San Bernardino Municipal Code Ch. 2.58 Meetings

(A) (1) Regular meetings of the Mayor and City Council shall be held on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at the Bing Wong Lecture Hall, Feldheym Central Library, 555 West 6th Street, San Bernardino, California, or such other location within the city as may be properly noticed. The time of regular meetings shall beset forth in a resolution adopted by a majority vote of the membership of the Council.

(2) Special meetings of the Mayor and City Council may be called by the Mayor, called by four members of the Council or scheduled by the City Manager in accordance with the Brown Act and may be held at any location within the city boundaries as specified in the special meeting notice to the public.

(B) The City Council, as the elected body serving all of the residents of the city, shall perform its duties and exercise its powers in a manner that serves the best interests of the entire city, rather than any particular geographic area or special interest. All meetings of the Mayor and City Council shall be held in accordance with the Brown Act.

(Ord. 2284, passed 2-24-1960; Ord. 3652, passed 7-15-1977; Ord. MC-98, passed 9-15-1981; Ord. MC-715, passed 4-2-1990; Ord. MC-883, passed 9-8-1993; Ord. MC-1134, passed 12-4-2002; Ord. MC-1388, passed 6-3-2013; Ord. MC-1438, passed 4-17-2017; Ord. MC-1511, passed 2-6-2019; Ord. MC-1626, passed 2-21-2024)

Statutory reference:

Ralph M. Brown Act, see Cal. Gov’t Code, §§ 54950 through 54963

The dates, times and places of regular meetings of all boards, commissions and committees of the city shall be set forth in one or more ordinances or resolutions of the Mayor and City Council.

(Ord. 3638, passed 4-20-1977; Ord. MC-184, passed 7-7-1982; Ord. MC-1438, passed 4-17-2017)

As provided in the City Charter, § 302, the City Council and Mayor are required to implement a code of conduct to guide their interactions and create accountability. In accordance with the City Charter, § 302, the members of the City Council shall conform their conduct to the following rules.

(A) The role of the City Council is legislative in character, which includes the power to set policy, approve contracts and agreements not within the authority of the City Manager, or his or her subordinates, and undertake other obligations consistent with the Charter and code, while deferring to the discretion of management and staff to choose the appropriate means to achieve the Council’s goals.

(B) The City Council, as the elected body serving all of the residents of the city, shall perform its duties and exercise its powers in a manner that serves the best interests of the entire city, rather than any particular geographic area or special interest.

(Ord. MC-390, passed 7-9-1984; Ord. MC-1438, passed 4-17-2017)

(A) The Mayor will build consensus with the City Council to create and implement a shared vision and plan of implementation to restore the city’s fiscal integrity.

(B) The Mayor will establish and maintain partnerships and regional leadership roles to advance the city’s interest.

(C) The Mayor will be the chief spokesperson for the city.

(D) The Mayor will be the presiding officer at meetings of the City Council and willfully participate in discussions.

(E) The Mayor will work with the City Council and City Manager to coordinate goal setting and the performance evaluation of the City Manager.

(Ord. MC-1438, passed 4-17-2017)

(A) The residents and businesses of the city are entitled to have fair, ethical and accountable local government which has earned the public’s full confidence for integrity. The city will operate in an open, honest and transparent manner.

(B) To this end, the Mayor and City Council will adhere to the following code of conduct to assure public confidence in the integrity of local government, its effective operations and fair treatment of people.

(1) The professional and personal conduct of the Mayor and City Council must be above reproach and avoid the appearance of impropriety. The Mayor and members of the City Council shall refrain from abusive conduct, personal or verbal attacks upon the character or motives of each other, the staff or the public.

(2) The Mayor and members of the City Council shall perform their duties in accordance with the procedural rules for meetings, established by them, in governing the deliberation of public policy issues, involvement of the public and the implementation of policy decisions of the Mayor and City Council by city staff.

(3) The Mayor and City Council shall prepare themselves for public issues, listen courteously and attentively to all public discussions before the body; and focus on the business at hand. They shall refrain from interrupting other speakers, making personal comments not germane to the business of the body or otherwise interfering with the orderly conduct of meetings.

(4) The Mayor and City Council shall base their decisions on the merits and substance of the matter at hand, rather than on unrelated considerations.

