COMMON COUNCIL RULES OF PROCEDURE
City of Bloomington, Indiana

Working draft, October 15, 2026. Revised to put statutory matters alone into the municipal code, with rules of procedure to be adopted by recorded vote of the council.


ABOUT THESE RULES

These rules describe how the council runs its ordinary meetings. They are written to be understood without a parliamentary manual. They draw on Rosenberg's Rules of Order, but neither Rosenberg's, Robert's Rules of Order, nor any other outside manual is adopted or controls them. When a procedural question comes up that these rules don't answer, the chair decides it, and the council can overturn the chair on appeal.

These rules cover only local meeting mechanics. The council's legal powers and limits, notice requirements, voting thresholds and official records are covered in Chapter 2  of the Bloomington Municipal Code. If these rules conflict with state law or that chapter, state law and the chapter control.


PART 1. MEETING SCHEDULE

Rule 1. Regular meetings and work sessions. Regular meetings usually start at 6:30 p.m. on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. The council can change its published annual calendar by recorded vote. The clerk keeps the current calendar on the city website and posts any changes promptly. Work sessions, if they are held, are normally on Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. during a week when a regular meeting is not scheduled.

Rule 2. Special meetings. When an official with authority to call a special meeting sends the call to the clerk, the clerk promptly arranges the place, proposed agenda, logistics and notice. The clerk identifies who issued the call and what business it names. Who may call a special meeting, what notice is required, and when emergency exceptions apply are set by the municipal code and state law, not by these rules.

PART 2. PUTTING AN ITEM ON THE AGENDA

Rule 3. Who may submit items. Any councilmember, the mayor or another city administration official, or any member of the public may submit a matter for council consideration, including a proposed ordinance or resolution. The public has the same filing deadline and the same access to the agenda as councilmembers and the administration. A public submission does not need a councilmember's approval before the clerk places it on the agenda. The clerk's job is to assemble and publish the agenda, not to endorse what is on it. 

Rule 4. What a submission must include. Each proposed voting item must include:
  - the name of the submitter;
  - a short title;
  - the specific action the council is asked to take;
  - a short plain-language synopsis;
  - the complete text of any proposed ordinance or resolution; and
  - for proposed legislation, a fiscal-impact statement, or an explanation of why the impact is unknown or zero;
  - for the nomination of someone to be appointed to a board or commission, the name of the person to be appointed, the name of the board, the length of the term with start and end dates. 

The title should follow the same standard as a good newspaper headline, letting the reader know the main focus of the proposal. 

Supporting documents should be filed as separate electronic files, preferably text-searchable and accessible. An editable version of the legislative text is preferred. The clerk promptly tells a submitter about any missing information that can be objectively identified, so it can be supplied before the regular deadline. Clerk's staff give the same basic filing help to every submitter.

Rule 5. Every timely filed item gets listed on the agenda. The clerk gives each complete, on-time submission its own agenda entry and identifies who submitted it. Staff may not quietly drop an item, or fold it into another, because of its viewpoint, its sponsor, or the lack of a preliminary review. The council decides what to do with an item when it comes up.

Rule 6. Form-and-legality review label. Every proposed ordinance and resolution carries exactly one of these two labels on the agenda and on its item page:

  "Basic form-and-legality review completed by [name of council staff member or councilmember]"
  
  "No council staff member or councilmember has certified a basic form-and-legality review."
  
The first label may be used only after the named reviewer confirms that the text has been checked for basic form and apparent legality, including an enacting clause where one is required and the legal authority cited for the proposed action. The label is not an endorsement and is not a substitute for a legal opinion. The same review and labels are available to submissions from the public, councilmembers and the administration alike. Any councilmember may cite the absence of a review as a reason to vote no, or to move to postpone or refer the item. If the review status changes, the clerk updates the label with the date and the reviewer's name, keeping the earlier status visible.

Rule 7. One subject per item (no bundling). Each separate subject and decision normally gets its own voting item and, where practical, its own ordinance or resolution. A request touching unrelated funds, offices, programs or policy choices should be split into proposals that can be voted on separately, not combined for convenience. When the law, or a real dependence between the parts, requires them to be handled together, the submitter briefly explains the connection in the agenda materials. The clerk's office may not use questions of packaging as a reason to refuse an on-time item.

