Recommended Staff Procedures
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RECOMMENDED STAFF PROCEDURES
FOR THE CllY OF YELM PLANNING COMMISSION
The Planning Staff shall perform two major roles in its work with the Planning
Commission
1 The professional-technician role where staff planners initiate proposals and
make recommendations consistent with the Citys adopted plans, ordinances, and
standards and with accepted planning theory and practice, and
2. The traditional staff role in which the Staff Planners assist the Planning
Commission in articulating their collective will
Both of these roles involve research, ~act-finding, identification of alternatives, evaluation
and recommendations.
From time to time, these roles may lead to differing recommendations from the Planning
Commission and Planning Staff On such occasions, it shall be the' responsibility of the
Staff Planner to prepare a report to the City Council which includes both the Planning
Commission and Planning Staff recommendations and any minority reports in which four /
or more planning Commissioners concur Further, it shall be the responsibility of the
Staff Planner to advise the Planning Commission Chairperson that the Planning Staff
intends to present a separate recommendation to the City Council so that the Chairman
or a representative can be in attendance to represent the Planning Commission
The manner in which the Planning Staff provides its day-to-day service to the Planning
Commission shall be redefined annually by the Planning Commission Essentially, the
relationship between the Planning Staff and the Planning Commission shall be whatever
the two entities negotiate between them Those negotiations result in an implicit contract
which shall remain in effect until proposed changes are introduced at a subsequent
annual review.
The Planning Staffs work shall be confined to those projects and activities officially
incorporated into the City's adopted work program and budget. The work program shall
be developed in consultation with both the Planning Commission and the Planning Staff,
but the final adoption authority rests solely with the City Council. If the Planning
Commission should identify a new work task during the work year, the Planning Staff
may pursue work on this task only if the City Council incorporates it into the adopted
work program
C:\WP51\50\CUENT\YElM\PROCEDRE.RUL
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RULES OF PROCEDURE
CllY OF YELM PLANNING COMMISSION
WE, THE MEMBERS of the Planning Commission of the City of Yelm, State of
Washington, created by Ordinance No. 119 (1969), of the City of Yelm, pursuant to
Chapter 44, Laws of 1935 (RCW 35 63) do hereby adopt, publish and declare the
following rules of procedure.
I NAME
The official name shall be ''The City of Yelm Planning Commission II
1\ MEETINGS
A. Regular meetings shall be held as per the schedule adopted by the
Planning Commission and posted at the Planning Department office, and all meetings
of the Planning Commission are subject to the Open Meetings Act.
B Special meetings shall be at the call of the chairperson or by consensus
/~ of the members at a regular meeting
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C Except as modified by these rules of procedure, Roberts Rules of Order
shall govern the conduct of public hearings and the chairperson shall decide all
questions of order, subject to an appeal to a vote of the Planning Commission.
111 ELECTION OF OFFICERS
A. The officers of the Planning Commission shall consist of a chairperson and
a vice chairperson elected from the appointed members of the Planning Commission and.
such other offices as the Planning Commission may, by the majority vote, approve and
appoint.
B The election of officers shall take place once each year on the occasion of
the last meeting in November of each calendar year The term of each officer shall run
from January 1 until December 31 of the following year
C A Nominating Committee may be appointed no later than October of each
year If appointed, this Nominating Committee shall prepare a slate of nominations for
the Planning Commission to consider at the next regularly scheduled meeting
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o In the event of the vacancy of the chair, the chairperson would be replaced
by the vice chairperson, and the vice chairperson would be replaced by vote of the
members of the Planning Commission.
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IV CHAIRPERSON
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A. The chairperson shall preside over the meetings of the Planning
Commission and may exercise all the powers usually incident to the office, retaining,
however, to himself or herself as a member of the Planning Commission, the full right to
have his or her own vote recorded in all deliberations of the Planning Commission.
B The chairperson shall have full power to create committees of one or more
members Standing or temporary committees may be charged with such duties,
examination, investigations and inquiries relative to one or more subjects of interest to
the Planning Commission No committee shall have the power to commit the Planning
Commission to the endorsement of any project, plan or program without the approval
of the Planning Commission.
C The chairperson shall perform the duties laid out in the attached Conduct
of Business regarding the following and other matters committees of the whole,
handling of meeting items and discussion, conflict of interest, suspension of meetings,
timing for discussion of issues, clarification of issues and questions, etc
V CHAIRPERSON'S ABSENCE
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The vice chairperson shall, in the absence of the chairperson, perform all the
duties incumbent upon the chairperson The chairperson and vice chairperson, both
being absent, the members present may elect from among themselves a temporary
chairperson who shall have the full powers of the chairperson during the absence of the
chairperson and the vice chairperson
VI SECRETARY
The Planning Staff shall perform the~'tJsu<f.1 and necessary secretarial functions.
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VII RECORD OF MEETING
All Planning Commission meetings shall be recorded electronically and official
minutes prepared Official minutes shall contain the date, time, place and nature of the
meeting (regular or special), the names of the members present; all motions except
those withdrawn and the names of their maker and seconder; an objective abstract of
all business discussed, actions taken and the results of such actions. Special meetings
will also be recorded electronically and minutes prepared The official minutes of
special meetings will normally consist of written notes. All Planning Commission minutes
shall be signed by the chairperson of the Planning Commission Minutes for committees,
if taken, shall be signed by the chairperson of the committee
VIII QUORUM
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A simple majority of the members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of
business The Planning Commission can conduct business whenever a quorum is
present. No action of the Planning Commission, however, may be taken without the
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concurrence of a majority of the current membership of the Commission. A public
hearing may be held by the Planning Commission on any matters before the Planning
Commission without a quorum, provided that the applicant and any interested party
waive any objections and that, when action on the matter is taken, a quorum is present
and those members that were not present for the public hearing state for the record prior
to voting that they have reviewed the taped recording of the public hearing and any
written document submitted for the record on the matter
IX. VOTING
Each Planning Commission member present shall vote for, against, or abstain
from voting on all questions put to the Planning Commission Unless a member of the
Planning Commission states that he or she is not voting, his or her silence shall be
recorded as voting with the majority
Any member may demand a roll call vote any time before or after any question
is put and before a vote is taken. The demand needs no second and the chairperson
must ask for a roll call vote on demand The motion is not debatable and may be
applied to any questions.
X. ABSENCE OF MEMBERS
If a member is absent for two (2) consecutive regular meetings without excuse,
or for thirty-five percent (35%) of all meetings (including committee meetings) in any six
(6) month period, the member's record shall be forwarded by staff to the Mayor for
consideration
XI CONFLICT OF INTEREST
A conflict of interest shall be handled as described in the attached Conduct of
Business (Item 6)
XII AGENDA
An agenda shall be prepared by the Planning Staff for each meeting No item on
the agenda may be added, deleted or moved without the approval of a majority of the
Planning Commission Items of business shall include
1
2.
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Call to order
Roll Call
Acceptance of Agenda
Minutes
Old Business
New Business
Other Business
Communications from City Council
Adjournment
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XIII AMENDMENT
These Rules of Procedure may be amended at any regular or called meeting of
the Planning Commission by a majority vote of the entire membership if the proposed
amendment is presented in writing at a preceding regular or called meeting