Rules of Order and Procedure
The Texas Municipal League is a private non-profit organization that serves Texas cities that are members by providing advice and support. Marfa is a member of TML. One of their publications is called "General Law Cities Handbook for Mayors and Councilmembers." Chapter Five is called "The Council at Work: Meetings" and includes a section called "Rules of Order and Procedure" shown here:
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Rules of Order and Procedure
Recognizing that every legislative body needs a systematic way of conducting its business, many city councils operate according to formal rules of order and procedure. Rules of order and procedure prevent confusion by establishing an organized process for conducting council meetings. Properly followed, they save time for all participants, while protecting the individual’s right to participate fully.
The following provisions usually are included in rules of order and procedure:
- Designation of the time and location of regular meetings of the council, together with a description of procedures for calling special meetings;
- Procedures for placing items on a meeting agenda;
- Methods for compelling councilmembers to attend meetings;
- A description of the duties of the presiding officer at council meetings;
- A description of the parliamentary rules under which the council will operate;
- Procedures for introducing and voting on ordinances, resolutions, and other items;
- The order of business the council will follow at each meeting; and
- A ranking of motions by order or precedence, which motions may or may not be debated, and so on.
Although most city councils use Roberts Rules of Order to conduct their meetings, some have adopted their own local rules. Roberts Rules of Order is available at most bookstores in the state. Since state law is silent with regard to this matter, any standard rules that are reasonable and consistently followed are acceptable.
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Marfa does not have any Rules of Order and Procedure for council meetings. Councilmembers and the administrator have no clear idea of the rules leading to a situation where the mayor and administrator control the agenda. This use of power has been clear in the history of the building permit ordinance work when the mayor and administrator have refused to put the topic on agenda, or putting it on the agenda for discussion only. This takes away the council's right to take action. This form of government is not intended to give the mayor control of the agenda. The mayor is the chairperson of council meetings, but this does not include setting the agenda.
The Texas Open Meetings Act does not allow a majority of council to meet privately and discuss city business. The proper forum is public city council meetings. If a councilmember wants to discuss an issue publicly, it must be placed on the agenda. There should be no reason to refuse a councilmember's request for an agenda item. To refuse a request is to deprive an elected official the platform to discuss the issue.
Marfa desperately needs a Rules of Order and Procedure. The lack of rules leads to unclear responsibilities and the potential for abuse of power. Perhaps a councilmember can get this topic on the agenda for discussion AND action at the next meeting. Good luck getting that idea through city hall.
FOLLOW UP NOTE: I took the time to draft a proposed resolution of Rules of Order and Procedure. This is intended as a starting point for the council to have something to debate and shape as needed. Everything comes from existing practices, state law or recommendations from Chapter 5 of the TML handbook. Council can do with this as they please. I am just trying to help make these meetings more productive.
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Rules of Order and Procedure
Recognizing that every legislative body needs a systematic way of conducting its business, many city councils operate according to formal rules of order and procedure. Rules of order and procedure prevent confusion by establishing an organized process for conducting council meetings. Properly followed, they save time for all participants, while protecting the individual’s right to participate fully.
The following provisions usually are included in rules of order and procedure:
- Designation of the time and location of regular meetings of the council, together with a description of procedures for calling special meetings;
- Procedures for placing items on a meeting agenda;
- Methods for compelling councilmembers to attend meetings;
- A description of the duties of the presiding officer at council meetings;
- A description of the parliamentary rules under which the council will operate;
- Procedures for introducing and voting on ordinances, resolutions, and other items;
- The order of business the council will follow at each meeting; and
- A ranking of motions by order or precedence, which motions may or may not be debated, and so on.
Although most city councils use Roberts Rules of Order to conduct their meetings, some have adopted their own local rules. Roberts Rules of Order is available at most bookstores in the state. Since state law is silent with regard to this matter, any standard rules that are reasonable and consistently followed are acceptable.
--------
Marfa does not have any Rules of Order and Procedure for council meetings. Councilmembers and the administrator have no clear idea of the rules leading to a situation where the mayor and administrator control the agenda. This use of power has been clear in the history of the building permit ordinance work when the mayor and administrator have refused to put the topic on agenda, or putting it on the agenda for discussion only. This takes away the council's right to take action. This form of government is not intended to give the mayor control of the agenda. The mayor is the chairperson of council meetings, but this does not include setting the agenda.
