Item A: City Council Process Session

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Any councilor may request that an item be postponed to another meeting if he/she is unable to attend the meeting at which the item has been scheduled. As a courtesy, councilors should submit in writing a request to postpone to the Mayor as early as possible. If the Mayor is unavailable the request should be made to the City Manager or the Manager’s designated staff member. A request to postpone may be requested for either a work session item or a vote on an agenda item. The request to postpone shall be honored unless a majority of councilors present, determines that the matter needs to be acted upon at that meeting. COMMITTEES OF THE COUNCIL 6. 6.01 Creation of Committees While the City Code governs appointments to certain committees, the code grants broad general powers to the Mayor and Council to create subcommittees or special ad hoc committees of the Council. The Mayor shall nominate and the Council shall appoint the members of any committee established by the Council unless a different procedure is specified at the time the committee is established. The charge to the committee shall be clearly stated at the time the committee is established, and the committee shall disband when its work is complete. Committees may be composed of councilors, interested citizens or both. 6.02 Standing Committees of the Council There is one standing committee of the Council, the Intergovernmental Relations Committee. 6.03 Standing Advisory Bodies to the Council There are five standing advisory bodies to the City Council. These are created in the Eugene Code and exist to provide advice on policy matters. These are: 1) the Budget Committee; 2) the Planning Commission; 3) the Police Commission; and 4) the Human Rights Commission. 7. CONDUCT AT MEETINGS 7.01 Roberts Rules of Order Conduct at Council meetings and committee meetings is governed by Roberts Rules of Order, Revised. The Council has the obligation to be clear and simple in its procedures and in its consideration of the questions coming before it. Council members shall avoid invoking the finer points of parliamentary rules which may serve only to obscure the issues. 7.02 Other Meeting Guidelines The presiding officer shall be responsible for ensuring order and decorum are maintained. Behavior or actions that are unreasonably loud or disruptive shall be cause for removal from Council meetings. This includes engaging in violent or distracting action, making loud or disruptive noise or using similar language, and refusing to obey an order of the presiding officer. Council members speak only for themselves and shall be open, direct and candid. They work to keep discussion moving, and call for a “process check” if the discussion becomes bogged down. Time limits may be set on topics. When councilors speak to each other during public meetings, last names shall be used during Eugene City Council Operating Agreements – March 7, 2005 Page 6 of 12