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Council to rewrite rules of procedure; workshop to publish draft for public review
Summary
Councilors opened a review of council rules of procedure, seeking clearer guidance on agenda creation, abstention vs. recusal, public comment limits, and when new business may be acted upon; staff will prepare a draft revision for the next workshop.
Councilors at a Hampden workshop agreed it is time to conduct a thorough review of the council rules of procedure, last amended in 2025, to clarify procedures on agendas, votes, public-comment limits and definitions of abstention, recusal and presence.
A councilor said the current language doesn’t clearly define how an agenda item is submitted or whether the chair or another process should route matters to staff. Another councilor asked for clarification on the distinction between abstaining and recusal, and several members said rules on public comment and how to yield the floor to subject-matter experts should be clearer.
Councilors and staff agreed that workshops are the appropriate venue for ideas and public input and that any substantive revisions will be drafted by staff and published publicly ahead of the next workshop to allow informed comment. The council asked staff to prepare a working draft of proposed changes and to publish that draft for public review before the next session.