PART 3. THE ADVANCE REVIEW CYCLE

Rule 8. Filing deadline and agenda posting. For a regular Wednesday meeting, items are due by 9 a.m. on Monday of the week before, nine calendar days ahead of the meeting. The clerk posts the proposed agenda, with links to each supporting file, by 5 p.m. that same Monday. The clerk maintains stable hyperlinks each individual supporting file. A combined PDF may be offered as well, but not in place of the individual links. The clerk may not hold back files until a full packet is assembled. For a meeting on a different weekday, the clerk announces filing and posting dates that give at least nine calendar days of lead time for regular business. If the Monday submission deadline is not met, an item can still be added to a published agenda up until the day before the council meets, if the council president or the vice president declares an emergency in writing and the declaration of the emergency is attached to the agenda file.

Rule 9. Written questions: one process for council and public. When the agenda is posted on Monday, the clerk opens a single public form, or another accessible method, through which councilmembers and residents alike can submit written factual questions and requests for more information about each item. Questions received by 5 p.m. Wednesday of that week feed into the first round of written answers. Council staff complete the following tasks:

  - combine true duplicates without hiding what was asked or the point of view behind it;
  - note the item and date for each question;
  - send each question to someone who can answer it; and
  - keep a public log of all questions.
  
Personal contact information and material protected by law may be withheld, but the substance of the question has to stay visible in public documents. Questions can still be submitted after Wednesday, but the Friday deadline for answers does not apply to them.

Rule 10. Written answers by Friday. Council staff seek written answers from the submitter, the responsible city office, or another knowledgeable source, and publish an item-by-item question-and-answer file by 5 p.m. Friday, five days before the meeting. Any question not answered by then is marked "Unanswered," along with the person or office asked to respond, if known, and whether an answer is still expected. Answers and corrections that arrive later are added with a time stamp. Earlier entries are not replaced without a record. The clerk publishes the question log both as a readable web page and as a downloadable, machine-readable file. Links to answers and background material are sent to councilmembers and the public at the same time.

Rule 11. Informed review before the meeting. On the Monday and Tuesday before the meeting, councilmembers and the public should review the agenda, files, questions and answers. This means the meeting when an item is first introduced itself should not normally be the first time the council learns the basic facts.

Rule 12. Revisions and late items. If a revised version of the same item is submitted, the clerk labels each revised text and supporting document with a version number and the time it was posted. A significant revision made after the Monday submission deadline is flagged as late, and is can be used as a reason at the meeting to postpone the item so the advanced written question-and-answer cycle can run. But even a late-added item that has no written question-and-answer cycle can be considered as any other agenda item by the council. But the lack of a question-and-answer cycle can be used as a reason to immediately postpone the item, so that the question-and-answer cycle can run. The agenda process should not be used to deny the public a chance to review items in advance.

Rule 13. Working sessions. The agenda for working sessions is open to councilmembers, the administration, and members of the public in the same way a regular meeting agenda is. No votes are scheduled for working sessions. Working sessions have two main goals. The first goal is to allow councilmembers to consider issues, including upcoming legislation, on which there is possibly already general agreement, where a focused informal conversation might lead to consensus. That focused conversation could include invited resident experts who participate in the discussion on equal terms with councilmembers. The second goal is to establish a structured but informal way for members of the public to comment or ask questions on any issue that is not on the agenda, so that they can, if councilmembers wish, have some back-and-forth with councilmembers. The agenda for working sessions will normally include a chance for public comment about any non-agenda topic. Councilmembers have no obligation to respond to questions asked by the public, and if, after the chair gives ample time for response, can say that no councilmember appears interested in taking up the topic at this time, and the member of the public will be expected to accept that ruling. Working sessions will typically be constrained to a published time limit of two hours.      


PART 4. RUNNING THE MEETING

Rule 14. The chair. The presiding officer calls the meeting to order, recognizes speakers, states each pending question precisely, manages comment, rules on procedural objections and announces results. After the roll for attendance is called, the chair should annouce the reasons that have been provided to the clerk or the chair by those who are absent for their absence. If no reason has been provided, the chair should say that. The chair may take part in deliberation and vote, and does not have to step aside just because the chair is sponsoring an item before the council. If a member believes the chair is running the meeting in a way that undermines fairness and neutrality, a member can raise a point of order, and the outcome might be that the council may require the chair to hand over control to the next councilmember in the line of succession for a set period, but no longer than the rest of that day's meeting.

Rule 15. Order of business. The agenda should generally be organized as follows: Call to order; roll call for attendance; approval of the agenda and minutes; brief announcements of pressing concern; appointments and other voting items; ordinances and resolutions; committee reports; future meeting calendar; adjournment. The agenda should be organized and labeled based on items that could see a final vote without extraordinary action by the council and those that would see final action only with extraordinary action by the council. There is no standing public comment period for topics not on the agenda. Public comment on voting items happens when each item comes up. Questions asked from the public mic should be handled the same way as questions asked during a meeting by councilmembers, with the goal after the public speaking turn is over to establish whether the question was already asked in writing, and if so, for that answer to be retrieved during the meeting from the written record. The council president should collaborate with the clerk and the administration to sequence items on the agenda in a way that balances the value of of city the administration's staff time against the interest of the public.

Rule 16. Opening an item. When an item is reached on the agenda, the chair:

  - reads its title and synopsis aloud and states the decision the council is being asked to make;
  - identifies the submitter and reads or summarizes the item's form-and-legality review label; and
  - asks, "Is there a motion on this item?"
  
A councilmember may move to adopt, reject, refer the item to a named body, refer to an attorney, or set it for consideration at some future stated date. If no motion is made after a fair opportunity, the chair announces that the item receives no action, and the clerk records that outcome. A motion normally needs a second. Just because an item appears on the agenda, including one made through a public filing, does not obligate any member to make or second a motion.

Rule 17. Start with the decision, not a presentation. Once there is a motion to adopt and a second, the chair asks councilmembers, "Would anyone like to speak in favor?" and then, "Would anyone like to speak against?" The chair alternates between viewpoints when possible, and lets members who haven't spoken go before anyone speaks a second time. Members may refer to the written question-and-answer file or other sources to explain their votes. Staff or the submitter may be asked to clarify a factual point, this is not an occasion to interrogate staff or a council sponsor. Long presentations and repeated staff briefings are not the default for an item whose materials have been public for the full advance question-and-answer cycle.

Rule 18. Questions during the meeting. A councilmember may ask a relevant factual question during an item. The chair may ask, "Was this question submitted in the advance written question cycle?" This is meant to encourage advance preparation, not to block the question. If it was submitted, the chair points to the written answer or notes that it is marked "Unanswered." If it wasn't, the member may still ask and get an answer if one is available. If an important fact is unresolved by the time of a meeting, any member may move to postpone or refer the item with instructions to get the answer. An unanswered question can be a good reason to postpone, but it does not automatically prevent the council from acting. When the council is considering an ordinance that cannot be enacted at the same meeting when it is introduced, except by an extraordinary procedure, that is a natural occasion to postpone adoption until a following meeting. If there are no unresolved questions after the initial question-answer cycle, that can be a natural occasion to invoke the extraordinary procedure need to enact the ordinance the same day at the same meeting it was introduced.

Rule 19. Public comment on voting items. On each substantive voting item, the chair invites public comment before the final vote, with two minutes per speaker. The chair may alternate public speakers for and against when convenient, but no one has to declare a side. Each person normally speaks once per item, and this rule sets no limit on the total number of speakers. The chair may invite public comment on an amendment, especially one that significantly changes the proposal. This is an ordinary meeting procedure. Any other public comment requirements are set by either state law or municipal code.

Rule 20. Council deliberations: time and conduct. A councilmember normally has three minutes for a first turn and two minutes for a second, not counting limited questions and short answers. The council may grant more time by consent. The chair may not cut off a member's first fair chance to state a position just because earlier speakers ran long. Criticism of policies or public officials, even sharp criticism, is allowed, but gratuitous personal attacks or insults is now. Speakers may not interrupt or seriously disrupt the meeting. The chair may issue a warning and apply neutral rules to restore order.

PART 5. MOTIONS AND VOTING

Rule 21. Amendments. A councilmember may move to amend the pending proposal by describing an exact, relevant change. The motion needs a second. The chair states the amendment, allows brief discussion, and holds a vote on the amendment before returning to the proposal as amended. Generally any amendment should be in writing, and any member, or the clerk, may require the amendment in writing before the vote. Only one amendment may be pending at a time. The chair may open public comment on an amendment. A proposal that has been substantially rewritten should normally be postponed so the new text can be published and go through the advance question-and-answer cycle.

