As per The City Charter,
Section 3.13, The City Council has, by formal action [e.g., Resolution],
adopted the following rules of procedure and order of conduct of business.
These rules and policies are applicable to all Bastrop City Council
Meetings.
Pursuant to City Charter
Section 3.13, all meeting of the Council (with the exception of confidential,
executive sessions which are held in accordance with applicable State
law), shall be open to the public and minutes of all such proceedings
shall be kept in accordance with the procedures set forth herein.
Citizens will be allowed access to the minutes of all open proceedings
of the Council in accordance with State law and the procedures set
forth in this policy. More specifically:
A. All Regular,
Special, Workshop, Emergency and Executive Session Meetings
of the City of Bastrop City Council will be called and conducted
in accordance with the provisions of the Texas Open Meeting
Act, Chapter 551, Government Code, and as amended in the future.
B. Regular, Special,
Workshop and Emergency Meetings of the City of Bastrop are
open to the public and to representatives of the press and
media.
C. Executive Sessions
of the City Council are not open to the public, the press
or the media and only those individuals expressly requested
or ordered to attend, and only as allowed by State law, may
be present or allowed to attend Executive Session(s).
D. The City Secretary
(or designee) shall be responsible for posting public notice
of all meetings of the City Council of Bastrop, in compliance
with all applicable State laws.
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A. Frequency/Dates of Meetings: As per Section 3.12
of the City Charter, the Council shall meet regularly and
at least once each month. Accordingly, the City Council has
determined that the Council shall convene in Regular Sessions
on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, unless the
Council takes formal action to alter or amend this schedule
of meetings. City Council meetings are convened at the time(s)
stated upon the face of the publicly posted Agendas.
B. Location:
The City Council generally holds its regular agenda meetings
at the City Hall. On occasion, however, the Council may determine
that the meeting shall be conducted at an alternative location.
The location of all meetings of the City Council is clearly
shown on the public notice posted for each Council meeting.
In the event that the location of a meeting must be moved
after posting, the City will notify attendees of the change
of location in accordance with the State Open Meetings law.
C. Special Meetings:
On occasion, a need arises for calling ‘Special
Council Meetings’, such as special workshops, public
hearings, etc. As per the City Charter, Section 3.12, such
Special Meetings may be called by: (1) the Mayor, or (2) any
three of the other members of the Council, by providing written
notice to the City Secretary of a decision to call such meeting(s).
The request should be submitted within a time frame that will
allow for public notice and posting of the ‘Special
Meeting’ agenda, in full compliance with applicable
State law.
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III.
MEETING AGENDA, NOTICE AND PREPARATION |
A. Council Meeting
Agendas: The following persons are authorized to request
that a matter (or item) be placed on an agenda of an upcoming
Council meeting:
· The
Mayor
· A Council Member
· The City Manager
Additionally, should
a member of the City staff, acting in that member's capacity
as a city employee, determine/desire that a matter should
be presented to the Council (for example for the staff¹s
compliance with City Code procedures, etc.) then, the staff
member may request, through written communication addressed
to the City Manager, that the item be placed on the agenda.
In cases where the City staff has made a request, the City
Manager shall be responsible for determining whether the requested
item is placed upon an agenda, and the City Manager shall
direct the City Secretary, in writing, accordingly.
A citizen of
the community desiring to have an item placed on the agenda
may ask either the Mayor, a Councilmember, or the City Manager
for such consideration and the Mayor, Councilmember, or
City Manager may, at his/her discretion elect to have such
an item placed on the agenda.
B. Form of Request for Posting an Agenda Item: All
requests for placing an item on the Council’s agenda
should be submitted in writing, to the City Secretary, and
should include the following: (1) details concerning the topic
to be discussed, (2) supporting documentation, if any, and
(3) direction to the City Secretary as to the type of action
proposed to be considered or taken by the Council on the matter
(e.g., ‘public hearing’, ‘evaluation’,
‘consideration’, ‘review’, ‘discussion’,
and/or ‘possible action’). The City Secretary
shall coordinate agenda requests with the City Manger and
staff, in a timely manner, to ensure that necessary information
is available on requested matters and to provide any responsible
staff member with sufficient time for preparation.
