Government Operations Rules and Clams Committee meeting – July 22, 2020 - MINUTES

Date: Wed, July 22, 2020, 2:00pm  (Sullivan Chamber)

Present at the hearing: Councillor Simmons (chair), Councillor McGovern, Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler, Councillor Toomey, Councillor Zondervan

Government Operations Rules and Claims Committee will meet to hold a discussion on the rules of the City Council

Councillor E. Denise Simmons called the meeting to order at 2:03 PM. She explained that the purpose of the meeting was to continue to discuss the rules of the City Council.

Councillor Simmons suggested that at some point, the city council should have a refresher on the basic rules.

Councillor Toomey moved on to open public comment.
Roll Call: 5-0

Kim Courtney, attorney and the co-owner of Upper West, stated that people have the right to provide public comment and attend public meetings anonymously. She said that the Cambridge City Council rules and practices requiring public speakers to provide identifying information like their name and address violates their constitutional rights to free speech. She said that the Cambridge City Council rules and practices blocking the public from criticizing the performance of our public officials’ duties is a violation of their constitutional rights to petition the government.

Xavier Dietrich, co-owner of upper west, voiced his concerns over the rules that every person addressing the city council is instructed to state their name and address for the record. He said that the council is not allowed to make rules that violate the First Amendment to the US Constitution. He said that the First Amendment protects the people's right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. That is the right to make a complaint to, or seek assistance of, one's government, without fear of punishment or reprisals. He said that the right to do this anonymously is also well established, and this is for obvious reasons.

Heather Hoffman, 213 Hurley Street, said that the rules are a jumble with respect to reconsideration and that they are internally inconsistent. She emphasized the importance of public comment.

John Hawkinson, 84 Massachusetts Avenue (not his actual address), stated that he was concerned with the possibility of reducing public comment. He stated that in other communities, public comment is more interactive and engagement between the officials and public commenters is allowed.

Councillor Toomey moved to close public comment.
Roll Call: 5-0

Councillor Simmons gave a brief recap of the items discussed by the committee at the last meeting. She expressed an interest in reviewing rule 24(c) (1)(B) due to the impact of the covid-19 pandemic.

Councillor Zondervan stated that he wants to discuss rule 27, which governs the quorum requirement for committees.

Councillor McGovern stated that he wanted to make sure all roundtables are televised and to fix any inconsistencies around reconsideration.

Councillor McGovern and Councillor Simmons discussed amending rule 16 to be consistent with rule 35.

Councillor McGovern moved to amend rule 16 by striking the words "any member", in the last paragraph, and replacing this with the words "any councillor among those whose votes prevailed".

Councillor McGovern explained that historically, when any member was allowed to file reconsideration, a councillor or school committee member who was in the minority would file reconsideration to get another shot at the vote. It was not because there was new information, nor was it because there was an inconsistency, nor because there was a rule violation. He said that the councillor or school committee member merely wanted to have another few days or a week to try and convince their colleagues to put pressure on the Council or the school committee to change the vote. He did not believe that this was good governance.

Councillor Zondervan stated that he did not believe that this amendment is necessary, because the council rules are governed by Robert’s Rules, and Robert’s Rules already limit reconsideration to those who voted on the prevailing side.

Councillor Simmons spoke in support of Councillor McGovern’s amendment. She stated that rule 16 should be consistent with rule 35.

Councillor McGovern’s motion passed by the following roll call vote.
Roll Call: 5-0

Councillor Zondervan and Councillor Simmons had a discussion about changing the procedure to sign up for public comment. Councillor Zondervan stated that he did not feel there was a need to amend those procedures.

Councillor Simmons stated that she supported having public commenters provide some form of identifying information. She stated that it is important to know who is speaking to the council because it gives the members some context as they determine the level of importance to assign to each speaker’s remarks. She said that if someone who does not live in Cambridge or work in Cambridge was commenting on a matter before the Council, that context would be important to know.

Mayor Siddiqui suggested adding “adjournment” to rule 25A.

Motion to amend rule 24A to add "15. adjournment" by Councillor Toomey
Roll Call: 5-0

Councillor McGovern explained that the council may want to amend the rules for public comment so as to ensure members of the public case use remote participation. Councillor Simmons expressed support for continuing public comment through remote participation. Councillor Zondervan asked for guidance from the City Solicitor on this issue.

