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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPC Resolution _6345RESOLUTION NO. 6345 A RESOLUTION OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA ADOPTING THE PLANNING COMMISSION RULES OF PROCEDURE SUPERSEDING ALL PREVIOUS RESOLUTIONS THAT ADOPT A RULES AND PROCEDURE HANDBOOK, AND RESCINDING ALL PREVIOUS RESOLUTIONS AMENDING THE RULES OF PROCEDURE HANDBOOK. WHEREAS, California Government Code Section 36813 authorizes the Planning Commission to establish rules of conduct of its proceedings; and WHEREAS, Palm Springs Municipal Code Section 2.29.030 allows that the Planning Commission adopt rules of procedure to govern the conduct of its meetings, any of its other functions and activities, and regulations pertaining thereto; and WHEREAS, the Planning Commission of the City of Palm Springs has previously adopted a Rules of Procedure Handbook by Resolution No. 1273 and 1434; and WHEREAS, the Planning Commission of the City of Palm Springs hereby adopts the Planning Commission Rules of Procedure attached as Exhibit 1 and incorporated hereto; and BE FUTHER RESOLVED, this Resolution supersedes any previous Resolutions adopting Rules of Procedure and Resolution No. 1273 and 1434, amending previous handbooks are hereby rescinded in their entirety. ADOPTED this 10"' day of July 2013. ATTEST: CITY OF PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA AYES: 7, Calerdine, Donenfeld, Hudson, Klatchko, Lowe, Roberts, Weremiuk NOES: None ABSENT: None ABSTAIN: None M. argo Wheeler, AICP Secretary !• • a- 'Donenfeld P PLANNING COMMISSION RULES AND PROCEDURES Adopted July 10, 2013 Table of Contents A. Election of Terms of Office B. Duties of the Officers and Staff C. Meetings Ef D. Policies E. Amendments PURPOSE, EFFECT, AND AUTHORITY In the absence of a rule herein to govern a point or procedure or the making of a motion, Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised, shall be used as a guide. The purpose and intent of the Planning Commission in adopting the within rules shall be to provide directory guidelines relating to the conduct of the public business by or on behalf of the Planning Commission, and in the event of any noncompliance with or violation of any provision herein, such will not be deemed to affect the validity of any action taken, unless otherwise specifically provided by law. These rules are intended to be consistent with Stale law, however, in the event of any inconsistency with State law, State law shall prevail. In the event of any inconsistency between these rules and Robert's Rules of Order, these rules shall control. The scope and effect of these rules shall be determined by the Chair in conformity with Section 16.h hereof. Rules of Procedures A. Election and Terms of Office Page 2 of to The Chair and the Vice -Chair shall be elected at the first regular meeting of the Commission held after June 30 of each year (PSMC 2.06.020), or at the subsequent meeting. 2. The Chair and Vice -Chair shall hold office for one (1) year and thereafter until their successors are elected. In case of any vacancy in office, the vacancy shall be filled by an election held at the first regular meeting after the occurrence of such vacancy. B. Duties of Officers and Staff 1. Chair: The Chair shall preside at all meetings of the Commission. He/she shall appoint all committees and shall perform all other duties necessary, customary, or incidental to this office. The Chair may move, second, and debate from the Chair, subject only to such limitations of debate as are imposed on all Planning Commissioners, and he/she shall not be deprived of any rights and privileges of a Planning Commissioner by reason of his acting as Chair. 2. Vice -Chair: In the event of absence of the Chair or his/her inability to act, the Vice -Chair shall take his/her place and perform his/her duties. In the event of the absence or of the inability to act of both the Chair and the Vice -Chair, the remaining members of the Commission shall appoint one (1) of their members to act as temporary Chair. 3. Secretary: The Planning Director serving as the Secretary shall provide professional and technical advice to the Planning Commission, shall sign approved final subdivision maps, shall assist said Commission in the discharge of its responsibilities, and shall maintain minutes of meetings and records of hearings and official actions. C. Meetinas Regular Meetings of the Commission shall be open to the public and shall be held on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month at 1:30 prn in the City Council Chamber in City Hall, 3200 East Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs, California. The month of August will have only one meeting. If the regular meeting day falls on a legal holiday, no meeting shall be held on such holiday, but a regular meeting shall be held on the next succeeding Wednesday when there is not City Council meeting. Rules of Procedures Page 3 of 10 2. Adjourned Meetings: Any meeting may be adjourned to a time, place and date certain, but not beyond the next regular meeting. Once adjourned, the meeting cannot be reconvened. 3. Special Meetings and study sessions of the Commission shall be open to the public and shall be held at such times as the Commission may determine, or they may be called by the Chair any time on 24 hours, notice, if an emergency situation warrants such a meeting. 