CITY of ALBUQUERQUE
TWENTY FIFTH COUNCIL
COUNCIL BILL NO. RA-23-3 ENACTMENT NO. ________________________
SPONSORED BY: Pat Davis
RULES AMENDMENT
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Amending Article I, Sections 8(C) And 8(H); And Article III, Sections 4(A), 4(B), 24(12), And 24(13) Of The City Council Rules Of Procedure Relating To The Order Of Business And Public Comment On Quasi-Judicial Matters (Davis)
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AMENDING article i, sections 8(c) and 8(h); and Article III, sections 4(a), 4(b), 24(12), and 24(13) OF the City Council Rules of Procedure relating to THE ORDER OF BUSINESS AND PUBLIC COMMENT ON QUASI-JUDICIAL MATTERS.
SECTION 1. Article I, Section 8(C) is hereby amended as follows:
“C. Persons desiring to speak before the City Council on a particular agenda item shall be asked to register with Council staff prior to consideration of the agenda item. Comments shall be limited to two agenda items per meeting. Comments must be germane to the particular agenda item. During general public comment, speakers are not restricted as to topic except that general public comment shall not be permitted on quasi-judicial matters, including but not limited to land use appeals. Time limitations on speakers may be established at the discretion of the President of the City Council and shall apply to all speakers equally. Persons desiring to submit written comments to the Clerk of the Council may do so at any time. Restrictions under this section do not apply to the Mayor, the Mayor’s designated representative, or persons invited by the City Council.”
SECTION 2. Article I, Section 8(H) is hereby amended as follows:
“H. The first 30 individuals will be allowed to speak under general public comment of the agenda. Individuals who have signed up to provide general public comment to the Council but who, due to this limitation, are not able to speak may either provide general public comment at the end of the meeting under ‘Other Business’ or inform Council staff that they would like to provide their comments at the next regular Council meeting. Individuals who request to speak at the next regular Council meeting will be placed at the front of the public comment sign up list at that meeting.”
SECTION 3. Article III, Sections 4(A) and 4(B) are hereby amended as follows:
“A. The City Council shall consider business in the following order:
(1) Roll Call
(2) Moment of Silence
Pledge of Allegiance in English and Spanish and any other language as determined by the Council
(3) Proclamations & Presentations
(4) Administration Question & Answer Period
(5) Approval of Journal
(6) Communications and Introductions
(7) Reports of Committees
(8) Consent Agenda
(9) Announcements
(10) Financial Instruments
(11) Appeals
(12) General Public Comments
(13) Approvals
(14) Final Actions
(15) Other Business
B. The City Council shall not allow General Public Comments at Special Meetings.”
SECTION 4. Article III, Sections 24(12) and 24(13) are hereby amended as follows:
“12. When the Council receives the Hearing Officer’s findings and decision, the Council shall place the decision on the agenda of the next regular full Council meeting provided that there is a period of at least 10 days between the receipt of the decision and the Council meeting. Verbal testimony from the appellant, party opponent, or any other member of the public about the subject of the appeal is not permitted during the “accept or reject” hearing nor during General Public Comment. The parties may submit written comments to the Council through the Clerk of the Council regarding the Hearing Officer’s decision and findings provided such comments are in writing and received by the Clerk of the Council and the other parties of record four (4) consecutive days prior to the Council “accept or reject” hearing. Parties submitting written comments in this manner must include a signed, written attestation that the comments being submitted were delivered to all parties of record within this timeframe, which attestation shall list the individual(s) to whom delivery was made. Comments received by the Clerk of the Council that are not in conformance with the requirements of this Section will not be distributed to Councilors.
13. The Council shall vote whether to accept or reject the Hearing Officer’s decision and findings. The Council will make its decision to accept or reject based solely on the record before it and shall not hear from the parties or any other person, other than its staff, at its hearing on this question nor during General Public Comment. A motion to reject or accept the Hearing Officer’s decision and findings must be approved by a majority of the membership of the Council.”
SECTION 5. SEVERABILITY CLAUSE. If any section, paragraph, word or phrase of this rules amendment is for any reason held to be invalid or unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of this rules amendment. The Council hereby declares that it would have passed this rules amendment and each section, paragraph, sentence, clause, word or phrase thereof irrespective of any provision being declared unconstitutional or otherwise invalid.
SECTION 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. This rules amendment shall take effect immediately upon adoption.
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