Okay.

All right.

Uh good evening and welcome to the workshop on rules of the council.

This was brought on first with a uh resolution that was brought up by um councilperson Smythe, and uh the decision was made to have a workshop first so we can have uh a nice discussion on any and all changes that are proposed.

So we will start off with councilor Smythe.

I'll turn it over to you.

Thank you.

Um so this sort of came about um since I've been on council just noticing different sort of issues or ways that council can be a little bit more organized.

Um essentially what I did with the revisions is is just to give it a more organized format as far as what governs the procedures of council, um then uh a section for the newly elected counselors based upon conversations that counselor Pinnock and I have had um since we started and different areas that we just feel need to be a little fine-tuned.

Uh and then incorporating the Rhode Island Code of Ethics, which we had training on, uh code of conduct section based upon an executive session that we had regarding council decorum, and then just pulling together the different sections regarding the council meetings, plus adding a little bit more information on special meetings and the executive sessions.

And uh there was a couple of minor areas that did I deleted because I I just felt based upon our meetings and the way council has been functioning that they no longer applied, but it was just to pull together a document that would be helpful to newer counselors and also the public, that if the public has any questions on the functioning of the council meetings and and their procedures, that they would sort of have a one-stop shop document that they could find those answers.

So that's that's that's sort of a really basic summary of the revisions that I made.

Um if you look at the track changes document, the items that are in blue font are the additions.

The items that are in the black font are items that are from the existing rules of council.

And then you'll see areas um of red font and and scratched out uh deleted items that I I just didn't feel as though really really applied anymore.

And I've also included some comments in the margins so that you could see where the different sections were moved to.

So from the existing rules of council, um the majority of the information is still there.

It's just been reformatted and reorganized so that the document flows a little bit better.

Um have you had any conversations with other counselors or any city staff or administration when you're making these uh changes?

So it's sort of been uh a compilation of multiple conversations that I've had, questions that I've asked the the city solicitor, the city manager, questions that I've asked the city clerk from uh the time that the the night of the election through conversations between you know, feedback from councillor Pinnock, from Councillor Carl and Councillor Zai, and then um, you know, different conversations that have come up in our meetings with the remainder of council.

Um yeah, I mean I I went through, I mean, can this thing use some some tweaking?

Sure.

Um but I think it we need to be careful of which direction we're making these changes from, you know.

Um are they personal preferences or are they political preferences?

Um, some they like you said, I think some are probably more editing changes than others, and some I think have a little bit more discussion involved with them.

Um I know there was one part of it where uh we talk about how do we decide the the chair of the council or the the position of mayor.

Um I don't really see that what was I know that was in in blue uh at one point, but there's been a lot of discussion on that in the few years that I've been involved in the council, for instance.

Uh what are you what are your thoughts on what needs to be or what should be changed for that?

So that area um I pulled directly from the charter.

And that was because those were items that that to me I've received questions from the public on specific to how council functions.

So those are the areas of the charter that has come up the most, which is why I I felt at least it needed to be referenced.

The section two-five mayor presiding officer, um, was the only additional charter section that I added under the governing procedures of council.

And that was only because that has come up in many conversations.

Um the rest of the document where the chair is referenced is items that were already contained in the rules of council.

Um I just reformatted and sort of reworded a few different things just to make those sections flow a little bit better, but the predominant meat of the discussion is still there.

Yeah.

Um the other part I took uh uh little longer look at was the basically the disciplinary part of it.

You know, I know you we go along a lot of how is the council gonna interact with each other, where's where does you know somebody, whether it's the public, whether it's city staff or administration or a council, where if they get out of hand or out of line, there doesn't seem to be much power that anyone really has as far as discipline.

You know, I know the as the chair, uh you know, myself in the in this in the seat.

Um, I may be different than than others in the past, but uh you know, you try to let people have their have their say, but when when they start getting personal that or they start getting belligerent, you know, is only there's only so much that this thing does to get people quiet, besides I throw it at somebody, which is going to be soon.

Yeah, exactly.

And and that that isn't isn't necessarily contained in the charter.

Um it was also why I I looked at the different sections of Robert Rules Rules of Order, and how that was there was a section in the original rules of council containing that.

Um I pulled some sections of it word for word from the document to sort of add a little meat to that argument based upon um different conversations that council has had the specific section on the code of conduct, and and there wasn't anything anywhere that I could find that I could pull in specific references to like the charter or island general laws or Robert's rules of order, but a good portion of that that you see in black was already in the rules of council document.

Um I just added a few sort of paragraphs to kind of pull that information together.

Um I mean it's it's it's the that isn't information that um not ameniable to to changing if anybody has any other suggestions.

Um I just felt as though it was it was relevant to the conversations that we've had and and the different uh issues that have come up on the dais.

Yeah, there was um then you have this the one section about what that deals with uncivil disrespectful behaviors and the definitions of um looking at it from I mean I I understand where where the with where it comes from from just a common sense point, but then you get into uh for one instance using offensive or intimidating gestures.

It's like, well, who who decides what gestures intimidating or offensive, you know, what one person you know says or does may have different meanings to it, you know.

So um I I would that's uh again a little bit cautious on on getting to um getting without getting too in depth on on some of these definitions on what they would be and just to make sure that there are you know there is there's latitude given as to you know, I I just don't want to see because one person thinks you know saying the word damn might be offensive and another person doesn't, you know.

So and and uh you know, depending on um my co-sponsor um counselor pinnick, you know, uh I'm okay if you if counsel would like to have that paragraph of those specifics removed.

Can we uh can you I tell me which page you're talking about?

So that is on seeing page seven, it's under the code of conduct, and it starts with it's the second paragraph N on civil and disrespectful behaviors are defined as over here.

Yeah, okay.

So where did this blue um information come from?

So that I pulled from various different resources um that I had throughout my doctoral degree based upon classes that I had regarding workplace environment, um, workplace bullying and toxic work, um environments, and so I pulled different information from different sources.

Where do you go to school?

Capella.

Um can I um jump in that?

Yeah.