4. Notice of Meetings: The Agenda for all regular, adjourned and special meetings shall be available to the general public and the Secretary shall cause a copy thereof to be posted at least 72 hours before a regular or adjourned meeting on the exterior bulletin board on the west wall of the City Council Chamber. No other notice of regular or adjourned meetings or study sessions shall be required. 5. Quorum: The majority of the existing appointed Planning Commission shall constitute a quorum. The majority vote of a quorum shall be sufficient to do business. 5.1 Legally Required Participation If a majority of the Planning Commission shall be disqualified to vote on a matter by reason of actual or apparent conflict of interest, the Planning Commission shall select by lot or other means of random selection, or by such other impartial and equitable means as the Planning Commission shall determine that number of its disqualified members which, when added to the Commission as eligible to vote, shall constitute a quorum. 6. Voting: Every official act taken by the Commission shall be by Resolution or motion adopted by a majority vote. a. Voting Procedure: On the passage of every motion, the vote shall betaken by voice or roll call and entered in full upon the record. The order of voting shall be alphabetical, with the Chair voting last. b. Roll Call Voting: Electronic voting shall be used at all times it is available. A roll call vote may be used for all matters. c. Reconsideration: Any member who voted with the majority may move a reconsideration of any action at the same meeting. After a motion for reconsideration has once been acted on, no other motion for reconsideration thereof shall be made without unanimous consent of the Commission. Rules of Procedures Page 4 of 10 d. Conflict of Interest: Any Commissioner prevented from voting because of a conflict of interest, shall publicly disclose the nature and extent of such conflict and refrain from debate and voting. Such Commissioner shall leave the City Council Chamber during debate and voting on the issue, but shall be free to address the Commission as a private citizen on the matter. e. Failure to Vote: Every Planning Commissioner should vote unless disqualified for cause which has been publicly disclosed. f. Tie Votes: Tie votes shall be lost motions. 7. Order of Business at any regular meeting shall be as follows: • Call to Order • Roll Call • Acceptance of Agenda • Public Comments • Consent Calendar • Public Hearings • Unfinished Business • New Business • Planning Commission Member Reports • Director Reports • Adjournment 8. Delivery of Agenda: Barring insurmountable difficulties, the Agenda shall ordinarily be delivered to Planning Commission each Thursday preceding the Wednesday meeting to which it pertains. The Agenda shall also be available to the general public and the Secretary shall cause a copy thereof to be posted at least 72 hours before a regular or adjourned meeting or 24 hours before a special meeting on the exterior bulletin board on the west wall of the City Council Chamber. 9. Roll Call: Before proceeding with the business of the Commission, the Secretary shall call the roll of the Commission and the names of those present shall be entered in the minutes. The order of roll call shall be alphabetical with the Chair called last. 10. Public Comments: During the Public Comments portion of the meeting any person may address the Commission on any subject pertaining to Commission business, whether listed on the agenda or not, except at special meetings. Public Comments shall be limited to matters appearing on the agenda. A limitation of 3 minutes shall be imposed upon each person so desiring to address the Commission during the Public Comments designation on the agenda. X Rules of Procedures Page 5 of 10 11. Consent Calendar: Items of a routine nature, and non -controversial, shall be placed on the Consent Calendar. All items may be approved by one blanket motion upon unanimous consent. Under "Approval of the Agenda" any Commissioner may request that any item be withdrawn from the Consent Calendar for separate consideration. However, any Commissioner may abstain or vote "no" from voting on any Consent Calendar item without requesting its removal from the Consent Calendar, and the Secretary shall be instructed to record such abstentions in the minutes. 12. Public hearings shall be conducted in the following order: Staff Report Initial Questions to Staff by the Commission Chair opens the hearing: Applicant (10-minute time limit) Appellant (if different than the Applicant) (10-minute time limit) Public Testimony (3-minute time limit) Applicant Rebuttal (2-minute time limit) Appellant Rebuttal (2-minute time limit) Chair closes the hearing Questions and discussion by the Commission Action by the Commission Questions or comments from the public shall be limited to the subject under consideration. Commission questions of the staff prior to the opening of the public hearing and of the public prior to the close of the public hearing should be factual and seek pertinent information; Commission questions and comments should not be argumentative and Commission should not get into debates with staff or those members of the public testifying at a public hearing. Commission should not express their opinions on an item prior to the close of the public hearing, as Commission should not form or express an opinion until after all testimony has been received. Depending upon the extent of the agenda, and the number of persons desiring to speak on an issue, the Chair may, at the beginning of the hearing, limit testimony, but in no event less than one minute per individual. Any person may speak for a longer period of time, upon approval of the Commission, when this is deemed necessary in such cases as when a person is speaking as a representative of a group, or has graphic or slide presentations requiring more time. Rules of Procedures Page 6 of 10 N After the Chair closes the public hearing there shall be no further testimony from the public, unless the Chair takes formal action to re -open the hearing. 