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Fact
Sheet: Berkeley
City Council Rules Committee
Berkeley City Council meetings
have been somewhat notorious for their length and lack of focus on City
priorities. Items often come before the Council before any staff research
has been conducted, costs analyzed, or citizen review permitted.
In addition, important issues that are ready for Council action are
pushed late into the night or even held over for a future meeting because
time is taken up discussing the meeting agenda and items that are not
ready for a decision. Citizens
who come to comment on an issue may end up waiting for hours before their
item finally comes before the Council.
What the Rules Committee Does:
Mayor Tom Bates, along with six of
his colleagues on the City Council, voted to create a Council Rules
Committee made up of the Mayor and two Council Members.
The Committee – which is similar to those in other cities –
will be reviewed in six months and can be modified or eliminated at any
time by a majority vote of the Council.
- The
Council Rules Committee will meet eight days ahead of the regularly
scheduled Council meeting to review items submitted for the agenda.
- The
Committee will set the order of the agenda to allow for maximum
citizen input and to leave adequate time for comment on issues that
are controversial.
- The
committee will also review items submitted by Council Members to see
if a referral to a Commission, back to the author, or to City staff is
warranted.
- The
Rules Committee can decide not to recommend an item for the Council
agenda. If the author
disagrees with the Rules decision, they can have it placed on the
Council agenda in a section for items not recommended by the Rules
Committee.
- Items
submitted by Commissions and Boards are placed on the Council agenda
without review by the Rules Committee.
What the Rules Committee Does
NOT do:
- The
Rules Committee was designed in close coordination with the City
Attorney and City Clerk to ensure it did not violate the City Charter
or impede City operations.
- The
Rules Committee does not have the power to stop an item from appearing
on the Council agenda. If
the author of the item disagrees with the Rules Committee
recommendation, they just ask that it be placed on the Council agenda
anyway.
- The
Rules Committee does not set policy; it only makes recommendations to
the Council and helps organize the agenda.
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