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Streamline City Council Meetings <br />November 2, 2021 <br />Page 3 <br />of the City Council to recognize individuals, groups, and events by issuing proclamations <br />and certificates of recognition. <br />Methods to Streamline City Council Meetings <br />Staff researched methods to reduce the duration of City Council meetings so as to <br />streamline the meetings. Below is an overview of options that the City Council may <br />consider. <br />1. GET ANSWERS TO TECHNICAL QUESTIONS PRIOR TO THE MEETING. It is <br />suggested that members of the Council reach out to staff prior to the City Council <br />meeting to reduce the amount of time devoted to technical questions or general <br />clarification during the City Council meeting. <br />2. IDENTIFY PARAMETERS FOR CEREMONIAL PRESENTATIONS. Set <br />scheduled time and time limits for ceremonials and presentations. Presentations <br />for the community are an important part of the meeting and are valued by the <br />community. Having a set time to conduct presentations would provide structure to <br />this part of the meeting and limit their carryover into the general City Council <br />meeting. Staff recommends setting a time limit of five minutes per presentation, <br />with the goal of limiting the number of presentations per meeting to three. The <br />Clerk of the Council would keep track of time during the presentations. <br />3. DECREASE TIME FOR PUBLIC COMMENTS. Reduce the public comment time <br />to 90 seconds if ten (10) or more speakers are speaking on the same item, with <br />language access and ADA exceptions. <br />4. REARRANGE THE TIME, PLACE, AND MANNER OF PUBLIC COMMENTS. In <br />addition to encouraging members of the public to submit written comments to <br />share their thoughts on City Council agenda items, the City Council may consider <br />rearranging public comments so that the Public Comments portion of the meeting <br />is either staggered, categorized by item type, or scheduled to a different section of <br />the City Council meeting agenda <br />5. SCHEDULE SPECIAL MEETINGS WHEN NECESSARY. Schedule special <br />meetings for contentious items. For items where large crowds are expected, it is <br />recommended to schedule a special meeting for the stand-alone item. <br />6. CALL FOR A POINT OF ORDER. Call for a "point of order" after discussion on <br />any one item has gone longer than 30 minutes. The City Council will be required <br />to vote by majority to continue discussing the item or table it for the next meeting. <br />7. START THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING EARLIER. Start the Closed Sessions at <br />4:00 p.m. instead of 5:00 p.m. and start the regular City Council meetings at 5:00 <br />p.m. If Closed Session items require additional discussion, then the closed session <br />can continue upon adjournment of the regular City Council meeting. Or consider <br />starting the City Council meeting earlier altogether. <br />8. ROBERT'S RULES OF ORDER TRAINING. Hold a Robert's Rules of Order <br />refresher training for the City Council by the City Attorney. The City Attorney can <br />explore modified rules used by other agencies and could provide information on <br />those rules at an upcoming meeting. <br />