Document 1

BY-LAW NO. 2002 2006-247

 

                        A by-law of the City of Ottawa to govern the proceedings of the Council and its Committees and to repeal By-law No. 2005-4312001-20.

 

                        The Council of The City of Ottawa, pursuant to Section 23855(2) of the Municipal Act, S.O. 2001, c. 25R.S.O. 1990, c. M-45, as amended, enacts as follows:

 

1.                              RULES OF PROCEDURE ADOPTED/SUSPENDED

 

(1)               The proceedings of the Council and the Committees thereof, the conduct of the members and the calling of meetings shall be governed by the provisions of the Municipal Act and the rules and regulations contained in this By-law, and, except as provided herein, the rules of parliamentary procedure as contained in Robert’s Rules of Order, shall be followed for governing the proceedings of Council and the Committees thereof and the conduct of its members;

 

(2)               Despite subsection 1(1), the rules and regulations contained in this by-law may be suspended by a vote of three-quarters of the members present and voting.

 

2.                              DEFINITIONS

 

                        In this By-law,

 

            (1)        Chair” means the chair of a committee;

"Ad Hoc Committee" means a special purpose committee of limited duration, created by Council to inquire into and report on a particular matter or concern and which dissolves automatically upon submitting its final report unless otherwise directed by Council;

 

(1)               Advisory Committee” means a committee created by Council to provide advice and technical expertise on major public issues and social trends, act as vehicles for public consultation on issues of municipal interest, conduct research, report on findings, and make recommendations to City Council through Standing Committees.  The membership is comprised of public citizens and may have a Council member acting as a liaison member;

(2)               Chief Corporate Services Officer” means the official responsible for the Corporate Services Department;

 

(3)               City” means the City of Ottawa;

 

(4)               City Manager” means the chief administrative officer referred to in Section 72229 of the Municipal Act;

 

(5)               Clerk” means the position appointed pursuant to Section 73228 of the Municipal Act;

 

(6)               Committee” means a committee of Council and includes Standing Committees, Joint Committees, Coordinating Committees, Ad Hoc Committees, Task Forces, Advisory Committees, special committees and sub-committees;

 

(7)               Committee of the Whole” means all the members of Council sitting in committee;

 

(8)               “Consent Agenda” means the portion of the Agenda that may be approved by Council without debate;

 

"Coordinating Committee" means a committee created by Council to coordinate the activities, policies and responsibilities of the City with third parties;

(9)               Council” means the Council of the City of Ottawa;

 

(10)           Councillor” means a person elected or appointed as a member of Council but does not include the Mayor;

 

(11)           Day” does not include Saturday, Sunday or a holiday;

 

(12)           Deputy Mayor” means the designated member of Council appointed to this position pursuant to the rotation list by-law set out in Section 5;

 

(13)           Deputy City Manager” means the official responsibleility for a department within the City;

 

(14)           Holiday” means a holiday as defined by the Interpretation Act, R.S.O. 1990, Chapter I.11, as amended;

 

(15)           Mayor” means the Mayor as the Head of Council, or in the absence of the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor or, in the absence of both, another member of Council appointed in accordance with section 18 (1);

 

(16)           Notice of Motion” means a written notice, including the names of the mover and seconder, advising Council that the motion described therein will be brought at a subsequent meeting;

 

(17)           Pecuniary Interest” means relating to or connected with money pursuant to the relevant conflict of interest legislation;

 

(18)           Point of Order” means a statement made by a member of Council during a meeting thereof drawing to the attention of the Mayor a breach of the Rules of Procedure;

 

(19)           Presiding Officer” means the Mayor at a regular or special meeting of Council or the member of Council appointed as the Chair of a Committee or, in the absence of either, another member of Council appointed in accordance with the provisions of this by-law;

 

(20)           Privilege” means the raising of a question which concerns a member of Council, or the Council collectively, when a member believes that their rights, immunities or integrity or the rights, immunities or integrity of Council as a whole have been impugned;

 

(21)           Procedural Motion” means any motion concerning the manner or time of consideration of any matter before the Council as opposed to the substance thereof, and includes, without limitation, the following:

(a)                to extend the time of the meeting;

(b)               to refer;

(c)                to lay on the table;

(d)               to defer indefinitely or to a certain day;

(e)                to adjourn;

(f)                 to move the question be put; or

(g)                to suspend the Rules of Procedure;

 

(22)           Rules of Procedure” means the rules and regulations provided in this By-law;

(1)"Special Resolution" means a resolution adopted by a two-thirds vote;

 

(23)           Standing Committee” means a Committee of Council comprised solely by members of Council who are appointed by Council;

 

(24)           Standing Committee Coordinator” means the person whose duties include the recording of the proceedings of Standing Committee meetings;

 

(25)           Substantive Motion” means any motion other than a Procedural Motion;

(1)"Task Force" means a special purpose committee of limited duration, created by Council to inquire into and report on a particular matter or concern and which dissolves automatically upon submitting its final report unless otherwise directed by Council;

"Two-thirds Vote" means the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the members present at a meeting and eligible to vote;

 

(26)           Vice-Chair” means the vice-chair of a Committee as appointed by the Committee.

 

 

PART I           DUTIES OF THE MAYOR - COUNCILLORS

 

3.                              DUTIES OF THE MAYOR

 

                        It shall be the duty of the Mayor to carry out the responsibilities set forth in the Municipal Act, section 225 and:

 

(1)               to open the meeting of Council by taking the chair and calling the members to order;

 

(2)               to announce the business before the Council and the order in which it is to be acted upon;

 

(3)               to receive and submit, in the proper manner, all motions presented by the members of Council;

 

(4)               to put to a vote all motions, which are moved and seconded, or necessarily arise in the course of the proceedings, and to announce the result;

 

(5)               to vote on all matters, which are moved and seconded, or necessarily arise in the course of the proceedings;

 

(6)               to decline to put to a vote, motions which infringe upon the Rules of Procedure;

 

(7)               to enforce the Rules of Procedure;

 

(8)               to restrain the members, when engaged in debate, within the Rules of Procedure;

 

(9)               to enforce on all occasions, the observance of order and decorum among the members;

 

(10)           to call by name any member persisting in a breach of the Rules of Procedure and order the member to vacate the Council Chamber;

 

(11)           to permit questions to be asked through the Mayor of any officer of the City in order to provide information to assist any debate when the Mayor deems it proper;

 

(12)           to provide information to members of Council on any matter touching on the business of the City;

 

(13)           to receive all petitions and communications and announce them to the Council;

 

(14)           to authenticate, by signature, all by-laws, and minutes of Council;

 

(15)           to rule on any points of order raised by members of Council;

 

(16)           to inform the members of Council of the proper procedure to be followed;

 

(17)           to represent and support the Council, declaring its will and implicitly obeying its decisions in all matters;

 

(18)           where it is not possible to maintain order, the Mayor may, without any motion being put, adjourn the meeting to a time to be named by the Mayor; and,

 

(19)           to adjourn the meeting when the business is concluded.

 

4.                              PARTICIPATION OF MAYOR IN DEBATE

 

(1)               The Mayor may state relevant facts and the Mayor’s position on any matter before the Council without leaving the chair, which may take place immediately prior to the vote, but it shall not be permissible for the Mayor to move a motion or debate a question without first leaving the chair;

 

(2)               If the Mayor desires to leave the chair to move a motion or to take part in the debate pursuant to subsection (1), or otherwise, the Mayor shall call on the member designated as Deputy Mayor pursuant to section 5, to preside until the Mayor resumes the chair and the Mayor shall assume a seat reserved for a Councillor.

 

5.                              DEPUTY MAYOR

 

(1)               At the first regular meeting of Council in its term, a by-law shall be placed on the agenda to designate a rotation list for Deputy Mayor;

 

(2)               The rotation list shall be comprised of all the members of Council to each serve a limited term as Deputy Mayor in the event that the Mayor is absent and unable to perform the duties of his or her office.  The order for the rotation list be determined by lot drawn by the Clerk;

 

(3)               The by-law to designate a rotation list of Deputy Mayors may be amended by a majority of those members present and voting;

 

(4)               Subject to subsection (5), the time period to be served as of Deputy Mayor may be exchanged between Councillors upon written notice to the Clerk and written agreement of the Councillors concerned;

 

(5)               The Clerk may, upon notice to the Councillors concerned, submit a notice pursuant to subsection (4) to Council for approval, and where so submitted, such notice does not take effect until approved by Council;

 

(6)               A motion to amend the rotation list of Deputy Mayors may be made without notice upon the written consent of the Councillors directly concerned.

 

(7)               Section 70 shall not apply to the Deputy Mayor.

 

6.                              DUTIES OF A MEMBER OF COUNCIL

 

(1)               A member of Council shall have the following duties:

(a)                to deliberate on the business submitted to Council;

(b)               to vote when a motion is put to a vote; and

(c)                to respect the Rules of Procedure.

