City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: JUNE 6, 2023
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: JOANNA C. ANDERSON, CITY ATTORNEY /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Consideration of Changes to the City Council Procedural Resolution. [ROLL-CALL VOTE]
BODY
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ISSUE: Consideration of changes to the City Council procedural resolution to update the procedures to be consistent with current practice and to address the scheduling of the July meeting.
RECOMMENDATION: That city council adopt the new procedural resolution attached as Attachment 1.
BACKGROUND: City Council procedures are general addressed in the City Code Section 2-1-41, et. seq. In addition, the City Council has adopted a procedural resolution that details how the meetings should proceed. In March, Councilman McPike requested a change to the procedural resolution to address the scheduling of the City Council’s July meeting. At that time, the Mayor requested a review of the resolution to determine if anything else needed to be addressed.
DISCUSSION: The proposed changes are shown in the redline document attached as attachment 2 and are summarized as follows:
1. In Section 1, paragraph 2 we updated the language to reflect that if the Saturday after the second Tuesday falls on a holiday weekend, then the public hearing will be held on the next Saturday that is not a holiday. Additionally, we have added a sentence making clear that if weather requires the cancellation of a public hearing meeting, then the meeting will be held on the following Saturday. This language is necessary to make clear so that public hearing items will not need to be re-noticed if the meeting is cancelled.
2. Section 1, paragraph 3 has been added to clarify how the July meeting will be scheduled to prevent the meeting from being the day after the 4th of July holiday.
3. In Section 1, paragraph 5, we changed the month that the annual calendar will come to council from September to June so that the calendar of the next fiscal year’s meetings will be posted before the fiscal year begins.
4. In Section 2 we have proposed a new order of business to streamline the dockets and allow for flexibility in docket item placement.
5. In Section 3, Paragraph 4 we have deleted the sentence that prohibits ordinances and resolutions from being on the consent docket because our current practice includes a roll call consent docket for these types of items.
FISCAL IMPACT: None.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: New procedural resolution
Attachment 2: Redline to show changes from April 2021 resolution
Attachment 3: April 2021 resolution
STAFF:
Gloria Sitton, City Clerk
James F. Parajon, City Manager