City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: March 11, 2025
Agenda Item: 4.K
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Douglas Sloan, City Attorney, City Attorney's Office, Administration Subject: Adoption of Resolution Amending the Council Rules of Procedure Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt resolution amending the Council Rules of Procedure to address technological failure during public comment, and a change to the ranked choice voting process.
Executive Summary
The City Attorney and City Clerk have prepared the proposed changes to the Council Rules to address technological failures during public comment, and a change to the ranked choice voting process.
Background
Use of Electronic Materials During Public Comment
The City allows members of the public to submit electronic presentations to be used as part of their public comment to Council. The Council Rules require the presentation be provided by noon on the day of the Council meeting, and presentations are displayed on the City’s equipment during the meeting. The City does not allow members of the public to plug their laptops into the City’s system for cybersecurity reasons. Occasionally, a presentation provided by a member of the public will not work during their public comment period. The City cannot make an unconditional guarantee that its technology will work, or that the file provided by the commenter will work. Under the proposed rule change, any member of the public choosing to use an electronic presentation does so at their own risk, and the City makes no guarantees regarding technology. If a public 2 of 3
commenter’s electronic presentation is not working after one minute, the commenter may choose to continue with their presentation, or may choose to stop the presentation, restart their timer, and address the Council directly without the presentation.
Change to Ranked Choice Voting Process
At the January 28, 2025, Council meeting, Council approved a rule to select board and commission appointments by ranked choice voted and directed the City Clerk to determine the application to be used to implement the process. After much research, the City Clerk has selected rankedchoices.com as a suitable application. However, this application employs the Weighted Inclusive Gregory Method (WIGM) to calculate the votes, which is contrary to the voting process adopted by Council. Using this method, the number of Councilmembers who chose a nominee as their first choice is added to the number of Councilmembers who chose the nominee as their second, third, etc. choice, with each count given approximately 2/3 of the weight given to the previous count. Then all the votes are added together to arrive at a tiebreaker value for each nominee. As such, an amendment to the rule is necessary to incorporate this method of voting.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
There is no immediate fiscal impact or budget action necessary as a result of the recommended action.
Prepared By: Katie Doerr, Deputy City Attorney III
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. CC-Council Rules Reso
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B. CC-Council Rules Ranked Choices Explainer