City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: May 6, 2025
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: CHERAN IVERY, CITY ATTORNEY
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Consideration of Changes to the City Council Procedural Resolution. [ROLL-CALL VOTE]
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ISSUE: Consideration of changes to the City Council procedural resolution.
RECOMMENDATION: That city council adopt the proposed procedural resolution attached as Attachment 1.
BACKGROUND: Section 3.08 of the City Charter provides that the Council shall establish its own rules of procedure. City Council procedures are generally addressed in the City Code Section 2-1-41, et. seq. In addition, the City Council has adopted and periodically updated a supplemental procedural resolution, which details how Council meetings should proceed.
The City Attorney's Office was requested to review changes to the procedural resolution to address several matters with the goal of improving meeting efficiency. The City Attorney's Office is also recommending additional technical changes.
DISCUSSION: The proposed changes are shown in Attachment 1 and are summarized as follows:
Recommended Changes:
1. Establishment of a single consent docket.
a. Rationale - Consent dockets allow the council to vote on a group of routine or noncontroversial items, such as minutes, with a single vote and without individual discussion. Currently, the council operates with two consent dockets: the "Regular Consent Docket" and the "Roll-Call Consent Docket." The proposed resolution would combine the two consent dockets into a single consent docket, which would be acted upon by a roll-call vote of council members in accordance with Sec. 3.08 of the City Charter. Establishing a single consent docket would eliminate concerns that an item could be mistakenly placed on regular consent as opposed to roll-call consent and eliminate an unnecessary section of the...
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