 

7.                              CITY MANAGER - ADDRESS COUNCIL AND STANDING COMMITTEES

 

                        The City Manager, or his or her designate, shall have the right to address the Council or any Standing Committee on any matter relevant to the function or administration of the CityCorporation.

 

 

PART II          COUNCIL

 

8.                              REGULAR MEETINGS

 

(1)               (a)        Subject to this section, the regular meetings of the Council shall be held at

1:00 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursday’s in each month in each year unless otherwise changed by Council;

(b)        A meeting shall adjourn at 9:00 p.m.  If the City Council meeting is not finished by 9:00 p.m.; it will automatically reconvene the following morning at 10:00 a.m.

(c)        Despite clause (b), Council can extend the meeting time beyond 9:00 p.m. by simple majority vote.

(d)        Despite Subsection 8(1)(a), the time and date of individual regular meetings may be varied by the Mayor;

 

(2)               During the months of March, July and August, the regular meeting of Council shall be held at 1:00 p.m. on the second or the fourth Thursday of each month as determined by the Mayor;

 

(3)               During the months of December and of November in a regular election year, at least one regular meeting of Council shall be held at 1:00 p.m. on a Thursday of the month determined by the Mayor.

 

(4)               The Mayor may cancel one or more regular meetings of the Council if, in the Mayor’s opinion, such meetings are not necessary for the proper conduct of the business of the City and provided that not more than two successive regular meetings are cancelled under this subsection.

 

9.                              REGULAR MEETING DAY A HOLIDAY

 

                        If the day provided herein for a regular meeting of Council is a holiday, or a day of religious observance that precludes the participation of any members of Council, the meeting shall be held on the next following business day, unless otherwise provided by resolution of the Council.

 

10.                          PLACE OF MEETING

 

                        All meetings of the Council shall be held in the Council Chambers at the Ottawa City Hall or at such other place as is specified in the draft agendanotice calling the meeting.

 

11.                          SEATING AT COUNCIL

 

                        Councillors shall be assigned seats at Council by the Clerk based upon their Ward Number in a clockwise fashion commencing from the right of the Mayor’s right.

 

12.                          MEETINGS OPEN TO PUBLIC

 

(1)               Subject to Section 1213, the meetings of the Council shall be open to the public and no person shall be excluded therefrom except for improper conduct;

 

(2)               The Mayor may expel or exclude from any meeting any person who has engaged in improper conduct at the meeting.

 

13.                          CLOSED MEETINGS

 

(1)               Council may, by resolution, close a meeting or part of a meeting to members of the public if the subject matter to be considered is,

(a)                the security of the property of the City;

(b)               personal matters about an identifiable individual, including staff;

(c)                a proposed or pending acquisition or disposition of land for the purposes of the City;

(d)               labour relations or employee negotiations;

(e)                litigation or potential litigation, affecting the City, including matters before administrative tribunals;

(f)                 the receiving of advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose; or

(g)                a matter in respect of which the Council is authorized by statute to hold a closed meeting;

 

(2)               Council shall, by resolution, close a meeting or part of a meeting to members of the public where the subject matter to be considered is a request under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act;

 

(3)               A motion to close a meeting or part of a meeting to the public shall state:

(a)                the fact of the holding of the closed meeting; and

(b)               the general nature of the matter to be considered at the closed meeting by reference to the specific issue to be considered at the closed meeting;

 

(4)               Where a meeting or part of a meeting is closed to the public, all persons not specifically invited to remain by the Council shall retire from the Chambers;

 

(5)               A vote shall not be taken during a meeting or part of a meeting that is closed to the public where to do so would be in contravention of any Act.

 

(6)               All reports intended to be considered in a closed meeting shall include a reporting out date being a date when the report can be released to members of the public upon request.

 

14.                          SPECIAL MEETINGS OF COUNCIL

 

(1)               A Special Meeting of Council shall be convened:

(a)                upon being summoned by the Mayor; or,

(b)               upon receipt of a petition of the majority of the members of the Council;

 

(2)               Upon receipt of the petition set out in Subsection 1314(1)(b), the Clerk shall summon a Special Meeting for the purpose(s) and at the time mentioned in the petition;

 

(3)               Once received by the Clerk, no member may add or remove his or her name from a petition filed under this section;

 

(4)               Notice of all Special Meetings of the Council setting forth the matters to be considered at such Special Meeting shall be given to all members of the Council either:

(a)                by prepaid, special delivery mail deposited in a Canada Post Corporation Post Office not less than ninety-six hours in advance of the time fixed for the meeting;

(b)               by delivery to the City office, residence or place of business of the member, including by electronic mail, not less than six hours in advance of the time fixed for the meeting, and the Clerk shall attempt to give such other notice of the meeting to the member by telephone or as is otherwise practical within the circumstances; and/or

(c)                by personal service to the members, not less than six hours in advance of the fixed time for the meeting;

 

(5)               The Council shall not consider or decide any matter not set forth in the notice calling the Special Meeting, without the consent, recorded in the minutes, of all of the members of the Council;

 

(6)               Despite this section, on urgent and extraordinary occasions, with the consent of two-thirds of all the members of Council, recorded in the minutes, an emergency special meeting of the Council may be called by the Mayor without notice to consider and deal with such urgent and extraordinary matters.

 

15.              PRIORITY BUDGET ITEMS

 

            Where a matter has been specifically identified as a “Council Priority” during the consideration of the Operating or Capital Budget, that item shall not subsequently in the same term of Council be amended or repealed except by a majority vote of all members of the whole Council.

 

16.              SHAREHOLDER MEETINGS

 

Council, at a regular meeting, may consider reports from the City of Ottawa Non-Profit Housing Corporation and Hydro Ottawa and the Mayor and Clerk are authorized, upon approval by Council, to sign any necessary resolutions.

 

 

 

17.              COMMENCEMENT OF MEETING

 

(1)               As soon as there is a quorum after the hour set for the meeting, the Mayor shall take the chair and call the members present to order;

 

(2)               The Clerk shall call the roll and record in the minutes the members present.

 

18.              MAYOR ABSENT

 

            (1)        If the Mayor or Deputy Mayor, pursuant to the rotation list established by Section 5, does not attend within fifteen minutes after the time appointed for a meeting of the Council, the Clerk shall call the members to order and the next member listed thereon shall preside over the meeting until the arrival of the Mayor or Deputy Mayor.  Should the next listed member not be present, the next member on the list shall be called until a member is present to act.

 

 

(2)        While presiding, a Deputy Mayor or Presiding Officer shall have all of the powers of the Mayor and shall be so addressed, and shall be entitled to vote as a member.

 

19.                          NO QUORUM AT START OF MEETING

 

(1)               (a)        The quorum for a Council meeting is thirteen members of Council;

(b)               If no quorum is present to enable a meeting to commence one-half hour after the time appointed for a meeting of the Council, the Clerk shall call the roll and record the names of the members present and the members shall stand discharged from waiting further;

 

(2)               If a meeting does not take place because of the lack of a quorum under subsection (1), the Council shall meet either at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Council, or at such other time and place as the Mayor shall announce;

 

(3)               The Clerk shall attempt to give notice of any meeting so rescheduled by telephone, electronic mail or as is otherwise practical within the time available.

 

20.                          UNFINISHED BUSINESS - QUORUM LOST

 

(1)               If during the course of a meeting a quorum is lost, then the meeting shall stand adjourned, not ended, to reconvene at the same time of commencement on the next following day, or at such other time and place as the Mayor shall then announce;

 

(2)               If, in the Mayor’s opinion, it is not essential that the balance of the agenda be dealt with before the next regularly scheduled meeting, then the Mayor shall announce that the unfinished business of the Council will be taken up at its next regularly scheduled meeting;

 

(3)               If during the course of a Special Meeting of the Council a quorum is lost, or a quorum is not present when required to enable the Special Meeting to start, or resume, then the meeting shall stand adjourned, not ended, to convene or reconvene at such time and place as the Mayor shall then announce;

 

(4)               The Clerk shall give notice of any meeting so adjourned and to be reconvened by telephone, electronic mail or as is otherwise practical within the time available;

 

(5)               Prior to adjourning a meeting under this section, the Mayor may recess the meeting to determine if a quorum can be found.

 

 

21.                          RECORDING PRESENCE BEFORE ADJOURNMENT

 

                        When a quorum is not present as required to permit a meeting of the Council to reconvene or to continue then before the members are discharged, the Clerk shall call the roll and record in the minutes the names of those persons present.

 

22.                          PERSONS WITHIN COUNCIL RING

 

(1)               Only members of Council and their staff or an officer of the City shall be allowed to come on the Council floor within or outside the Council ring during the sittings of Council without the permission of the Mayor;

 

(2)               No person, other than a member of Council or an officer of the City, shall, before or during a meeting of the Council, place on the desks of members or otherwise distribute any material whatsoever unless such person is so acting with the approval of the Mayor.

