§ 2-31. Council proceedings.

(a)

Presiding officer. The mayor, or in his absence, the mayor pro tem shall preside at all meetings of the council. If the mayor and the mayor pro-tem are absent, any councilmember may be appointed by a majority of the council to preside. At the hour of the meeting, the mayor shall assume the chair, call the council to order, and the city secretary shall record the roll. The mayor, except in elections, votes only in case of a tie.

(b)

Rules of order.

(1)

The mayor and city council shall be the sole judge of its own procedure and in full control of the business before it. Neither the mayor, the mayor pro tem, nor any councilmember appointed to preside shall have any power to either recess a meeting or adjourn a meeting, or prevent the city council from considering an agenda item or lay the same out for consideration, except in strict accordance with members in an executive session, provided they do not conflict with the provisions of V.T.C.A., Government Code ch. 551 (Open Meetings Act), and as enacted herein. If the presiding officer, whether mayor, mayor pro tem, or councilmember presiding, shall attempt to prevent city council from taking any action on any agenda item brought before it, any councilmember present may call for a vote of the city council to consider the matter.

(2)

Except where in conflict with any state law, city ordinance or the rules of procedure adopted by this article, Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised, is adopted as the rules governing parliamentary procedure of city council meetings and shall apply except to the extent otherwise provided in this article. All newly elected or appointed members of the council shall be furnished the latest edition of Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised.

(c)

Conduct of mayor and councilmembers.

(1)

Neither the mayor nor any councilmember shall be permitted to indulge in personalities, use language personally offensive, arraign motives of members, charge deliberate misrepresentation, or use language tending to hold a member of the city council or mayor up to contempt. If the mayor or a councilmember is speaking or otherwise transgressing the rules of the council, the presiding officer shall, or any councilmember may, call him to order in which case he shall immediately be quiet unless permitted to explain. The council shall, if appealed to, decide the case without debate. If the decision is in favor of the member called to order, he shall be at liberty to proceed, but not otherwise.

(2)

Any member of the council, including the mayor, who fails to observe decorous and orderly behavior during a meeting, or who disturbs a meeting of council with such disorderly conduct, is subject to being expelled from such meeting upon motion passed by a two-thirds vote of the council present at the meeting. The mayor or any member reprimanded by motion or expelled from a meeting by motion who thereafter commits another breach of decorous and orderly behavior during a subsequent meeting shall be subject to the same power of council to reprimand him, expel him from the meeting, or subject such mayor or member to complaint, investigation, and conviction of official misconduct.

(d)

Rules of debate.

(1)

When a measure is presented for consideration to the council, the presiding officer shall recognize the appropriate individual to present the case. When two or more members wish to speak, the presiding officer shall name the member who is to speak first. No member of the council shall interrupt another while speaking except to make a point of order or to make a point of personal privilege. Neither the mayor nor any member shall speak more than five minutes on any amendment to the question except as further provided in this rule.

(2)

The mayor nor any member shall speak more than the time limits provided in subsection (d)(1) of this section on any subject or amendment, and such mayor or member may use his time in any combination, in separate speech or comments totaling the number of minutes permitted. The mayor shall not be obligated to recognize any councilmember for a second comment on the subject or amendment until every councilmember wishing to speak has been allowed a first comment. Councilmembers shall also have the right to yield a portion of time to another member.

(3)

Any member deciding to speak more than five minutes on any question or more than five minutes on any amendment to the question shall be accorded the privilege without objection or with objection and upon motion supported by two-thirds of the councilmembers present.

(4)

Upon any ordinance, resolution or other measure being laid out, or any motion being made, any councilmember present, before there is any debate opened on the subject, may make a parliamentary objection to the consideration of the subject which need not be seconded. No debate shall then be permitted and the presiding officer shall immediately put the question, "Shall the objection be sustained?" If the objection is sustained by a vote of two-thirds of the councilmembers present, the ordinance, resolution, motion, or other measure is permanently defeated for that meeting and shall not be debated (except as otherwise allowed in this article).

(5)

If, during debate upon any ordinance, resolution, motion or other matter before the council, any member moves that the subject under discussion be put to a vote without further debate (and such a motion need not be seconded), the presiding officer shall immediately ask the council, "Is there any objection to proceeding to a vote on the ordinance, resolution, motion, or other measure before the council being taken immediately?" If any member objects, the presiding officer shall immediately and without debate put the question, "Shall the subject being discussed be put to a vote, without debate?" to a vote of the council, and if two-thirds of the councilmembers present vote in favor of ordering the vote, debate on the question shall be closed, and a vote on the ordinance, resolution, motion or other measure taken immediately.

(e)

Handling of questions of order. All questions of order shall be decided by the presiding officer with the right of appeal of his decision by the city council. On such an appeal, an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the councilmembers present shall be necessary to overrule the decision of the chairperson. When the chairperson makes a ruling on a point of order and one of the councilmembers states, "I appeal the ruling of the chairperson," or words to such effect, no other business shall be transacted until the question, "Shall the ruling of the chairperson be sustained?" is voted on. The presiding officer shall immediately put such question to vote without debate, and, if he fails to do so immediately, any member of the city council may put the question to a vote.

