Hayward Municipal Code Art. VI The Council

(Term of Office) Except as otherwise provided herein and in Section 501 of this Charter, Elective Officers shall hold office for a term of four years from and after the first Tuesday following their election and shall continue in office until their respective successors qualify.

The City Council shall adopt an ordinance providing for a modification of the terms of Council Members to assure the smooth transition of office. Terms of either incumbents or incoming members may be lengthened or shortened.

Ties among candidates for any office shall be settled by the drawing of lots.

(AMENDED: STATS. 1964 CH. 41; 1994 CH. 22)

The Council may organize among its members such standing committees as it may determine, each of which shall act as a fact-finding committee for the purpose of considering all available information on proposed legislation or matters of policy referred to such committee by council and making recommendations thereon to the council as a whole.

No person shall be eligible to be nominated for or hold office as a member of the Council unless the Council member is and shall have been for at least one year next preceding the Council member's election or appointment, a resident and qualified elector of the City or of territory annexed thereto.

(Amended on November 3, 2020 )

No member of the Council shall hold any other city office or city employment, the compensation of which is paid out of municipal funds, nor be elected or appointed to any office created or the compensation of which is increased by the Council, while the Council member is a member thereof, until one year after the expiration of the term for which the Council member was elected.

(Amended on November 3, 2020 )

Any compensation to be paid members of the Council shall be established by ordinance, and shall apply to all incumbent members of the Council. The Council may likewise change such compensation; however, such change shall not be effective until one or more members of Council becomes eligible for such change in compensation by virtue of beginning a new term of office.

In addition, each member of the Council shall receive reimbursement on order of the Council for Council authorized traveling and other expenses when on official duty.

(AMENDED: STATS. 1964 CH. 41)

Until the General Municipal Election next following the effective date of this section, the Council's presiding officer shall be selected and hold office as provided theretofore. Thereafter, the elected Mayor shall be recognized as the official head of the City for all ceremonial purposes, and by the Courts for the purpose of serving civil processes. The Mayor shall be the presiding officer of the Council, shall preside at the meetings of the Council and shall sign the official documents of the Council. The Mayor shall be included as a member of the Council at all meetings of the Council for the purpose of determining the presence of a quorum. The Mayor shall be entitled to a vote on all matters coming before the Council, but shall possess no veto power. The Mayor may use the title of Mayor in all cases, but the same shall not be construed as conferring upon the Mayor's administrative or judicial functions or other powers or functions of a Mayor under the general laws of the State.

(AMENDED: STATS. 1964 CH. 41; Amended on November 3, 2020 )

Until the General Municipal Election next following the effective date of this section, the Council's Mayor Pro Tempore shall be selected and hold office as provided theretofore. Thereafter, the Council shall meet on the first Tuesday following each General Municipal Election and shall elect one of its members as Mayor Pro Tempore. The Mayor Pro Tempore shall serve at the pleasure of the Council, and shall be elected and removed by the affirmative votes of at least five (5) members of Council.

The Mayor Pro Tempore shall perform the duties of the Mayor during the Mayor's absence or disability.

(AMENDED: STATS. 1964 CH. 41; Amended on November 3, 2020 )

All powers of the City shall be vested in the Council, subject to the provisions of this Charter and to the Constitution of the State of California. The Council may establish the method by which any of such powers may be exercised.

The Council shall, by ordinance or resolution, provide for the time and place of holding its meetings and the manner in which its special meetings may be called. All meetings of the Council, whether regular or special, shall be open to the public.

A majority of the members of the Council shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but a less number may adjourn from time to time and postpone the consideration of pending business.

No citizen shall be denied the right personally, or through counsel, to present grievances or offer suggestions for the betterment of municipal affairs, at any regular meeting of the Council, nor to speak on the subject at any special meeting.

Each member of the Council shall have the power to administer oaths and affirmations in any investigation or proceeding pending before the Council. The Council shall have the power and authority to compel the attendance of witnesses, to examine them under oath and to compel the production of evidence before it. Subpoenas may be issued in the name of the City and be attested by the City Clerk. Disobedience of such subpoena or the refusal to testify (upon other than constitutional grounds), shall be deemed contempt and shall be punishable as provided by the general laws of the State.

