Council Guidebook and Procedures

The Olympia City Council adopted a Council Guidebook, including Council meeting procedures and protocols, at its meeting on Tuesday, November 25, 2008. The Guidebook was last updated on August 11, 2009. The Guidebook replaces the previous Council Handbook and Rules of Procedure.

The Guidebook and Appendices are posted as pdf files.

• Olympia City Council Guidebook (amended August 11, 2009)
• Appendix A
• Appendix B

The Chapter on City Council Meeting Procedures is posted below for ease of reference.

---

Procedures and Protocols for the Conduct of Olympia City Council Meetings

• City Council Meetings
• Meeting Schedule
• Public Notice of Meetings and Hearings
• How can a City Council member advance a policy issue?
• Scheduling the Agenda
• Order of Business
• Procedure for Public Communication
• The Consent Calendar
• Reports
• Open Public Meetings Act
• Public Hearings
• Council Action
• Legislative Process
• Study Sessions
• Special Meetings
• Executive Sessions
• Televised Meetings
• Council Attendance Policy
• Meeting Minutes

City Council Meetings

Each regular meeting of the Council shall be conducted in accordance with a printed agenda setting forth the business to be transacted.

Meeting Schedule

The Olympia City Council usually establishes its yearly meeting calendar, including vacation weeks, at its annual goal-setting retreat. Council business meetings are held on Tuesday evenings, 7:00 p.m., at Olympia City Hall Council Chambers, 900 Plum Street SE, unless otherwise noticed.

When any of the above scheduled council meetings occur on a legal holiday, the next succeeding day shall be the date of the regular meeting. There are no regular meetings on the 5th Tuesday of a month unless scheduled by the City Council at its annual retreat.

Public Notice of Meetings and Hearings

The agenda and accompanying reports and documents are posted on the City of Olympia website, www.olympiawa.gov, typically no later than 3:00 p.m. the Friday before a meeting.

Paper copies of the agenda are available for in-person pick up at the Council's office during regular office hours. In addition, a paper copy of the entire Council packet is available for viewing at City Hall.

Notice of special meetings will be consistent with RCW 42.30.080.

How can a City Council member advance a policy issue?

It takes a majority of the City Council to bring a policy item before the full Council or a committee. Following are the routes a Council member may take to advance a policy issue:

• Annual Goal Setting Retreat - At the retreat Council members decide on the council goals and implementation items for staff to focus on during the year.
• Advisory Committee Work Plans - The General Government committee will draft committee work plans at the end of each year, and the committee chairs will come to Council in January with a year-long agenda. At that time, a majority of Council members may request other items be added to the work plan.
• Regular Meetings - At any time during a regular Council meeting, a member may make a referral for an item to be addressed by a committee or by the full Council in the form of a study session. This request is subject to concurrence by a majority of the Council present. Also, such matter shall not be considered by the Council at the same meeting it is submitted to the Council without the concurrence of the majority of the Council present.
• Referral to Committee - Item will be scheduled on the committee work plan agenda for a future date, and the committee chair will report back to full council on findings during a regular meeting.
• Referral to Study Session - Item will be scheduled on the Council agenda for a future date.
• During Budget Deliberations - At the end of each year, the full Council sets priorities for the future year in setting the budget. This is a time of deliberation and decision-making.
• City Manager's Performance Review - Council can decide on items that need to be addressed during the City Manager's biannual review.

Scheduling the Agenda

The agenda is the schedule of items the Council has determined they will address at a meeting. Agenda items may also be certain items proposed for the Council to address (i.e., lot vacations, ordinances to accept grants, etc.). The proposed agenda is set by the Mayor and/or Mayor Pro Tem in consultation with the City Manager, and each week is available by 3:00 p.m. on the Friday immediately preceding the meeting.

Each Monday morning the City Manager meets with Department Directors to go over proposed future agendas, at which time any issues that need to be brought forth to the City Council are discussed with the City Manager.