 

23.                          LEAVING CHAMBERS PRIOR TOON ADJOURNMENT

 

                                                Members of Council leaving their places prior to adjournment shall endeavour to do so in a manner so as not to disrupte the proceedings of Council.The members of the Council shall not leave their places on adjournment until the Mayor has left the chair

 

 

PART III        VOTING IN COUNCIL

 

24.                          SECRET BALLOT PROHIBITED

 

                        No vote shall be taken in Council by ballot or by any other method of secret voting, unless the Council is in closed session and such vote is .permitted to be taken in closed session.

 

25.                          RECORDED VOTE

 

(1)               Any member, before the question is decided, may require that the vote be recorded;

(1)No vote shall be recorded while the members are sitting in Committee of the Whole.

 

(2)               When a vote is taken, and no dissent is declared, such vote shall be deemed to be unanimously in favour of the question approved;

 

(3)               If a vote is to be recorded as herein provided, the Clerk shall call the vote, announce the division, and shall record them in the minutes.

 

26.                          SEVERABILITY OF QUESTION

 

                        When the matter under consideration contains distinct recommendations or propositions, upon the request of any member, a vote upon each recommendation or proposition shall be taken separately and no vote shall be required to be taken on the matter as a whole.

 

27.                          ALL MEMBERS VOTE

 

(1)               Every member present at a meeting of the Council when a question is put shall vote thereon, unless prohibited by statute, in which case it shall be recorded;

 

(2)               Any member who is seated in a seat reserved for Council and does not vote abstains or shall be recorded as voting in the negative.

 

28.                          DISPUTING VOTE

 

                        If a member disagrees with the announcement of the Mayor that a question is carried or lost, the member may, but only immediately after the declaration by the Mayor, object to the Mayor’s declaration and require a recorded vote to be taken.

 

29.                          PUTTING QUESTION - MEMBERS SEATED

 

                        When the Mayor calls for the vote on a question, each member shall occupy their seat until the result of the vote has been declared by the Mayor, and during such time no member shall walk across the room, or speak to any other member or make any noise or disturbance.  A member not in a seat reserved for Council  in their seatat the time that members name is called shall not be entitled to vote.

 

 

PART IV        ORDER OF PROCEEDINGS - AGENDAS AND MINUTES

 

30.                          AGENDA IN COUNCIL

 

(1)               The Clerk shall, under the direction of the Mayor, prepare and have printed for the use of the members at the regular meetings of Council an Agenda under the following headings:

(a)                Prayer;

(b)               Announcements/Ceremonial Activities;

(c)                Roll Call;

(d)               Minutes of the previous meeting;

(e)                Declarations of pecuniary interest including those originally arising from prior meetings;

(f)                 Communications;

(g)                Regrets;

(h)               Reports from Auditor-General, Hydro Ottawa and/or City of Ottawa Non-Profit Housing Corporation (s);

(i)                  Postponements and deferrals;

(j)                 Unfinished business;

(k)               Reconsiderations;

(l)                  Presentation and consideration of committee reports;

(m)              Motions of which notice has been given previously;

(n)                Notices of Motion (for consideration at subsequent meeting);

(o)               Introduction and consideration of by-laws;

(p)               Confirmation by-law;

(q)               Inquiries and answers;

(r)                 Adjournment;

 

(2)               The business of the Council shall be considered in the order set forth on the Agenda, provided however that the Mayor, with approval of the Council, may vary the order of business to better deal with matters before the Council;

 

(3)               The Council shall not consider any by-law not listed on the Agenda, nor any report of a Committee or any motion that has not been distributed to the members with the Agenda;

 

(4)               Communications received after the day prior to a meeting of Council may, with the approval of the Mayor, be distributed at said meeting.  Any communications so distributed shall be recorded in the minutes;

 

(5)               Notice of regrets from members unable to attend a Council meeting shall be in writing and may be by electronic mail.

 

(6)               Reports, other than from the Auditor-General, submitted pursuant to clause (1)(h) may be submitted directly to Council provided that they have been distributed in accordance with subsection (3).

 

(7)               Notice of a report from the Auditor-General shall be given at the meeting of Council prior to the meeting where the report is to be tabled with Council.  The report shall be considered at the next regular meeting (or special meeting called for that purpose) following the meeting at which the report is tabled.

 

31.                          CONSENT AGENDA

 

(1)               Upon the adoption of a motion to permit the consideration of the reports of the Standing Committees, the Mayor will proceed through the recommendations in the reports to determine if it is the will of the Council that the recommendations be adopted without debate or questions;

 

(2)               During the progression through the Agenda in accordance with subsection (1), no debate, questions or recorded votes shall be permitted but declarations of interest and dissents may be recorded;

 

(3)               Any member may require that a recommendation be debated or subject to questions;

 

(4)               The Mayor shall declare whether each recommendation is carried or will be subject to debate;

 

(5)               Upon completion of the progression through the agenda in accordance with subsection (1), Council shall then proceed to consider, in accordance with the agenda, the recommendations that have not yet been adopted.

 

32.                          INQUIRIES AND ANSWERS

 

(1)               Any inquiry made at a meeting of Council, or a Committee thereof, shall be submitted in writing, and referred to the City Manager, appropriate Deputy City Manager or Chief Corporate Services Officer for response;

 

(2)               The City Manager, the appropriate Deputy City Manager or Chief Corporate Services Officer shall respond in writing to the inquiry and the response shall be distributed to all members of Council or the Committee at which the inquiry was made;

 

(3)               The Clerk shall communicate to Council on a quarterly basis the status of outstanding inquiries, including the name of the Councillor originating the inquiry and the department responsible for an answer.

 

33.                          DELIVERY OF AGENDA TO MEMBERS

 

(1)               Subject to Section 3134, not less than five calendar days in advance of each regular meeting of the Council, the Clerk shall cause the following to be delivered to each member:

(a)                Draft Agenda;

(b)               Copy of each Committee report to be considered;

(c)                Copy of each Motion to be considered.

 

(2)               Copies of each by-law to be considered need not be distributed in advance to the members of Council provided such by-laws are available for examination by members of Council in advance of the meeting;

 

(3)               Delivery pursuant to subsection (1) shall be to the office of the member at City Hallor the residence of the member.

 

34.                          PLANNING REFERRALS AND APPEALS - DELIVERY OF REPORTS

 

                        Despite Subsection 3033(1)(b), reports from the Planning and Environment Committee or Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee that contain recommendations with respect to:

 

(1)               Conditions for draft approval of a plan of subdivision;

 

(2)               Draft approval of a plan of subdivision;

 

(3)               Conditions for draft approval of a plan of condominium;

 

(4)               Draft approval of a plan of condominium; or

 

(5)               Zoning By-law,

 

may be considered by Council provided that the staff report to the Standing Committee was distributed to all members of Council at least five calendar days in advance of the meeting of Council.

 

35.                          MINUTES

 

(1)               Minutes shall record:

(a)                the place, date and time of meeting;

(b)               the names of the presiding officer or officers and the record of the attendance of the members;

(c)                the reading, if requested, correction and confirmation of the minutes of prior meetings;

(d)               declarations of interest;

(e)                the motions considered and votes taken by Council; and

(f)                 all the other proceedings of the meeting without note or comment;

 

(2)               If the minutes have been delivered to the members of the Council then the minutes shall not be read, and a resolution that the minutes be confirmed shall be in order;

 

(3)               After the minutes have been confirmed they shall be signed by the Mayor and by the Clerk.

 

36.                          COMMUNICATIONS AND PETITIONS

 

(1)               Every communication, including a petition designed to be presented to the Council, shall be legibly written or printed, shall not contain any impertinent or improper matter or language and shall be signed by at least one person and filed with the Clerk;

 

(2)               The Clerk shall list on the Agenda every communication delivered to the Clerk not later than the day prior to the meeting of the Council where the title of such communication has not been distributed to all members of Council;

 

(3)               All communications on any subject within the jurisdiction of a Committee of Council shallmay be referred , without motion, to the appropriate Committee without any motion or debate unless otherwise ordered by Council or unless the subject matter of the communication or petition has been considered by Council or will be considered at the meeting where the communication or petition is submitted..

 

 

PART V          RULES OF CONDUCT AND DEBATE

 

37.                          ADDRESS THE MAYOR

 

                        Any member desiring to speak shall signify their desire to speak in such a manner as the Mayor may direct, and upon being recognized by the Mayor, shall address the Mayor.

 

38.                          ORDER OF SPEAKING

 

(1)                Subject to subsection (2), Wwhen two or more members signify a desire to speak, the Mayor shall recognize the member who, in the opinion of the Mayor, so signified first and next recognize in order the other members;

 

(2)        Where an electronic means of signifying a desire to speak is in place, recognition of members to speak shall, subject to the other provisions of this by-law, be in accordance with such electronic means.

 

39.                          CONDUCT OF MEMBERS IN COUNCIL

 

(1)               No member shall:

(a)                speak disrespectfully of the Reigning Sovereign, or of any member of the Royal Family, or of the Governor General or the Lieutenant-Governor of any province, or of a fellow member of Council or staff;

(b)               use offensive words or unparliamentary language;

(c)                speak on any subject other than the subject in debate;

(d)               where a matter has been discussed in camera, and where the matter remains confidential, disclose the content of the matter or the substance of the deliberations of the in camera meeting;

(e)                disobey the Rules of Procedure, or a decision of the Mayor or of the Council on questions of order or practice or upon the interpretation of the Rules of Procedure;

 

(2)               Where a member has been called to order by the Mayor for failing to observe the provisions of subsection (1) and the member persists in any such conduct, the Mayor may forthwith put the question, no amendment, adjournment or debate being allowed, “that Councillor [Name of Member] be ordered to leave their seat for the duration of the meeting of the Council”, but if the member apologizes, the member may, by vote of Council, be permitted to retake their seat.

 

40.                          PRIVILEGE

 

(1)               Where a member considers that the member’s rights, immunities or integrity or the rights, immunities or integrity of the Council as a whole has been impugned, the member may, as a matter of privilege, rise at any time, with the consent of the Mayor, for the purpose of drawing the attention of the Council to the matter;

 

(2)               Upon being recognized by the Mayor, the member shall state the question of privilege;

 

(3)               The Mayor shall:

(a)                determine the question, or

(b)               require that the question be seconded and permit a debate and a vote to be held on the question.

 

41.                          POINTS OF ORDER

 

(1)               The Mayor shall preserve order and decide points of order;

 

(2)       (a)         When a member desires to address a point of order, the member shall ask leave of the Mayor to raise a point of order and, after leave is granted, the member shall state the point of order to the Mayor and the point of order shall be forthwith decided by the Mayor;

(b)        Thereafter, a member shall only address the Mayor for the purpose of appealing the Mayor's decision to the Council;

(c)        If no member appeals, the decision of the Mayor shall be final;

(d)        The Council, if appealed to, shall call a vote, without debate on the following question; “Shall the Mayor be sustained?”, and its decision shall be final.

 

42.                          MEMBER SPEAKING

 

                        When a member is speaking no other member shall pass between the member and the Mayor or interrupt the member except to raise a point of order.

 

43.                          QUESTION READ

 

                        Any member may require the question or motion under discussion to be read at any time during the debate but not so as to interrupt a member while speaking.

 

44.                          SPEAK ONCE - REPLY

 

                        No member shall speak more than once to the same question without leave of the Council, except that a member who has presented a substantive motion, rather than an amendment, may reply.

 

45.                          TIME LIMITED

 

(1)                  (1)   No member shall be permitted to ask questions and /or speak to a motion, for more than five minutes, excluding staff response time.

 


 

46.              QUESTION PUT – NO FURTHER DEBATE

 

                        After any question is put by the Mayor, no member shall speak to the question, nor shall any other motion be made until after the result is declared, and the decision of the Mayor as to whether the question has been put, shall be conclusive.

 

47.              QUESTIONS

 

 

(1)               A member may ask a question of the Mayor for the purpose of obtaining information relating only to the matter under discussion and such questions must be stated succinctly;

 

(2)               When questions are called for on the Agenda or a specific item is under discussion, inquiries may be made of the Mayor, or through the Mayor to any member of Council, the City Manager, or any Deputy City Manager, concerning any matter connected with the business of the City, but no argument or opinion is to be offered, or facts to be stated, except so far as may be necessary to explain the same.  In answering or putting any such question a member is not to debate the matter to which the question refers.

 

48.              UNPROVIDED CASES

 

(a)                In all unprovided cases in the proceedings of Council or in the Committee of the Whole, the matter shall be decided by the Mayor, subject to an appeal to the Council.

 

 

PART VI        COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

 

 

49.              PROCEDURE

 

 

(1)               Council may, by resolution, go into a Committee of the Whole;

 

(2)               The Committee of the Whole may, by resolution of which prior notice has been given at a regular meeting of Council, or when notice is given in the Draft Agenda for the meeting, receive oral submissions from the public;

 

(3)               While sitting in Committee of the Whole, the rules governing the procedure of the Council and the conduct of the members thereof shall not be limited, provided that no member shall speak more than once until every member who desires to speak shall have spoken;

 

(4)               A motion in Committee of the Whole to rise and report shall be put immediately and shall be decided without debate;

 

(5)               Any member of Council is entitled to be present at a meeting of a Committee of the Council from which the public has been excluded, unless such member of Council has an interest which the member is obligated to disclose pursuant to the relevant declaration of interest legislation;

 

(6)               A mover and seconder is required in Committee of the Whole.

 

49.1     BUDGET

 

(1)        The consideration of the annual budget shall be by the Committee of the Whole and not by the Standing Committees of Council.

 

(2)        A quorum shall be maintained throughout the Committee of the Whole sessions.

 

(3)        Subject to any motion adopted by the Committee of the Whole, oral submissions by public delegations with respect to the budget shall be heard by the Committee of the Whole.

 

(4)        Oral submissions by delegations shall be limited to 5 minutes with oral submissions on behalf of an Advisory Committee being limited to 10 minutes.

 

(5)        No Member of Council shall speak for more than 5 minutes at one time until all Councillors wishing to speak have spoken.

 

(6)        A Notice of Reconsideration shall be in order during the consideration of the budget by the Committee of the Whole but where Notice of Reconsideration is accepted, the Motion for Reconsideration shall be dealt with at the time referred to in subsection (10).

 

(7)               A motion to defer or refer any of the estimates within the budget to after its consideration by the Committee of the Whole shall only be carried upon the affirmative vote of the majority of the whole Council.

 

(8)               Following completion of the consideration of the budget and its recommendation, subject to any deferrals and referrals of estimates within the budget, a motion to rise and report to Council shall be in order.

 

(9)        Upon adoption of the motion to rise and report, a motion in Council to adopt the budget as reported by the Committee of the Whole shall be in order.

 

(10)      Following adoption of the motion to rise and report, the Committee of the Whole shall forthwith, and prior to reporting to Council, proceed to consider any motions of reconsideration of which notice was given during its consideration of the budget and the outcome of such reconsideration shall be included within the Committee’s report to Council.

 

(11)      A motion in Council to adopt the budget shall not be severed, amended or be subject to a motion for reconsideration without the concurring votes of three-quarters of the Members of Council present and voting.

 

(12)      Deferrals or referrals of estimates within the budget which are not substantively considered prior to the adoption of the motion to rise and report, may be considered by Council, Committee or the Whole or a Standing Committee as the motion of deferral or referral directs and where no direction is made in the motion, it shall be brought forward to either Council, Committee of the Whole or a Standing Committee as the Mayor determines is appropriate.

 

(13)      The minutes for the Committee of the Whole shall be in accordance with Section 35.

 

(14)      This section does not apply to amendments to the budget which occur following the adoption of the budget by Council.

 

(15)      Subject to the provisions of this Section, Section 49 shall apply.

 

 

 

PART VII       MOTIONS

1.WITHDRAWAL

 

  After a motion is read or stated by the Mayor, it shall be deemed to be in possession of the Council, and it may only be withdrawn before decision or amendment with the permission of the Council.

 

50.              READING

 

                        Every motion when seconded shall be received and read by the Mayor, except in the cases provided for by the Rules of Procedure.  However, where motions have been distributed or printed in the Agenda, or are visible by means of an electronic viewing screen, recitals need not be read.

 

51.              NO DEBATE UNTIL READ

 

                        No member shall speak to any motion until it is first read by the Mayor, and the mover is entitled to speak first thereon if the member so elects.  If debated, the question or motion shall be read again before being put, unless such motion is visible by means of an electronic viewing screen.

 

52.              MOTIONS RULED OUT OF ORDER

                       

                        Whenever the Mayor is of the opinion that a motion or resolution is contrary to the Rules of Procedure, the Mayor shall rule the motion or resolution out of order.

 

53.              NOT WITHIN JURISDICTION OF COUNCIL

                       

                        A motion or resolution which requires the exercise of a power or powers by Council which are not within its jurisdiction, shall not be in order.

 

54.              NOTICE OF MOTION

 

(1)        Notices of Motion shall:

(a)                be in writing, and

(b)               include the name of the mover and seconder;

 

(2)        All Notices of Motion received by the Clerk prior to or at the Notices of Motion segment of the Agenda may be read out by the mover or the Mayor during that segment;

 

(3)        Copies of the Notices of Motion that have been read out shall be distributed to members at the first available opportunity;

 

(4)        Consideration of a motion, of which notice was given pursuant to this section, shall be in order at the next regular meeting or at a special meeting of Council called for that purpose;

 

(5)        Prior to Council’s consideration of a motion of which notice has been given previously, a revised motion on the same subject, approved by both the mover and seconder, may be substituted for the original one contained in the Notice of Motion.

