Item 1a-Low Income Consumer Advisory Task Force Operating Rules_Approved January 9, 2015 — original pdf

Backup

City of Austin Low-Income Consumer Advisory Task Force Operating Rules January 9, 2015 1. Meetings shall be conducted according to Roberts Rules of Order. 2. Chair and/or Austin Energy staff will notify members of scheduled meetings at least 5 days prior to meeting time. All meetings will also be announced to the public via the City of Austin website at least 72 hours before the scheduled meeting. Time certain for meetings will be every first and third Friday with some exceptions. The Task Force may schedule additional meetings at other times and will reconsider the list of meeting dates in March. The list of meeting dates is as follows: January 9, 2015 January 16, 2015 February 6, 2015 February 20, 2015 March 6, 2015 March 27, 2015 April 10, 2015 April 17, 2015 May 1, 2015 May 15, 2015 June 5, 2015 June 19, 2015 July 17, 2015 August 7, 2015 August 21, 2015 September 4, 2015 September 18, 2015 3 The Task Force meetings will be tape recorded and copied and made available to members if requested. 4. Staff shall take meeting notes and make them available to members. 5. A quorum is a majority of Task Force’s current membership. A quorum (five members) must be present to take any official action. 6. Official action must be approved by at least a majority of the members (five members). Official action can only occur on meeting days scheduled in advance and attended by a quorum of members. 7. All Task Force meetings shall include a time of 15 minutes for public input at the beginning of the meeting. However, unless a majority of the Task Force agrees, input from the public will be limited to three minutes per speaker. The Task Force may extend City of Austin Low-Income Consumer Advisory Task Force Operating Rules January 9, 2015 the total 15-minute time period as needed or hold special meetings to obtain more public input as needed. 8. The Chair shall set the agenda of the meetings but must seek input from other Task Force members. At least three members may propose or agree to a Request for Study or Presentation from staff or other third party. Presentations should be limited to 15 minutes- not including questions from Task Force members. 9. Task Force members may themselves request to make a presentation, but must limit their presentation to no more than 10 minutes- not including questions from Task Force members. 10. Report language for consideration must be provided to Task Force member in Word format and any proposed edits by any member must be clearly identified. 11. All votes will be taken with For, Against, Abstaining and Absent members noted. 12. Any member may call for a vote on any action provided it is posted for possible action on the agenda. 13. Three or more members may place an item for reconsideration on the agenda. 14. On or before April 1, 2015 the Task Force shall approve preliminary draft recommendations on the 2009 and 2014 Austin Energy Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plans to be included in the preliminary budget. 15. On or before June 12, 2015 the Task Force shall issue its recommendations to council on the 2009 and 2014 Austin Energy Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plans to be incorporated in the budget. 16. Any member or members may submit Minority Reports that will be included in all distributions of Task Force actions to Council and the public. 17. The Task Force may convene after submitting its recommendations to either respond to those comments, or propose modifications to its initial recommendations. Thus, the Task Force may amend and/or supplement its initial recommendations any time before final City Council action on its recommendations. 18 All deliberations over agenda items should occur at the meetings. No more than four Task Force members may meet in person by phone or email at one time outside of the scheduled and posted meetings. City of Austin Low-Income Consumer Advisory Task Force Operating Rules January 9, 2015 19. These rules may be suspended by a simple majority of the Task Force, except for those required by the Texas Open Meetings Act.