Agenda - Order of Business

The City Council has established the following order of business for its regular meetings:

1. Opening and Roll Call
1. Changes to Agenda
2. Approval of Agenda
2. Consent Calendar
3. Special Recognition
4. Public Communication - not to exceed 30 minutes
1. Council response to public communication
5. Reports
1. Intergovernmental Assignments/ Council Committee Chairs
6. Public Hearings
7. Other Business or Study Session
8. Committee Referrals
9. City Manager's Report
10. Continued Public Communications
11. Adjournment

The order of business may be revised by a majority vote of the Council. Items pulled from the Consent Calendar for substantive discussion will be moved to a later place on the Consent Calendar for substantive discussion will be moved to a later place on the Agenda at the discretion of the Council with placement recommendation made by the Mayor.

Procedure for Public Communication

The City Council appreciates hearing from citizens about items relating to city business and normally sets aside up to thirty minutes near the beginning of Council business meetings for public communication. This forum is a limited public forum and all matters discussed shall relate to city business.

The manner and extent to which members of the public participate in the Public Communication portion of the agenda is under the control of the Mayor. Therefore, to the extent necessary to prevent unreasonable interference with the meeting, the Mayor is empowered to curtail or prohibit testimony that is overly repetitive or lengthy, beyond the reasonable scope of City business, or of a nature that would endanger the safety or wellbeing of the persons attending the meeting or individual city employees. The Mayor is also empowered to establish time constraints on testimony, if necessary, to prevent unreasonable delay of the Council meeting.

Interested citizens may sign up to speak before the Council regarding any item related to City business, except issues for which the City Council either held a Public Hearing in the last 45 days or will hold a Public Hearing within 45 days.

Sign-in for Public Communication begins when the lobby doors to the Council Chambers are open (about 30 minutes in advance of the start of the meeting) and continues until after the Mayor gavels the meeting to order, with the exact time at staff's discretion. Everyone who has signed in by the time the time registration is closed will be provided an opportunity to comment at that evening's meeting, either during the initial 30 minutes scheduled on the agenda for Public Communication or at the end of the meeting if everyone is not accommodated within the initial 30 minutes.

If time allows during the initial 30 minutes set aside on the agenda for Public Communications, the Mayor may ask if anyone else in the audience wishes to speak. In this circumstance, Public Communication will not exceed 30 minutes total of testimony time, and additional comment will not be carried forward to the end of the meeting.

Individual comment during public communications is generally limited to three minutes or less. Comments should be directed to the Council as a whole. Speakers may not cede all or a part of their time to another speaker. In order to hear as many people as possible, the Council will refrain from commenting on individual statements until all public comment has been taken, or at the end of the 30-minute time allotment.

The Consent Calendar

The City Manager, Mayor and Mayor ProTem will propose which items are on the consent calendar.

The Consent calendar consists of items of a routine nature that do not require discussion. An ordinance or budget resolution typically requires two separate readings at a regularly scheduled council meeting. Final passage typically occurs on second reading, although second reading may be waived by an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the Council members present, unless precluded by law. Resolutions may be passed in one reading.

During the regular meeting, any Council member may pull a consent calendar item for discussion prior to approval of the consent calendar.

Reports

The intent is for Councilmembers to provide brief reports on Council, intergovernmental and committee activities and seek Council guidance and direction when appropriate.

Open Public Meetings Act

RCW 42.30 outlines the Open Public Meetings Act, which applies to all city and town councils and to all county councils and boards or county commissions, boards and committees. Basically, the Act requires that all "meetings" of such bodies by open to the public and that all "action" taken by such bodies be done at meetings that are open to the public. The terms "meetings" and "action" are defined broadly in the Act.

Please see Appendix B for the Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC) Guide to the Open Public Meetings Act. For Frequently Asked Questions about Open Public Meetings, see the MRSC website at http://www.mrsc.org/askmrsc/pastinqsubject.aspx?sid=22.

Public Hearings

For Frequently Asked Questions about Public Hearings, see the MRSC website at http://www.mrsc.org/Subjects/Governance/council/public.aspx.

