[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of
the City of Watertown 3-5-1956. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
City Council — See Ch. 14.
[Amended 3-28-1983; 3-17-1986; 10-30-1989; 2-21-1995]
Stated meetings shall be held in the City Council
Chambers on the first and third Mondays of the month at 7:00 p.m.,
unless such Monday is a legal holiday, and in such event the meetings
shall take place on the following day at the same hour.
A.
A quorum shall consist of a majority of the City Council.
B.
The Mayor shall call the members to order and shall
preside at all meetings of the City Council. In the absence of the
Mayor, the member of the Council who has served the longest as a member
of the Council at the time of such absence shall call the meeting
to order and shall take the chair.
[Amended 2-22-1982]
[Amended 4-2-1956; 9-8-1980; 1-16-1990]
A.
The order
of business shall be as follows:
|
Invocation
|
|
Salute to the flag
|
|
Roll call
|
|
Minutes
|
|
Communications
|
|
Petitions
|
|
Privilege of the floor
|
|
Public hearing
|
|
Resolutions
|
|
Privilege of the floor extended prior to the
vote
|
|
Ordinances
|
|
Unfinished business
|
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New business
|
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Adjournment
|
B.
Privilege
of the floor; rules pertaining to the privilege.
[Added 5-17-2021]
(1)
A
speaker's time shall be limited to three minutes, which time may be
extended, upon request of the speaker, at the Mayor's discretion;
(2)
Speakers
are to limit the content of their comments to matters concerning which
City Council, on behalf of the City, has discretion or control; and
(3)
Speakers
shall not engage in politicking for public office.
A.
A special meeting of the City Council may be called
by any member on three (3) days' notice, specifying the object of
the meeting.
B.
It shall not be in order at any special meeting called
for any specified business to proceed to any other business than that
for which the meeting was convened.
C.
At the time fixed in the notice of special meeting,
the City Council shall convene, the Mayor shall take the chair, and
the following shall be the order of business:
|
Roll call
| |
|
Reading of notice of the meeting and proof of
service
| |
|
Transaction of business specified in notice
| |
|
Adjournment
|
[Amended 1-10-1966]
In calling the roll at the opening of each session
and upon every vote, the names of the members shall be called in alphabetical
order, except the name of the Mayor which shall be called last, and
each member shall vote or not, as he shall choose, as soon as his
name is called.
A.
The presiding officer shall preserve decorum, enforce
the rules of procedure herein prescribed and determine without debate,
subject to the final decision of the Council on appeal, all questions
of procedure and order.
B.
Any member may appeal to the Council from such ruling
of the presiding officer, and if the appeal is duly seconded, the
appellant may speak once solely on the question involved, and the
presiding officer may explain his ruling, but no other member shall
participate in the discussion. The presiding officer shall then put
the question: "Shall the decision of the chair be sustained?" If a
majority of the members present vote nay, the ruling of the chair
is overruled; otherwise it is sustained.
[Amended 3-5-1984]
The presiding officer may speak upon any matter
under consideration by the Council after the other members have had
an opportunity to speak. He shall not speak upon the subject under
discussion more than twice nor more than five (5) minutes each time,
except by unanimous consent. Nothing herein shall be construed to
prevent the presiding officer, while in the chair, from explaining
his ruling on any question or explaining his vote on the roll call.
No motion or resolution shall be put, recorded
or debated until the same shall be duly seconded.
[Amended 3-5-1984]
When a member is about to speak, he shall address
the chair, and when two (2) or more members address the chair at once,
the presiding officer shall name the member to speak. The speaker
shall confine himself to the question under debate and avoid personalities.
No member shall speak upon the subject under discussion more than
twice nor more than five (5) minutes each time, except by unanimous
consent. If any member in speaking, or otherwise, transgresses the
rules, the presiding officer shall, or any member may, call him to
order, in which case he shall cease speaking and shall not speak again
unless to explain or proceed in order. The question shall be decided
by the presiding officer without debate.
When any question is under debate, no motion
shall be received except the following and in the order named:
A motion to adjourn and a motion to lay on the
table shall always be in order, except when a vote is being taken
on any question before the Council, and such motions shall be decided
without debate.
No motion or proposition on a subject different
from that under consideration shall be admitted under cover of an
amendment.
On the call of any member, a division of any
question shall be made when the question will admit of a division
so distinct that one (1) part being taken away the other will stand
as an entire question for decision.
The previous question shall be put as follows:
"Shall the main question now be put?" and until it shall be decided,
it shall preclude all amendments and debates. If the Council shall
decide that the main question shall not now be put, the main question
shall be considered as still remaining under debate. The main question
shall be on the passage of the motion, resolution or other matter
under consideration; but when amendments are pending, the question
shall first be taken upon such amendments in the inverse order in
which they are proposed.
While the presiding officer is putting any question,
or while the roll is being called, no debate or discussion shall be
in order, except that a member may have two (2) minutes to explain
his vote when his name is called.
When a question has been once put and decided,
any member who voted with the majority may move for a reconsideration
thereof at the meeting at which the question was decided; the Council
may, however, recall any resolution or ordinance and may reconsider
its action thereon. A motion for reconsideration, if lost, shall not
be repeated, nor shall any question be reconsidered more than once.
[Amended 3-21-1983]
In all cases involving points of parliamentary
law, not provided for by these rules, the Corporation Counsel shall
act as parliamentarian, and Roberts Rules of Order shall be accepted
as authority.
[Amended 10-17-1983]
The City Clerk shall briefly state the substance
of all communications received by the Council and shall read the same
in full if so directed by the City Council.
A.
An ordinance which has laid over under the rules shall
be brought up automatically at the next regular meeting.
B.
An ordinance which has been tabled shall not be brought
up for action until a motion has been duly passed to take the ordinance
from the table for action.
C.
A resolution which has been tabled by a motion duly
passed to table it shall not be brought up for action, until a motion
has been duly passed to take the resolution from the table for action.
D.
Any matter or business which has been postponed indefinitely
shall not be brought up for action, until a motion has been duly passed
by the Council to consider such matter or business.
E.
Any matter or business which has been postponed to
a day certain shall be brought up automatically at the meeting to
which it has been postponed.
No ordinance shall be considered by the Council
until same has been certified as to form and legality by the office
of the Corporation Counsel and filed in the office of the City Clerk
as per resolutions, except such ordinances which, by unanimous consent
of Council, Council decides are emergencies.
The requisite vote for the adoption of laws
and ordinances shall be as follows:
A.
On the day following a session of the Council, the
City Clerk shall present to the several departments and agencies of
the city such matters as may have been referred to them.
B.
The Clerk shall record the names of all members absent
from any meeting of the Council.
C.
The City Clerk shall, on the Friday following the
last regular meeting, present to the Council minutes of the previous
meetings and the agenda and resolutions and ordinances of the pending
meeting.
[Amended 3-5-1984]
No resolution will be considered by the City
Council unless filed with the City Clerk on or before Wednesday next
preceding a regular meeting, except such resolutions which the majority
of the City Council decide are in emergency or routine categories.
