§ 1-204. General rules of order.

(a)

The rules of order and parliamentary procedure contained in Robert's Rules of Order, Revised, shall govern the transaction of business by and before the city council at its meetings in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with special rules in the city's Charter or adopted by the council and set out in this Code.

(b)

During public hearings concerning zoning amendments, no more than two (2) people shall speak for or against a proposed amendment. Each speaker shall be allowed a maximum of five (5) minutes to speak, and one proponent and one opponent of the amendment shall be allowed an additional three (3) minute rebuttal if requested.

No request by an owner of property to postpone council action on a zoning amendment shall be honored if such request is made less than seventy-two (72) hours prior to the meeting of the city council at which such amendment is to be considered. Any request for postponement of a zoning case must be made in writing to the office of the city clerk. Requests meeting the above deadline will be granted one automatic one-month postponement of the scheduled public hearing and scheduled council vote. If a request for postponement is not received prior to the above deadline, the scheduled public hearing will be held and appropriate action will be taken by the city council.

(c)

A public comment period shall be conducted before the regular session of the city council from 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Any person wishing to address the council shall make such request to the city clerk by noon on Wednesday prior to the regular session and shall submit their name and the topic of said comments. Each person shall be allowed a maximum of five (5) minutes to speak during the comment period. No public comments concerning any zoning amendment to be considered by the city council at such regular session shall be received during this period. The city clerk shall notify council members of beginning time for public comments.

(d)

The mayor and city council members shall submit items for inclusion on any regular session agenda to the city clerk at least forty-eight (48) hours prior to the meeting of any standing committee which will review such items. The city clerk shall forward all such items to the standing committee or committees which, in the opinion of the city clerk and sponsor(s), should appropriately review such items and make recommendations thereon to the full city council. Upon such review, all items shall be placed on the regular session agenda, regardless of whether a favorable recommendation for adoption is made by any committee.

Alternatively, a member (or mayor) submitting an item may direct the city clerk that the item be placed directly on an executive session agenda, without referral to a standing committee.

Department heads may place items pertaining to that department directly on a standing committee agenda, with notice to the city clerk no later than forty-eight (48) hours prior to a committee meeting. In order for such items to be included on a regular session agenda, they must receive the favorable recommendation of a majority of the committee and, in the case of items requiring budget adjustments by the council, the favorable recommendation of the finance and administration committee. In the event that an item does not receive the necessary favorable committee recommendations, such an item may be subsequently requested for inclusion on the executive and regular session agendas by a member of the council or the mayor.

All agendas for all meetings shall be available to the public twenty-four (24) hours prior to the meeting.

The provisions of this section shall not apply to an agenda item which is required to originate with an application or similar filing with the Clarksville-Montgomery County Regional Planning Commission.

A member of the council (or the mayor) may place items on the regular session agenda that have not been considered by a standing committee or by the full city council at its executive session. However, such items may only be considered as new business upon a three-fourths majority vote of the council members in attendance to do so. A public comment period shall be conducted during committee meetings and during the executive session of the city council, not to exceed fifteen (15) minutes unless waived by the chairman. Each person shall be allowed a maximum of five (5) minutes to speak during the comment period.

No public comments concerning any zoning amendment to be considered by the city council at its next regular session shall be received during the public comment period held after executive sessions.

Except for budget ordinances, no resolution or ordinance previously denied upon a vote of the city council shall be reintroduced within a period of one year; however, such a resolution or ordinance may be reintroduced as new business upon a two-thirds ( 2/3 ) majority vote of the council members present. The determination of whether a resolution or ordinance is the same as one previously denied shall be determined by the chair, whose decision shall be subject to a majority vote of the full membership of the city council.

(e)

The executive session of the city council shall be held on the Thursday preceding the Thursday on which the regular session is to be held. Executive sessions may be rescheduled with sufficient notice to the city council. Effective November 2003, all executive sessions of the city council shall be held in City Council Chambers, 108 Public Square, Clarksville, Tennessee. The mayor may schedule the executive sessions at a location other than the city council chambers by designating such an alternative location no less than forty-eight (48) hours prior to that meeting.

(f)

Any proposed ordinance or resolution reviewed by any committee shall be presented to the full council with a recommendation by the appropriate committee no more than forty-five (45) days after such ordinance or resolution is presented to the committee.

(1963 Code, § 2-5; Ord. No. 60-1999-00, 4-6-00; Ord. No. 71-2000-01, 5-3-01; Ord. No. 35-2001-02, 11-1-01; Ord. No. 60-2001-02, 2-7-02; Ord. No. 34-2002-03, 11-7-02; Ord. No. 56A-2002-03, 3-6-03; Ord. No. 56B-2002-03, 3-6-03; Ord. No. 96-2002-03, 7-3-03; Ord. No. 15-2003-04, 10-2-03; Ord. No. 47-2004-05, 4-7-05; Ord. No. 42-2005-06, 11-3-05; Ord. No. 73-2006-07, 2-1-07; Ord. No. 48-2007-08, 12-6-09; Ord. No. 76-2009-10, 5-6-10; Ord. No. 82-2009-10, 5-12-10; Ord. No. 50-2015-16, § 1, 1-7-16 )

Charter reference

Rules of procedure, Art. II, § 13.