13. Limitation of Debate: As a matter of preferred protocol and courtesy to fellow members of the Commission, no Commissioner normally should speak more than once upon any one subject until every other Commissioner choosing to speak thereon has spoken and no Commissioner should speak for an excessive length of time each time he has the floor, without the approval of the Planning Commission. 14. Dissents and Protests: Any Commissioner shall have the right to express dissent from or protest to any action of the Commission and have the reason entered in the minutes. If such dissent or protest is desired to be entered in the minutes, this should be made clear by language such as "I would like the minutes to show that I am opposed to this action for the following reasons..." 15. Parliamentary Procedure: The rules of parliamentary practice as set forth in Robert's Rules of Order shall govern all meetings of the Commission, except as otherwise herein provided. 16. Rules. Decorum and Order: 0 a. Points of Order: The Chair shall determine all Points of Order subject to the right of any Commissioner to appeal to the Commission. If any appeal is taken, the question shall be, "Shall the decision of the Chair be sustained?" in which event a majority vote shall govern and conclusively determine such question of order. b. Decorum and Order - Commission Members: i) Every Commissioner desiring to speak shall address the Chair and upon recognition by the Chair, shall confine himself to the question under debate. ii) A Commissioner desiring to question the Staff shall address his/her question to the Planning Director, who shall be entitled either to answer the inquiry himself/herself, or to designate some member of his/her staff for that purpose. iii) A Commissioner, once recognized, shall not be interrupted while speaking unless called to order by the Chair; unless a Point of Order is raised by another Commission member or unless the speaker chooses to yield to questions from another Commissioner. (D Rules of Procedures Page 7 of 10 iv) If a Commissioner called to order by the Chair order while he/she is speaking, he/she shall cease speaking immediately until the question of order is determined. If ruled to be in order, he/she shall be permitted to proceed. If ruled to be not in order, he/she shall remain silent or shall alter his/her remarks so as to comply with rules of the Commission. v) Commissioners shall accord the utmost courtesy to each other, to City Employees and to the public appearing before the Commission and shall refrain at all times from rude and derogatory remarks, reflections as to integrity, abusive comments, and statements as to motives and personalities. vi) Any Commissioner may move to require the Chair to enforce the rules and the affirmative vote of a majority of the Commission shall require him/her to so act. vii) Members of the Commission shall not leave their seats during a meeting without the consent of the Chair. c. Decorum and Order - Em to ees: Members of the Planning Staff and employees of the City shall observe the same rules of procedure and decorum applicable to members of the Commission. Any staff member desiring to address the Commission or members of the public shall first be recognized by the Chair. All remarks shall be addressed to the Chair and not to any one individual Planning Commissioner or member of the public. d. Decorum and Order - Public: Members of the public attending Planning Commission meetings shall observe the same rules of order and decorum applicable to the Planning Commissioners. Any person, wishing to address the Planning Commission shall, before speaking, announce his/her actual name, address and city of residence, but such address need not be disclosed publicly if to do so would violate the privacy interests of the speaker. Any person while addressing the Planning Commission making obscene, slanderous, impertinent, profane, or similarly offensive and disruptive remarks, or who engages in loud, boisterous, or other disorderly conduct, which disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the public meeting, and any person, while attending the Planning Commission meeting, making unauthorized remarks from the audience, or stamping their feet, whistling, yelling, or making similar demonstrations which disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the public meeting, shall, at the discretion of the Chair, or a majority of the Planning Commission, be barred from further audience before the Rules of Procedures Page 8 of 10 101 Planning Commissioners during that meeting and/or be physically removed from the room by the sergeant -of -arms. Aggravated