 

55.              MOTIONS

 

(1)        The following matters and motions may be introduced orally without notice and without leave, except as otherwise provided by the Rules of Procedure:

(a)        a point of order or privilege;

(b)        presentation of petitions;

(c)                to move the question be put;

(c)        to adjourn;

 

(2)        The following motions may be introduced without notice and without leave, except as otherwise provided by the Rules of Procedure:

(a)        to refer;

(b)        to table, or to postpone, or defer to a certain day;

(c)        to amend;

(d)               to suspend the Rules of Procedure;

(e)                any other procedural motion;

 

(3)        Except as provided in subsection (1), all motions shall be in writing and signed by the mover and seconder.

 

(4)        All motions shall commence with the words “Be It Resolved that”, and shall be moved and seconded;

 

(5)        All motions may be supported or opposed by the mover and seconder;

 

(6)        When a member’s motion has been called from the Mayor at two successive meetings and not proceeded with, it shall be deemed to have been withdrawn and be dropped from the Agenda unless Council then otherwise decides;

 

(7)               The mover and seconder may withdraw a motion or a Notice of Motion at any time prior to the commencement of debate thereon.

 

56.              ORDER OF CONSIDERATION

 

(1)               When a question is under consideration, no motion shall be received except a procedural motion or a motion to amend;

 

(2)               Procedural motions shall be considered immediately upon receipt and shall have precedence and may be subject to debate as follows:

(a)                to extend the time of the meeting (not debatable);

(b)               to move the question be put (not debatable);

(c)                to refer (debatable);

(d)               to lay on the table (debatable);

(e)                to defer indefinitely or to a certain day (debatable);

(f)                 to adjourn (not debatable);

(g)                any other procedural motion (debatable).

 

57.                          AMENDMENT

 

                        A Motion to Amend:

 

(1)               shall be presented in writing;

 

(2)               only one Motion to Amend an amendment to the question shall be allowed at one time and any further amendment must be to the main question;

 

(3)               shall be relevant and not contrary to the principle of the report or motion under consideration;

 

(4)               may propose a separate and distinct disposition of a question provided that such altered disposition continues to relate to the same issue which was the subject matter of the question;

 

(5)               notwithstanding the standard Rules of Procedure concerning negative resolutions, a motion may be treated as an amendment to a report of a Committee which has the effect of replacing one or more recommendations of the Committee with recommendations on the same point of another Committee or of officials of the City where such recommendations are found in the same report that is before the Council;

 

(6)               shall be put in the reverse order to the order in which it is moved; and,

 

(7)               despite subsection (6), any amendment(s) to a motion may be placed in order to be determined by the Mayor as the most logical, practical and expeditious in all of the circumstances; and,

 

(8)               despite subsection (6) but subject to subsection (7), an amendment that is a substantialcomplete substitution for a motion and is antithetical to the intent of the motion shall be considered after the original motion, and only if that motion is lost.

 

58.              THE QUESTION BE NOW PUT

 

(1)        A motion that the question be now put:

(a)                is not debatable;

(b)               cannot be amended;

(c)                shall preclude all further amendments of the main question;

(d)               when resolved in the affirmative, the question and all amendments thereto areis to be put forward without debate or further amendment;

(e)                cannot be moved by a member who has already debated the question unless another member has subsequently debated the question; and

(f)                 can only be moved in the following words, “that the question be now put on Motion/Item/Recommendation (as the case may be)” and cannot preclude a member from completing the introduction of an amendment that he/she has moved but has not addressed.

 

59.                          MOTION TO ADJOURN

 

(1)               A Motion to Adjourn:

(a)                shall always be in order except as provided by the Rules of Procedure;

(b)               when resolved in the negative, cannot be made again until after some intermediate proceedings have been completed by Council;

(c)                is not in order when a member is speaking or during the verification of a vote;

(d)               is not in order immediately following the affirmative resolution of a motion for the previous question;

(e)                is not debatable;

 

(2)               A Motion to Adjourn without qualification, if carried, brings a meeting or session of the Council to an end;

 

(3)               A Motion to Adjourn to a specific time, or to reconvene upon the happening of a specified event, suspends the meeting of the Council to continue at such time.

 

60.                          MOTION TO REFER

 

(1)               A motion simply “to refer”, without specifying the Committee or other body or official to whom the matter is referred, is a referral to the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee;

 

(2)               A motion for referral to a Committee, Board, Official or Commission until it is decided, shall preclude all amendments of the main question and any motion to postpone or defer, or to lay on the table;

 

(3)               A motion to refer is debatable.

 

61.                          MOTION TO LAY ON THE TABLE

 

(1)               A motion simply “to lay a matter on the table” is debatable but cannot be amended;

 

(2)               A motion “to lay on the table” with some condition, opinion, or qualification added to the motion to table shall be deemed to be a motion to postpone or defer made under Section 62;

 

(3)               The matter tabled shall not be considered again by the Council until a motion has been made to take up the tabled matter at the same or a subsequent meeting of the Council;

 

(4)               A motion to take up a tabled matter is not subject to debate or amendment;

 

(5)               A motion that has been tabled at a previous meeting of the Council cannot be lifted off the table unless notice thereof is given in accordance with Section 54 hereof;

 

(6)               A motion that has been tabled and not taken from the table for six months shall be deemed to be withdrawn, and cannot be taken from the table.

 

62.                          MOTION TO POSTPONE OR DEFER

 

(1)               A matter postponed or deferred to a definite date shall have precedence over all other business on such date;

 

(2)               A motion to postpone or defer indefinitely shall be treated as if it was a motion to lay on the table.

 

63.                          RECONSIDERATION

 

(1)               (a)        Reconsideration shall only take place at Council and not at Committees;

(b)                 Only a substantive motion may be reconsidered; and then only if upon the putting of the substantive motion, the minority vote comprised not less than one-third of the members present and voting;

 

(2)               After a substantive motion has been decided, any member who voted thereon may, at any time prior to the end of the meeting at which such substantive motion was decided, give notice in writing that the a motion will be movedmember will move at the first meeting held thereafter for a reconsideration thereof;

 

(3)               The Council shall, immediately when such notice has been given, vote as to whether or not such notice of motion for reconsideration shall be accepted;

 

(4)               The notice of reconsideration shall only be accepted iIf the vote in favour of acceptance of the notice is one-third or greater of reconsideration is less than one-third of those present and voting then such notice of motion for reconsideration shall be immediately declared lost;

 

(5)               If such notice has been given and accepted, no action shall be taken to carry into effect the main motion until after the motion to reconsider has been disposed of;

 

(6)               Every motion for reconsideration considered at a subsequent meeting shall be declared lost, unless the majority of the whole Council votes therefortherefore and must be moved by a member who voted with the majority in the original decision;

 

(7)               Debate on a motion for reconsideration must be confined to reasons for or against reconsideration;

 

(8)               No discussion of the main question shall be allowed upon an accepted notice of motion for reconsideration or upon the motion to reconsider, unless and until the Council shall have voted to reconsider the same;

 

(9)               No question upon which a notice of motion for reconsideration has been accepted shall be reconsidered more than once, nor shall a vote to reconsider be reconsidered;

 

(10)           In the case of notice given under subsection (2) at a special meeting of Council “the first meeting held thereafter” shall mean the next special meeting called to deal with the general subject matter under reconsideration or the next regular meeting of the Council, whichever shall occur first;

 

(11)           If a notice of motion for reconsideration is accepted by the Council then, subject to Section 60, the consideration of the motion to reconsider shall be the first item of business at the next regular meeting of the Council, unless the Council decides to deal with the motion at some earlier time;

 

(12)           Where an amendment has been reconsidered and the reconsideration has resulted in a modification, any Councillor may require that Council shall immediately proceed to a vote, by simple majority and without debate, as to whether the motion, by-law or other matter, as amended, shall be subject to further amendment;

 

(13)           If a motion to reconsider is decided in the affirmative, such reconsideration shall become the next order of business, and, subject to subsection (12) debate on the question to be reconsidered shall proceed as though it has never previously been considered.

 

64.                          MOTION ADOPTING REPORTS

 

                        A motion of the Council to formally adopt the Reports of the Committees of the Council as those Reports have been adopted, amended or otherwise dealt with by the Council and a by-law to confirm and adopt the same shall:

 

(1)               not be the subject of amendment or debate;

 

(2)               not be divided under Section 2326;

 

(3)               not be subject to reconsideration directly or indirectly under Section 6063; and

 

(4)               not be subject to any procedural motion.

