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Council ad‑hoc reports progress on rules and procedures review; deputy mayor duties and training language revised
Summary
An ad‑hoc council committee reported progress on a comprehensive review of the council’s rules and procedures at the June 9 study session. Committee members described changes to how an interim deputy mayor is handled, clarified training expectations for council members, and deferred some complex succession language for later refinement.
The City Council’s ad‑hoc Rules and Procedures Committee presented a status update and draft revisions at the June 9 study session, explaining several substantive edits and where the committee will return with more detail.
Councilor Kate Baldwin, committee chair, said the group met repeatedly in recent months to review the document and received staff legal and clerks’ input. Committee recommendations included: (1) removing repeated interim‑title phrasing by adding a single governing sentence that states an interim deputy mayor, once selected by council majority, will be referred to as deputy mayor for the purposes of these rules while serving in that interim capacity; (2) clarifying deputy‑mayor duties as the legislative head without creating an enforcement or supervisory role over other council members; and (3) shifting language on council member training from prescriptive requirements toward an encouraged set of standard onboarding and training opportunities while retaining legally mandatory training references (Open Public Meetings Act and Public Records Act) as required by law.
The committee also debated how to handle special focus area appointments and whether chairs should rotate to give more council members subject‑matter experience; the committee’s draft encourages the deputy mayor to solicit interest and make appointments but recognized councilors may raise preferences and asked staff to consider a retreat or other forum to discuss appointment mechanics.
Committee members and staff flagged one section for additional drafting: succession and “prolonged absence” language related to mayoral duties. The committee agreed to park that item for further review by the city attorney and bring clarified wording back to council. Council directed staff to provide a cleaned‑up draft reflecting accepted edits ahead of the next study session so councilors can review remaining changes before final action.