C. Time for
Requesting Items on Agenda: Written requests for placing
an item on any future Council agenda should be submitted,
in final form, to the City Secretary (or her/his designee)
no later than noon on the Wednesday immediately proceeding
the Council meeting date, upon which the item will be placed.
This ‘lead time” is necessary to: (1) allow the
City Secretary and applicable staff personnel to timely and
properly prepare documents and other items for Council’s
consideration at the meeting, and (2) provide adequate time
for the City staff to publicly posting the notice of the upcoming
meeting, in compliance with State law.
In the event
of an emergency, an urgent need, and/or a previously unforeseen
circumstance, an item may be posted on the upcoming agenda,
after the above noted deadline, but within the timeframes
required by State law.
D. Meeting Packet
Preparation: The City Secretary will prepare packets for
upcoming Council meetings for use by the Council and staff.
When the agenda item will require the City’s staff to
prepare information and/or documentation, etc., for use during
the Council meeting, then the requestor should communicate
their request, in writing, to either the City Secretary or
the City Manager no later than noon on Monday, before the
Wednesday deadline for submission to the City Secretary, so
that these requests may be addressed on Tuesday at the regular
staff meeting conducted by the City Manger. This timely submission
is necessary for preparation of the Council agenda packets
and for public posting and dissimilation of applicable materials.
E. Finalizing
Agenda(s): As per the City Charter, Section 3.15, it is
the Mayor’s responsibility to act as Chief Executive
Officer for the City and to preside over meetings of the City
Council. Accordingly, the City Manager and/or City Secretary
shall provide the Mayor with a copy of the draft of each upcoming
agenda, in writing, before close of business on the Wednesday
prior to the next Council meeting, so that the Mayor may review
the draft/proposed agenda and request revisions to it, as
the Mayor deems appropriate for the orderly operation and
progress of the meeting and City business. If the Mayor determines
that, in his/her opinion it is necessary to delay and or remove
any requested item from the proposed agenda, to ensure efficient
and productive functioning of City business, he/she will notify
the item requestor of this circumstance and will coordinate
any necessary future posting of the item(s) at issue. Following
review and coordination with item requestors, if necessary,
the Mayor will then coordinate the final format of the upcoming
Council meeting with the City Secretary on or before 12:00
Noon the on Thursday, immediately prior to the upcoming Council
meeting, so that the City Secretary may: (1) timely post the
final agenda, as per State law, and (2) finalize, prepare
and distribute meeting packets to all Member of the Council,
the City Manager, the City Attorney, and others as determined
by the Mayor or City Manager, for their use, review and preparation
for the upcoming meeting.
F. Appeal of
the Chairs Decision to Remove an Item from the Agenda:
If a Council Member desires that a matter be placed upon an
Agenda, but after consultation between the Member and the
Mayor, the Mayor determines that in his/her opinion the matter
should not be brought before the Council, then the Council
Member who proposes the matter for discussion has the right
to appeal to the entire governing body for a decision as to
whether the matter should be placed before the Council. To
exercise this right of appeal, the appellant Council Member
shall bring the issues to the governing body’s attention
on an agenda as “An Appeal of the Chair’s decision
regarding a future Agenda Item.” (The appellant Council
Member should request that the City Secretary post his/her
appeal, as well as the topic to be discussed, so that the
item may be property raised and, if appropriate discussed
and acted upon by the Council, during the session.) The voting
members of the Council will then vote on the issue of whether
the matter should be brought before the Council, and an affirmative
vote of a simple majority of the body will result in the item
being eligible for discussion and possible action by the Council
as posted upon the agenda.
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IV.