Nancy Glowa, City Solicitor, explained that city council’s meetings are governed by the Open Meeting Law and the requirements pertaining to public participation. The emergency order of the governor is what is allowing remote participation. After the pandemic emergency order is lifted, she did not believe remote participation would be allowed in its current form. She stated that she would like to research what, if any, changes could be adopted through the city council rules.

Motion to ask the solicitor to report back to council on how to expand remote participation for public comment after the Governor's emergency order is lifted by Councillor McGovern
Roll Call: 5-0

Councillor Zondervan suggested amending rule 27 to require that five members be present for a quorum of committees with nine members, and a three-member quorum be present for committees with five members. He stated that the current quorum requirements are confusing for the public and that increasing the quorum will increase councillor participation.

Councillor Toomey stated that he believed that the current quorum rules work and do not need to be changed.

Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler stated that he supported the change. He felt that the current quorum requirements made it hard to discuss issues with other councillors due to the potential to violate the Open Meeting Law.

Councillor McGovern stated that the quorum number was lowered to make sure that committees could more easily obtain a quorum and hold a meeting. He stated that he believed attendance was better now.

Councillor Simmons stated that the quorum requirements were decreased to allow flexibility in attendance due to the constraints on councillors’ schedules.

Motion to set a quorum of 5 members for the Finance and Ordinance committee and 3 members for all other committees by Councillor Zondervan (3-2)
YES: McGovern, Sobrinho-Wheeler, Zondervan
NO: Toomey, Simmons

Mayor Siddiqui asked how members felt about splitting the Neighborhood and Long-Term Planning, Public Facilities, Art and Celebrations committee into two committees – one for Neighborhood and Long- Term Planning, Public Facilities, and another one for Art and Celebrations.

Councillor Zondervan stated that he did not believe that the committee needed to be divided, but he said that he would support splitting the committee if the Mayor felt that would be useful.

Councillor Simmons stated that she did not believe that it was necessary to split this committee. She stated that in the past, there had been too many committees and not enough councillors to populate the committees.

Councillor McGovern suggested allowing for more than two hours for Ordinance committee meetings. Councillor Toomey suggested removing the two-hour limit for hearings entirely. Councillor Zondervan stated that he did not support removing the two-hour limit entirely, but he would support clarifying the rule. Nancy Glowa, City Solicitor, explained that certain laws require hearings for those items and that those hearing require public testimony. Councillor Toomey stated that some meetings have a large amount of public comment, which can eat into the two hours.

Councillor McGovern stated that he was concerned about deleting a limit entirely. He suggested putting a time limit in the call of the meeting. Councillor Simmons stated that she was in favor of removing the two-hour limit entirely.

Motion to amend rule 32B to delete the first 2 sentences by Councillor Toomey
YES: Toomey
NO: McGovern, Sobrinho-Wheeler, Simmons, Zondervan

Councillor Zondervan moved to delete the first sentence of rule 32B and replace it with the following: “The time devoted to public hearings and committee meetings shall be determined by the chair at the time of scheduling.”

Councillor McGovern stated that he was not sure if this should apply to committee meetings and hearings. Councillor Simmons stated that hearings should be maintained as a separate order.

In response to a question from Councillor McGovern, Nancy Glowa, City Solicitor, stated that this hearing section relates only to hearings and not to other meetings of the council, whether committees or of the whole Council.

Councillor Simmons stated that she was not prepared to make any amendments to this provision.

Councillor Zondervan withdrew his motion.

Motion to refer Section 32B to the City Solicitor for an opinion on the application of the 2-hour time limit by Councillor Zondervan
Roll Call: 5-0

Motion to extend meeting by 15 minutes by Councillor McGovern (4-1)
YES: McGovern, Sobrinho-Wheeler, Zondervan, Simmons
NO: Toomey

Motion to ask the City Solicitor to provide an opinion comparing rule 16 and rule 35 of the City Council rules by Councillor McGovern
Roll Call: 5-0

Councillor Simmons stated that she wanted the committee to consider imposing a 5-minute limit on the time for each councillor during debate. She was not putting a motion forward but wanted the committee to think about that issue for future meetings. She stated that the council should consider additional professional training for councillors. She also stated that the body should consider adding a second to its rules.