Council Action

Any action of the Council shall be by ordinance, resolution, proclamation, or motion and shall be conducted only in open public meetings unless otherwise provided by law. Any such action (except for the passage of any ordinance or the granting or revocation of any license or franchise) shall be deemed approved by an affirmative vote of a majority of those Council members who are present and vote (i.e. do not abstain). The passage of any ordinance that grants or revokes a license or franchise, and any resolution for payment of money requires the affirmative vote of at least a majority of the whole membership of the Council. Public emergency ordinances that take effect immediately must be passed by a majority of the whole membership, plus one. (RCW 35A.13.190).

A vote on any matter shall be taken by voice vote except where the Mayor or Council Chair is unable to discern whether the ayes or nays prevail, in which case a roll call vote shall be taken. Any Council member may abstain from voting on any matter.

An ordinance or budget resolution shall undergo two separate readings and final passage may not be accomplished before the second reading. The readings shall occur at regular meetings. This rule may be suspended by an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the Council members present, in which case final passage may be accomplished at the same meeting the ordinance or budget resolution was introduced, unless precluded by law.

Legislative Process

All measures proposed for Council consideration must have the endorsement and sponsorship of at least one member or be recommended by a Council committee or be advanced by staff as a Consent Calendar item.

All proposed measures, except Consent Calendar items, must be referred to a Council committee of proper jurisdiction, unless the majority of the Council members present approve a suspension of the rules and one of the following alternative dispositions of the proposal:

1. Referral to the Committee of the whole for later consideration, or
2. Immediate consideration, or
3. Referral to an advisory committee, or
4. Referral to staff for investigation and report.

Study Sessions

A Councilmember may request a study session on a specific topic for the purpose of discussing and exploring issues in a more informal setting than the Council's regular business meeting. The study session will be a separate meeting either before or after the Council's regular business meeting or on another day. The requesting Councilmember will be the lead Council person to work with staff on the format and discussion participants and in identifying an appropriate location for the study session.

Special Meetings

A special meeting may be called at any time by the Mayor or by a majority of the Council. Notice will be provided in keeping with RCW 42.30.

If more than three Council members attend and participate in an official capacity at any meeting, it shall be considered a special meeting and notice shall be given.

In addition to the foregoing, the City Manager shall follow up with City Council members by telephone, email or such other convenient communication method reasonable to apprise the members of special meetings. The City Manager may also, at his/her discretion, provide notice to interested parties.

Executive Sessions

Executive Sessions are scheduled at the request or concurrence of the Mayor, or by a majority vote of the full Council during a meeting.

The Council may hold executive sessions before, after, or during a regular or special meeting to consider such matters permitted by RCW 42.30 or other applicable state law. Such matters may include, but are not limited to, national security, purchase or sale of real estate, litigation, collective bargaining, appointment of Council members and/or advisory board members, performance of publicly bid contracts, complaints against or evaluation of the performance of a public employee, and quasi-judicial matters. Decisions on any of the above subjects may be made at a subsequent regular meeting.

Televised Meetings

Olympia's weekly City Council meetings, when held in the City Council Chambers on Tuesday evenings, are televised live on Thurston Community Television (TCTV) and video streamed through the City's website by a third-party service.

When City Council meetings are held in another location that does not allow for live telecast, the meetings are taped for replay on TCTV and the City's video streaming service, if TCTV has staff and equipment available to provide the service.

Council Attendance Policy

RCW 35A.13.020 (Council-Manager Plan of Government) directs us to RCW 35A.12.060 (Mayor-Council Plan of Government) - Vacancy for Nonattendance. A council position shall become vacant if the Council member fails to attend three consecutive regular meetings of the council without being excused by the council. (See also OMC 2.04.030)

At the start of each City Council meeting, the Mayor will call the roll. Any absent Council member who has left a message by 5:00 p.m., or reached the Mayor or City Manager's Office directly before the start of the meeting on the day of the meeting to advise of such absence, will be considered excused.

Meeting Minutes

Robert's Rules of Order define minutes as the record of the proceeding which state what action was taken. The essentials of the record include all main motions (except such as were withdrawn) and points of order and appeals, whether sustained or lost, and all other motions that were not lost or withdrawn.

back to top