RESOLUTION NO. 2023- 047
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
SANTA ANA AMENDING THE COUNCIL RULES AND
PROCEDURES TO CHANGE THE TIME OF REGULAR
MEETINGS, UPDATE THE RULES OF PROCEDURE,
CLARIFY DECORUM REGULATIONS, AND ADDRESS
TELECONFERENCING, AND REPEALING RESOLUTION
NO. 2013- 019.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. The City Council of the City of Santa Ana hereby finds, determines and declares as follows:
A. Section 409 of the City Charter and Sections 2-100 et seq. of Santa Ana Municipal Code call for the City Council to adopt rules and procedures for the scheduling and conducting of meetings of the City Council.
B. The Ralph M. Brown Act found at Chapter 9, Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5 of the California Government Code beginning with Section 54950 ( the ' Brown Act") sets forth statewide standards for meetings of local agencies including the Santa Ana City Council.
C. The City Council desires to amend the City Council Rules and Procedures to change the time of regular meetings, updates the rules of procedure, clarify decorum regulations, and address teleconferencing.
Section 2. City Council meetings, time and place.
a) Regular meetings of the City Council shall be on the first and third Tuesdays of each month beginning on January 1, 2014. The meeting shall begin between the hours of 3: 00 P. M. and 5: 00 P. M. for Closed Session followed by the Regular Open Meeting at 5:30 P.M., with the specific time legally noticed and posted on the agenda. The City Council shall publicly convene the meeting and then recess to conduct closed or executive sessions. Regular meetings of the City Council shall be convened in the Council Chamber or as noted on the agenda and at the time specified on the agenda. After being convened, all meetings may be adjourned to such other place or places as the City Council may order.
b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this resolution, any regular meeting of the Council may be set, canceled, or rescheduled to a different date, time, or location by resolution duly adopted by the affirmative votes of a majority of the City Council or by any other manner as provided by law.
The date, time, and location of any meeting set or rescheduled to a different date, time, or location shall be noticed and posted in the manner provided by law.
c) Special meetings of the City Council may be held at such locations as stated in the action calling such meetings and otherwise in conformance with the Brown Act. A special meeting may be called by the Mayor or the Mayor Pro Tern, in the Mayor's noticed absence, by either of them contacting the City Clerk and requesting orally or in writing the call of a specialmeeting. A majorityof the membersof the City Council canalso call a special meetingby deliveringa written noticeto the City Clerk of a request for a special meeting. Upon receiving a request from the Mayor, MayorPro Tern, or a majorityof the City Council, the City Clerk shall notice the special meeting.
d) All meetings are scheduled to terminate at 11:59 P.M. on the same day it began. At 11:00 P.M., the City Council shall determine which of the remainingagenda itemscan be consideredand acted upon prior to 11:59 P. M., and will continue all other items on which additional time is required until a future City Council meeting. A majority vote of the Council is required to extend a meeting beyond 11:59 P.M. to discuss specified items.
Section 3. Agenda.
The CityClerk shall preparean agendafor each regularand special meetingof the City Councilcontainingall items known by suchofficerto be considered. The order of placingitems on the agendaprior to postingshall be at the discretionof the City Manager, in consultation with the Mayor. The agenda shall contain such information as requiredby the BrownAct. Inaddition, the agendashall containthe following sectionsto providefor reportingby the City Council: AB1234reports, Council Committeereports, and Regional Agency reports.
Section 4. Rules of Procedure.
Proceduresbeforethe City Councilshall be governedby the most currentedition of Rosenberg' s Rules of Order. Application of such procedures shall be vested in the sound discretion of the presiding officer.
Section 5. Decorum; Time limits and other regulations for speaking. a) The City Council shall preserve decorum and an orderly procedure during debate. Councilmembers desiring to speak shall seek recognition from the presiding officer. Upon being recognized, a Councilmember shall confine their comments to the questionsunderdebate. A Councilmember, once recognized, should not be interrupted unlessa point of order is raised by anothermember. The presidingofficer should not recognize a Councilmember to speak who has already spoken on a matter under debate until all other Councilmembers who wish to be heard have spoken. A Councilmember should limit them self to three ( 3) minutes at any one time without permission of the presiding officer. At the end of each meeting, the presiding officer shall recognize each Councilmember who may speak up to three (3) minutes on matters of public or community interest.
