Yuba City Municipal Code Ch. 1 Rules and Regulations Governing the Conduct of Council Meetings,…

(a) Regular meetings. Regular meetings of the Council shall be held on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. The meetings shall be held in the Council Chambers in the City Hall of the City of Yuba City, California or at such other place as the Council may, from time to time, prescribe. In the event a Tuesday falls upon a legal holiday, the regular meeting which otherwise would have occurred on that date shall be held on the first business day thereafter. In the event that Christmas Eve and/or New Year's Eve falls on a Tuesday the regular meeting, which otherwise would have occurred on that day, shall be held on the first business day which is not a holiday thereafter. Meeting commencement times shall be set by a resolution of the City Council.

(b) Special meetings. Special meetings of the Council may be called at any time by the Mayor or by a majority of the members of the Council by delivering personally or by mail written notice to each member of the Council and to each local newspaper of general circulation and to any radio or television that has submitted a written request of the City Clerk for such notification. Such notice must be delivered personally or by mail at least 24 hours before the time of such meeting specified in the notice. The call and notice shall specify the time and place of the special meeting and the business to be transacted. No other business shall be considered at the meeting. Written notice may be dispensed with for any member who at or prior to the time the meeting convenes files with the City Clerk a written waiver of notice. The waiver may be given by telegram or fax. Written notice shall be dispensed with for any member who is actually present at the meeting at the time it convenes.

(c) Adjournment/adjourned meetings. The Council may adjourn any regular, adjourned regular, special or adjourned special meeting to a time and place specified in the order of adjournment. If a quorum is not present, less than a quorum may so adjourn. If all members are absent from any regular or adjourned regular meeting, the City Clerk may declare the meeting adjourned to a stated time and place and shall cause a written notice of the adjournment to be delivered personally to each Council member at least three hours before the adjourned meeting. A copy of the order or notice of adjournment shall be conspicuously posted on or near the door of the place where the regular, adjourned regular, special or adjourned special meeting was held within 24 hours after the time of adjournment. When a regular or adjourned regular meeting is adjourned as provided in this section the resulting adjourned regular meeting is a regular meeting for all purposes. When an order of adjournment of any meeting fails to state the hour at which the adjourned meeting is to be held, it shall be held at the hour specified for regular meetings.

(d) Emergency meetings. The notice requirement for a special meeting may be dispensed with under the following emergency conditions:

(1) Work stoppage or other activity which severely impairs public health, safety, or both, as determined by a majority of the Council.

(2) A crippling disaster which impairs public health, safety, or both, as determined by a majority of the Council.

(e) Closed sessions. The Council may hold closed sessions during a regular or special meeting, or at any time otherwise authorized by law, to consider or hear any matter which it is authorized by State law to hear or consider in closed session, and may exclude from any such closed session any person or persons which it is authorized by State law to exclude from such closed sessions.

(f) Cancellation. Any meeting of the Council may be cancelled in advance by a majority vote of the Council. The Mayor may cancel a meeting in the case of an emergency or when a majority of members have confirmed in writing their unavailability to attend a meeting.

(g) Chair. The Mayor shall preside over all Council meetings. In the Mayor's absence, the Mayor Pro Tempore shall serve as presiding officer. The Council shall choose one of its members to serve as Mayor and one of its members to serve as Vice-Mayor. The Mayor and Vice-Mayor shall be selected and seated in the manner following:

In an election year in which Council members are elected, the Mayor and Vice-Mayor shall be selected and seated at such time as the election results for Council members so elected have been canvassed and certified to the Council and those results so declared by the Council. Absent unusual circumstances as determined by the City Council, the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tempore so selected and seated at that time shall hold their respective offices until the first regular City Council meeting following the first Tuesday of the month in the year following the year in which they were selected and seated. The Mayor shall preserve strict order and decorum at all regular and special meetings of the Council. The Mayor shall state every question coming before the Council, announce the decision of the Council on all subjects and decide all questions of order subject, however, to an appeal to the Council in which event a majority vote of the Council shall govern and conclusively determine such question of order. The Mayor shall vote on all questions, the Mayor's name being called last.

(h) Attendance by the public. Except as specifically provided by law for closed sessions, all meetings of the Council shall be open and public. All persons desiring to attend shall be permitted to attend any meeting. In the event any meeting is willfully interrupted by a group or groups of persons so as to render the orderly conduct of the meeting unfeasible and order cannot be restored by removal of the offending individual or individuals, the Council may order the meeting room cleared and continue in session. Only matters appearing on the agenda may be considered during such session. Representatives of the press, unless participants in the disturbance, shall be allowed to attend such session, and nothing shall prohibit the Council from readmitting individuals not responsible for the disturbance.