 

 

PART VIII     BY-LAWS

 

65.                          READINGS OF BY-LAWS AND RELATED PROCEEDINGS

 

(1)               Subject to the Delegation By-law Except as otherwise provided, no by-law, except a by-law to confirm the proceedings of Council, shall be presented to Council unless the subject matter thereof has been considered and approved by Council;

 

(2)               When introduced, every by-law shall be in typewritten form and shall be complete with the exception of the number and date thereof;

 

(3)               The Clerk shall endorse on all by-laws enacted by Council the dates of the several readings, if any, thereof;

 

(4)               Every by-law which has been enacted by the Council shall be numbered, dated, sealed and shall be deposited in the office of the Clerk for safekeeping;

 

(5)               Other than the confirmation by-law, all by-laws shall be carried in bulk unless upon a request by a Member of Council for the severance of a by-law, the Mayor is of the opinion that the subject matter of the by-law has not previously been adopted in a report to Council, or a Member of Council has advised the desire to declare a conflict of interest on the by-law, and in such instance, only that portion of the by-law not previously adopted by report or to which is subject to a declared conflict of interest, shall be subject to a separate vote;

 

(6)               All by-laws enacted by the Council shall be printed, paged, indexed and bound up in a separate volume for the year in which they are passed.

 

PART IX        COMMITTEES

 

66.                          PUBLIC PRESENTATION AT COMMITTEE

 

                        Oral submissions by the public shall be made to Committees and not to Council.

 

67.                          PROCEDURE

 

                        Except as otherwise provided herein, all Committees shall conform to the rules governing procedure in the Council.

 

68.                          PREPARATION OF AGENDA

 

(1)               The Agenda for a meeting of a Committee shall be prepared under the direction of the Chair for that Committee;

 

(2)               Despite subsection (1), the City Manager, the Chief Corporate Services Officer, the Auditor General or the City Solicitor, have the right to place items on the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee Agenda;

 

(3)               Items submitted pursuant to subsection (2) shall contain the following statement:  “This report is submitted to the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee pursuant to the provisions of subsection 66(2) of the Procedure By-law”.

 

69.                          ESTABLISHMENT

 

                        Committees may be established by the Council at any time as is deemed necessary for the consideration of matters within the jurisdiction of the Council.

 

70.                          MAYOR - EX OFFICIO

 

(1)               The Mayor of the Council is an ex officio member of every Committee;

 

(2)               Where a Committee is established by reference to a particular number of members without specifically providing for the membership of the Mayor of the Council, such number is automatically increased by one, being the Mayor of the Council, as provided under subsection (1);

 

(3)               The Mayor of the Council may vote and otherwise participate in the business of the Committee without any restriction on the same basis as any other Committee member.

 

71.                          TERMS OF REFERENCE

 

                        Subject to the provision of any general or special Act, the Council, in establishing any Committee, shall set forth Terms of Reference of the Committee and such other provisions as the Council shall deem proper.

 

72.                          COMMITTEE CHAIR

 

(1)               The Council in establishing or making appointments to a Committee, other than a Standing Committee, may direct who shall be the Chair of the Committee;

 

(2)               The Mayor of Council shall be the Chair of the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee;

 

(3)               Subject to any such direction, the Clerk shall preside at the inaugural meeting of any Committee to conduct the election of the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Committee.  The inaugural meeting of Standing Committees will be held immediately following adjournment of the Council meeting in which the Nominating Committee Report was considered so as to elect the Standing Committee Chair and Vice-Chairs and to confirm the Standing Committee first meeting dates.

 

73.                          DUTIES OF THE COMMITTEE CHAIR

 

                        It shall be the duty of the Committee Chair;

 

(1)               to open the meeting of the Committee by taking the chair and calling the members to order;

 

(2)               to announce the business before the Committee and the order in which it is to be acted upon;

 

(3)               to receive and submit, in the proper manner, all motions presented by the members of the Committee;

 

(4)               to put to a vote all motions, which are moved, or necessarily arise in the course of the proceedings, and to announce the result;

 

(5)               to vote on all matters, which are moved, or necessarily arise in the course of the proceedings;

 

(6)               to decline to put to a vote, motions which infringe upon the Rules of Procedure;

 

(7)               to enforce the Rules of Procedure;

 

(8)               to restrain the members, when engaged in debate, within the Rules of Procedure;

 

(9)               to enforce on all occasions, the observance of order and decorum among the members and the attending public;

 

(10)           to call by name any member persisting in a breach of the Rules of Procedure and order the member to vacate the meeting room;

 

(11)           to permit questions to be asked through the Chair of any officer of the City in order to provide information to assist any debate when the Chair deems it proper;

 

(12)           to provide information to members of the Committee on any matter touching on the business of the Committee;

 

(13)           to receive all petitions and communications and announce them to the Committee;

 

(14)           to authenticate, by signature, all minutes of the Committee;

 

(15)           to rule on any points of order raised by members of the Committee;

 

(16)           to inform the members of the Committee of the proper procedure to be followed;

 

(17)           where it is not possible to maintain order, the Chair may, without any motion being put, adjourn the meeting to a time to be named by the Chair; and,

 

(18)           to adjourn the meeting when the business is concluded.

 

74.                          PARTICIPATION OF CHAIR IN DEBATE

 

(1)               The Chair may state relevant facts and the Chair's position on any matter before the Committee without leaving the chair, which may take place immediately prior to the vote, but it shall not be permissible for the Chair to move a motion or debate a question without first leaving the chair;

 

(2)               If the Chair is absent, or desires to leave the chair to move a motion or to take part in the debate pursuant to subsection (1), or otherwise, the Chair shall call on the Vice-Chair elected pursuant to subsection 72(3) to preside until the Chair resumes the chair.

 

75.                          QUORUM AND SIZE OF COMMITTEES

 

(1)               A Committee shall not consider any business if a quorum is not present;

 

(2)               A quorum for a Committee having an even number of members is one half of all the members thereof.  A quorum for a Committee having an uneven number of members is the number of members thereof, plus one, all divided by two;

 

(3)               The membership of the following Standing Committees shall not be less than eight nor exceed eleven, exclusive of the Mayor:

(a)                Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee;

(b)               Community and Protective Services Committee;

(a)                Emergency and Protective Services Committee;

(a)                Environmental Services Committee;

(c)                Planning and Development Environment Committee;

(d)               Transportation Committee; and

(e)               Transit Committee.

 

(4)               The membership of the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee shall not be less than seven nor exceed ten, exclusive of the Mayor;

 

(1)               The membership of the Audit Committee shall be six, exclusive of the Mayor;

 

(1)               The membership of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee shall be seven, exclusive of the Mayor;

 

(5)               Only members of the Council shall be appointed to the Standing Committees of Council;

 

(6)               The presence of the Mayor at a meeting of a Committee shall always be considered in the determination of whether a quorum is present;

 

(7)               The determination of the quorum requirements pursuant to subsection (2) for Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee and the Audit Committee shall take into account that the Mayor is an ex officio member of the Committee, but otherwise the ex officio membership of the Mayor shall not be included in determining the quorum requirement.

 

76.                          MEETINGS OF COMMITTEES

(1)               (a)        The regular meetings of Committees shall be on the day of the week determined by Council but at such time and at such place as shall be determined by the Committee;

(b)        Individual regular meetings of a Committee may be varied by the Chair from the day of the week determined by Council and the time and place determined by Committee, subject to the notice provisions of subsection 76(12), provided that the date or time do not conflict with the date and time assigned to another Standing Committee by Council or the regular meeting times of the Ottawa Public Library Board or the Ottawa Police Services Board;

(c)        During the months of July, August, December and November in an election year, one regular meeting of each Committee shall be held;

(d)        The Chair may cancel one or more regular meetings of the Committee if in the Chair’s opinion such meetings are not necessary for the proper conduct of the business of the Committee and provided that not more than two successive regular meetings are cancelled under this subsection;

 

(2)               No Committee shall meet while the Council is in session;

 

(3)               Members may speak more than once on the same question;

 

(4)               Notwithstanding subsection (3), no member, without leave of the Committee, shall speak to the same question, at one time, or in reply, for longer than five minutes;

 

(5)               A member of Council who is not a member of a Committee is entitled to attend at all meetings of the Committee and to participate, subject to Subsection (6) herein;

 

(6)               A member of Council who is not a member of a Committee, at a meeting of the Committee shall:

(a)                not be counted in determining the presence or number for quorum; and

(b)               not move any motion or vote on any matter;

 

(7)               Where a report of an Advisory Committee is being presented to a Standing Committee, either the Chair or Vice-Chair of the Advisory Committee or a member designated by the Advisory Committee, but not more than one of themboth, may address the Standing Committee for up to 10 minutes on any one item;

 

(8)               Notwithstanding subsection. (7) while at a Standing Committee meeting if an Advisory Committee Chair, Vice Chair or member(s) designated by the Advisory Committee is asked to comment on, or asks to comment on, a report or report item that is not related to the report submitted by the Advisory Committee, said Advisory Committee representative is then addressing the Standing Committee as a resident and shall therefore limit his or her comments to a total of up to 5 minutes on any one item; 

 

(9)               A substantive motion made in Committee must be in writing but need not be seconded;

 

(10)           Subject to Section 1213, the meetings of a Committee shall be open to the public;

 

(11)           Seven calendar days’ notice of a meeting shall be given to the members of a Committee and an Agenda shall be provided to the members seven calendar days in advance of the meeting;

 

(12)           Council members have the right to place items on Committee Agendas provided that such items are received by the Clerk or the Committee Coordinator nine calendar days in advance of the Committee meeting;

 

(13)           Minutes of Committee meetings shall contain a concise narrative of the consideration of the item together with the motions considered and votes taken by the Committee..