PUBLIC
PARTICIPATION IN OPEN MEETINGS/PUBLIC HEARINGS
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The business of the City
of Bastrop is conducted by and between the members of the City Council
and by those members of the Bastrop City staff, elected officials,
department heads, consultants, experts and/or members of the public
requested to be present and participate. While the public is invited
to attend all meetings of the City Council (except Executive Sessions)
the public’s participation therein is limited to that of observers
unless a member of the public is specifically requested to
address the City Council on a particular issue or unless the
member of the public completes a “Public Comment Form”
and submits the completed form to the City Secretary at the beginning
of the applicable Council Meeting.
A. In order to
efficiently manage the time of the Council, each member of
the public who requests to appear before the City Council
shall be required to limit their presentation to a maximum
of three (3) minutes. Tracking the time utilized by each speaker
shall be maintained by a staff person designated by the presiding
officer. Public presenters may not “designate”
their time to be used by other presenters.
B. Discussion on
any Agenda item may be limited by the presiding officer to
thirty (30) minutes. Presenters shall be recognized in the
order of submission of the “Public Comment Form”
to the City Secretary, unless otherwise determined by the
presiding officer.
C. In matters of
exceptional interest, the presiding officer may either shorten
or lengthen the time allocated for a particular member of
the public, all members of the public and/or the amount of
time allocated for all Agenda items and/or a specific Agenda
item.
D. It is not the
intention of the City of Bastrop to provide a public forum
for the embarrassment or demeaning of any individual or group.
Neither is it the intention of the Council to allow a member
of the public to slur the performance, honesty and/or integrity
of the Council, as a body, or any member or members of the
Council individually or collectively, or members of the City’s
staff. Accordingly, profane, insulting or threatening language
directed toward the council and/or any person in the Council’s
presence and/or racial, ethnic, or gender will not be tolerated.
Violation of these rules may result in the following sanctions:
1. cancellation
of a speaker’s remaining time;
2. removal from the City Council room;
3. a Contempt Citation; and/or
4. such other civil and/or criminal sanctions as may be
authorized under the Constitution, Statutes and Codes of
the State of Texas.
The Mayor (or the
designated Mayor Pro-tem of the City Council), as presiding
officer of the City Council, is responsible for conducting
all meetings and members of the public who have property completed
a Public Comment Form and submitted same to the City Secretary
must wait to be recognized by the Mayor (or, in the Mayor’s
absence, by the then acting presiding Council Member) before
they will be allowed to address the Council.
E. From time to
time, the City Council shall conduct public hearings. These
rules of procedure, conduct and decorum shall also apply to
such public hearings, however, the City Council may adopt
such additional and supplemental rules for such meetings as
may be necessary and appropriate to conduct such meetings
in an orderly, efficient and proper manner.
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Pursuant to the City Charter,
the Texas Constitution and the laws of the State and City, the City
Council is imbued with full authority to exercise self-governance
necessary to actuate the Council’s concepts discussions, deliberations,
and decisions on the business of the City. As Chief Executive Officer
of the City, the Mayor or the City Council’s formally authorized
designee shall be responsible for executing all contracts and agreements
on behalf of the City.
VI.
Rules
for the Press and Media
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The use of media equipment,
such as lights, cameras and/or microphones should be coordinated with
the City Manager prior to the meeting to ensure that this equipment
does not disturb or otherwise conflict with or disrupt the meeting
or the Council’s activities.
The Chief of Police of
the City of Bastrop, Texas, or his/her designated Officer shall serve
as the Bailiff at all Regular, Special, and Emergency Meetings of
the City Council. However, in the event of the absence of the Chief,
or in the event that there exists a conflict of interest between the
Chief, any member of the Police Department, and the City Council,
or in the event of an Executive Sessions in which the Chief is not
an authorized participant, then in such event, the Council shall appoint
such other commissioned peace officers to serve as Bailiff as may
be necessary.
These rules of Procedure,
Conduct and Decorum for Bastrop City Council Meetings and Hearings
shall be effective immediately upon adoption by the Council and shall
remain in full force and effect until amended or repealed by a majority
vote of the City Council.
ADOPTED
BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BASTROP ON August 23, 2005.
Tom Scott, Mayor
John Creamer, Mayor Pro-Tem
Willie DeLaRosa
Terry Sanders
Dock Jackson
Martha Harris
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