(f)

Motion to table. Since the council has regularly scheduled meetings, a motion to table, when carried, does not permanently defeat an ordinance, resolution, motion, or other measure. If such ordinance, resolution, motion, or other measure is tabled by a majority vote of the council, such ordinance, resolution, motion, or other measure, if not sooner removed from the table, must be removed at the third meeting, and acted upon, even if only to place the item on the table again.

(g)

Reconsideration of a subject. When an ordinance, resolution, motion, or other measure of any sort has been placed before the city council and defeated, the same identical question shall not again be considered by the city council until the next regular scheduled city council meeting, except in cases of employment of city employees or matters concerning litigation.

(h)

Motions. All oral motions must be seconded before being put to vote by the chairperson (except where otherwise provided in these rules), and such oral motion (except a motion to order a vote on a subject being considered or to table, or other such procedural matter) shall reduce the same to writing by the city secretary. If a written motion is made by any member of the council and filed with the presiding officer, it shall still require a second.

(i)

Secretarial procedure.

(1)

The city secretary shall be the secretary of the council and shall act as reading and recording clerk to the council. By his signature, the secretary shall certify the correctness of the minutes and journals, shall record all actions taken by the council, shall record the vote upon each measure when taken by the ayes and nays, shall post council agendas, and shall perform such other duties for meetings as may be required of the city secretary by the mayor and the city council. The city secretary shall mark the absence of the mayor or any other member of council. In the absence of the city secretary, any suitable person may be appointed by the city secretary or mayor to serve as acting city secretary of any meeting.

(2)

The city secretary shall keep a copy of these rules of procedure in the council chamber for reference.

(j)

Voting. All action required of the city council shall be made by an affirmative vote of a majority or more members of the council present at such council meetings, unless a higher percentage is otherwise required by law for the action being considered.

(k)

Citizens' right to be heard.

(1)

Any citizen shall have a reasonable opportunity to be heard at any and all regular meetings of the city council in regard to any and all matters to be considered at any such meeting, or such other matters as citizens may wish to bring to council's attention; provided, however, any matter not posted on the agenda may not be discussed by council, nor shall any action be taken by council, except to indicate that the matter may be placed on a later agenda. A time shall be set aside during each council meeting for the council to hear from the public.

(2)

Citizens attending any regularly scheduled meeting may speak before council by completing a form and presenting it to the city secretary prior to the beginning of such meeting. In addition, citizens may request a council member to place an item on the agenda. The time limit for citizen speaking is five minutes. If numerous citizens would offer repetitious or cumulative statements, such citizens are encouraged to select a member of their group to act as spokesperson.

(3)

Each member of the public speaking before council shall preface any statement with his name.

(4)

Citizens and visitors attending city council meetings shall observe the same rules of propriety, decorum and good conduct applicable to members of the city council. Any person making personal, impertinent, profane or slanderous remarks or who becomes boisterous while addressing the city council or while attending the city council meeting shall be removed from the room, if the police chief (or his designee), is so directed by the presiding officer. If the presiding officer fails to act, any member of the city council may move to require enforcement of the rules. The affirmative vote of a majority of the city council in attendance shall require the presiding officer to act. No member of the public shall be heard until recognized by the presiding officer.

(l)

Order of business at regular meeting. Unless agreed to otherwise by majority vote of council, the normal order of business before the city council in any regular meeting shall be as follows:

(1)

Call to order.

(2)

Roll call and certification of quorum.

(3)

Pledge of allegiance.

(4)

Invocation.

(5)

Proclamations and special recognitions (upon request).

(6)

Minutes.

(7)

Approve bills.

(8)

Departmental reports.

(9)

Agenda requests from city council, city attorney, city secretary and department heads.

(10)

Adjournment.

(m)

Order of business at special meeting. Unless agreed to otherwise by majority vote of council, the normal order of business before the city council in any special meeting shall be as follows:

(1)

Call to order.

(2)

Roll call and certification of quorum.

(3)

Pledge of allegiance.

(4)

Invocation.

(5)

The presiding officer shall state the purpose(s) of the meeting.

(6)

No business shall be discussed or acted upon at such meeting unless the subject has been duly posted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act.

(7)

Adjourn meeting.

(n)

Suspension of rules of procedure. Any one or all of these rules of procedure may be suspended in order to allow a particular consideration of a matter, provided that it does not violate state law, and provided that not less than two-thirds councilmembers present vote in favor of such suspension. Where any rule embodies a provision of state law, identically or in substance, such rule may not be suspended. The requirement of two-thirds to suspend a rule shall not apply to subsections (l) and (m) of this section, but the order of business may be suspended by a majority vote.

(o)

Mayor's veto. If the mayor vetoes any resolution or ordinance, the city secretary shall promptly inform the city council by phone and by making available copies of the veto memorandum, containing the mayor's objections, to all members of the council. In accordance with V.T.C.A., Local Government Code § 52.003, the ordinance or resolution may take effect over the mayor's objection if a majority of the total number of the council at the next meeting, excluding the mayor, approves the ordinance or resolution upon reconsideration and enters the votes in the official minutes.

(Ord. No. 2009-10-19, § 3, 10-19-2009)

State law reference

Mayor as presiding officer and president pro tem, V.T.C.A., Local Government Code § 22.037; city secretary, V.T.C.A., Local Government Code § 22.073; governing body to judge election and qualifications of members, V.T.C.A., Local Government Code § 22.033.