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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992-07-27 92-377 ORDER„ovacti Action Date 7=4!7�2 Item No. 92-3]) DRESSER; Disrasshw, PmCaE¢e £e AppoiastapyR of City Cwn:Sl Item/Subject Chair Pm Sorpote Responsible Department: City Cwrcil Commentary: g9a [ausfeipal Cp¢atiws oo eitnae has disaased various pev rxae rot3ch tla Council might adopt Far the appoinhoatt of a Coun:hh Q iz Pm 1Hrprae. 111s; diswasims vas as a resuht of Cwnadll S .B suggestion at the hast Comn£1 lipeatin9. the Cnieiteas £alt that it azvhd be apptoprahta to solleit tha vlewe of the full Cwrcil prior to pxaresduri arty furthec on the issue. Attachad phase find a w this issue prepared! W Erik Bheq;i h, City SoliciTm. D[Parn n, load Manager's Comments: Ci[y Monngn Associated Informadom order, NaaR.'asvLm,'e . Budget Approval: 1`11111CDir[ Legal Approval: �y. 01A sqa,,/ ViltJ5 / srx [ Wori{s� /l/w$saZ. Wlfh Jph< iuXl5 9ny5as}ien ciryseekil” vn ns#AX; rn[rnd), Introduced For OPassage ❑ First Reading Page _ of— ❑ Referral In City Council duly 27, 1992 Council voted by shw of hands 5 Yes 4 No to vote for a vice chair at no first meeting i Novevkei a lose with voting for Chai n Council Attorney to draft propOael r City CI q�a1J as 92-377 MEMORANDUM July 17, 1992 T0: Bangor City Council FROM: Erik Stumpfel, City Solicitor RE: procedure for Appointment of City Council Chair Pio Tempore Following Councilor Jane Saxl's suggestion at last Monday's City Council meeting, I have retrieved my Memorandum dated February 21, 1992 addressing appointment of acting City Council Chairs. The relevant sections of that Memo are attached. Under Article II, Section 3 of Bangor's City Charter, unless the Council makes some alternative provision, the City Council retains the power to appoint an acting Council Chair or Chair pro tempera in the absence of the regular Council Chair. As stated in my earlier Memo, however, the Council has the authority to determine its own rules of procedure, and therefore may make any reasonable provision for appointment of an acting Council Chair or Chair pro tem. Such provisions could include, for example, any of the following: (1) Selection of a permanent Council Chair one tte oorr_e at the start of a given Council year. This position could be selected as a distinct office by majority vote of the Council, or could perhaps be awarded to the candidate who finishes second in the Council's vote to select the regular Council Chair. (2) Selection of a Council Chair pro tempers on a rotating basis as the need arises according to a predetermined list, as suggested by Councilor Saxl. (3) Selection of a Council Chair pig, tampers as the need arises on the basis of seniority among those Council members present. (4) Allowing the regular Council Chair, by rule, to designate a Council Chair pro tempore whenever the regular Chair anticipates being absent from a Council meeting. Selection of an acting Chair or Council Chair oro tempore under paragraphs (1)-(2) above could be done annually, by vote or order of the Council, or the Council could amend its legislative ordinance to prescribe the selection method. -2- 92-3J) The chief purpose and benefit of prescribing a selection method other than the current ad hoc procedure would be to eliminate delays at outset—ofthe Council meetings and to remove the selection process from the political arena. P'S. S.S. Attachment PC; City Manager City Clerk M M 92-3A IExcerpt from Memorandum dated February 21, 19921 ISSUES: 1. Anncintment Of Actino Council/Coomittee Chairs (a) City Council Chair. Article II, Section 3 of the Bangor City Charter, regarding appointment and duties of the Council Chair, provides in its entirety as follows: "At the first meeting, or as soon thereafter as possible the City Council shall elect one of its members as chairman of the council for the ensuing year, and until hiscsor is elected and qualified, and the City Council may fill for the unexpired term any vacancy as Chairman that may occur. If the chairman shall fail from sickness, disability, absence from the city or other cause to attend to and perform the duties incumbent on him as such chairman, the - remaining members of the City Council may by unanimous vote, after notice and hearing, terminate the term of office of said chairman and remove him therefrom and thereupon by majority vote may elect some other member of said City Council chairman and such newly elected member shall thereupon and thereafter hold the office and perform the duties of chairman for the balance of that year, and until his successor is elected and qualified. m The Chairman shall preside at all meetings of 92-37I the council, and shall perform such other duties, consistent with this office, as the council may provide. He shall be entitled to vote, and his vote shall be counted upon all matters and things asvote of other members of the council. The chairman shall be cognized as the official head of the city for ceremonial ial purposes, and shall have the pow and authority given to and perform the duties required of mayors of cities for all purposes of military law, and shall act a mayor in so far as representation is provided for the city by the mayor upon any board or commission or otherwise provided by any statute. In the temporary absence or disability of the chairman of the City, Council may select a chairman Pro tempore from among its number and he shall exercise all the powers of the chairman ^ (Emphasis Added) Under this provision, the City Council is authorized to select a chairman oro tempo_ by majority vote whenever the regular chairman is absent from a Council meeting. It, during the course of a Council meeting, the Council Chairman finds it necessary to step down from the Chair, for ample, to better participate in the debate on a particular item, appointment of a chairman pro tezzoore is governed by Article 2 of the Council's Legislative Ordinance (Chapt. I, Article 2, Laws and Ordinances of the City of Bangor). The Legislative Ordinance does_ not address this issue specifically, but instead, in Section 14, adopts Robert's Rules of Order as the procedural authority to direct the course of the Council's