City of Redondo Beach - File #: 25-1125

• File #: 25-1125
• Type: Mayor and Council Item
• Status: Agenda Ready
• File created: 8/4/2025
• In control: City Council
• On agenda: 9/2/2025
• Title: DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING CHANGES TO THE RULES OF CONDUCT AND DECORUM FOR CITY COUNCIL AND COMMISSION MEETINGS, REDONDO BEACH MUNICIPAL CODES RELATED TO CITY BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS, AND THE POSSIBLE CREATION OF AN ON-CALL POLICE, FIRE, AND HOMELESS SERVICES COMMISSION REVIEW AND PROVIDE DIRECTION ON THE DRAFT RULES OF CONDUCT AND DECORUM FOR CITY COUNCIL AND COMMISSION MEETINGS, INCLUDING UPDATES TO MEETING AGENDAS AND SCRIPTS FOR MEETING CHAIRS TO ADDRESS DISRUPTIONS TO PUBLIC MEETINGS REVIEW AND PROVIDE DIRECTION ON THE DRAFT ORDINANCES TO UPDATE THE REDONDO BEACH MUNICIPAL CODE RELATED TO THE UNIFORM REGULATIONS OF COMMISSIONS, PUBLIC WORKS, TRAFFIC, SAFETY, AND SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION, HARBOR COMMISSION, PLANNING COMMISSION, BUDGET AND FINANCE COMMISSION, CULTURAL ARTS COMMISSION, PUBLIC AMENITIES COMMISSION, AND HISTORIC RESOURCES PRESERVATION REVIEW AND PROVIDE DIRECTION ON THE POSSIBLE CREATION OF ON-CALL POLICE, FIRE, AND HOMELESS SERVICES COMMISSION

To:                                                               MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL

From:                                                               JAMES A. LIGHT, MAYOR                                                                                                                                                                                             LUKE SMUDE, ASSISTANT TO THE CITY MANAGER

TITLE

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DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING CHANGES TO THE RULES OF CONDUCT AND DECORUM FOR CITY COUNCIL AND COMMISSION MEETINGS, REDONDO BEACH MUNICIPAL CODES RELATED TO CITY BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS, AND THE POSSIBLE CREATION OF AN ON-CALL POLICE, FIRE, AND HOMELESS SERVICES COMMISSION

REVIEW AND PROVIDE DIRECTION ON THE DRAFT RULES OF CONDUCT AND DECORUM FOR CITY COUNCIL AND COMMISSION MEETINGS, INCLUDING UPDATES TO MEETING AGENDAS AND SCRIPTS FOR MEETING CHAIRS TO ADDRESS DISRUPTIONS TO PUBLIC MEETINGS

REVIEW AND PROVIDE DIRECTION ON THE DRAFT ORDINANCES TO UPDATE THE REDONDO BEACH MUNICIPAL CODE RELATED TO THE UNIFORM REGULATIONS OF COMMISSIONS, PUBLIC WORKS, TRAFFIC, SAFETY, AND SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION, HARBOR COMMISSION, PLANNING COMMISSION, BUDGET AND FINANCE COMMISSION, CULTURAL ARTS COMMISSION, PUBLIC AMENITIES COMMISSION, AND HISTORIC RESOURCES PRESERVATION

REVIEW AND PROVIDE DIRECTION ON THE POSSIBLE CREATION OF ON-CALL POLICE, FIRE, AND HOMELESS SERVICES COMMISSION

end

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

At the April 1, 2025 City Council meeting, Mayor Light volunteered to draft an updated meeting code of conduct for review and consideration by the City Council.  At the time, the Council was focused on potential changes related to the conduct of Commissioners and the specific role each Commission serves in the City.  During discussion of the item, outgoing City Attorney Mike Webb provided a briefing that pointed out the City Council had not formally adopted procedural standards for the conduct of meetings.  He recommended tailoring Rosenberg’s Rules of Order as a potential solution.  As the Mayor’s volunteer drafting of the rules progressed, additional source documents were identified that had conflicting information, were outdated, or had never been formally adopted by the Council.

The draft documents provided to Council as part of this item seek to address policy concerns, the lack of comprehensive procedural rules, inconsistencies in related ordinances, and previous draft recommendations from staff that were never acted upon.  These drafts were circulated to the City Attorney’s Office, City Clerk’s Office, and the appropriate liaison Departments for review prior to being provided to the City Council.

This item serves as an opportunity to introduce these documents for Council discussion and to gather feedback prior to agendizing the items for consideration of approval.  Changes to the Redondo Beach Municipal Code (RBMC) would be made via ordinance.  Final adoption of the changes would require at least two more meetings to allow for introduction and second reading of the ordinance, with any adopted changes taking effect 30 days thereafter.  Ideally, the resulting ordinances would be finalized and adopted prior to Commissioner trainings, which are scheduled to take place in October and November.

This item contains a number of items for City Council consideration, including:

• New Draft Rules of Conduct and Decorum for City Council and Commission Meetings
• Model Agenda for City Council and Commission Meetings
• Scripts for Chairs to address disruptions to public meetings
• Draft Ordinances to amend, add, and delete Redondo Beach Municipal Code (RBMC) Sections related to:
• Uniform Regulation of Commissions
• Public Works, Traffic, Safety, And Sustainability Commission
• Harbor Commission
• Planning Commission
• Budget and Finance Commission
• Cultural Arts Commission
• Public Amenities Commission
• Historic Resources Preservation
• A Draft Ordinance related to the creation of an on-call Police, Fire, and Homeless Services Commission

Staff recommends that the City Council discuss, provide input, and consider action on the above items.

BACKGROUND

The “Rules of Conduct for the City Council” were last updated in April 2022.  Through the 2022 strategic planning process the Council added an objective to review the Code of Conduct for Commissioners and present recommendations to the City Council.  No action was ultimately taken to change the Rules of Conduct.

At the March 2023 Strategic Planning meeting, the Council updated the objective to “update the Code of Conduct Policy for City Council and Commissioners…and present the revised policy to City Council for consideration and approval.”  Subsequent to the establishment of this objective, the Council expressed concerns with three main items:

• City Council and Commissioner civility
• Definitively bounding the scope of commissions
• Establishing the means to control public disruptions

On April 1, 2025, the former City Attorney, Michael W. Webb, advised that the City Council never adopted comprehensive rules for the conduct of public meetings.  Thus, when the Council asked for procedural guidance, the City Attorney could only opine on how the Council acted historically, or based on common procedural rules that were never formally adopted.  The City Attorney closed with the recommendation to pursue the adoption of a tailored version of Rosenberg’s Rules of Order, with Mayor Light volunteering to lead the drafting effort. 

While research the item, multiple resources were provided that impacted the final recommendations.  These included:

• The existing Rules of Conduct for City Council Meetings
• The Commissioner Handbook
• The Municipal Code and Charter
• The Agenda Instructions
• Several documents previously generated by staff but never acted upon
• City of Gardena scripts related to dealing with unruly members of the public
• Rosenberg’s Rules of Order

The Project Objectives are depicted in first column of Figure 1 and the Existing Documentation is depicted in the second column.

Figure 1: Tasking Overview

Mayor Light subsequently made efforts to address each project objective.  During this process, the existing documentation was found to contain some conflicting, or outdated, information, and some of Council’s Project Objectives were not addressed.

As a result, the task expanded to ensure that all of the policy documents were aligned and complimentary and that new policies were defined to address the stated objectives.  The resulting Recommendations (Column 3 of Figure 1) and documentation includes:

• Updates to and expansion of the Rules of Conduct embodied in the draft “City Council Rules of Conduct and Decorum,” which includes the conduct of Commissioners and members of the public
• A draft update to the standard Agenda that includes additional Rules of Conduct for members of the public
• Scripts to address situations with disruptive members of the public
• Recommended updates to the RBMC

As the project progressed, several recommendations required immediate action by the City Council to align with the commencement of the Commissioner appointment process in June of 2025.  As a result, the Council has already acted to enact recommended changes to the Youth Commission and to dissolve the Public Safety Commission.  The expanded draft Rules for Public Participation have been posted at each City Council meeting.  The Mayor has also utilized draft scripts to introduce and define the steps that should be taken when members of the public are disruptive.  These rules and scripts were reviewed by the Police Chief, the City Attorney, and the City Manager prior to public posting and can be amended by the City Council as part of this item, if desired. 

As a result of the disbandment of the Public Safety Commission, the Mayor added the safety related tasks brought up by the Council during their deliberations on the matter to the scope of the amended ordinance for the Public Works and Safety Commission.  It should be noted that this does not preempt the Council referral to consider establishing an on-call Police, Fire, and Homeless Services Commission.

The documents before the Council for discussion have undergone review by the City Attorney’s Office and appropriate commission liaisons.  They are now being presented to the Council for review and direction, with formal consideration of approval and adoption taking place at subsequent meetings.  In addition to providing input on the draft documents, the Mayor is asking the City Council to provide guidance on the following items:

• Start times for Closed Session and Open Session Meetings
• Appropriate metric for Commissioner attendance (4 absences over the preceding 12-month period is currently included)
• Council’s desire to allow for continued electronic public participation

Lastly, on July 8, 2025, the Council approved a referral to staff to agendize a discussion item regarding the possible creation of an on-call Police, Fire, and Homeless Services Commission.  The referral indicated the Commission would be narrowly tailored to consider only issues that are substantively impacting the quality of life, public safety, or privacy of the community.  The Commission would meet on an as-needed, on-call basis, to address issues that are referred for their consideration by the respective City Department Heads and the City Council.  A draft ordinance pertaining to the Commission is attached for consideration.