Councillor Zondervan stated that he did not believe that requiring a second would be a good practice for the city council.

Motion to adjourn by Councillor McGovern
Roll Call: 5-0

1. A communication was received from Anthony Wilson, City Clerk, transmitting proposed changes to the Rules of the City Council that were approved during the February 4, 2020 meeting of the Government Operation Rules and Claims Committee.
RESULT: PLACED ON FILE

O-13     Sept 14, 2020 (proposed)
COUNCILLOR SIMMONS
WHEREAS: The Government Operations, Rules and Claims committee met on February 4, 2020 and July 22, 2020 to discuss the amendments to the Rules of the Cambridge City Council.
WHEREAS: The committee voted to recommend the following amendments to the full city council on July 22, 2020. Now therefore be it
ORDERED: Rule 19 is hereby amended to read as follows:

The Mayor, or the Vice-Chair of the City Council, or any four members thereof, may at any time call a special meeting by causing written notices, stating the time of holding such meeting and signed by the person calling the same, to be delivered in hand to each member of the City Council, or left at his or her usual dwelling place, or delivered electronically with at least forty-eight hours’ notice (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays) to all members and with notice provided to the public by posting same at least forty-eight hours (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays) prior to each meeting. If necessary, the mayor may call one or more special meetings during July and August to conduct the council's business.

Rule 24C(1)(a) is hereby amended to read as follows:

Under the provisions of Chapter 43, Section 98 of the General Laws, Tercentenary Edition, individuals and employees of the city shall have reasonable opportunity to be heard at any meeting of the City Council in regard to any matter considered thereat. Opportunities for individuals and employees of the City to be heard at all regular meetings, except for roundtable/working meetings, shall be provided directly after the reading of the record, if requested by the City Council (submission of the record of the previous meeting). Members of the public may comment upon items in the following categories of business: Motions for reconsideration, City Manager’s consent agenda, Unfinished business from preceding meetings, Applications and Petitions requiring approval or referral by the City Council, Consent resolutions, Consent Policy orders and resolutions relating to policy analysis or development, Committee Reports, Roundtable/Working Meeting Minutes, Communications and Reports from Other City Officers and Late Policy Orders and Resolutions. Each speaker shall limit his or her comments to no more than three minutes. In the event there are 20 or more speakers signed speakers signed up, that the amount of time allocated would be two minutes. Individuals are not permitted to allocate the remainder of their time to other speaks.

Rule 24C(1)(b) is hereby amended to read as follows:

Procedure: An individual may signup to speak before the City Council via telephone to the City Council office on Mondays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., or on-line via the City’s website, starting at 9:00 a.m. on the Friday before the meeting. On Mondays, between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. a computer terminal will be available to the public in the City Council Office for on-line signup. The individual must indicate on the signup sheet which item(s) he or she is planning to address.

Rule 16 is hereby amended to read as follows:

A question having been taken, it shall not be in order for any member to move a reconsideration thereof at the same meeting. A motion to reconsider may be made at the next meeting, provided written notice of such motion has been filed with the City Clerk within thirty-six hours of the day of the vote, Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays to be excluded in the computation of the thirty-six hours. No more than one motion for reconsideration of any vote shall be entertained. Any councillor among those whose votes prevailed may move reconsideration; if reconsideration is not moved prior to the adjournment of the next regular or special meeting called for that particular purpose, the action taken by the City Council stands.

Rule 24A is hereby amended to add "15. adjournment".

Rule 27 is amended to set the quorum for the Finance and Ordinance committees to 5 members and the quorum for all other committees are 3 members.

O-14     Sept 14, 2020
COUNCILLOR SIMMONS
WHEREAS: The Government Operations, Rules and Claims committee met on July 22, 2020 to discuss the rules of the Cambridge City Council.
WHEREAS: The committee asked several legal questions of the City Solicitor. Now therefore be it
ORDERED: The City Manager is hereby requested to confer with the City Solicitor and report back to council on how to expand remote participation for public comment after the Governor's emergency order is lifted.
ORDERED: The City Manager is hereby requested to confer with the City Solicitor for an opinion on the application of the 2-hour time limit contained in Rule 32B.
ORDERED: The City Manager is hereby requested to confer with the City Solicitor for an opinion comparing rule 16 and rule 35 of the City Council rules.