b) The agenda for all regular meetings of the City Council shall provide members of the public the opportunity to address the City Council on agendized matters and non-agendized matters as required by the Brown Act. All requests to speak shall be submitted in writing to the City Clerk. No such requests shall be accepted after the public comment session begins without permission of the presiding officer. The agendas for adjourned, special, and emergency meetings of the City Council shall provide for public comment as provided in the Brown Act. c) Subject to (d) below, members of the public shall be given a total of three 3) minutes to: ( i) address the City Council on any and all matters contained on the City Council agenda as well as the agendas of any of the City's related entities, such as the Successor Agency ( formerly the Community Redevelopment Agency) or the Housing Authority, if those entities have meetings scheduled at the same time, and/ or ( ii) address any matters of public interest provided that they are within the jurisdiction or official business of the City of Santa Ana. The presiding officer shall have the discretion to reduce and also to increase the time allotted to speakers. The City Council may, by majority vote, address/ revise the reduced or increased time allotted to speakers. d) For general public hearings, members of the public shall be given three (3) minutes to address the City Council for each duly noticed hearing, unless continued prior to taking testimony.
i. For public hearings related to land use, entitlements, or appeals, the applicant/ appellant and/ or their representative( s) whose matter is the subject of the public hearing shall be given ten ( 10) minutes for their initial presentation.
Members of the public shall be given three ( 3) minutes to address the City Council on the subject of the public hearing. The applicant/ appellant and or their representative( s) shall be given reasonable time for rebuttal comments. e) Upon being recognized by the presiding officer, a speaker should step to the designated speaker location, state their name and address for the record, identify the matter by agenda designation ( if applicable), and direct remarks to the City Council as a body and not to any individual member thereof. A speaker shall not be denied an opportunity to speak if they do not wish to state their name and address for the record.
No personotherthan membersof the City Counciland the person havingthe floor may be permitted to enter into the discussion without permission of the presiding officer. f) It shall be within the sound discretion of the presiding officer to set a maximum time for public comment. In setting any limit, the presiding officer shall take into consideration the level of public interest in the matters in question, the length of the meeting and the need to provide for an orderly and effective meeting. As a means of limiting time while maximizing the public's opportunity to address the City Council, if a group of peopleseeksto address the City Councilon the same matteror topic, the presidingofficer mayrequestthe group to designatea spokespersonor limited number of speakers to address the City Council.
g) Thefollowing rules shall apply to all personsaddressingthe City Council.
All speakers are requested to:
directall testimonyto the City Councilor the presidingofficerand not individual Councilmembers,
when speakingon agenda matters, limit commentsto the agendaitem(s), when speaking on non -agenda matters, limit comments to matters within thejurisdiction or official businessof the Cityof SantaAna, and, refrain from profane language, racial epitaphs, and libelous or slanderous statements that disturb the decorum of the meeting.
h) The presidingofficer shall have the powerand responsibilityto enforce decorumand orderof the meetingas set forth in Section2-104(c). Amongother means of enforcement, the presidingofficer mayorder the podium microphoneturnedoff and/or video broadcast interrupted when the presiding officer has determined that an individualor grouphasdisruptedthemeeting, ortheindividualor grouphasexceeded their allotted time to speak without permission of the presiding officer. i) All cell phones, pagers, or electronicdevicesbelongingto the public, press, or personnelthatmaybedisruptivemustbeplacedonvibratemode/quietor be turned off while a meeting is in session.
Section 6. Teleconferencing.
Remoteparticipationin a City Council meetingshall be governedby the teleconferencingprovisionsset forth in the RalphM. BrownAct (GovernmentCode Section 54950, et seq.) and by a TeleconferencingPolicyduly adopted by the City Council.
Section 7. The provisionsof Sections4, 5, and 6 of this resolutionshall apply to meetings of committees of the City Council, as may be modified from time to time by such committees.
Section 8. This Resolution shall supersede Resolution No. 2013- 019 and shall takeeffect immediatelyupon its adoptionby the City Council. The City Clerkshall attest to and certify the vote adopting this Resolution.
ADOPTED this 18th day of July 2023.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Sonia R. Carvalho, City Attorney
By: IS AttXl
Laura A. Rossini
Chief Assistant City Attorney
AYES: Councilmembers
NOES: Councilmembers
G1Z. I Z.111T81GiTa'i1: 1
alorArimeVz a ay
Amezcua,
Bacerra, Hernandez, Lopez, Penaloza,
Phan, Vazquez (7) None (
0) None (
0) NOT
PRESENT: Councilmembers None ( 0) CERTIFICATE
OF ATTESTATIONAND ORIGINALITYI,
JENNIFERL. HALL, City Clerk, do herebyattest to andcertifythe attachedResolution No. 2023-047 to betheoriginalresolutionadopted by theCityCouncilof theCity of SantaAna on Jul v 18, 2023. Date:
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