the City Manager’s Officesubmit questions, in writingvia email, of the request no later than noon on the day of the City Council meeting. Given thatHowever, from time to time, new information or questions may arise after noon on the day of the meeting, a Councilmember may ask their question at the meeting or, if it is a consent item, also request to pull an item from the cConsent Ccalendar for clarifying questions, or they may have written the City Manager earlier with questions regarding a specific agenda item. The City Manager may report answers for any agenda item questions when the item is being discussed during the meeting or provide a written response to the entire City Council (and made available to the public) before the meeting and prior to the close of business for the City City Council Policies and Procedures Manual
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20 Clerk’s Office on the day of the meeting. If a response is provided to the entire City Council prior to the meeting, State law requires (Government Code Section 54957.5) that the response be made available to the public.
This is done by posting the response at City Hall and posting the response online. Questions should be emailed directly to the City Attorney and/or to the City Manager’s Office at [email protected].
7. Council member Abstention or Recusal from Consent Items Comments on Agenda Items – No discussion or debate shall be permitted upon items on the Consent Calendar; however, any Councilmember may request that their vote on a particular Consent Calendar item be noted as “Abstain” or “Recuse” due to a potential conflict of interest. In such case, a vote may be taken on the item the Councilmember is abstained from, and a separate vote must be taken for the remaining Consent Calendar items.
Alternatively, a Councilmember may announce their recusal or abstention before the vote on the Consent Calendar. In such cases, a vote on the entire Consent Calendar will occur and the official minutes will reflect the Councilmember’s recusal or abstention on the specific items.
8. Councilmember Requests for Consent Items (Request to Make a Comment or Request to Move an Item to Conduct of Business for Discussion/Questions) -- Prior to action on the Consent Calendar, the Mayor shall ask if any Councilmember would like to make a comment about a Consent Calendar item or move an item to the Conduct of Business section of the agenda.
For Requests to Make a Comment -- The Mayor will allow time prior to action on the Consent Calendar for brief comments from the requesting Councilmember(s).
For Requests to Move an Ite m to Conduct of Business for Discussion/Questions -- The Mayor can move the item anywhere on the Conduct of Business portion of the agenda or direct staff to calendar for a future meeting.
8. If a Councilmember would like to pull any item(s) from the Consent Calendar for further discussion at the meeting, they may do so before voting on the Consent Calendar begins. Consent items are meant to address routine items. The Mayor should first ask Councilmembers if they wish to move any consent agenda items to the regular agenda for further discussion. If requested, the Mayor would move the item and open it up for discussion during the Conduct of Business portion of the agenda, or make it a “parking lot” item for a future agenda. Ideally, Councilmembers should ask for such a move before the meeting so it can be placed on the City Council Policies and Procedures Manual
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21 Conduct of Business agenda before the meeting starts. Additionally, Councilmembers should strive to notify the City Manager’s Office, via email, of any requests to pull an item from the Consent Calendar by noon on the day of the City Council meeting.
9. Comments from Councilmembers – The purpose of this regular meeting agenda item is to allow the City Council an opportunity to make important city announcements, such as City-sponsored, or City-related public events and pertinent information. Each Councilmember shall strive to make comments that are respectful and beneficial to the community.
Councilmembers shall refrain from making any campaign announcements or solicit votes for an election-related matter during this agenda item. Each Councilmember shall strive to be brief during this agenda item.
Councilmembers shall notify the City Clerk [email protected] (with a copy to the City Manager and City Attorney) of the subject of their comments one week prior to the meeting, so that the topic may be placed on the agenda in accordance with the Brown Act.
10. Voting – A motion, second, and a majority vote of the City Council shall be required for any formal action detailed on the agenda. If a motion is stated and there is no second verbally stated, the Mayor must ask the City Council for a second to the motion made. If no second is presented, the motion fails for lack of a second. Any vote of abstention must clearly indicate for the record the basis for the abstention.
Similarly, a motion, second, and a majority vote of the City Council shall be required for any Council direction to staff that occurs during any type of meeting. If direction to staff is proposed through a motion and there is no second verbally stated, the Mayor must ask the City Council for a second to the motion made. If no second is presented, the motion fails for lack of a second. Any vote of abstention must clearly indicate for the record the basis for the abstention.
11. Reconsideration – Once an item has been voted on, it will not be permitted for further discussion, unless a motion for reconsideration is made by a Councilmember who voted in the majority on that item at the same meeting (as per Robert’s Rules of Order).
12. Full Participation - To encourage full participation of all members of the Council, no member or members shall be permitted to monopolize the discussion of the question or agenda item. If a councilmember has already spoken and other members wish to speak, the latter members should be recognized in preference to the member who has already spoken.
City Council Policies and Procedures Manual
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22 However, if no other members seek recognition, the Mayor may recognize the member who has already spoken or make a motion on the item. The Mayor has the responsibility of controlling and expediting any debate or item. It is the duty of the Mayor to keep the subject clearly before the members, to rule out irrelevant discussion, and to restate the question whenever necessary.
13. Questions on Agenda Items - Councilmembers are encouraged to submit any detailed questions on agenda items to the City Attorney or the City Manager at least 24 hours prior to the meeting. This will allow senior staff to request information from other City staff that may not be present at the meeting and provide time to formulate a response. If a response is provided to the entire City Council prior to the meeting, State law requires (Government Code Section 54957.5) that the response be made available to the public. This is done by posting the response at City Hall and posting the response online. Questions should be emailed directly to the City Attorney and/or to the City Manager’s Office at
[email protected].
Section 10. Action Minutes
1. The City Council shall use Action Mi nutes to record their proceedings.
2. Action minutes shall be defined as decision-only minutes that exclude any discussion that went into making the decision and capture only the conclusion and/or action to be taken. The minutes shall include the definition of action minutes.
3. Motions and votes are outlined in the action minutes.
4. Members of the public/m edia are authorized to bring personal recording devices to the public meeting, as long as the equipment used does not cause a disturbance or disruption to the official business of the City Council or the official recording and documentation of the meeting by the City or its agents.
Section 11. Public Participation
1. Public Participation - Members of t he public are encouraged to participate in the legislative process by either submitting written comments before the meeting or speaking in person during a meeting. The following is a list of rules designed to