City Council Meeting Guidelines
City Council Meeting Schedule:
The Sartell City Council’s regular meetings are held on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month beginning at 7:00 p.m. The meeting agenda is prepared by the City Administrator and is available for review at Sartell City Hall and on the city website (www.sartellmn.com) on the Friday preceding the meeting. Regular meetings of the Council are broadcast live on cable channel 19 and rebroadcast the following day at 9 am. Video recordings of the meetings are also available on the city website within 48 hours following the meeting.
City Council Meeting Format:
Following reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance, the Council takes action to approve the agenda for the meeting. The following is a brief explanation of the sections of the Sartell City Council agenda:
• Open Forum/Public Comment Session:
The City Council has set aside up to 10 minutes at the beginning of each regular Council meeting to take comment from members of the public on topics that are not already part of the meeting agenda. Individuals wishing to offer comment to the Council must pre-register by contacting City Hall prior to the close of business (4:30 pm) on the date of the meeting. Each pre-registered participant is allowed a maximum of two minutes to address the Council at the podium. The Open Forum session is devoted exclusively to accepting comment from the public. While the City Council may opt to refer a matter to staff or one of its boards or commissions for study, the Council will not debate, discuss or formally act on any matter presented during the Open Forum session.
• Consent Agenda:
The Council uses a Consent Agenda for routine, non-controversial items needing little or no further deliberation. Those items listed on the Consent Agenda are approved together as one vote unless a Council member requests removal of an individual item for separate consideration.
• Public Hearings:
These are formal proceedings that give the public the opportunity to express their concern, ask questions, provide additional information, or support on a particular matter. The Mayor may use discretion whether to allow repeat testimony. All individuals offering testimony are required to do so using the podium microphone and must identify themselves by name, address and any business or organization that they represent. Once the public hearing is closed, no further testimony is typically allowed and the Council will deliberate amongst itself and with staff and/or applicant on potential action by the Council. While the Council strives to make timely decisions, occasionally additional information may be needed making it desirable to defer action until a later date. Depending on the situation, the hearing may be left open and continued to a future date to preserve the ability to attain additional testimony.
• Old Business:
Matters that have had previous discussion by the Council that are expected to require further deliberation by Council and City staff prior to Council action as placed on the agenda as “Old Business”.
• New Business:
Matters that have not had any previous discussion by the Council are placed on the agenda as “New Business” for deliberation by Council and City staff.
• Department Reports:
This part of the agenda is reserved for department managers to provide timely updates to the Council and to address questions or concerns presented by individual members of the Council.
• City Council Updates & Miscellaneous Business:
Updates from individual council members relating to various boards and commissions they each serve on are typically shared at this time.