Marysville Municipal Code Art. 1 In General

This Chapter contains a portion of the general policies and rules of interpretation pertaining to the operations of the City Council of the City of Marysville and to the official conduct of its members.

History: New 9/2013

[1]

Specific Authority: Art. II, Marysville Charter; Chap. 2.04 MMC; Resolution No. 2013-53

Except as may otherwise be provided by these rules or by questions of order, the methods of organization and the conduct of business of the Council shall be governed by the procedures set forth in this Part. In the absence of a rule of procedure adopted by the City Council, Robert's Rules of Order, as amended from time to time, will be used to determine procedure of all meetings of the Council and any standing committee thereof, except where Robert's is in conflict with the Marysville Charter or Municipal Code or other applicable law.

The City Attorney or his designee in his absence shall act as parliamentarian and shall advise and assist the presiding officer in matters of parliamentary law.

A majority of the whole number of members of the Council shall constitute a quorum at meetings of the City Council.

(a) Any attending member of the Council who announces a conflict of interest on a matter before the Council or in the proceedings related to that matter shall be deemed present for the purpose of constituting a quorum.

(b) Should no quorum be in attendance within thirty minutes after the hour appointed for the meeting of the Council, the Mayor or the Vice Mayor or, in their absence, the City Clerk or designee, may adjourn the meeting until the next regular business day at the same hour, unless by unanimous agreement those members present select another hour or day. The names of the members present and their action at such meeting shall be recorded in the minutes by the City Clerk.

(c) Unless expressly directed by the Council to the contrary, committees of the Council, whether standing or ad hoc, shall have present at their meetings a majority of their respective memberships in order to conduct their business.

The business of the Council and each of its standing committees shall be taken up for consideration and disposition in accordance with the official agenda prepared for the meeting.

(a) The presiding officer may make any departure from the order of business set forth in the official agenda he deems necessary or appropriate; provided, however, that any Council member may object to the departure and, a majority of members present concurring, the order of business shall not be thus revised.

Any ordinance, resolution or other matter or proposal before the Council for action shall be introduced by motion and second of the Mayor or any council member present, whereupon the matter is submitted to discussion and debate and a vote of the council.

Normally, and as a rule, the vote upon any ordinance, resolution, motion or other matter shall be by voice response, saying "Yes" or "No" when the Mayor calls for each, with the numeric result of the vote announced by the presiding officer in substantially the following manner: "The vote on that measure was 5-0 in favor. The measure is agreed to" or "the vote on that measure was 3-2 against. The measure is not agreed to."

(a) On his own initiative, the Mayor may direct the City Clerk to take a roll call vote of members as an alternative to voice vote upon any ordinance, resolution, motion or other matter; provided however, that any Council member may request a roll call vote be taken upon any such matter, and it shall be done.

(b) Upon every roll call vote the names of the Council members shall be called alphabetically by surname, except that the Mayor or other presiding officer shall always cast his vote last.

(1) In any matter in which the presiding officer has relinquished the chair, the presiding officer shall cast his roll call vote in alphabetical order with the other members.

(2) The City Clerk shall call the roll, tabulate the votes, and announce the result in the manner described above.

Any Council member with a conflict of interest in any ordinance, resolution, motion or other matter before the Council, shall recuse himself by immediately announcing publicly the existence and nature of such conflict, and shall thereafter leave the council chamber for the duration of the consideration of the matter under consideration and shall take no further part in any discussion or action on the matter at issue.

No rule of procedure adopted by the Council shall be suspended except by vote of a majority of the whole membership of the Council.

A motion to adjourn shall always be in order and decided without debate; provided, however, that the motion shall contain a time to hear the balance of the agenda if the same has not been completed.

The City Clerk shall at all times maintain a system for recording the disposition of business appearing before the Council, whether by means of certified shorthand reporting or by electronic audio recording, or by any other means deemed suitable by the City Clerk, and shall, following completion of each meeting of the Council, prepare and produce a summarized report describing each action taken by the Council, noting the names of members present and the votes cast on the matters upon which actions were taken, and such other particulars as may be useful.

(a) Except as may otherwise be required by this Code or by state law, the City Clerk shall not be required to prepare and produce a verbatim transcript of any matter coming before the Council.

(b) Any Council member, the City Manager, or the City Attorney may request that a detailed verbatim transcript be prepared of any matters coming before the Council, and the City Clerk shall prepare and produce the same forthwith.