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East Point council debates speaking limits and whether Rule 8 applies in work sessions
Summary
Council considered when Rule 8 (limits on speaking and debate) applies; the city attorney said the rule is not explicitly limited to regular sessions and council asked staff to prepare clearer policy language for the work-session 15-minute rule.
The city attorney read Rule 8 of the council rules during the Jan. 20 meeting and council members debated whether its limits on speaking apply during work sessions or only when a motion is on the floor.
The city attorney summarized the rule: “No council member shall speak more than once on the same question until every other council member desiring to speak shall have had an opportunity to do so… No council member shall speak longer than 5 minutes at any one time, except by consent of the council.” Council members said the ambiguity about when the rule applies created tension during prior meetings and asked staff to compare Rule 8 with the separate 15-minute work-session policy (a resolution) and recommend clarifying language.
Some council members argued that work sessions are informational and should allow freer questioning and discussion; others stressed the value of standardizing when the time limits apply, to avoid ad hoc suspensions of rules and to preserve deliberative process. The city attorney said the 15-minute provision is in a separate work-session policy and recommended aligning the rules and the resolution that governs work sessions.
What happens next: council added review of the work-session policy to an upcoming work session to clarify whether Rule 8 should be reworded or limited to certain situations.
