This ordinance makes various maintenance revisions to the Vacaville Municipal Code ( VMC or Code ). Briefly, the revisions are as follows:

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1 Agenda Item No. 8A March 12, 2013 TO: FROM: SUBJECT: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council Attention: Laura C. Kuhn, City Manager Gerald L. Hobrecht, City Attorney ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF VACAVILLE AMENDING SECTIONS (DECORUM AT CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS), (METHODS OF ACTION BY CITY COUNCIL), (CITY COUNCIL RULES OF ORDER), (POLICE RESERVE OFFICERS), (BINGO PRIZES), (ANIMALS PROHIBITED ON LESS THAN ONE ACRE), (WEED/RUBBISH ABATEMENT LIENS), AND (USE OF SKATEBOARD PARKS BY MINORS) OF THE VACAVILLE MUNICIPAL CODE BACKGROUND: This ordinance makes various maintenance revisions to the Vacaville Municipal Code ( VMC or Code ). Briefly, the revisions are as follows: 1. VMC The ordinance amends the Code section on decorum at Council meetings in order to comport with a recent U.S. Ninth Circuit court decision, Acosta v. City of Costa Mesa, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS (2012). In Acosta, the court invalidated an ordinance that prohibited expressive activity that, in itself, may not disrupt or delay a meeting. The proscribed activity must actually interrupt, delay, or disturb the orderly conduct of the meeting. The ordinance revises the Code to prohibit any type conduct or speech that interrupts, delays, or disturbs the orderly conduct of a Council meeting. 2. VMC The ordinance amends the Code section regarding the Council s method of taking action, which currently requires that any legislative action be by ordinance or resolution. It does not provide for action by motion. Further, the phrase legislative action is not defined. Hence, because it could include any action by the Council, the ordinance amends the section to clarify that the Council may take action by ordinance, resolution, or motion. (This does not, however, mean that an action may be taken by minute action or motion when the law requires otherwise.) 3. VMC The ordinance amends the Code section regarding the rules of order utilized at City Council meetings. Currently, the Code specifies that Robert s Rules of Order shall be utilized. Robert s Rules of Order, however, is complex, archaic, and not easy to follow. The ordinance replaces Robert s Rules of Order with Rosenberg s Rules of Order, which is simpler, contemporary, and easier to apply. Rosenberg s Rules of Order and Cheat Sheet are downloadable for private use at the Institute for Local Government web site and are attached to this memorandum for your review. 4. VMC The ordinance amends the Code section on police reserve officers to be gender neutral and to replace city administrator with city manager.

2 5. VMC The ordinance revises the maximum amount that may be awarded during bingo games to the amount permitted under Penal Code Section 326.5, which several years ago was increased by the Legislature from $250 to $ VMC The ordinance amends the Code to clarify that certain animals, such as chickens, are not permitted in the city on any single parcel of property less than one acre in size, except as otherwise permitted elsewhere in the Code, such as Division of the Municipal Code, which permits certain animals in certain zoning districts under specified conditions. 7. VMC The ordinance amends the section of the Code that allows the City to collect its cost to abate weeds on private property by a lien on property. The amendment clarifies that, before liening property, the City must give the property owner forty-five days to reimburse the City before liening the property, pursuant to Section of the Government Code. 8. VMC The ordinance amends the section of the Code that prohibits children under the age of 9 from using the City s skate park unless accompanied by an adult. The ordinance increases the age to 12 so that the immunity for a hazardous recreational activity under Health and Safety Code Section will apply to the skate park, thereby reducing the City s liability exposure. The Community Services Commission has considered the revision and recommends its adoption to the City Council. FISCAL IMPACT None. RECOMMENDATION: By title only, to introduce the subject ordinance (first reading).