 

77.                          GENERAL PROVISIONS FOR COMMITTEES

 

(1)               The Chair shall preside; in the absence of the Chair, the Vice-Chair shall preside;

 

(2)               The Chair of the Committee may vote on any question before the Committee, and, in the event of an equality of votes, the question being voted upon shall be deemed to have been lost;

 

(3)               Committees shall consider and report on such matters only as have been referred to them by the Council or such matters as come within their continuing Terms of Reference and jurisdiction;

 

(4)               Committees may receive representations from the public.  Other than at a statutory public hearing, Subject to be permitted further time by the Committee, nNo person, without leave of the Committee, shall speak for longer than five minutes;

 

(5)               Each Standing Committee shall diligently pursue its duties and shall report to Council on every matter and question coming before it within its Terms of Reference and jurisdiction;

 

(6)               Subject to its terms of reference, each Committee, other than a Standing Committee, shall diligently pursue its duties and shall report to the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee and Council on every matter and question coming before it within its terms of reference;

 

(7)               Should the Chair of any Committee neglect or refuse to call meetings of the Committee at such times or with such frequency as the proper dispatch of the Committee’s business requires, or do the business of the Committee without the knowledge or consent of its members, or contrary to their wishes or actions, the Committee may report such neglect, refusal or action to the Council which may remove such Chair from office and, except in the instance of a Standing Committee, appoint another member as Chair;

 

(8)               Should any member of a Committee fail to attend three successive regular or Special Meetings thereof, without being authorized to do so by a resolution of the Committee, the Committee may certify such failure and thereupon the membership of such person on the Committee is terminated and the Council may appoint another member in their place.  Reception of a written notice of regret by the Committee or Council shall constitute authorization for the purposes of this subsection;

 

(9)               Should any Committee neglect or refuse to give due attention to any matter before it, the Council may, by resolution, discharge such Committee and appoint another in its place;

(1)When an Ad Hoc Committee / Task Force has completed its work and submitted its final report, it dissolves automatically, unless otherwise directed by Council.

 

(10)      Deputy City Managers shall have the right to address the respective Standing Committee that they attend on any matter relevant to the function or administration of the City.


 

78.                          CONSENT AGENDA

 

(1)               At the commencement of a meeting, and in the absence of any speaker registered, the Chair shall proceed through the items in the Agenda to determine if it is the will of the Committee that the recommendations be adopted without debate or questions;

 

(2)               During the progression through the Agenda in accordance with subsection (1), no debate, questions or recorded vote shall be permitted but declarations of interest and dissents may be recorded;

 

(3)               Any member of the Committee may require that a recommendation be debated or subject to questions;

 

(4)               The Chair shall declare whether each recommendation is carried or will be subject to debate;

 

(5)               Upon completion of the progression through the Agenda in accordance with subsection (1), the Committee shall then proceed to consider, in accordance with the Agenda, the recommendations that have not yet been adopted;

 

(6)               No recommendation which is subject to the holding of a statutory public hearing may be adopted at the time of the consideration of the Consent Agenda unless no speakers are registered and the Chair has made an announcement inviting submissions and any other statutory requirements are met.

 

79.                          SUPPLEMENTARY REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE ESTIMATES

 

(1)               A motion or recommendation to approve or direct the expenditure of funds, or the raising of revenue, not within an estimate or revenue measure previously approved by Council shall be tabled until the next regular meeting of the Committee or Council unless the motion or recommendation is within a report that:

(a)                was distributed to members of the Committee at least seventwo clear days in advance of the Committee or Council meeting, and

(b)               contains a financial comment by the Chief Corporate Services Officer;

 

(2)               Where a notice of motion to approve or direct the expenditure of funds, or the raising of revenue, not within an estimate or revenue measure previously approved by Council, is given to Council, the Chief Corporate Services Officer, shall submit to Council at its next regular meeting, or at a special meeting called to consider the motion, a financial comment with respect to the motion;

 

80.                          COORDINATOR

 

(1)               The Coordinator of any Committee shall be designated by and be responsible to the Clerk;

 

(2)               It shall be the duty of the Coordinator:

(a)                to give notice of each regular and Special Meeting of the Committee together with an Agenda of the matters to be considered;

(b)               to submit the reports of the Committees to Council, as the case may be;

(c)                to record motions, votes, public delegations and a concise narrative of the committee discussion through the preparation of meeting minutes in accordance with Subsection 76(14); and

(d)               perform such other functions as may be required from time to time.

 

81.                          SPECIAL MEETINGS OF COMMITTEES

 

(1)               The Chair may at any time summon a Special Meeting of the Committee or, upon receipt of the petition of the majority of the members of the Committee, the Coordinator shall summon a Special Meeting for the purpose and at the time mentioned in the petition;

 

(2)               Notice of all Special Meetings of the Committee setting forth the matters to be considered at such Special Meeting shall be given to all members of the Committee either:

(a)                by prepaid, special delivery mail deposited in a Canada Post Corporation Post Office not less than seventy-two hours in advance of the time fixed for the meeting;

(b)               by delivery to the City office, residence or place of business of the member, including by electronic mail, not less than six hours in advance of the time fixed for the meeting; or

(c)                by personal service to the members not less than six hours in advance of the time fixed for the meeting; and/or

(d)               by such other manner as the Chair may direct;

 

(3)               At Special Meetings of the Committee, it shall not be competent to consider or decide upon any matter unless such matter has been explained in the notice calling the meeting, without the consent, recorded in the minutes, of all of the members of the Committee;

 

(4)               Subject to Section 1213, a Special Meeting of the Committee may be either open or closed as determined by the Committee;

 

(5)               Once received by the Coordinator, no member may add or remove their name from a petition filed under subsection (1);

 

(6)               Despite this section, on urgent and extraordinary occasions, with the consent of two-thirds of all the members of Committee recorded in the minutes, an emergency Special Meeting of the Committee may be called by the Chair without notice to consider and deal with such urgent and extraordinary matters.

 

1.MEMBER SERVICES COMMITTEE

 

(1)The Member Services Committee shall be composed of three members of Council.

 

(1)The Member Services Committee has jurisdiction regarding:

 

(a)the administration of the offices of the Councillors;

 

(a)expenditures by Councillors;

 

(a)entitlement of Councillors to City facilities and resources for the performance of their duties; and

 

(a)personnel matters related to:

 

a)the offices of the Councillors, or

a)the performance by the Councillors of their duties.

 

(1)The Member Services Committee shall meet at the call of its Chair in accordance with the notice provision in Section 79.

 

(1)A decision of the Member Services Committee may be forwarded directly to Council but only upon written request of two members of Council.

 

82.                          JOINT MEETINGS OF COMMITTEES

 

(1)        (a)       Where an issue is relevant to the mandate of more than one Committee, the Committee Chairs of the respective Committees will meet to determine which Committee will be responsible for the issue or, alternatively, whether or not a joint Committee meeting should be held;

(b)               A joint meeting of two or more Committees may be directed by Council, or may be called by their Chairs, in accordance with subsection 1(a), or whenever such Chairs consider it necessary for their respective Committees to consider and report jointly on matters within their joint areas of concern;

 

(2)               (a)        Upon the receipt of a request in writing by a majority of members of each of two Committees, the respective Committee Chair, or in the case of the illness or absence of one or the other of them, the Clerk shall summon a joint meeting of such Committees for the purpose of considering and reporting on matters within the Committees’ joint areas of concern;

           

(b)        All joint meetings will be in accordance with the Standing Committee’s Joint Meeting Procedure.

 

(3)               (a)        A quorum for the joint meeting of Committees shall be a majority of the combined number of members of the Committees excluding the Mayor; and

 

            (b)        The Mayor, if present, shall be counted as one member in making such quorum and shall have one vote;

 

(4)               (a)        Where a joint meeting consists of the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee and any other Committee of Council, the Mayor shall preside as Chair of the joint meeting;

 

(b)        Subject to subsection (4)(a), the members in attendance at a joint meeting called pursuant to this section shall appoint the Chair of one of the Committees to chair the joint meeting, but if both such Chairs are absent, another member of one of the Committees shall be so appointed;

 

(5)               (a)        When the Chair of the joint meeting calls for the vote on a question, each member of the Committees shall vote in unison, and the question shall be decided by a majority of votes, so that only one decision is made thereon; and,

(b)        The Chair of the joint meeting may vote on all questions submitted and in the case of an equal division, the question shall be deemed to have been decided in the negative;

 

(6)               The provisions of the By-law with respect to the conduct of business in Committees shall apply, with necessary changes, to the conduct of business at a joint meeting called pursuant to this section.

 

83.                          AGENDA IN COMMITTEE

 

(2)               The Coordinator shall have prepared and printed for the use of the members at the regular meetings of Committee an Agenda setting forth the business to be considered at such meeting;

 

(3)               The business of the Committee shall be considered in the order set forth on the Agenda, provided however, that the Chair, with the approval of the Committee, may vary the order of business to better deal with matters before the Committee;

 

(4)               Except as otherwise decided by a two-thirds vote of the members of Committee present and voting, the Committee shall not consider any report, Information Previously Distributed memorandum, or any matter, that has not been distributed to the members with the Agenda;

 

(5)               If the minutes of the preceding meeting have been delivered, in advance, to the members of the Committee then the minutes shall not be read, and a motion that the minutes be confirmed shall be in order;

 

(6)               After the minutes have been adopted they shall be signed by the Chair and by the Coordinator.

 

84.                          INFORMATION REPORTS

 

(2)               A report may be forwarded to a Committee for information;

 

(3)               Notwithstanding that a report has been forwarded for information, motion(s) may be made by members of the Committee for action to be taken on matters that arise from or are discussed in the report;

 

(4)               Motions made under subsection (2) may be made at any meeting where the report is presented to the Committee or Council;

 

(5)               Unless otherwise required by law, including a direction of Council, an information report submitted to, and not amended by the Committee, shall only be reported to Council where the Committee so directs.


PART X          ORGANIZATION OF NEW COUNCIL

 

85.                          INAUGURAL MEETING OF COUNCIL

 

                        The Inaugural Meeting of the Council shall be held on the first weekday in December in the first year of its term at a time and place determined by the person who has been certified by the Clerk to be elected as Mayor.

 

86.                          INAUGURAL MEETING - BUSINESS

 

(1)               At the Inaugural Meeting of the Council, the only business to be brought before the meeting shall be the following:

(a)                Filing of Certificates and Declarations of Office;

(b)               Election of Nominating Committee pursuant to Section 8687; and

(c)                Matters incidental to any of the above;

 

(2)               Despite Subsection (1), an Inaugural Address by the Mayor may be delivered at the Inaugural Meeting of Council or at a subsequent meeting of Council.

 

87.                          ELECTION OF NOMINATING COMMITTEE

 

(1)               If the Nominating Committee is not elected at the Inaugural Meeting of Council, it shall be elected at the next meeting of Council A Nominating Committee shall be elected at the Inaugural Meeting of the Council in accordance with this section;

 

(2)               The composition of the Nominating Committee shall be determined by the Council exclusive of the Mayor who shall sit as Chair;

 

(3)               The Mayor shall call for nominations;

 

(4)               Each nomination shall be in writing, regularly moved and seconded, and shall only be accepted if either the written consent of the nominee is appended thereto, or the nominee, being present, signifies their consent;

(1)All voting shall be done in open Council without the use of any form of secret ballot.

 

(5)               Where there are more nominees than positions available on the Committee a vote shall be taken;

 

(6)               Each member shall have a number of votes equal to the membership of the Committee;

 

(7)               A nominee requires the vote of a majority of the members present to be elected;

 

(8)               The name(s) of the person or persons receiving the fewest votes will be deleteddropped off from the list until nine ten nominees remain;

 

(9)               In the event that there are two or more person tied for the fewest number of votes, the following procedure shall be observed:

(a)                A run-off election shall be held amongst those tied for the fewest number of votes;

(b)               Each councillor shall have a number of votes equal to the number of nominees tied for the fewest votes minus one;

(c)                The nominee receiving the fewest votes amongst those in the run-off shall be dropped offdeleted from the list of nominees.

 

88.                          NOMINATINGION COMMITTEE REPORTCOMMITTEE AND LOCAL BOARD APPOINTMENTS AND MEETINGS

 

                        The Nominating Committee upon election shall forthwith consider and recommend to Council, at a meeting to be held on the Wednesday next following the Inaugural Meeting, or at such other time as the Mayor shall determinewhich meeting shall be deemed to be the regular meeting of Council for that month,

 

(1)               the names of the members to serve on each Standing Committee and all appointments to any other committees, local boards, commissions, bodies and organizations;

 

(2)               a schedule for the meetings of the Standing Committees.; and

 

89.                          ADDITIONAL NOMINATIONS MEMBERS ELECTED TO

 

(1)               Despite Section 8788, other members may be nominated by members of Council;

 

(2)               Where an additional person to those recommended by Nominating Committee are nominated, the choices shall be debated and the voting held in accordance with the provisions of Section 86 88 hereof with the necessary modifications if,

(a)                the committee, local board, body or organization has a defined maximum number of members; and

(b)               the addition of the person nominated at Council would cause the committee, local board, body or organization to have a number of members in excess of its maximum;

 

(3)               Where subsection (2) is not applicable and an additional person to those recommended by Nominating Committee is nominated, members of Council shall vote, with each member of Council having one vote, as to whether the additional nominee shall be added to the members of the committee, local board, body or organization in question;

 

(4)               Where a vote has been taken under Sections 86 87 or 8889(3) such that the required number of members is reached, such members shall be deemed to have been elected or appointed by the Council and no formal resolution to that effect is required;

 

(5)               After the initial selection of the membership of Committees in a term of Council, if a vacancy should develop, the Committee in which the vacancy has occurred may recommend a replacement to Council.

 

 

PART XI        GENERAL PROVISIONS

 

90.                          TIME

 

                        Time, in this by-law, shall be governed by Eastern Standard Time, except that Eastern Daylight Saving Time shall govern when it is in use in Ottawa.

 

91.                          RECORDING EQUIPMENT

 

                        At the meetings of Council or a Committee, the use of cameras, electric lighting equipment, flash bulbs, recording equipment, television cameras and any other device of a mechanical, electronic or similar nature used for transcribing or recording proceedings by auditory or visual means by members of the public, including accredited and other representatives of any new media whatsoever, may be permitted and shall be subject to the approval and/or direction of the Mayor or Committee Chair unless otherwise decided by the Council or a Committee.

 

92.                          COMMUNICATION DEVICES

 

(1)               Subject to subsection (3), at the meetings of Council, the use of cellular phones, audible pagers or any other similar communication device is only permitted in the press gallery section of the Council Chambers;

 

(2)               Unless a meeting of a Committee is taking place in the Council Chambers, in which case subsections (1) and (3) apply, the use of audible cellular phones, audible pagers or any other similar communication device is prohibited in the room in which the Committee is meeting;

 

(3)               Despite subsection (1), the use of any communication device may be prohibited by the Mayor of Council or the Committee if, in the Mayor’s opinion, the device is interfering with any video or audio broadcast of the meeting.

 

93.                          REPEAL

 

(1)               By-law No. 20051-43120 is hereby repealed;

 

(2)               This By-law shall not be amended or repealed except by a majority vote of all members of the whole Council;

 

(3)               No amendment or repeal of this By-law shall be considered at any meeting of the Council unless notice of the proposed amendment or repeal with a summary of the changes proposed was:

(a)                considered by the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee; or

(b)               tabled at a previous regular meeting of the Council; or,

(c)                delivered by personal service to the members not less than ten (10) days in advance of the next meeting;

            and the Council may not waive such notice.

 

94.                          EFFECT

 

                        This By-law shall be deemed to have come into force on the 14th day of December, 200612th day of June, 2002.

 

95.                          SHORT TITLE

 

                        This By-law may be referred to as either the “Procedure By-law” or the “Rules of Procedure”.

 

                                    ENACTED AND PASSED this 14th day of December, 2006

.12th day of June, 2002.

 

 

 

 

 

                        CITY CLERK                                                             MAYOR


BY-LAW NO. 2002 20065 -xxx  431247

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

 

A by-law of the City of Ottawa to govern the proceedings of the Council and its Committees and to repeal By-law No. 20035-589 4312001-20.

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

 

Enacted by City Council at its meeting of December 14, 2006

 

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

 

LEGAL SERVICES

TM/

 

COUNCIL AUTHORITY:

City Council August 25, 2005

CSEDC Report 33, Item 1