(5) The Mayor and City Council shall publicly share substantive information that is relevant to the matter under their consideration, which they may have received from sources outside of the public decision-making process.

(6) In order to assure their independence and impartiality on behalf of the common good, the Mayor and City Council shall not use their official positions to influence government decisions in which they have a material financial interest; or where they have an organizational responsibility or personal relationship which may give the appearance of a conflict of interest.

(7) The Mayor and City Council shall not take any special advantage of services or opportunities for personal gain, by virtue of their public office, that is not available to the public in general. They shall refrain from accepting any gifts, favors or promises of future benefits which might compromise their independence of judgment or action, or give the appearance of being compromised.

(8) The Mayor and City Council shall respect the confidentiality of information concerning the property, personnel or affairs of the city. They shall neither disclose confidential information without proper legal authorization, nor use such information to advance their personal, financial or other private interest.

(9) The Mayor and City Council shall not use public resources that are not available to the public in general, such as city staff time, equipment, supplies or facilities for private gain or personal purposes.

(10) The Mayor and City Council shall refrain from using their position to unduly influence the deliberations or outcomes of commission proceedings.

(11) The Mayor and City Council will not divert management from the approved priorities with issues of personal interest or requests for information that may require significant staff resources without the active approval of the majority of the Mayor and City Council. The Council will come to consensus regarding major issues that need further exploration and analysis so as to judiciously give direction to the City Manager and his or her staff. This language does not prohibit the Mayor, Council members, City Attorney or City Clerk from bringing information forward and discussing it with the City Manager and/or staff.

(12) When the Mayor and City Council have not taken a position on an issue, neither the Mayor nor any Council member should speak on behalf of the Mayor and City Council. When presenting their individual opinions and positions, Council members should explicitly state that they do not represent their body, the city, nor should they encourage the inference that they do. After a decision is made, the Mayor serves as the spokesperson for the city’s view on policy matters; the City Council should speak with “one voice.”

(13) The Mayor and City Council shall support the maintenance of a positive and constructive work place environment for city employees and for residents and businesses dealing with the city. The Mayor and City Council shall recognize their special role in dealings with city employees and in no way create the perception of inappropriate direction to staff.

(14) With respect to communications with the City Manager and staff, the following apply.

(a) Unless it is a simple inquiry, the Mayor or members of the City Council will contact the City Manager before going to department heads.

(b) When contacting department directors through e-mail, the Mayor and Council members will copy the City Manager as a courtesy.

(c) The City Manager will ensure that the Mayor and City Council are proactively informed on major policy issues or issues that may attract media or public attention; likewise, the Mayor and City Council members will give the City Manager notice if he or she learns of issues of concern.

(d) The Mayor, City Council, City Manager and staff will not blindside each other in public.

(e) Council members are encouraged to submit questions on agenda items to the City Manager as far in advance of the meeting as possible so that staff can be prepared to respond at the meeting.

(f) The Mayor and City Council will refer citizen complaints to staff and give them adequate time to respond. Staff will report back to the Council through the City Manager on the resolutions of these complaints.

(g) The Mayor and Council members will be provided with information from staff and other members on an equal basis so that they are equally prepared to make good decisions.

(Ord. MC-1438, passed 4-17-2017)

The Mayor or any member of the City Council shall not engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct in the presence of the City Council at public meetings, which conduct actually disrupts, disturbs or impedes the City Council meeting. The City Council shall have power to punish the Mayor or any of its members for disorderly or disruptive conduct in its presence after first providing notice of the prohibited behavior and an opportunity to be heard. The fine shall not exceed the sum of $50.

(Ord. MC-1438, passed 4-17-2017)

(A) The purpose of the meetings of the Mayor and City Council is to conduct the people’s business in an efficient and orderly fashion for the benefit of all the people. That purpose is disrupted by conduct, including oral statements at meetings, that unduly prolongs the proceedings by being overly repetitious or exceeding the allotted time, diverts attention from the matter before the Mayor and City Council by raising or addressing irrelevant matters or is directed at or to the audience, the Mayor, individual City Council members or members of city staff individually rather than to the Mayor and City Council as governing body of the city or the city as a whole.

