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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 01/04/2000 - RESOLUTION 2000-6 ESTABLISHING GUIDELINES FOR CITI AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY ITEM NUMBER: 36 DATE: January 4, 2000 • FORT COLLINS CITY COUNCIL STAFF: Steve Roy Wanda Krajicek SUBJECT: Resolution 2000-6 Establishing Guidelines for Citizen Participation at City Council Meetings. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends adoption of the Resolution. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This Resolution consolidates the rules of procedure previously established by the Council for the conduct of its meetings and establishes new time limits for citizen input regarding agenda items. ACKGROUND: In 1997,the City Council adopted certain rules of procedure governing the conduct of its meetings. These rules were amended on two different occasions during that year. Recently,the City Council has discussed the amount of time that should be allowed for citizen input on agenda items. This Resolution would consolidate the rules of procedure previously adopted by the Council and would establish new guidelines for determining time limits for persons wishing to speak to agenda items. Generally,the amount of time allowed for citizen input on agenda items would be determined by the Mayor by considering, prior to beginning citizen input on the items, how many persons wish to speak to the item. If the number of persons wishing to speak is 12 or fewer, the general guideline would be five minutes per person. If the number of persons wishing to speak to the item is more than 12, the general guideline would be three minutes per person. Two exceptions would be established by the Resolution. The first would permit the Mayor to increase the amount of time available to persons whose interests might be more immediately and directly affected by a proposed item than the general public. The second would allow the Mayor, under other circumstances, to either increase or decrease the amount of time available for citizen input if the Mayor felt that such adjustments were necessary in order to facilitate Council's understanding of the item, or to allow Council to consider and resolve the item in a timely fashion.Any determinations made by the Mayor with regard to such time limits would be subject to being overridden by a majority of the Council. Staff believes that these proposed changes would be advisable,since they would generally increase the time for citizen participation while still leaving the Mayor or the majority of the Council the flexibility to adjust the time limits if necessary. • RESOLUTION 2000-6 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS ESTABLISHING GUIDELINES FOR CITIZEN PARTICIPATION AT CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS WHEREAS,through the adoption of Resolutions 97-67, 97-110 and 97-128, City Council has established certain rules of procedure governing the conduct of City Council meetings; and WHEREAS,the City Council wishes to consolidate those rules of procedure,reaffirm those rules that the Council wishes to remain in place and change those that the Council believes should be changed. NOW,THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section 1. That the regular meetings of the Council will be governed by the following rules of procedure,subject to such modifications as may,in the judgment of the Mayor or a majority of the Council,be necessary in order to accommodate exceptional circumstances: a. Citizen comment, both during the 'citizen participation" segment of each meeting and with regard to agenda items,will generally be limited to a maximum of five (5) . minutes per person. If,in the discretion of the Mayor,the number of persons wishing to speak during citizen participation would unduly prolong that portion of the meeting,the Mayor may reduce the time allowed for individual citizen input. b. Citizen comment on items not being presented for Council's consideration on that meeting's agenda will be limited to a total of thirty(30)minutes and will be received at the beginning of each meeting. C. The time limits for individual citizen comments regarding agenda items will be established by the Mayor prior to each such item. In order to determine the amount of time to be allotted to each speaker,the Mayor will ask for a show of hands by all persons intending to speak to the item. If the number of persons indicating an intent to speak to an item is twelve(12)or less,each speaker will generally be allowed five (5) minutes. If the number of persons indicating an intent to speak to an item is thirteen(13)or more,each speaker will generally be limited to three(3)minutes per item. However, the Mayor may: (1) allow more time to a parry who may be more immediately and/or directly affected by the item than the general public; and (2) otherwise increase or decrease the time limits per speaker as the Mayor deems necessary to facilitate the City Council's understanding of the item, or to allow the Council to consider and act upon the item in a timely fashion. Any determination of the Mayor with regard to such time limits may be overridden by a majority vote of the Council. d. All items on the consent agenda that are removed from the consent agenda,either by a member of the public or a member of the City Council, will be considered at the end of the meeting agenda. e. Council meetings will begin precisely at 6:00 p.m. Proclamations will be presented prior to the meeting at approximately 5:30 p.m. or such earlier time as may be necessary in order for the presentation of proclamations to end by 6:00 p.m. f. No more than two (2) ten-minute breaks will be planned per meeting. All Councilmembers and staff will return to their seats in the Council Chambers at the conclusion of each ten-minute break. The Mayor will resume the meeting at the prescribed time. Section 2. That the foregoing rules of procedure shall supersede those established in Resolutions 97-67, 97-110 and 97-128. Passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council held this 4th day of January, A.D. 2000. Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk