Lorain City  Council How  Legislation Works

Posts Mary Springowski  in response to  questions  City  of Lorain Politics

 (1)Someone asked why ordinances are reported out as “and declaring an emergency”. This is a standard process whereby we waive the three reading rule…..where an ordinance has to be read three times before we vote on it and it goes into effect. The sponsor of the ordinance will make the motion to suspend or waive the three reading rule. This is so the ordinance can be voted on immediately. This is done because many ordinances have time constraints or in the case of appropriations, so people can be paid. Council only meets on the first and third Mondays of the month so ordinances (and paychecks) could be held up by 6 weeks. This is to try to streamline the process a little bit. Are there times when Council members vote no on suspending the rule? Yes. I’ve done so many times.

(2) Who sponsors an ordinance? The chairperson of the committee that ordinance would fall under. They didn’t necessarily originate the proposed ordinance but they are the sponsors.

Appointments to a Committee of Council

 Mary  Springowski  answered  the question :

How does City Council appoint who is going to chair or be in any one committee

The council president does that. We are given a form and asked which committees we would like in order of preference and which we would like to chair.

Standing Committees:

Standing Committees | Lorain, OH (cityoflorain.org)
https://www.cityoflorain.org/383/Standing-Committees

Building and Lands Committee

Federal Programs Committee

Finance Committee

Parks and Recreation Committee

Police / Fire and Legislative Committee

Streets and Utilities Committee

Building and Lands Committee
Members
Mary Springowski, Chair
JoAnne Moon, Vice Chair
Greg Argenti
Beth Henley
Rob McFarland

Federal Programs Committee
Members
Rey Carrion, Chairman
Mitchell Fallis, Vice Chair
Pam Carter
JoAnne Moon
Tony Dimacchia

Finance Committee
Members
Mitchell Fallis, Chairman
Mary Springowski,Vice Chair
Tony Dimacchia
Josh Thornsberry
Rey Carrion

Parks and Recreation Committee
Members
Pam Carter, Chair
Joshua Thornsberry, Vice Chair
Beth Henley
Rey Carrion
Cory Shawver

Police / Fire and Legislative Committee
Members
Greg Argenti, Chairman
Tony Dimacchia, Vice Chair
Pamela Carter
Beth Henley
Mary Springowski

Streets and Utilities Committee
Members
Joshua Thornsberry, Chairman
Greg Argenti,Vice Chair

Mitchell Fallis
Rob McFarland
Cory Shawver

(3) Sending an ordinance to committee. This motion is always in order. If people have questions or we want more information, this is often utilized. Before members could speak at council meetings, I used to send items to committee so that we could let the public speak.

(4) How does an item get on the agenda?

We may have things brought to council by the administration, council members or department heads. It will then be out into the agenda software by the clerk of council and be reviewed by departments for legality and financial impact. As each person reviews it, it is “signed off on” and once all of the approvals are done, it is placed on the agenda for vote or discussion by council.

Clerk of Courts Nancy Greer

I have received your request for information regarding Council Committees. Attached is a copy of council rules, which is passed every two years by each council and directs how the body conducts business. You will notice a listing of committees, the process used during committee meetings and the voting requirements. Also included are the duties of the council president in addition to anything that is already called out in the Ohio Revised Code. There is not a specific “job description” for the President of Council or a Councilmember.

The public speaking portion of our meeting is also included in the attached Council Rules. We allow each individual 2 minutes with a cap of 20 minutes allowable time delegated to this segment. Council may waive these rules at any time, including public speaking, as long as it not a ORC requirement.

The chairperson (or vice chair) calls the committee meeting during a regular or special meeting unless it is deemed an emergency. This provides the public sufficient time to obtain information and attend if interested. Items discussed in committee are selected by the chair and can come from anywhere. Most often, items are referred from the regular meeting agendas but the chair can call a meeting to discuss an item of a general nature such as “Parks” or “Cats” etc.

The most common way that the general public brings a topic to the attention of the committee is through correspondence on our agendas. Items are read under correspondence and then referred to the appropriate committee for further review and discussion. In addition, any member of the public may contact any member of council to bring a subject to the floor for discussion. Oftentimes, a councilmember will ask the chair of a particular committee to schedule a meeting to discuss a matter of concern, perhaps in their respective ward. In summation, I would state that there are various ways to get subject matters or incidents or any topic to the appropriate committee for discussion without going through the administration.

We also have a new avenue that has been added to our meeting types and that is a Council Work Session. It was created to allow the body to thoroughly review and discuss matters in great detail. While the meetings are open to the public, public comment is not allowable. Oftentimes, the work session will involve a presentation. I will send you the resolution creating work sessions as well.

PDF Files  from Nancy  Greer
Greer Council Work Sessions
Greer Public Comments
Work Sessions

Motion to  Receive and File

Motion to receive and file: this is used when receiving correspondence. The motion acknowledges the correspondence and enters it as part of the official record.

To be continued…….