• Click here to see City Council Meeting Agendas
• City goes "paperless"
• Citizen Comments at Meetings
• Decorum during Meetings

Citizen Comments at City Council Meetings

Written Comments.  Citizens may use the comment sheets provided in the City Clerk’s Office at City Hall.  Comment sheets submitted to the City Clerk by 6:45 p.m. on the day of the Council meeting will be copied and distributed to the Council Members.  A Citizen who wishes to submit other written material should submit 11 copies to the City Clerk for distribution to Council Members and senior staff.

Citizen Comment Period.  Citizens wishing to speak must sign in at the City Clerk’s Office at City Hall during regular business hours on the day of the meeting, or from 6:00-6:45 p.m. prior to the meeting.  Speakers will have one opportunity to speak during the time period, and they must observe the three-minute time limit.  If a Citizen speaks during Citizen Comment Period on a topic listed on the agenda, including a public hearing topic, the person cannot speak again on the item when it is considered by the Council, except in response to a question from the Council.

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Rules of Decorum for City Council Meetings

Rules of Decorum.  City Code Section 2.045 establishes Rules of Decorum for City Council Meetings.  Copies of this section are available in the City Clerk’s Office.

Purposes. The purposes of the Rules of Decorum are as follows:

• To ensure that meetings of the City Council are conducted in a way that allows the business of the City to be effectively conducted.
• To ensure that members of the public who attend meetings of the City Council can be heard in a fair, impartial and respectful manner.
• To ensure that meetings of the City Council are conducted in a way that is open to all viewpoints, yet free from abusive, distracting or intimidating behavior.
• To ensure that the rules governing decorum at meetings of the City Council are understood by persons attending the meetings.

Rules for Speakers.

1.      Members of the public may address the City Council at the following times during a meeting:

• During Citizen Comment Period, if such a period is on the agenda for the meeting.
• During a public hearing on an agenda item.
• At other times with the permission of the presiding officer.

2.      Speakers must address all comments and questions to the presiding officer.

3.      Speakers must limit their comments to three minutes.

4.      Inquiries from speakers about matters not listed on the agenda will either be directed to the Staff or placed on a future agenda for Council consideration.

Rules for Members of the Public.

Members of the public shall not engage in any of the following in the meeting room during a City Council meeting:

1.      Shouting, unruly behavior, distracting side conversations, or speaking out when another person is talking.

2.      Defamation, intimidation, personal affronts, profanity, or threats of violence.

3.      Audible use of phones, pagers, radios, computers or other electronic equipment.

4.      Booing, hissing, foot stomping, parading, singing or other similar behavior that impedes or disrupts the orderly conduct of the meeting.

Enforcement of Rules.

1.      The Rules of Decorum will be enforced in the following manner:

• The presiding officer will request that a person who is violating a rule cease the violation.
• If the violation continues, the presiding officer will warn the person that he or she will be required to leave the meeting room if the violation continues.
• If the violation continues, the presiding officer will order the person to leave the meeting room.
• If the person does not leave the meeting room, the presiding officer may order any peace officer at the meeting to remove the person from the meeting room.

2.      It is unlawful for any person to intentionally or knowingly resist removal from a meeting room by a peace officer in the course of enforcing the rules.

3.      Any person violating any provision of the Rules of Decorum commits a misdemeanor and is subject to a fine of up to $500 as provided in Section 1.015 of the San Marcos City Code upon conviction.

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City Going ‘Paperless” for Council Meetings

The City of San Marcos will begin using a “paperless” agenda process for posting and using agenda materials through the Internet at City Council meetings starting with next week’s October 3, 2006 session.

The reams of paper that have previously been used to print agenda packets will be replaced by City Council access using laptop computers at meetings and public access via the city’s web site at www.sanmarcostx.gov .

The new agenda location will be www.sanmarcostx.gov/publicagenda .

“This advance will make much more information about our City Council meetings readily available to the public and the press with just a click of the mouse,” said City Manager Dan O’Leary.

 “We are taking the plunge with this meeting,” he added. “We anticipate there may be some glitches at first, but we think the best way to find any bugs with this system is to start using it and fix them as we go.”

Visitors can choose a meeting from a list of scheduled meetings or do a meeting search. Under scheduled meetings, visitors can click on a paper icon for viewing as an html document or a pdf icon to choose the way they wish to view the agenda and its attachments.

The public will have access not only to the agenda, which lists all the items being considered by the City Council, but also all the packet material on the web page.  The “pdf” version can be saved to a citizen’s -- or reporter’s -- own computer.

City directors and staff have been practicing for several months with “MuniAgenda,” a program for creating paperless agendas. After training sessions, directors have been developing practice agenda items through the new software and routing them for approval to the city manager, city attorney, finance department and city clerk.

The finished agenda for the October 3 meeting is expected to be posted Thursday or no later than Friday.

A limited number of printed agendas –without packet material—will be available at City Hall for people attending the meeting. A full paper packet will be available for public review at City Hall and at the Public Library after the meeting is posted.

In the past, the City Clerk’s office printed 45 agenda packets for city council members, staff and the media for each meeting, with a typical agenda packet containing 100 to 200 pages.

Implementation of the paperless agenda process is being coordinated by the City Clerk’s Office and the Technology Services, working with Municipal Code Corporation, an electronic records management company assisting with the City of San Marcos paperless agenda project.

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