(B) Accordingly, in the event that any meeting of the Mayor and City Council is willfully disrupted by a person or group of persons so as to actually impair the orderly conduct of the meeting, the members of the City Council may proceed pursuant to Cal. Gov’t Code, § 54957.9, or any applicable penal statute or ordinance. For the purposes of this section, WILLFULLY DISRUPT includes, but is not limited to, continuing to do any of the following after being warned by the presiding officer to desist from such conduct:

(1) Addressing the Mayor and City Council without first being recognized by the presiding officer;

(2) Persisting in addressing a subject or subjects, other than that before the Mayor and City Council;

(3) Repetitiously addressing the same subject;

(4) Failing to relinquish the podium when directed to do so by the presiding officer;

(5) From the audience, interrupting, or attempting to interrupt, a speaker, the Mayor, a City Council member or a staff member, or shouting or attempting to shout over a speaker, the Mayor, a City Council member or a staff member;

(6) As a speaker, interrupting or attempting to interrupt the Mayor, a City Council member or a staff member, or shouting over, or attempting to shout over, the Mayor, a City Council member or a staff member;

(7) As a speaker, continuing to speak after being advised that the allotted time has expired;

(8) As a speaker, addressing the audience rather than the Mayor and City Council;

(9) Making personal, impertinent or slanderous remarks to a speaker, the Mayor, a City Council member, a staff member or the general public, which actually impairs the orderly conduct of the meeting; and

(10) Uttering loud, threatening, personal or abusive language, or profanity, to a speaker, the Mayor, a City Council member, a staff member or the general public which actually impairs the orderly conduct of the meeting.

(C) It shall be unlawful to violate any provision of this section. Nothing in this section or any rules of the Council shall be construed to prohibit public criticism of the policies, procedures, programs or services of the city or any of the acts or omissions of the Mayor and City Council. Nothing in this section shall confer any privilege or protection for expression beyond that otherwise provided by law.

(D) If any division, sentence, clause, phrase or word of this section is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this section. The Mayor and City Council declare that they would have enacted this section and each division, sentence, clause, phrase and word thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more divisions, sentences, clauses, phrases or words had been declared invalid or unconstitutional.

(Ord. MC-1438, passed 4-17-2017; Ord. MC-1478, passed 4-4-2018)

In the event the date of a meeting falls on a city holiday, the next business day following such holiday shall be the meeting date, at the same time and place, except as determined by the City Council.

(Ord. MC-1438, passed 4-17-2017)

The clerk or secretary of each board, commission and committee shall review and be familiar with the provisions of the Ralph M. Brown Act, Cal. Gov’t Code, §§ 54950 et seq.

(Ord. MC-1438, passed 4-17-2017)

(A) Any person, firm, corporation or other entity having an appeal or other item on the agenda of the Mayor and City Council may request a continuance of such item by submitting a request therefor to the City Clerk prior to the item being heard. Such request must be accompanied by a processing fee established by resolution of the Mayor and City Council. The granting of a continuance shall be subject to the complete discretion of the Mayor and City Council taking all of the facts and circumstances of the matter into consideration. If the request for continuance is received by telephonic communication or other means where the requester is not present, the continuance may be granted subject to the receipt of the processing fee prior to the new agenda date. Should the request for a continuance be denied, any processing fee paid shall be returned upon application made by the payor within 90 days. Any subsequent request for a continuance shall require an additional fee.

(B) The fee provided for by the ordinance incorporated in this chapter and set by any resolution adopted pursuant thereto shall not apply to any continuance requested by the city, any department or officer thereof or by any agency or other entity which is funded primarily by the city.

(Ord. MC-1438, passed 4-17-2017)

(A) The Mayor and City Council may, by resolution, adopt reasonable regulations, including time limits, for:

(1) Public comments for items on the agenda;

(2) Public comments for items not on the agenda; and

(3) Public testimony during public hearings.

(B) Notwithstanding the time limits on public comments and public testimony adopted by resolution, the presiding officer may lengthen or shorten the time limits afforded if the presiding officer determines such change is necessary for the efficient conduct of the meeting or the proper consideration of a complicated matter.

(Ord. MC-1478, passed 4-4-2018)

The Mayor and City Council may, by resolution, adopt rules of procedure for the conduct of quasi-judicial hearings.

(Ord. MC-1478, passed 4-4-2018)