HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-751
CityClerk
From:Rob Qualls <robbieq@gmail.com>
Sent:Thursday, May 11, 2023 9:42 AM
To:Jones, D'Andre; Hertzberg, Holly; Jordan, Lioneld; Wiederkehr, Mike; Moore, Sarah;
Bunch, Sarah; Berna, Scott; Harvey, Sonia; Turk, Teresa; CityClerk
Subject:Rules of order regarding agenda items
Categories:FYI
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(Clerk's office, please add this to the packet for resolution 2023-751)
Good Afternoon Council,
During the May 9 Agenda Session, Councilmember Bunch relayed an email that I had sent her after hearing a rumor that
a resolution amending the Rules of Order regarding public comment bypassed the tentative agenda. My email was
strictly on the procedural issue, and took no position on the proposed rule change.
The Current Rules of order state:
"Council Member Agenda Items. Council Members should also strive to include any agenda item a Council
Member wishes the City Council to consider within the Tentative Agenda. If that is not possible, the Council
Member should explain during the Agenda Session why the proposed agenda item should be included in the
Final Agenda rather than postponed to the next meeting. Any member of the City Council including the Mayor
can then place this item on the Final Agenda."
In response to my question being relayed, Councilmember Berna asked "Did they send the same email when
Councilmember Harvey Brought on a 3 Million dollar ARPA request for the arts council., or Councilmember
Moore walked on a 1.3 million dollar ARPA request?"
No, I would have had no way to know an item was being omitted from the tentative agenda until after the fact. I
only knew of this one because I heard a rumor. After reviewing those agenda meetings, I would say they
should have been added to the tentative agenda unless there was a time sensitive reason for them to jump the
line. However, ARPA grant considerations are materially different than rules of order changes. I spent several
weeks, and several ordinance review meetings with council in 2020 to revise the rules, and they are being
changed in one meeting, with no supporting data.
If Council wants to fast track a reduction in public comment period, you're free to do so. The comments about
how the public still has a week's notice, distract from the fact that the rules are not being followed.
There were concerns addressed during the meeting about wanting to shorten meetings in part so staff could
get home sooner. I agree with that. However, routinely violating your own rules to add items to an already full
agenda, while jumping in front of items they had to submit under different rules, is counter-intuitive to concerns
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about staff's time. Council spent 20 minutes discussing this agenda item and my comments (including taking a
position on the resolution, debating the item, and stating how members would vote). I don't feel like that's
showing respect for the public or staff's time. There was also a comment that the public could simply ask for
more time. In the previous meeting, a council member responded, out of order, to such a request by saying
"We haven’t given anyone else extra time”, to which the Mayor had to explain that the rules allow them to ask
for more time. These out of order outbursts have become more common this year.
During discussion on the SRO Grant in the May 2nd Council Meeting 19 members of the public spoke for a
total of 45 minutes. Council (Not including the Chiefs presentation) spoke for 1 hour. On the Grant for the
Basketball court, Council spent 36 minutes debating, public comment took 5.
Please learn, and follow the Rules of order. And please familiarize yourselves with Roberts Rules of order so
you can have quicker, more efficient meetings.
I will see you all next Tuesday, in what the council has now decided would be a late running meeting, with a
discussion about public comment slated last on the agenda. The purported purpose of this item being to keep
people from having to stay late to comment. I have linked your rules for your review. RULES OF ORDER AND
PROCEDURE (fayetteville-ar.gov)
Thanks
Rob Qualls
Ward 3
501-517-7579
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