The Texas Open Meetings Act does not allow a majority of council to meet privately and discuss city business. The proper forum is public city council meetings. If a councilmember wants to discuss an issue publicly, it must be placed on the agenda. There should be no reason to refuse a councilmember's request for an agenda item. To refuse a request is to deprive an elected official the platform to discuss the issue.
Marfa desperately needs a Rules of Order and Procedure. The lack of rules leads to unclear responsibilities and the potential for abuse of power. Perhaps a councilmember can get this topic on the agenda for discussion AND action at the next meeting. Good luck getting that idea through city hall.
FOLLOW UP NOTE: I took the time to draft a proposed resolution of Rules of Order and Procedure. This is intended as a starting point for the council to have something to debate and shape as needed. Everything comes from existing practices, state law or recommendations from Chapter 5 of the TML handbook. Council can do with this as they please. I am just trying to help make these meetings more productive.
posted by RobC at 4:18 PM
6 Comments:
http://www.tml.org/pub_handbooks.htm#pdfversiongl
I sent at my own expense copies of the first four chapters of this to the new city council members. I also sent a 94 page booklet "State Law in Texas Affecting Local Codes and Ordinances" listing the applicable statutes for alphabetized city issues, i.e. "Purchasing," "Competitive Bidding"
http://www.window.state.tx.us/lga/budget/
This is the budget handbook from the Texas State Comptroller
Here is the email of Marfa's Austin attorney, Monte Akers
Monte@texasmunicipallawyers.com
I sent this question to Robert's Rules website and received the below reply.
Subject: City Council Meetings 8/23/2006 2:03:00 PM
Type A general law city. The City Administrator and Mayor schedule/post both regular and special meetings and then informally poll by telephone the day of the meeting. If no quorum is going to be available, the Mayor does not preside and the City Administrator cancels the posted meeting. Shouldn't the meeting be called to order first, the a quorum established/or not, recorded in minutes, wait 15 minutes, and adjourn?
Subject: re: City Council Meetings Author: Robert B. Fish Date/Time: 8/23/2006 2:35:00 PM
Reply
IMO, if notice is given of a special meeting, the meeting may not be canceled unless provisins of your bylaws provide for a way to cancel the meeting.
However, there is also no requireement to wait any amount of minutes before adjourning. If the time for the meeting arrives, the meeting is called to order and can then vote to adjourn (the vote to adjourn being one of the four procedural items that are allowed in the case of an inquorate meeting),
However, if your have other rules that were properly adopted, they superscede the rules in RONR.
-Bob
Thanks for contacting the Robert's Rules people. We should add their link to the list of links! I took their reply and incorporated the suggestions into my Rules proposal. I also eliminated changed a few more things:
1. the mayor or 3 councilmembers can call a special meeting per LGC
2. removed stuff about missing half the meetings in three months=vacant. wishful thinking on my part.
3. added your/RONR comments about no quorum.
4. clarified presiding officer.
More from Robert's Rules:
Subject: Absence of a quorum Author: Vanessa Date/Time: 8/9/2006 7:55:00 PM
Reply
Please provide clarification!
At a regular scheduled business meeting a quorum was not established. The meeting was called to order by the presiding officer in hopes that a quorum would eventually be established. Members were notified at this time that a quorum was not established. However, the presiding officer continued discussing informational items that did not require a vote and minutes were recorded. Quorum was never established and meeting was dismissed after all information items were discussed.
Questions:
1. Should the meeting have continued?
2. At what points do you stop
recording minutes.
3. Does the secretary record
information items that were
discussed and should these items
be recorded as items discussed at
the regular business
meeting.
Subject: re: Absence of a quorum Author: Ann Rempel Date/Time: 8/9/2006 8:07:00 PM
Reply
1. A meeting can continue without a quorum, but business cannot be transacted.
2.You stop recording minutes of the meeting when the meeting adjourns.
3. Action, not discussion, is recorded in minutes. Nothing terribly wrong with saying which topics were discussed in the "inquorate" meeting, but recording topics that were discussed is not in the list of items covered on pages 451-454 in RONR (Content of Minutes).
Subject: re: re: Absence of a quorum Author: H.W.Mountcastle Date/Time: 8/10/2006 4:08:00 AM
Reply
"Nothing terribly wrong with saying which topics were discussed . . . "
I would suggest that doing so only creates a "can of worms".
Better to simply say that, failing to achieve a quorum after xx minutes, the meeting was adjourned.
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