cover
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Law Department
DATE: July 26, 2023
SUBJECT:
Cancellation of committee meetings in certain circumstances .
PURPOSE:
To require a chairperson of a standing committee to cancel meetings which would essentially be held for the sole purpose of approving minutes of a previous meeting.
BACKGROUND:
When the City Council reorganized its committee system in 2019, expanding from four standing committees to five, it attempted to provide each of the committees jurisdiction over approximately the same amount of legislation. While this approach has worked, not every committee is equally busy at all times of the year, and from time-to-time, a committee may not have any business to conduct at a regularly scheduled meeting other than to approve the minutes of an earlier session.
The City Code currently vests standing committee chairpersons with the authority to cancel meetings but does not supply any guidance as to when this authority is best exercised. Some standing committee chairs have routinely cancelled meetings when no agenda items were present, while others desired to hold meetings on a regular, predictable schedule because, at a minimum, they afford an additional opportunity for public comment or for the committee to informally discuss a topic when no legislation is pending.
DISCUSSION:
At the request of the Rules, Administration, and Procedures Committee the Law Department has prepared an amendment to Sec. 2-125(b) of the Code of Ordinances to provide that a committee chairperson shall cancel a meeting of his or her committee if there are no business items on the agenda, other than the approval of the minutes of a previous meeting unless otherwise required by law. The Open Meetings Act provides that "a public body shall approve the minutes of its open meeting within 30 days after that meeting or at the public body's second subsequent regular meeting, whichever is later."
IMPACT STATEMENT:
Approval of this Ordinance est...
Click here for full text