COORDINATION

The drafted documents were coordinated with the City Manager’s Office, the City Attorney’s Office, and the applicable Commission liaisons.

FISCAL IMPACT

There is no fiscal impact associated with the proposed changes.

APPROVED BY:

Mike Witzansky, City Manager

ATTACHMENTS

• Draft City Council Rules of Conduct and Decorum
• Appendix A - Draft Agenda
• Appendix B - Draft Scripts for Disruptive Members of the Public
• Draft Ord – Amending Title 2, Chapter 9, Article 1, Sections 2-9.100, 2-9.101, 2-9.102, 2-9.103, and 2-9.107, and Adding Sections 2-9.110 and 2-9.111 and Deleting in its Entirety Section 2-9.108 Pertaining to Uniform Regulations Of Commissions
• RBMC – Existing Code Sections - Title 2, Chapter 9, Article 1, Sections 2-9.100, 2-9.101, 2-9.102, 2-9.103, 2-9.107, and 2-9.108 Pertaining to the Uniform Regulations of Commissions
• Draft Ord – Amending Title 2, Chapter 9, Article 4, Sections 2-9.401, 2-9.402, and 2-9.403 Pertaining to the Public Works, Traffic Safety, and Sustainability Commission
• RBMC – Existing Code Sections - Title 2, Chapter 9, Article 4, Sections 2-9.401, 2-9.402, and 2-9.403 Pertaining to the Public Works and Sustainability Commission
• Draft Ord – Amending Title 2, Chapter 9, Article 7, Sections 2-9.702 and Amending Sections 2-9.704 and 2-9.709 and Renumbering to 2-9.703 and 2-9.704 Respectively, and Deleting Sections 2-9.705, 2-9.706, 2-9.707, 2-9.708, 2-9.709 and 2-9.712 and Renumbering Sections 2-9.710 to 2-9.705; 2-9.711 to 2-9.706; and 2-9.714 To 2-9.707 Pertaining to the Harbor Commission
• RBMC – Existing Code Sections - Title 2, Chapter 9, Article 7, Sections 2-9.702, 2-9.704, 2-9.709, 2-9.705, 2-9.706, 2-9.707, 2-9.708, 2-9.709 and 2-9.712 Pertaining to the Harbor Commission
• Draft Ord – Amending Title 2, Chapter 9, Article 10, Sections 2-9.1002 and 2-9.1003 Pertaining to the Planning Commission
• RBMC – Existing Code Sections - Title 2, Chapter 9, Article 10, Sections 2-9.1002 and 2-9.1003 Pertaining to the Planning Commission
• Draft Ord – Amending Title 2, Chapter 9, Article 13, Sections 2-9.1301 and 2-9.1302 Pertaining to the Budget And Finance Commission
• RBMC - Existing Code Sections - Title 2, Chapter 9, Article 13, Sections 2-9.1301 and 2-9.1302 Pertaining to the Budget And Finance Commission
• Draft Ord – Amending Title 2, Chapter 9, Article 14, Sections 2-9.1402 and 2-9.1403 Pertaining to the Cultural Arts Commission
• RBMC - Existing Code Sections - Title 2, Chapter 9, Article 14, Sections 2-9.1402 and 2-9.1403 Pertaining to the Cultural Arts Commission
• Draft Ord – Amending Title 2, Chapter 9, Article 15, Sections 2-9.1502 and 2-9.1503 Pertaining to the Public Amenities Commission
• RBMC - Existing Code Sections - Title 2, Chapter 9, Article 15, Sections 2-9.1502 and 2-9.1503 Pertaining to the Public Amenities Commission
• Draft Ord – Amending Title 10, Chapter 4, Articles 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6, Sections  10-4.104, 10-4.302, 10-4.304, 10-4.307, 10-4.308, 10-4.309, 10-4.310, 10-4.404, 10-4.501 and 10-4.601 Pertaining to Historic Resources Preservation
• RBMC - Existing Code Sections - Title 10, Chapter 4, Articles 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6, Sections  10-4.104, 10-4.302, 10-4.304, 10-4.307, 10-4.308, 10-4.309, 10-4.310, 10-4.404, 10-4.501 and 10-4.601 Pertaining to Historic Resources Preservation
• Ord – Draft Ordinance Adding Sections 2-9.1601 through 2-9.1604 of the Redondo Beach Municipal Code Regarding the Police, Fire, and Homeless Services Commission