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Home My WebLink AboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 07/20/1999 - FIRST READING OF ORDINANCE NO. 120, 1999, AMENDIN AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY ITEM NUMBER: 28 DATE: July 20, 1990 . FORT COLLINS CITY COUNCIL STAFF: John Fischbach/ Steve Roy SUBJECT: First Reading of Ordinance No. 120, 1999, Amending Section 2-32 of the City Code With Regard to the Posting of Public Notice of the Meetings of Council Committees. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinance on First Reading. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The City Code provisions pertaining to open meetings presently require that all Council committee meetings at which a majority or quorum is in attendance must not only be open to the public but shall be held only after full and timely notice to the public. In the case of three-member Council • committees, this could be construed to mean that no two Council members who are on the same committee can discuss any public business without the posting of notice. The proposed amendment would require that any such discussions remain open to the public but would not require the posting of the prior public notice before they could occur. This public notice would be required only prior to Council committee meetings at which formal action could be taken. ANALYSIS: Chapter 2,Division 2 of the City Code contains open meetings laws patterned after those of the state sunshine law. As a home-rule municipality,however,the City can enact its own laws governing the meetings of local officials. Both the City and state law provide that meetings of the City Council and of Council committee meetings must be open to the public. The definition of a"meeting" under the state and local laws is substantially the same. Essentially,a"meeting"occurs whenever there is a gathering of a quorum or three or more members,whichever is fewer, of the City Council or any Council committee, and the central purpose of the gathering is the discussion of any public business. (Chance meetings and social gatherings are excluded.) Under these open meetings laws"full and timely notice to the public'is required whenever: (1)any formal action could occur at the meeting,or(2)a majority or quorum is in attendance,or is expected to be in attendance. • DATE: July20, 1999 2 ITEM NUMBER: 28 In the case of three-member Council committees, two Council members constitute a majority or quorum. Thus, these laws could be read as requiring that any two Council members who serve on the same Council committee must provide"full and timely notice to the public'before they talk to one another about any public business, even if the business does not pertain to the committee on which they serve. Additionally, if two Council members serving on the same committee wish to attend any kind of meeting with outside organizations,administrative staff or others to discuss any kind of public business, one could argue that such a meeting would have to be construed as a committee meeting, and public notice given of a committee meeting, even though no committee business would be discussed. In order to remedy these potential problems and clarify the intent of the City Code provisions pertaining to Council committee meetings,staff is recommending that Section 2-32 of the Code be amended. Under the proposed amendment, all meetings of committee members that pertain to any public business would remain open to the public,but public notice would be required only when the meetings of these committee members pertained to committee business and formal action could be taken by them as a committee. To ensure compliance with these notice provisions,a new subsection(b)would be added to Section 2-32 of the Code stating that any formal action taken in violation of the notice provisions of the Code would be invalid. This language is similar to that contained in the state open meetings law. The former subsection(b)of this section,pertaining to the removal of disruptive persons from Council meetings,would be restated as a new Section 2-35. ORDINANCE NO. 120, 1999 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS AMENDING SECTION 2-32 OF THE CITY CODE WITH REGARD TO THE POSTING OF PUBLIC NOTICE OF THE MEETINGS OF COUNCIL COMMITTEES WHEREAS,the City Council has heretofore established a number of three-member Council committees; and WHEREAS, the Council has annually appointed individual Councilmembers to serve on these committees; and WHEREAS, the Council has also appointed individual Councilmembers to serve on committees consisting of other persons in addition to the Council members, such as the Poudre School District Liaison Committee and the Colorado State University Liaison Committee; and WHEREAS, Section 2-32 of the City Code requires that all "meetings" of City Council committees shall be open to the public,and that any such meeting at which any formal action could occur or at which a majority or quorum is in attendance,or is expected to be in attendance, shall be held only after full and timely notice to the public; and • WHEREAS,the definition of a"meeting,"under Section 2-26 of the City Code,includes any gathering of a quorum or three or more members,whichever is fewer,at which any public business is discussed(except chance meetings or social gatherings at which the discussion of public business is not the central purpose); and WHEREAS, two Council members constitute a quorum of a three-member Council committee; and WHEREAS, these Code provisions may be read as requiring public notice whenever two Council members serving on the same committee contact one another for the purpose of discussing any public business,even if the discussions are not related to the purposes for which the committee was established; and WHEREAS,such a public notice requirement is unreasonable and was never intended when the foregoing Code provisions were adopted by the Council; and WHEREAS,the Council believes that the provisions of Section 2-32 ofthe City Code should be amended so as to require that public notice be given only as to those committee meetings where formal action may be taken by the committee, and that such changes should be made retroactive to the original date that the foregoing Code section was enacted; and WHEREAS, the enactment of laws pertaining to the conduct of meetings of City Council members is a matter of purely local concern. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section 1. That Section 2-32 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec.2-32. Open meetings/notice. (a) Except as otherwise provided in§2-31,all meetings of the City Council and all meetings of City Council committees shall be open to the public. Any such meeting of f(ie City Council;:at which any formal action could occur or at which a majority or quorum is in attendance,or is expected to be in attendance,shall be held r a S w+r r gara �'�« w �rtt rr on glyafter full and timely notice to theme publc_ Al 0 tio�t sa7l be iiy ty }uicimmitte .._ public` or the purpose of viSians,adopting a regular meeting date and filing a statement with the City Clerk shall be considered full and timely notice.In the case of meetings held on call or irregularly,the filing of a notice of the meeting with the City Clerk at least twenty-four(24) hours before the time of such meeting shall be full and timely notice. The City Clerk shall make all such notices available to all interested members of the public. b) The Gity Gatuteil sht4i have the power ie cause persons to be removed fi-em (b) No ardmance,resolution rule,regulation or tether fomiaY acttwnthe City Co)incil, andno formal action of a City Coiincll eomtmitee,shall bed acid udless taken or mace at a mee#ing:that meets the.xrequirements ot; iib'section,(aj;rolii's section. Section 2. That Section 2-35 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby added and shall read as follows: Sec_4-35. RemovaPfrom Meetin 11 gs. The;Cary Council shall:haye the power to.cause persons to=be remged,frozn' Pty Council meeting or a City Council committee rneettng sfanyeisapatlsoinply with the,reddiifements 'of the presiding_officer`an.mamtaimng orders diiriiig'the meeting: ..,.,. , Section 3. That the foregoing amendment shall take effect, nune pro tunc, as of March 13, 1990,the original date of passage of said Section 2-32. • Introduced and considered favorably on first reading and ordered published this 20th day of July, A.D. 1999, and to be presented for final passage on the 3rd day of August, A.D. 1999. Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading this 3rd day of August, A.D. 1999. Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk