Vancouver City Council |
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date:
May 30, 2003
Author:
Janice Mackenzie
Phone:
604-871-6146
RTS No.:
3437
CC File No.:
113
Meeting Date:
June 10, 2003
TO:
Vancouver City Council
FROM:
City Clerk
SUBJECT:
Procedure By-law No. 8554 - Amendment to Time Limit for Submission of Notice of Motion
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT the submission deadline for Notices of Motion under section 5.3 of Procedure By-law No. 8554 be changed to Monday 5:00 p.m. of the week preceding the week in which the meeting occurs; and
B. THAT the Director of Legal Services be instructed to prepare the necessary changes to Procedure By-law No. 8554 as outlined in this report to Council entitled "Procedure By-law No. 8554 Amendment to Timit Limit for Submission of Notice of Motion" dated May 30, 2003.
CITY MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The City Manager RECOMMENDS approval of the above.
COUNCIL POLICY
There is no Council policy regarding this matter.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to recommend to Council changes to the Procedure By-law to address an agenda package distribution issue.
BACKGROUND
Under Section 5.3 of the Procedure By-law, Members of Council may submit motions in written and electronic form to the City Clerk for inclusion on a Council agenda. The submitting Member may stipulate the date of the regular meeting at which the member intends to move the motion. In order for notice to have been considered given, a notice of such motion must be received on or before 5 p.m. Wednesday of the week preceding the week in which the meeting will occur. The City Clerk must add the motion to the agenda for
that meeting. The motion is circulated as part of the agenda package for that meeting. Under Section 5.4 of the By-law, motions received after Wednesday 5 p.m. are considered new business and are not itemized on the agenda.At the time when the Procedure By-law was adopted, Council and Standing Committee agenda packages were circulated on either late Thursday afternoon or Friday a.m. of the week preceding the week in which the meetings occurred. All notices of motion received under
s. 5.3 (i.e. motions received on or before 5 p.m. Wednesday) were routinely circulated as part of the Council agenda package. All agenda packages are posted on the City of Vancouver web-site for viewing by interested members of the public on the same day that the agenda package is circulated to Council.In March 2003, Council asked that Council and Standing Committee agenda packages be circulated no later than Wednesday 4:00 p.m. of the week preceding the week in which the meetings occur. To meet the distribution deadline, complete Council and Standing Committee agenda packages are sent to Printing Services no later than Tuesday 9:00 a.m. of the week preceding the week in which the meetings occur. Items received after Tuesday 9:00 a.m. are distributed as part of an amended agenda package on Friday of the week preceding the week in which the meetings occur.
As a result of the March 2003 change in the agenda circulation day, notices of motion received under to s. 5.3 of the Procedure By-law are almost always circulated as part of the amended agenda package on Friday. The amended agenda is posted on the City's web-site at that time.
DISCUSSION
The change in the agenda package circulation day from Thursday/Friday to Wednesday 4:00 p.m. of the week preceding the week in which the Council and Standing Committee meetings occur, is resulting in almost all notices of motions being circulated to Council and made available to the public as part of an amended agenda on the Friday before the week of the meetings. This provides Council members little opportunity to consider the content of such notices of motion before discussing the motions at the meeting in the following week. In addition, the public has little time in which to become aware of these motions and request to speak, if they so desire.
To address this problem, it is proposed that notices of motion be submitted on or before 5:00 p.m. Monday of the week preceding the week in which the meeting will occur. Such a change requires that Procedure By-law No. 8554 be amended. By requiring that notices of motion be submitted no later than Monday, these motions can be circulated as part of the agenda package on Wednesday, rather than as part of the amended agenda package on Friday.
CONCLUSION
The submission deadline for notices of motion under section 5.3 of the Procedure By-law is in conflict with the Council agenda package circulation deadline. This has led to reduced notification periods for Council members for most notices of motion as they are circulated as part of the amended agenda package. An amendment to Procedure By-law No. 8554 is proposed. This amendment will allow all notices of motion to be circulated with the Council agenda package.
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