The Anchorage Assembly is set to take up a proposed ordinance at its next regular meeting on Tuesday that would put additional rules for meeting procedure into municipal code, to 'promote the efficient, safe and orderly conduct of assembly business.”
set to be discussed on Tuesday would codify additional rules of procedure, for both the assembly and the chair. According to a memorandum attached to the ordinance, some of the “rules and nomenclature” in a newly revised version of Roberts Rules of Order depart from some of the assembly’s traditional practices. Putting these additional procedure rules into city code “can reduce confusion and provide greater clarity to the public,” the memo states.
Constant said the assembly goes in an order of operations for procedural rules, starting with the city charter, then the code, followed by Roberts Rules of Order and then customs which are actions that can be taken by the chair and assembly members based on longstanding assembly traditions. The chair shall have the authority to establish a seating chart for individuals participating in an assembly meeting, and to prescribe how the physical space of a premise used for an assembly meeting may be used.
“In a lot of ways this ordinance is simply a cleaning up of what has become clear that we need to have better codification of the rules,” Constant said.