(Ord. 06-91, eff. July 2, 1991; § 1, Ord. 03-95, eff. February 16, 1995; § 1, Ord. 001-13, eff. April 18, 2013; Ord. No. 005-19, § 2, 11-5-2019; Ord. No. 008-22, § 2, 6-21-2022)

Editor's note— Ord. No. 005-19, § 3, adopted November 5, 2019, repealed § 2-1.02, which pertained to order of business and derived from Ord. 06-91, eff. July 2, 1991.

The City Manager shall cause to be prepared an agenda of the Council meeting. A copy of said agenda shall be furnished to each member of the Council, the City Clerk and the City Attorney at least 24 hours prior to the Council meeting.

At least 72 hours before a regular meeting the City Manager or his or her designee shall post the agenda which shall contain a brief general description of each item of business to be transacted or discussed at the meeting. The agenda shall specify the time and location of the regular meeting and shall be posted in a location that is freely accessible to members of the public. No action shall be taken on any item not appearing on the posted agenda.

Notwithstanding the above, the Council may take action on items of business not appearing on the posted agenda under any of the following conditions:

(a) Upon a determination by a majority vote of the Council that an emergency situation exists as defined in the Public Meeting Law (Government Code § 54956.2(b)(1));

(b) Upon a determination by a two-thirds vote of the Council or if less than two-thirds of the Council members are present, a unanimous vote of those members present that the need to take action arose subsequent to the agenda being posted; and

(c) The item was posted as hereinbefore required for a prior meeting of the Council occurring not more than five calendar days prior to the date action is taken on the item and at the prior meeting the item was continued to the meeting at which action is being taken.

(Ord. 06-91, eff. July 2, 1991; Ord. No. 005-19, § 4, 11-5-2019)

Editor's note— Ord. No. 005-19, § 5, adopted Nov. 5, 2019, repealed § 2-1.04, which pertained to rules of conduct and derived from Ord. 06-91, eff. July 2, 1991.

While the Council is in session, the Chair shall preserve order and decorum. No person in attendance shall either by conversation or otherwise delay or interrupt the proceedings or the peace of the Council or disturb either any Council member or any member of the public while speaking nor refuse to obey the orders of the Council of the presiding officer except as otherwise provided. Any person making personal, impertinent or slanderous remarks or who shall become boisterous while addressing the Council shall be forthwith by the presiding officer barred from further audience before the Council unless permission to continue shall be granted by a majority vote of the Council. All persons addressing the Council shall step to the designated podium and the Council may request the person addressing the Council to give his or her name in an audible tone of voice for the record. All remarks shall be addressed to the Council as a body and not to any member thereof. No person other than the Council and the person having the floor shall be permitted to enter into any discussion either directly or through a member of the Council without the permission of the Chair. No question shall be asked a Council person except through the Chair. Every person in attendance desiring to speak shall address the Chair and, upon recognition by the Chair, shall confine himself/herself to the question under debate avoiding all personalities and indecorous language. Any person in attendance, once recognized by the Chair, shall not be interrupted when speaking unless it shall be to call him/her to order or as otherwise here and before provided. If a person, while speaking, shall be called to order he/she shall cease speaking until the question of order shall be determined and if in order he/she shall be permitted to proceed. A Council person may request, through the Chair, the privilege of having a written abstract of his/her statement on any subject under consideration by the Council entered in the minutes. If the Council consents thereto, such statement shall be entered in the minutes.

(Ord. 06-91, eff. July 2, 1991; Ord. No. 005-19, § 6, 11-5-2019)

(a) Preparation of ordinances. All ordinances shall be prepared or approved as to the form by the City Attorney. No ordinance shall be prepared for presentation to the Council unless ordered by a majority vote of the Council or requested in writing by the City Manager or his/her designee.

(b) Prior approval. All ordinances and contract documents shall, before presentation to the Council, have been approved as to form and legality by the City Attorney or his or her authorized representative and shall have been examined and approved for the administration by the City Manager or his or her authorized representative when there are substantive matters of administration involved.

(Ord. 06-91, eff. July 2, 1991; Ord. No. 005-19, § 7, 11-5-2019)

(a) Pursuant to the express provisions of Government Code § 36514.5, City Council members shall be reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties.

(b) The compensation of City Council members is determined pursuant to the express statutory authority in Government Code § 36516(a) in cities over 50,000 up to and including 75,000 in population. The compensation paid to members of the City Council shall be set at a salary of $500 per month, plus the sum of $100 per month, which represents the total of increases of 5% a year for each calendar year from the operative date of the last adjustment of salary, for a total of $600 per month, payable at the same time in the same manner as salaries are paid to other officers and employees of the City.

(c) Any amount paid by the City to Council members for retirement, health and welfare benefits, shall not be included for purposes of determining the salary herein, provided the same benefits are available and paid by City for its employees.

(Ord. 06-91, eff. July 2, 1991; § 1, Ord. 013-04, eff. September 16, 2004; § 1, Ord. 001-08, eff. February 14, 2008)