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Motion of the Council of Allegheny County amending the Rules of Council for Allegheny County Council to clarify the Rules pertaining to decorum in Council's meetings.
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NOW THEREFORE, IT IS MOVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY,
That this Council hereby amends the Rules of Council as follows:
ARTICLE II. MEETINGS.
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M. Decorum in Meetings
1. Robert's Rules of Order shall serve as the determinant of proper decorum.
2. Proper decorum shall be maintained while the President is speaking, while a citizen is speaking, or during a voting procedure.
3. A council member who has the floor shall refrain from dealing in personalities and impugning the motives of others. Reference to other members of the Council shall be by proper title, i.e. Mr. Chairman, the last Council Member who spoke, the last citizen who spoke, or the former speaker.
4. Council members shall confine their remarks to the question before the Council. If any council member was absent from a committee meeting where a particular subject was discussed, that council member shall be recognized for debate on that subject only twice. Any debate beyond the two opportunities shall be at the discretion of the President. This rule shall not apply to the Sponsor, Committee Chair, or either Caucus Chair.
5. If a council member expresses a conflict of interest, the member shall state the conflict and refrain from further participation in the matter.
6. No member shall be permitted to conduct discussion on a bill during voting, or to explain his or her vote, except for an abstention, in which case the member shall be permitted to explain the reason for the abstention.
7. When a speaker is called to order by the President, that person shall relinquish the floor immediately until the question of order is resolved.
8. Unless previously scheduled according to the procedures set forth for scheduling public comment contained within Section I of this Article, no person shall address the Council unless invited by a council member with the approval of the majority vote of the members present. Under no circumstances may a Council Member leave his or her seat and address the Council from the public speakers' podium, unless that Member has previously registered with the Chief Clerk in accordance with the rules contained within Section I of this Article, governing public participation and comment. All rules governing public comment, including time limitations, shall apply to any Member addressing the Council from the public speakers' podium.
9. If any Council Member, in speaking or otherwise, transgresses the Rules of Council regarding decorum, the President or Presiding Officer, or any member through the President or Presiding Officer, shall call that Council Member to order, in which case the Council Member shall immediately fall quiet unless permitted by the Council to explain. The Council, upon appeal, shall decide the case without debate. If the decision is in favor of the Member, the Member may proceed. If the case requires, the Member shall be liable to censure or other punishment as the Council deems proper.
i. Censure by County Council is a formal motion reprimanding a person for conduct that falls below the guidelines established in the Rules of Council.
10. At any time after each Member has spoken twice or refused the opportunity to speak on a subject at least once, the Presiding Officer may, in his discretion, put the pending question to a vote. In such circumstance, the Presiding Officer's decision to put the pending question to a vote shall end further debate on the question and shall not itself be debatable, but any Member may make a Motion to Extend Debate Pending a Vote before the vote is begun.
i. The Motion to Extend Debate Pending a Vote must include a specific time period by which debate is to be extended. The motion itself is not debatable, and shall be passed upon an affirmative vote by a majority of the seated Members.
ii. In the event that a Motion to Extend Debate Pending a Vote passes, the Chief Clerk shall notify the Presiding Officer at the expiration of the extension. When the extension has expired, the Presiding Officer shall put the pending question to a vote. Further debate shall only be permitted by unanimous consent of the Members present voting on a second Motion to Extend Debate Pending a Vote. A second Motion to Extend Debate Pending a Vote must include a specific time period by which debate is to be extended, and the motion is not debatable. All subsequent Motions to Extend Debate shall be ruled out of order.
iii. Any Motion to Extend Debate Pending a Vote made after the presiding officer calls for a vote shall be ruled out of order. Any Motion to Extend Debate Pending a Vote that does not include a specific time by which debate is to be extended shall be ruled out of order.
11. At any time during debate, any Member may make a Motion to Call for the Orders of the Day, which shall constitute a request for the Council to conform to its agenda. This motion shall not require a second, and shall be neither debatable nor amendable. Upon the call of a single Member, the orders of the day must be enforced by the Presiding Officer, unless an affirmative vote by two thirds of the seated Members sets the agenda aside. A Motion to Call for the Orders of the Day cannot be reconsidered, and may be made while another Member has the floor.
12. At any time during debate, any Member may make a Motion for a Determination of Relevance to the Question, which shall constitute a request for an immediate ruling from the Presiding Officer regarding the relevance of the current discussion to the question at hand. This motion may be made while another has the floor, shall not require a second, shall be neither debatable nor amendable, and shall require an immediate ruling by the Presiding Officer. In the event that the Presiding Officer rules the discussion irrelevant to the question at hand, further discussion in the same line shall be ruled out of order unless an affirmative vote of two thirds of the seated Members approves a motion to allow it.
13. The motions specifically delineated within this Section shall be available in addition to those recognized elsewhere in the Rules of Council. Any motion delineated within Robert's Rules of Order shall remain available to any Member, except to the extent that Robert's Rules conflicts with these Rules of Council. In the event of a conflict between Robert's Rules and the Rules of Council, the Rules of Council shall take precedence.