§ 1:2. Order of business at regular meetings; agenda.

(a)

Unless this section of these rules of procedure is suspended at any regular meeting by the unanimous vote of all members present, the following shall be the order of business at all regular meetings of the council, provided that the president pro tempore will determine which items on the agenda are of particular interest to persons who may be present in the council chamber at the beginning of the meeting and the council will consider such items prior to calling those items upon which no person interested is present:

(1)

Call to order;

(2)

Roll call;

(3)

Invocation;

(4)

Pledge of Allegiance;

(5)

Presentations and special recognitions;

(6)

Action on minutes of any previous meeting, regular or special, which have not yet been disposed of (a reading of the minutes may be dispensed with, and the minutes may be approved or corrected, by a majority vote of the members present);

(7)

Introduction of and permitted action on, proposed ordinances and resolutions;

(8)

Committee actions;

(9)

Condemnation proceedings;

(10)

Public hearings called by the council to be held at the same time and place as the regular meetings;

(11)

Adjudicated properties;

(12)

Administrative matters;

(13)

Appointments;

(14)

Items to be acted on;

(15)

Adjournment.

(b)

Prior to each regular meeting, the council administrator shall prepare an agenda as hereinafter provided of all matters which he knows may be considered at the meeting, arranged in the order set forth in subsection (a) in sufficient detail to explain the nature of the item and the name of the person placing it on the agenda. A copy of this final agenda shall be electronically mailed to each member of the council not later than the Saturday preceding the particular meeting.

(c)

No matter shall be placed on the agenda unless the following procedure has been followed:

(1)

Only the mayor-president, members of the council, and the heads of departments, and other agencies, boards, and commissions of the local government may place items on the agenda.

(2)

Any request for an item to be placed on the agenda must be received in writing by the council administrator prior to 12:00 noon on Thursday preceding the next regular meeting of the council. Such request shall include a brief affirmative statement of the subject matter of the item together with a statement of what action the council is being requested to take, and may refer to only one (1) item.

(3)

The council administrator is prohibited from placing an item on the agenda unless the above conditions are met and the council administrator shall not place items on the agenda if he deems the information relating thereto to be insufficient.

(4)

The council administrator shall transmit the final agenda (containing the status of subject matter, etc., and name of the person placing each item on the agenda) to the council members by electronic mail, not later than the Saturday immediately preceding the council meetings.

(5)

Any items received after 12:00 noon Thursday immediately preceding the council meetings shall be placed on the agenda for the next following regular council meeting.

(6)

Except by unanimous vote of the council to do so, no item not on the regular agenda or item on the agenda, which by its nature requires the passage of an ordinance or resolution, may be considered by the council unless the council members and interested department heads have been previously provided with typewritten copies of the proposed ordinance or resolution approved by the parish attorney.

(7)

Any matter not covered by the statement of fact submitted by the department heads, and other agencies, boards and commissions of the local government placing the item on the agenda, may not be considered by the council. The chairman shall rule on the question considered by the council, of whether the matter was covered upon request of any member of the council, and his ruling shall be final unless appealed from and overturned as set forth hereinafter.

(8)

The items entitled "administrative matters" shall remain as permanent items on the agenda; provided, however, that any matter considered under these items shall be approved by unanimous vote of the members present, and identified in the motion to take up the matter with reasonable specificity, including the purpose for the addition to the agenda, and entered into the minutes of the meeting. Prior to any vote on the motion to take up a matter not on the agenda, there shall be an opportunity for public comment on any such motion in accordance with R.S. 42:5 or 5.1. Copies of all communications received by the council administrator and requiring the attention of the councils shall be transmitted to the members. Where any communication request involves administrative action, a copy of the communication will be forwarded to the department, board or agency for subsequent distribution to the members of the council. For the purpose of this section, agenda items and accompanying explanation given by the members of the council to employees of the council administrator's office either by telephone or by verbal dictation shall be considered to have been in writing.

(9)

Any action required by law to be introduced for a public hearing at the next or any other subsequent meeting of the council shall not be discussed at the meeting at which it is introduced.

(10)

The agenda as prepared by the council administrator and submitted to the council not later than the Saturday immediately preceding the council meetings shall be the final official agenda.

(11)

Each department head or other official appointed by the president pro tempore and the council and the heads of the administrative staffs appointed by boards and commissions under the jurisdiction of the council, including, but not limited to, the planning director, the director of aviation and the librarian, (except where absent from the city-parish, on vacation or absent because of illness, in which case such official may send a designated representative), shall attend every regular and special meeting of the council where the agenda for any such meeting contains an item or calls for a public hearing on any resolution or ordinance in which a department or agency shall have an interest or be responsible in any way for the carrying out and execution of legislative action resulting from the adoption of any such agenda item or resolution or ordinance. The council administrator shall transmit to all such department heads and heads of the administrative staffs copies of the agenda of each regular and special meeting of the council prior to the date of said meeting in order that the officials may be acquainted with the various items, resolutions and ordinances to be considered and prepared to furnish necessary information and data relating thereto as requested by the members of the council.

(12)

The finance and executive committee, heretofore established, shall adopt its own rules of procedure, and shall review all requests for expenditures and personnel changes, which requests represent a departure from the current expense budget and which, by failure of the council to take affirmative action, will result in that amount of money involved reverting to the general fund at the close of the fiscal year; provided however, that in the case of allocations, the monies in question shall remain in the previously designated account.

(13)

The finance and executive committee and the council shall be guided by the provisions of City Ordinance 2356, and Parish Ordinance 3128, adopted August 13, 1969, as may be amended from time to time, but subject to the limitations of the provisions of Section 8.18 of the Plan of Government.

(City Code 1951, Title 1, § 2; Parish Code 1962, Title 1, § 2; Ord. No. 11652, § 1, 2-9-00; Ord. No. 13319, § 1, 6-22-05; Ord. No. 13624, § 1, 5-30-06; Ord. No. 14274, § 1, 1-9-08; Ord. No. 14457, § 1, 8-13-08; Ord. No. 16064, § 1, 8-26-15)