Anacortes council advances redlined meeting procedures, tightens public-comment rules

City staff led a line-by-line review of a redlined update to Anacortes’ council procedures on Dec. 1, urging council to adopt clearer rules for debate, public comment and internal communications.

Staff member Swetnam said the intent was to resume where the council left off and ‘‘work through the remainder of the red line draft,’’ including a switch to Robert’s Rules of Order and a formal rotation for calling roll in roll-call votes. She said staff will return a consolidated draft that incorporates council edits.

The draft would require regulatory non-emergency ordinances to be heard at two separate meetings before adoption, formalize rotation of the clerk-treasurer’s order for calling roll, and delete an older code requirement that fees be established by ordinance in favor of the existing unified fee schedule.

A substantial portion of the discussion focused on public comment. The redline would: prohibit applause or cheering during meetings (except for announcements or recognitions), prohibit campaigning in the public-comment period consistent with state law, ban use of the podium computer by commenters, and add remote-participation rules. The version circulated had a provision that remote commenters keep their camera on; councilmembers debated and agreed to strike that requirement while adding a neutral-background expectation for people who do show video.

Councilmember Walters cautioned against overly broad disruption rules, saying the city must ‘‘not run afoul of First Amendment protections’’ and staff said the disruption language was adapted from Seattle to focus on conduct that interrupts proceedings rather than the content of speech.

Councilmembers also discussed restrictions on repeated committee membership. The redline proposes term guidance to discourage static membership and staff suggested language that committee membership ‘‘should not remain the same each term’’ with a goal that members not serve more than two consecutive terms; the mayor pro tem would retain assignment discretion subject to council confirmation.

The draft also adds a short section on council communications to protect compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act and the Public Records Act: emails to the whole council may be sent with ‘‘do not reply-all’’ instructions; council members must retain records related to city business in native format for public-records requests.

Swetnam said staff will prepare an updated draft incorporating council feedback and return it for adoption before year-end.

The council did not take a final formal vote on the procedures at the Dec. 1 meeting; members directed staff to produce revised language reflecting the edits discussed.