The Council shall determine its own rules of procedure, may punish its members for disorderly conduct and compel their attendance at Council meetings.

Legislative action shall be taken by the Council only by means of an ordinance or resolution.

The Council shall pass ordinances and resolutions only by taking the ayes and noes by an open vote, which shall be entered in the Minutes of the meeting. The ayes and noes shall be taken and recorded on all motions.

(AMENDED: STATS. 1964 CH. 41)

No ordinance or resolution shall be passed or become effective without receiving the affirmative votes of at least four members of the Council.

Every ordinance or resolution shall be preceded by a brief title which shall indicate the subject and purport thereof.

The enacting clause of all ordinances adopted by the Council shall be substantially as follows: "The Council of the City of Hayward does ordain as follows":

Except as hereafter provided, no ordinance shall be adopted by the Council on the day of its introduction, nor within one week thereafter, nor at any time other than at a duly assembled meeting. If an ordinance is altered after its introduction (except for the correction of typographical or clerical errors), it shall be adopted at a meeting held at least one week after the date of such alteration.

At the time of introduction or adoption of an ordinance, the title thereto need only be read, unless reading of the ordinance in full is requested by any member of Council.

EMERGENCY ORDINANCES. Any ordinance declared by the Council to be necessary as an emergency measure for preserving the public peace, health or safety and containing a statement of the reasons for its urgency, may be introduced and adopted at the same meeting if passed by at least five (5) affirmative votes.

PUBLICATION REQUIREMENTS. Before final adoption of an ordinance, a notice indicating its title; a subject matter index; the date of its introduction; and the date; time, and place it will be considered for final adoption; and that copies of the full text thereof are available for examination by the public in the office of the City Clerk, shall be published once in a newspaper of general circulation within the City at least three days before the final adoption meeting date.

A similar notice indicating the adoption of an emergency ordinance and the vote thereon shall be published once within one week after its adoption.

(AMENDED: STATS. 1982 CH. 38)

When any ordinance is put upon its final passage and fails to pass, and a motion is made to reconsider, the vote upon such motion shall not be taken except at a meeting of the Council, held not less than one week after the meeting at which such motion was made.

All ordinances shall be signed by the Presiding Officer and attested by the City Clerk.

No ordinance shall become effective until thirty days from and after the date of its adoption, except the following which shall take effect upon adoption:

(a) An ordinance calling or otherwise relating to an election;

(b) An improvement proceeding ordinance adopted under State law or a procedural ordinance.

(c) An ordinance declaring the amount of money necessary to be raised by taxation, or fixing the rate of taxation, or levying the annual tax upon property;

(d) An emergency ordinance adopted in the manner provided for in this Charter;

(e) An ordinance annexing areas to the City;

(f) An ordinance relating to the zoning or rezoning of the City or portions thereof.

(AMENDED: STATS. 1964 CH. 41)

A true and correct copy of all ordinances shall be kept and certified to by the City Clerk in a book marked "City Ordinances." Such record copy, with such certificate, or the original ordinance, shall be prima facie evidence of the contents of the ordinance and of the due passage and publication of the same, and shall be admissible as such in any court or proceeding. Such records shall not be filed in any case, but shall be returned to the custody of the City Clerk. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the proof of the passage and publication of an ordinance in the usual way.

Any or all ordinances of the City which have been enacted in the manner required at the time of their adoption, and which have not been repealed, may be compiled, consolidated, revised, indexed and arranged as a comprehensive ordinance code, and such code may be adopted by reference, with the same effect as an ordinance, by the passage of an ordinance for such purpose. Such code need not be published in the manner required for other ordinances, but not less than three copies thereof shall be filed for use and examination by the public in the office of the City Clerk prior to the adoption thereof. Ordinances codified shall be repealed as of the effective date of the code. Subsequent amendments to the code shall be enacted in the same manner as herein required for the amendment of ordinances generally.

A violation of any ordinance of the City shall constitute a misdemeanor unless by the terms of such ordinance its violation shall constitute an infraction. A violation of any ordinance of the City may be prosecuted in the name of the People of the State of California or may be redressed by civil action.

(AMENDED: STATS. 1982 CH. 38)