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Emergency clause lets Akron ordinances take effect sooner; two‑thirds vote required
Summary
A city staff member told the Akron City Council that including an emergency clause in an ordinance's title allows the council to waive the three‑reading requirement and have the ordinance take effect sooner than the standard 30‑day period, but doing so requires a two‑thirds vote (nine members).
A city staff member told the Akron City Council during a meeting that including an emergency clause in the title of a piece of legislation lets the council set aside the requirement that an ordinance be read at three separate council meetings and allows it to take effect earlier than the typical 30‑day waiting period.
Under the council's rules, declaring an emergency and securing a two‑thirds vote allows the council to suspend the three‑reading rule. The staff member said a two‑thirds vote in Akron is nine members.
The staff member described the purpose of the emergency language as procedural: it is included in the title clause when the council intends to pass an item before it has been read three times. The staff member explained, “Declaring an emergency allows the council to dispense with the requirement that legislation be read at three separate council meetings and allows the legislation to go into effect earlier than 30 days.”
The remarks in the meeting transcript explain how the suspension works but do not record any motion, vote or specific ordinance using the emergency clause in this excerpt. No action on a particular ordinance was recorded in the provided transcript segments.