Rule 22. Motions to refer, postpone, divide or end discussion. A motion to refer names the body or person responsible and the work requested. A motion to postpone names the future meeting or date. A motion to divide separates truly independent decisions, to the extent the law allows. Each of these motions needs a second and passes by majority vote, as a local default. A motion to end discussion needs a second, and is never in order until every member has had a chance to speak at least once, but that does not mean every member has to speak before the motion is in order. A motion to end discussion is voted on without debate, and requires a two-thirds vote of all elected members. Ending discussion never eliminates the required opportunity for public comment. 

Rule 23. Taking the vote. Before calling the vote, the chair states the exact motion, including any approved amendments. After the vote, the chair announces the tally and whether the motion passed or failed. The clerk records the proposal and the outcome in the item's public file. Roll-call requirements and vote thresholds set by law are in the municipal code, not here. 

Rule 24. Requirements on voting. When the roll is called, a member must vote for or against, or in the case of a officer election, give the name of their preferred candiate. Abstaining is not an option. If a member says "pass" or "abstain" the vote is recorded for the official records as no. If a member wishes to abstain from a vote due to a conflict of interest, or the appearance of a conflict of interest, the member should state the reason and recuse themselves by leaving the dais before deliberations on the item begin. Their vote can then be recorded as "absent for good cause." After the result of the vote has been announced, a member cannot change their vote. 

Rule 25. Reconsideration and points of order. A member who voted on the winning side may move to reconsider a decision during the same meeting. A motion to reconsider needs a second and a majority vote. Any member may say "Point of order" when a rule seems to have been applied incorrectly, but must say which rule specifically has been violated. It's not necessary to cite rule number or quote it verbatim, but the member should achieve reference to some specific rule. The chair rules on the point of order, and any member may immediately appeal the ruling to the council without needing a second. No outside parliamentary manual controls this decision.

Rule 26. Recess and adjournment. A motion to recess or adjourn may be taken up at a reasonable time, but may not be used to interrupt a member who has the floor or a vote in progress. The chair may call a brief recess for reasons of fatigue, safety, accessibility, equipment problems or restoring order. These rules set no automatic adjournment, but are designed to limit an ordinary business meeting to no more than 90 minutes. 

Rule 27. Motion to suspend rules. Rules contained in these Rules of Procedure can be suspended on a motion to suspend a specific rule, which passes only by a two-thirds majority and lasts only for a relevant duration of time. Generally nothing in the municipal code is suspendible on a simple motion by the council.

PART 6. COMMITTEES AND PUBLIC ACCESS

Rule 28. Committees. Committee meetings can generally follow these same Rules of Procedure. But committee discussion is encouraged to be more conversational. The committee chair prepares a short report stating any recommendation and listing unresolved questions. The clerk organizes committee materials and reports so they can be found alongside council items. THe legal powers of committees, notice requirements, and records are governed by the municipal code.

Rule 29. Access to filing and results. After each regular meeting, relevant staff post an item-by-item action report with links to final documents and voting results. These practices add to, and do not replace, records requirements set by law.


CHAIR'S QUICK REFERENCE

For each voting item:
  1. Read the title and synopsis.
  2. Identify the submitter and the form-and-legality review status.
  3. Ask for a motion on the item (adopt, reject, refer, postpone).
  4. After a motion to adopt and a second, ask who wants to speak for and against.
  5. Invite two-minute public comment before the final vote. Allow comment on amendments when useful.
  6. If major questions remain open, entertain a motion to postpone.
  7. Restate the exact motion, take the vote and announce the result.

Motions in brief:
  - Adopt: asks for a yes-or-no decision.
  - Amend: state the exact change.
  - Postpone: name the meeting or date.
  - Refer: name the group and the task.
  - Divide: identify the independent decisions.
  - To close discussion: only after all councilmembers have had a chance to speak; requires two-thirds of all councilmembers; does not eliminate public comment.
  - Point of order: the chair rules; any member may immediately appeal to the council.

Regular Wednesday agenda cycle:
  - Monday of the prior week, morning: filings due.
  - Same Monday, afternoon: agenda and individual files posted.
  - Tuesday and Wednesday: factual questions submitted.
  - Friday: written answers posted.
  - Following Monday and Tuesday: informed review and written comment.
  - Wednesday: meeting, with public comment and vote.

No general comment period for topics not on the agenda.


DRAFTING NOTE (not part of the adopted rules): The municipal code, not these rules, restates the relevant Indiana statutes with specific citations and spells out how conflicts are resolved. These rules intentionally leave out statutory matters: who may call special meetings, roll-call requirements, notice periods, quorums, vote thresholds for enactment, and public-hearing requirements.