cases shall be prosecuted on an appropriate complaint signed by the by the Chair. e. Enforcement of Decorum: The Chief of Police shall be ex-officio sergeant -of -arms of the Commission. He/she shall carry out all orders and instructions given him by the Chair for the purpose of maintaining order and decorum in the Council Chamber. Any person disrupting Commission proceedings may be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, may be punished by fine or imprisonment or both. Upon instructions from the Chair, it shall be the duty of the Chief of Police or his/her representative to eject any person from the Council Chamber or place him/her under arrest or both. f. Persons Authorized to be within platform: No person except City officials shall be permitted within the platform area in front of the Council table without the verbal invitation or consent of the Chair. g. Maintenance of Order: The Chair is responsible for the maintenance of order and decorum at all times. No person is allowed to speak who has not first been recognized by the Chair. All questions and remarks shall be addressed to the Chair. h. Rules of Chair Final: In presiding over Planning Commission meetings, the Chair shall decide all questions of interpretation of these rules or other questions of procedure requiring rulings. Any such decision or ruling shall be final unless overridden or suspended by a majority vote of the Planning Commission present and voting shall be binding and legally effective (even if clearly erroneous) for purpose of the matter under consideration. 17. Motions: a. Processing of Motions: When a motion is made and seconded, it shall be stated by the Chair before debate. A motion so stated shall not be withdrawn by the mover without the consent of person seconding it. b. Division of Question: If the question contains two or more divisible propositions, the Chair may, and upon request of a Commissioner shall (unless appealed) divide the same. (D Rules of Procedures Page 9 of 10 C. Precedence of Motions: When a motion is before the Commission, no motion shall be entertained except the following which shall have precedence in the following order: 1. Adjourn 2. Fix Hour of Adjournment 3. Table 4. Amend 6. Postpone d. Motion to Adjourn: (not debatable) A motion to adjourn shall be in order at any time, except as follows: 1. When repeated without intervening business or discussion 2. When made as an interruption of Commissioner while speaking. 3. When the previous questions has been ordered, and 4. While a vote is being taken. A motion to adjourn "to another time" shall be debatable only as to the time to which the meeting is adjourned. e. Motion to Fix Hour of Adjournment: Such a motion shall be set a definite time at which to adjourn and shall be undebatable and unamendable except as to time set. Motion to Table: A motion to table shall be used to temporarily by- pass the subject. A motion to table shall be undebatable and shall preclude all amendments or debate of the subject under consideration. If the motion shall prevail, the matter may be "taken from 'he table" at any time prior to the end of the meeting. If not taken from the table the matter shall be placed on a future agenda as a new matter. g. Motion for PreviousQuestion: Such a motion shall be used to close debate on the main motion and shall be undebatable. If the motion fails, debate shall be reopened; if the motion passes, a vote shall be taken on the main motion. h. Motion to Amend: A motion to amend shall be debatable only as to amendment. A motion to amend an amendment shall be in order, but a motion to amend an amendment to an amendment shall not be in order. An amendment modifying the intention of a motion shall be in order, but an amendment relating to a different matter Rules of Procedures Page 10 of 10 No D. Policies shall not be in order. A substitute motion on the same subject shall be acceptable and voted on before a vote on the amendment. Amendments shall be voted first, then the main motion as amended. Motion to Continue: Motions to continue to a definite time shall be amendable and debatable as to propriety of postponement and time set. If desired, the maker of the motion to continue, may also move to reopen the hearing to receive further testimony. 1. Publici : The Secretary shall release all official information or "stories" to the press unless otherwise instructed by the Chair. No Commission member shall speak for the Commission as a whole without specific permission of the Chair. 2. Attendance: Each Commissioner shall attend every regular or special meeting unless unavailable for valid reasons. A Commissioner may be excused if prior notice is given to the Secretary, and if the reason for the absence is stated. In the minutes and in the attendance record the Secretary shall indicate members present and excused. 3. Any member who is absent without advance notification to the Secretary for 3 consecutive regular meetings, or is absent for 25% of the duly scheduled meetings, the Chair shall file a certification with the City Clerk that such absences have occurred and the Commissioner's office shall thereupon automatically become vacant. E. Amendments 1. These Rules and Regulations may be amended by the Commission at any regular meeting by a majority vote, or at any special meeting, provided that the proposed amendment is included in a written notice of such meeting.