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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/26/1977 City Council 000035 MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING THE CITY OF THE COLONY DENTON COUNTY, TEXAS MAY 26, 1977 THE STATE OF TEXAS ) ) ) COUNTY OF DENTON ) The City Council of the City of the Colony, Denton County, Texas, convened in special session, open to the public, at the north end of the First Baptist Church in the City of The Colony, Denton County, Texas, at 6:30 P.M., Thursday, May 26, 1977, and the roll was called of the members of the Council, to wit: Luis Guerrero Mayor Joe Gaulden Alderman Sandra Shearer Alderman Dick Weaver Alderman Linda Adams Alderman with Alderman Linda Adams absent; however, the members present constituted a quorum. Also present were Bill Davis, Attorney; Pam Schuman, acting secretary to the City Council; and members of the public. The metting was called to order by Mayor Luis Guerrero who proceeded to agenda item ~1, consideration of an appointment to Place #1 on the City Council. The Mayor called for a motion to open nominations for Place #1 and the motion was seconded by Alderman Joe Gaulden. The motion was carried by the following vote: Ayes: All members present voted aye Noes: None Next, the Mayor called for nominations for Place #1. Alderman Shearer nominated Alderman Gaulden for Place #1. Her nomination was seconded by Alderman Dick Weaver. There were no other nominations presented. The appointment of Alderman Joe Gaulden to Place #1 on the City Council was carried by the 000036 following vote: Ayes: All members present voted aye Noes: None Mayor Guerrero then administered the oath of office to Alderman Gaulden to officially install him in Place #1 on the City Council. Since a vacancy then existed in Place #5, Alderman Gaulden's former place, on the City Council, Mayor Guerrero proceeded to agenda item #2, consideration of an appointment to Place #5. After explaining again for the benefit of the public present the procedures concern- ing the place system, Mayor Guerrero called for nominations for Place #5. Alderman Weaver made the motion to nominate Dave Dall to Place #5 and the motion was seconded by Alderman Shearer. There were no other nominations presented. The appointment of Dave Dall to Place #5 on the City Council was carried by the following vote: Ayes: All members present voted aye Noes: Non e Mayor Guerrero then administered the oath of office to Dave Dall to officially install him in Place #5 on the City Council. Alderman Gaulden moved for a five-minute recess at this time to allow Alderman Dall the opportunity to review the document regarding rules of procedure to be discussed shortly. Alderman Weaver seconded the motion and the motion was carried by the following vote: Ayes: All members present voted aye Noes: None After the five-minute recess, the meeting resumed with consideration of agenda item #3, appointment of Pamela Schuman as temporary City Secretary. Alderman Weaver made the motion to appoint her to this position and the motion was seconded by Alderman Shearer. The motion was carried by the following vote: Ayes: All members present voted aye Noes: None Agenda item #4, consideration of rules of procedure for the conduct of City Council meetings, was next discussed. Mayor Guerrero open- ed the floor to discussion by the Alderman of the sample rules of -2- O0003q procedure which had been distributed to them prior to the meeting. Alderman Weaver suggested several changes, including: Section 2.1 - The addition of a provision for when the normal Monday council meeting falls on a holiday; Section 2.4 - Changing the quorum from five to three members; Section 3.5 - Using a volunteer sargeant-at-arms; Generally removing any references to a city manager since the the City did not have one. Alderman Shearer then questioned the wording "by unanimous consent of the Council: in Section 7.6 and suggested instead "by a simple majority of the Council." Alderman Gaulden proposed that Attorney Bill Davis reword the section appropriately and mentioned that the terminology in the document had been taken from larger master ordinances from surrounding cities. Attorney Davis pointed out that, under R.C.S. 1009, the City Council shall establish rules to govern its proceedings and that the document under discussion was based on Dallas' and other cities' City Council rules. He further stated that the public was basically present as observers rather than active participants during most ~f the meetings so as to allow the Council to most effectively get on with the business at hand. However, he felt that the rules should be published in final form so that the citizens could see them. Alderman Shearer then noted that Section 8.4 should read "three members of the Council" rather than "four members of the Council." Mayor Guerrero next read Section 6.3, "Citizen Speakers," aloud for the benefit of the audience. He noted that the entire docu- ment needed further work and should be tabled for the time being. Attorney Davis suggested publishing the document before the next Council meeting. At this time, several questions were taken from the audience regarding -3- 000038: the procedures for the public being allowed to speak at the meet- ings. The Mayor explained the sign-up procedure further and that most items would be considered on at least two successive occasions under the proposed system. Attorney Davis also pointed out that any ordinances imposing any penalties or fines would of necessity have to be read more than one time. He noted that it would be impossible to conduct Council meetings efficiently on an open forum format and that the purpose of Section 6.3 was not to keep people from participating but to keep decorum during the meetings. He further defended the rules by saying that the citizens actually had more privileges than the City Council members since they could discuss any issue whatsoever at the end of the meetings, providing they had signed up to do so properly, whereas the Aldermen were limited to discussing only agenda items. It was then pointed out to the audience that they could and should call one or all Council members regarding a particular issue instead of waiting for Council meetings to express their opinions. Attorney Davis also offered to respond to residents' questions, particularly those of a legal nature, by telephone and gave out his telephone number (214-651-1888) for such use. He did mention that he would prefer if residents would attempt to speak with Council members first. After clarifying a few other questions from the audience, Mayor Guerrero called for a motion to table discussion on the rules of procedure until the next meeting. Alderman Gaulden made the motion and it was seconded by Alderman Shearer. The motion was carried by the following vote: Ayes: All members present voted aye Noes: None There being no further action to be taken by the Council, Alderman Weaver moved for adjournment of the meeting. The motion was seconded by Alderman Gaulden. The motion was carried by the follow- ing vote: Ayes: All members present voted aye Noes: None Para Schuman, Acti~ city secretary