City Council

nwsw^ ::;H'T' JftN } l AM 08 CITY OF FITCHBURG OFFICE OF THE C1TV CLERK 166BoulderDrive Mary de Alderete Fitchburg/MA 01420 City Clerk cityclerk@fitchburgma. gov December 2, 2020 WARRANT FOR THE ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING OF THE CITY COIJNCH. Dear Councillor: The Organizational Meeting ofthe 2021 City Council will be held on Mondav, Januarv 4,2021 at 10:00 AM via the Zoom Meeting Platform. Register in advance for the Public Comment/Heanng portion ofthe Agenda by going to: https:^us02web.zooiTLys/webmar/i<edster/WN The Meeting is called for the following purposes: Election oftlie Council President for the year 2021; Election ofthe Council Vice President forthe year 2021; 1 - 2021 ORDER: Adopting Rules of the City Council for the year 2021; 2 m 2021 ORDER: Setting dates of Regular Meetings of the City Council for the year 2021; PerOrder: City CIerk The Organizational Meeting of the City Council was via the Zoom Meeting Platform and called to order by City Clerk Mary de Alderete at 10:00 a.m. The Salute to the Flag was led by Councilor Kushmerek. A motion to accept the provisions of remote participation was unanimously accepted by roll call vote. The City Clerk called the roll and eleven (11) members were present. Board consists of eleven (11) members. The City Clerk read the warrant for the Organizational Meeting. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Nominations for Council President were declared open by the City Clerk. The name of Councilor Anthony Zarrella was placed in nomination and seconded. There were no further nominations. Nominations were declared closed following a unanimous roll call vote. A vote of unanimous consent resulted in the election of Councilor Anthony Zarrella as President of the City Council for the year 2021. President Zarrella assumed the Chair for the remainder of the meeting. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Nominations for Council Vice President were declared open by President Zarrella. The name of Councilor Elizabeth Walsh was placed in nomination and seconded. There were no further nominations. Nominations were declared closed following a unanimous roll call vote. A vote of unanimous consent resulted in the election of Councilor Elizabeth Walsh as Vice President of the City Council for the year 2021. ---------------------------------------------------------------- In accordance with Section 1.3 of the Council Rules, President Zarrella appointed Vice-President Elizabeth Walsh as Parliamentarian for the year 2021. The following Orders were received: 1 – 2021 ORDER: Adopting Rules of the City Council for the year 2021. Proposed Amendments to the Rules: The following proposals for amendments to the 2020 rules for the year 2021 were read and voted as indicated: Amendments proposed by Councilor Beauchemin: Proposed Amendment to Rule 4.6 All standing committees shall meet regularly before each Council meeting, at the discretion of the chairperson or any two (2) members of the standing committee. All records of meetings and information dealing with committees shall be kept by the chairman of that committee. At any meeting of a standing committee, there shall also be posted notice of a meeting of a “Committee of the Whole” which shall consist of the entire membership of the City Council. In the event that less than a quorum of the City Council is present at such time, no committee of the whole shall take place. In the event that a quorum of the City Council is present at such time, the meeting shall proceed as a joint meeting of the standing committee and the committee of the whole, and the minutes shall reflect that a joint meeting took place. The chairman or acting chairman of the standing committee shall also serve as the chair of the committee of the whole at such joint meetings, unless the committee of the whole determines otherwise. This Rule shall not preclude the City Council from meeting at any time as a committee of the whole, pursuant to these Rules and/or Robert’s Rules of Order. Note: Councilor Beauchemin stated that upon waiting a written opinion from Solicitor Pusateri, the Amendment would be held until the first Council meeting in February. VOTE: Motion to hold amendment until the first Council meeting in February approved by a unanimous consent vote. 11 members present. Board consists of 11 members. Amend Rule 1.8 to “Seats in the Council Chamber for the members thereof, shall he determined by lot.” VOTE: A motion to amend the wording of the amendment from “he” to “be” accepted by unanimous consent. Board consists of 11 members. VOTE: A motion to append the amendment to include “Seat adjustments may be made per discretion of the Council President.” Approved by roll call vote 8/3 (DiNatale, Green, Schultz) Board consists of 11 members. VOTE: A motion to adopt the rule as amended failed by roll call vote 4/7 (Couture, DiNatale, Green, Kushmerek, Schultz, Van Hazinga, Zarrella) 11 members present. Board consists of 11 members. Amendments proposed by Councilor Zarrella: Proposed Amendment to Rule 1.3: Amend “shall annually appoint” to “may annually appoint”. Proposed Amendment to Rule 2.3: Insert “Report of the Appointments Committee” after “Public Forum” and before “A report of the Committee on Records” and renumber accordingly. Append to the end, “Provided however, that any above item may be skipped without motion or consent if there is no business pending thereunder.” Proposed Amendment to Rule 3.11: Append as a separate sentence, “When voting by ayes and nays, the form of the affirmative shall be “aye” or “yes” and the form of the negative shall be “nay” or “no”; the affirmative “yea” shall not be in order.” [Explanation: This is emphatically not targeted at the individual Councilor who is most prone to use “yea”. Experience has merely demonstrated that, especially on Zoom, it is too easy to mishear a “yea” as a “nay” or vice versa.] Proposed Amendment to Rule 3.10 and 3.11: Amend “yeas” to “ayes” in 3.10 and “yea” to “aye” in 3.11. Proposed Amendment to Rule 3.10: Delete the period and append, “; and any vote requiring greater than a simple majority shall be taken by ayes and nays unless approved by unanimous consent.” [If the immediately preceding proposal is rejected, then this proposed amendment should read “yeas and nays” rather than “ayes and nays”.] Proposed Amendment to Rule 3.16: Append to the end of the bullet list one additional bullet:  “If a winner is selected prior to a final round being reached, no “unused” votes on any ballot shall be disclosed to the Council or to the public except as the law may require.” Proposed New Rule 3.17: “If Rule 3.16 applies during a session in which the Council is meeting remotely or virtually, the President or Clerk shall allow up to five minutes for Councilors to submit ballots by email. The provisions of Rule 3.16 shall otherwise be followed.” Proposed New Rule 3.18: “In any instance in which Rule 3.16 would otherwise apply, if the number of nominees, applicants, or other candidates does not exceed the number of available seats, all candidates shall be deemed to have been elected and/or appointed without a vote, unless on a seconded motion by any Councilor two-thirds of the whole Council shall vote to disapprove such a candidate.” Proposed Amendment to Rule 4.2: Ensure that the text reads, as intended, “…requests in writing to the President not to be appointed…” Proposed Amendment to Rule 4.5: Amend “Rules 2.4” to “Rule 2.4”. Proposed Amendment to Rule 4.6: Append to the end, “Provided however, that a Councilor who is a principal sponsor of a petition or other item before the Committee may be treated by the Committee in the same manner as any other petitioner or subject-matter expert during the consideration of that item.” Proposed Amendment to Rule 4.7: Amend “in books provided by the City for that purpose” to read “in a format approved by the City Clerk”. Proposed Amendment to Rule 4.8: Append as a separate sentence, “In Committees where three or fewer members are present, any motion passable by simple majority shall be deemed to have passed if it is seconded, unless the proponent or the second withdraws approval prior to the Chair declaring the result.” Proposed Amendment to Rule 4.9: Amend “…before the forty-eight hour deadline…” to read “…after the forty-eight hour deadline…” Insert paragraph breaks following the words “deadline” and “efficient operation of the meeting”. Delete the final period and replace with, “, provided that such would otherwise be in order at the time.” Proposed New Rule 4.8: Insert a paragraph break after the word “quorum” (at the end of the second sentence) in the current Rule 4.7, and relabel the subsequent language as “Rule 4.8”, renumbering the following rules accordingly. ---------------------------------------------------------------- For the record, Councilor Squailia, asked that her objection to Rule 3.11 be noted. VOTE: A motion to accept the rules as amended passed by roll call vote 10/1 (Squailia) 11 members present. Board consists of 11 members. VOTE: A motion to accept the 2020 rules as amended for 2021 passed by unanimous consent. 11 members present. Board consists of 11 members. 2 - 2021 ORDER: Setting dates of Regular Meetings of the City Council for the year 202 1. The dates ofthe regular meetings oftheGity Council for the year 2021 are as follows: JANUARY THURSDAY7th and Tuesday 19th FEBRUARY Tuesday 2nd and Tuesday 16th MARCH Tuesday2nd and Tuesday 16th APRIL Tuesday 6th and Tuesday20th MAY Tuesday 4th and Tuesdayl8th XJNE Tuesday8th and Tuesday22nd JULY Tuesday 6th and Tuesday20th AUGUST NOMEETINGS SEPTEMBER Tuesday7th and THURSDAY 23rd OCTOBER Tuesday 5th and Tuesday 19th NOVEMBER THURSDAY 4th and Tuesday 16th DECEMBER Tuesday7th and Tuesdayll^ Meetings are scheduled to begin at 7:00 PM viathe Zoom Meeting Platform imtii further notice Registration links will be published on Agenda attime ofposting Order was adopted by unanimous consent. 11 members present. Board consists of 11 members. The Meeting adjoumed at 10:33 AM. Mary de Ald^rete, City Clerk