proceedings. Section 58 of Robert's Rules of order in turn contains the following discussion of a chairman's power to appoint a temporary successor. "If it is necessary for the chairman to vacate the chair the first Vice President, if there is o should take the chair, and i his absencethenext one in order should take it. If there is no vice president in the hall, then the chairman may, if it is necessary to vacate the chair, appoint a chairman 'pro tem.', but the first adjournment puts an end to the appointment, which the assembly can terminate before, if it pleases, by electing another chairman. But the regular chairman, knowing that he will be absent from a future meeting, cannot authorize another member to act in his place at such meeting; the secretary, or, in his -2- 0 92-3I] absence, some other member should insuch case call the meeting to order, anda chairman 'pro tem.' be elected who wouldhold office during that session, unless such office is terminated by the entrance of the president or a vice president, or by the election of another chairman 'pro tem.• which may be done by a majority vote." The Bangor City Council has no regular "Vice President^ or permanently -designated chairman pro tempore. Accordingly, under the provision quoted above, a regular Council Chairman who is present at a meeting of the Council, but who steps dawn from the Chair, normally should be entitled to appoint a chairman pro tempore. An unresolved solved issue i whether the Council Chairman should be entitled to appoint a chairman pro tempore when he or she Cates the chair due to a conflict of interest in regard to a particular item under consideration by the Council. This situation is not clearly addressed by our Legislative Ordinance or by Robert's Rules of Order. However, Robert's Rules does discuss the importance of avoiding any appearance of partiality on the part of the chairman of a deliberative body. in addition, Section 3.7 of the City's Code of Ethics (Chapt. 1, Art. 6, Laws and Ordinances of the City of Bangor) provides as follows: "3.7 Conflicts of interest. Bangor City Council Agenda Items. (A) Deliberation and Vote Prohibited. No City Councilor Board Member or Commission Member shall, in such capacity, participate in the deliberation on vote, or otherwise take Dart in the decision- making process, on any agenda item before his or her collective body in which he or a member of his immediate family has a financial or special interest, other than an interest held by the public generally. (D) Avoidance Of Assearance of Conflict. To avoid the appearance of a violation of this section, once any individual City Councilor, Board Member or Commission Member is determined to have a conflict of interest in respect to any agenda item, said individual shall immediately remove himself or herself from the meeting room or t the area of the xoom occu d b the1 Dubli c.' He or she shall not return to his -3- I h 1 t emb f th b tl it deliberation 0 1 action on the item is com- pleced. Nothing herein shall require an individual Councilor, Hoard Member or Commission Member to remove himself or herself for any item contained on a 'Consent Agenda' o which there has been determined by the other members, and the right to abstain from voting on the item has been granted." (Emphasis Added) Under these provisions, it is possible that a Council Chairman appointing a chairman pro taxoQre could be deemed to be "taking part' in the decision-making process in violation of Section 3.7(A). It is also possible to construe Section 3.7(D) as meaning that a Council Chairman who has been disqualified from participating on a particular item due to a conflict of interest has not merely 'vacated" the Chair within the meaning of Section 58 of Robert's Rules of Order, but is in fact no longer present at the Council's meeting for purposes Of the particular item concerned. Under either of these interpretations, it would be appropriate for the Council, by majority vote, to select a chairman pro two_. Many of the issues relating to appointment of an acting council chairman could be resolved by election of a permanent council chairman oro tempore_. Although this office is not designated in the City Charter, election of a permanent chairman Pro tempore would be well within the Council's authority to determine its own rules Of procedure under Article Ii, Section 8 of the City Charter. Such a procedure could have the benefit as well of encouraging regular attendance at Council meetings by future Council chairmen, if a tradition developed of electing Council members with differing political views to the respective offices of Council Chairman and chairman uro, tempore. (b) Committee Chairs. The procedure for appointment of Committee Chairmen is set out in Article 3, Section 6 of the City's Legislative Ordinance, Under that section, committee members and chairmen are appointed by the Chairman of the City Council. The ordinance makes no provision for appointment of temporary Committee chairmen. In the absence of a specific provision under the City's Ordinances, Robert's Rules of Order again would control. The procedure specified in Section 52 of Rcbert's Rules of Order for selection of committee chairmen is as follows. "Unless the assembly has appointed a chairman, either directly or through its presiding officer, the first named on a committee, and in his absence the next named member, becomes chairman, and so on and should act as such unless the committee by a majority of its number elects a chairman, which it has the right to do if the assembly has not appointed one, and which a standing committee usually does.' -4- 92-377 a1 Under this provision, the senior member of the Council Committee present, as designated by the Council Chairman at the time Committee appointments were made for the yearconcerned, would normally chair a Committee meeting in the absence of the regular chairman, unless the Committee by majority vote decide to elect mother member of the Committee as chairman oro tempore. Accordingly, acting chairmanship of a Council Committee should normally devolve without vote to the senior Committee member present, unless there is an objection raised and a special vote taken. -5-