CHAPTER 16

COUNCIL

16.01    NUMBER AND TERM OF COUNCIL. The Council consists of five (5) Council members elected at large for overlapping terms of four (4) years.

16.02    POWERS AND DUTIES. The powers and duties of the Council include, but are not limited to the following:

1. General. All powers of the City are vested in the Council except as otherwise provided by law or ordinance.

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 364.2[1])

2. Fiscal Authority. The Council shall apportion and appropriate all funds, and audit and allow all bills, accounts, payrolls and claims, and order payment thereof. It shall make all assessments for the cost of street improvements, sidewalks, sewers and other work, improvement or repairs which may be specially assessed.

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 364.2[1], 384.16 & 384.38 [1])

3. Public Improvements. The Council shall make all orders for the construction of any improvements, bridges or buildings.

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 364.2[1])

4. Contracts. The Council shall make or authorize the making of all contracts. No contract shall bind or be obligatory upon the City unless adopted by resolution of the Council.

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 384.100)

5. Employees. The Council shall authorize, by resolution, the number, duties, term of office and compensation of employees or officers not otherwise provided for by State law or the Code of Ordinances.

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 372.13[4])

6. Setting Compensation for Elected Officers. By ordinance, the Council shall prescribe the compensation of the Mayor, Council members, and other elected City officers, but a change in the compensation of the Mayor does not become effective during the term in which the change is adopted, and the Council shall not adopt such an ordinance changing the compensation of any elected officer during the months of November and December in the year of a regular City election. A change in the compensation of Council members becomes effective for all Council members at the beginning of the term of the Council members elected at the election next following the change in compensation.

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 372.13[8])

16.03    EXERCISE OF POWER. The Council shall exercise a power only by the passage of a motion, a resolution, an amendment or an ordinance in the following manner:

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 364.3[1])

1. Action by Council. Passage of an ordinance, amendment or resolution requires a majority vote of all of the members of the Council. Passage of a motion requires a majority vote of a quorum of the Council. A resolution must be passed to spend public funds in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) on any one project, or to accept public improvements and facilities upon their completion. Each Council member’s vote on a measure must be recorded. A measure which fails to receive sufficient votes for passage shall be considered defeated.

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 380.4)

2. Action by Mayor. The Mayor may sign or take no action on an ordinance, amendment or resolution passed by the Council.

3. Measures Become Effective. Measures passed by the Council become effective in one of the following ways:

A. An ordinance or amendment signed by the Mayor becomes effective when the ordinance or a summary of the ordinance is published, unless a subsequent effective date is provided within the ordinance or amendment.

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 380.6[1a])

B. A resolution signed by the Mayor becomes effective immediately upon signing.

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 380.6[1b])

C. A motion becomes effective immediately upon passage of the motion by the Council.

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 380.6[1c])

D. If the Mayor takes no action on an ordinance, amendment or resolution, a resolution becomes effective fourteen (14) days after the date of passage, and an ordinance or amendment becomes law when the ordinance or a summary of the ordinance is published, but not sooner than fourteen (14) days after the date of passage, unless a subsequent effective date is provided within the ordinance or amendment.

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 380.6[3])

“All of the members of the Council” refers to all of the seats of the Council including a vacant seat and a seat where the member is absent, but does not include a seat where the Council member declines to vote by reason of a conflict of interest.

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 380.4)

16.04    COUNCIL MEETINGS. Procedures for giving notice of meetings of the Council and other provisions regarding the conduct of Council meetings are contained in Section 5.06 of this Code of Ordinances. Additional particulars relating to Council meetings are the following:

1. Regular Meetings. Regularly scheduled meetings of the Council shall be held at seven o’clock (7:00) p.m. on the first and third Mondays of each month, except when the date of a regularly scheduled meeting falls on a holiday, it shall be held at the same time on the following day. The place of formal meetings shall be in the City Hall unless the Council, by formal action previous to a meeting, designates another publicly accessible place giving appropriate public notice twenty-four (24) hours in advance, except with good cause as established in the minutes of the meeting.

2. Special Meetings. Special meetings of the Council may be held on the call of the Mayor or a majority of the members of the Council upon service of twenty-four (24) hours’ written notice of the date, time, place and subject of the meeting on the Mayor and every member of the Council unless such written notice is waived by each member. Attendance at the special meeting shall be conclusively presumed to constitute a waiver of the written notice and less than 24 hours’ notice may be given with good cause as established in the minutes of the meeting. Service on the written notice on the Mayor or members of the Council shall be considered complete upon delivery of the same to his or her residence and leaving it in a conspicuous or designated place regardless of actual personal receipt.

3. Informal Meetings. Informal meetings of the Council may be held at any time on the call of the Mayor or a majority of the members of the Council upon twenty-four (24) hours’ public notice as required by law. No official action, other than gathering information or determining agenda subjects and other administrative matters, may be taken at such informal meetings.

4. Quorum. A majority of all Council members is a quorum.

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 372.13[1])

5. Rules of Procedure. The Council shall determine its own rules and maintain records of its proceedings.

(Code of Iowa, Sec. 372.13[5])

16.05    APPOINTMENTS. The Council shall appoint the following officials and prescribe their powers, duties, compensation and term of office:

1. City Manager

2. City Clerk

3. Park Advisory Committee

4. Planning and Zoning Commission

5. Youth Center Advisory Board

6. Historic Preservation Commission

7. Flint Hills Golf Course Advisory Committee

8. Regional Family Recreation Complex Advisory Committee

16.06    COMPENSATION OF MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBERS. The Mayor shall be compensated at the rate of five hundred fifty dollars ($550.00) per month, and all other Council Members shall be compensated at the rate of five hundred dollars ($500.00) per month, which compensation shall be paid on the second pay period of each month. The Mayor and other Council Members shall not receive any other compensation such as monetary contributions to insurance or other benefit plans unless mandated by Federal or State law, except reimbursements for actual expenses incurred with the approval of the Council, and except as provided in Section 362.5 of the Code of Iowa.

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