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HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD 1347 ORDINANCE NO. 1347 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BALDWIN PARK, CALIFORNIA, ADDING CHAPTER 39 TO THE BALDWIN PARK MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO RULES OF DECORUM AT COUNCIL MEETINGS NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BALDWIN PARK DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Baldwin Park Municipal Code is hereby amended by adding a new Chapter 39 thereto to read in its entirety as follows: Chapter 39 DECORUM AT COUNCIL MEETINGS § 39.01 Decorum and Order, Council and Staff (A) Only Council Members, designated City staff, and those authorized by the presiding officer of the meeting, City Council or Chief Executive Officer are permitted to sit on the dais or to be within the rail in the front of the Council Chamber. (B) While the Council is in session, the Council Members and City staff shall preserve appropriate order and decorum. No person, by conversation or otherwise, shall delay or interrupt the proceedings or the peace of the Council, disturb any speaker, or refuse to obey the directives of the presiding officer of the meeting. All persons must refrain from rude, boisterous, profane, abusive, disruptive, demeaning, and unprofessional behavior. (C) Staff members are encouraged to present their reports as concisely as possible. Staff should assume Council Members have studied all agenda packet information and, therefore, require only brief summation by staff speakers. Because the official meeting record will contain the entire staff submittal and copies of reports are available to the public, verbatim reading of staff reports is not required and is strongly discouraged. § 39.02 Decorum and Order, Audience (A) Members of the public attending Council meetings must observe the same rules of order and decorum applicable to the Council Members and City staff. No person shall make any impertinent, slanderous, or profane remarks or become rude, boisterous, abusive, disruptive, demeaning, profane, or unprofessional while attending the Council meeting; and if a person does, then that person may be removed from the meeting room and be barred from further audience at the meeting in question. Unauthorized remarks from the audience, heckling, stamping of feet, Ordinance No. 1347 Page 2 whistles, yells, applause, and similar demonstrations should not be permitted by the presiding officer of the meeting. (B) The presiding officer of the meeting may order the meeting room cleared and Council may continue in session if the meeting is willfully interrupted by a person or group of persons so as to render the orderly conduct of the meeting infeasible without removal of individuals who are willfully disrupting the meeting. In these cases, only matters appearing on the agenda may be considered. Representatives of the press or other news media, except those participating in the disturbance, and individuals not responsible for disturbance of the orderly conduct of the meeting, will be allowed to remain at the meeting or may be readmitted. § 39.03 Public Comment (A) Addressing the Council: Subject to compliance with rules of order and decorum, members of the public have an absolute right to address the Council at open meetings during oral communications segments of the agenda, subject to reasonable time constraints imposed by the presiding officer or a majority of Council Members present. Restricting speakers to the subject at hand and proper decorum is Constitutionally permitted. (B) Manner of Addressing Council: At the appropriate time, any person wishing to address the Council should stand, proceed to the lectern and wait to be recognized by the presiding officer of the meeting. After being recognized, the speaker should state his/her name and place of residence for the record. The speaker should address comments only to the Council from the lectern. (1) All remarks and questions should be addressed to the Council as a whole and not to any specific Council Member, staff, the audience, or the media. No question should be asked of a Council Member or staff member without first obtaining permission from the presiding officer of the meeting. (2) Comments should be fundamentally impersonal: the subject of the debate is the issue, not any of its proponents or opponents. A motion and its consequences may be attacked vigorously, but speakers should not attack the motives, character, or personality of a member, speaker, or any other person, either directly or by implication or innuendo, improper language, irrelevancy, dilatory tactics, rude behavior or disorderly conduct, including, but not limited to, use of signs or other means to disrupt the meeting. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no speaker will be censured or prohibited from speaking based upon the content of his/her remarks, but may be removed from the meeting if the presiding officer of the meeting or a majority of the Council Members determines the speaker is out of order pursuant to this Chapter. (C) Time Limitation: Every member of the public addressing the Council shall limit his/her remarks to a maximum of three (3) minutes during all speaking opportunities; provided, that comment shall not exceed two minutes per speaker Ordinance No. 1347 Page 3 during oral communications just prior to adjournment. When large numbers of persons wish to speak, the presiding officer of the meeting may announce a reduction of the speaking time allotted to each person so all persons wishing to speak may do so. (1) Each person normally is allowed only one opportunity to comment on each item of business or during oral communications. When any group wishes to address the Council on the same subject, it is appropriate for the presiding officer of the meeting to request a spokesperson be chosen to represent the group to avoid redundancy. (2) No express time limits are imposed on any appellant or respondent during quasi-judicial proceedings (i.e., appeals, statutorily required public hearings, and other proceedings involving due process rights such as appeals of land use decisions and denials of business license applications); however, the presiding officer of the meeting may limit repetitive presentations and curtail irrelevant remarks. § 39..04 Enforcement of Decorum The Police Chief, or other member of the Police Department designated by the Chief, serves as Sergeant-at-Arms of the Council and may attend meetings at the request of the presiding officer of the meeting or the Chief Executive Officer. The Sergeant-at-Arms will be available to serve at all meetings immediately upon call, and will carry out all lawful orders given by the presiding officer of the meeting or Council for the purpose of maintaining order and decorum at meetings. § 39.05 Failure to Observe Rules of Order (A) The failure to observe such rules strictly does not affect the jurisdiction of the Council or invalidate any action taken at a meeting that otherwise conforms to applicable law. Any member may move to require the presiding officer of the meeting to enforce the rules, and the affirmative vote of a majority of the members present will require him/her to do so. (B) The failure of any person to observe any requirement of this Chapter or lawful order of the presiding officer or Sergeant-at-Arms is punishable pursuant to Sections 10.98 and 10.99 of this Code. SECTION 2. This ordinance shall go into affect and be in full force and operation from and after thirty (30) days after its final reading and adoption. Ordinance No. 1347 Page 4 SECTION 3. The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this ordinance and shall cause a copy of the same to be published or posted in a manner prescribed by law. PASSED AND APPROVED ON THE 15th day of Dec- .. .er 20 0 M A 't'( .zA 0, MAYOR Ordinance No. 1347 Page 5 ATTEST: STATE OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ss: CITY OF BALDWIN PARK I, LAURA M. NIETO, Deputy City Clerk of the City of Baldwin Park, do herby certify that the foregoing ordinance was regularly introduced and placed upon its first reading at a regular meeting of the City Council on December 1, 2010. That there after said Ordinance 1347 was duly approved and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council on December 15, 2010 by the following vote: AYES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: Monica Garcia, Ricardo Pacheco, Susan Rubio, Mayor Pro Tem Marlen Garcia and Mayor Manuel Lozano NOES: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE ABSENT: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE B: AIN: COUNCIL MEMBERS: NONE 7u4aT.) ofifAURA M. NIETO, CMC a EPUTY CITY CLERK