3 ORDINANCE NO ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF VACAVILLE AMENDING SECTIONS (DECORUM AT CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS), (METHODS OF ACTION BY CITY COUNCIL), (CITY COUNCIL RULES OF ORDER), (POLICE RESERVE OFFICERS), (BINGO PRIZES), (ANIMALS PROHIBITED ON LESS THAN ONE ACRE), (WEED/RUBBISH ABATEMENT LIENS), AND (USE OF SKATEBOARD PARKS BY MINORS) OF THE VACAVILLE MUNICIPAL CODE THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF VACAVILLE DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. Subsection B of Section of the Vacaville Municipal Code Amended. Subsection B of Section of the Vacaville Municipal Code is modified to read in full as follows: B. Other persons. Any person who engages in conduct or speech that delays, interrupts, impedes, or disrupts the orderly conduct of a council meeting may forthwith, by the presiding officer, be barred from further audience at said meeting before the council, unless permission to continue is granted by a majority vote of the council. Section 2. Section of the Vacaville Municipal Code Amended. Section of the Vacaville Municipal Code is amended to read in full as follows: Any action by the council may be taken by means of an ordinance, resolution, or motion. Section 3. Section of the Vacaville Municipal Code Amended. Section of the Vacaville Municipal Code is amended to read in full as follows: Any matters of council procedure not covered in this chapter shall be subject to the rules and procedures of Rosenberg s Rules of Order: Simple Parliamentary Procedures for the 21 st Century. Section 4. Section of the Vacaville Municipal Code Amended. Section of the Vacaville Municipal Code is amended to read in full as follows: The city police reserve is created and established. The reserve of not more than twentyfive persons shall be appointed by the city manager on the recommendation of the chief of police and shall be under the direction of the chief of police.

4 Section 5. Subsection I of Section Amended. Subsection I of Section of the Vacaville Municipal Code is amended to read in full as follows: For each separate game of bingo which is held, the total value of prizes available to be awarded during the conduct of such game shall not exceed, in cash or kind, the amount specified in section of the California Penal Code, as such section may be amended or renumbered from time to time. Section 6. Section of the Vacaville Municipal Code Amended. Section of the Vacaville Municipal Code is amended to read in full as follows: Except as otherwise provided in this code, no person shall keep, corral or harbor any cow, horse, ox, mule, donkey, sheep, goat, hog, chicken, poultry, duck, turkey, goose, dove, pigeon, peacock, guinea fowl, domestic livestock or other cloven-hoofed animal in the city on any single parcel of property less than one acre in size. Section 7. Section of the Vacaville Municipal Code Amended. Section of the Vacaville Municipal Code is amended to read in full as follows: It is lawful for any person to pay the amount of such assessment for destruction or removal of weeds or rubbish on or before the fifteenth day of July following the date the confirmation of said assessment was made by the council. If said assessment is not paid on or before said date, the total amount thereof shall be entered on the next fiscal year tax roll as a lien against the property and shall be subject to the same penalties as are provided for other delinquent taxes or assessment of the City. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Government Code Section 54988, as the same now exists or may be hereafter amended or renumbered from time to time, requires that the record owner be given forty-five (45) days to pay the amount of the costs of abatement prior to initiating the lien procedures set forth in this chapter. Section 8. Subsection C of the Vacaville Municipal Code Amended. Subsection C of Section of the Vacaville Municipal Code is amended to read in full as follows: C. Use of Skateboard Park Facilities by Persons Under the Age of Twelve. No person under the age of twelve shall use a skateboard park facility owned or operated by the city unless such person is accompanied and supervised at all times by an adult. Section 9. Severability. If any section, subsection, phrase or clause of this ordinance is for any reason held to be unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed this ordinance and each section, subsection, phrase, or clause thereof irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, phrases, or clauses be declared unconstitutional.

5 Section 10. Effective Date. This ordinance shall take effect thirty (30) days after passage thereof. Section 11. Publication. This ordinance shall be published in accordance with the provisions of Government Code Section I HEREBY CERTIFY that this ordinance was introduced at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Vacaville, held on the day of 2013, and ADOPTED AND PASSED at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Vacaville held on the day of 2013, by the following vote: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: ATTEST: APPROVED: Michelle A. Thornbrugh, City Clerk Stephen M. Hardy, Mayor Date:

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