Judges: MIKE BEEBE, Attorney General
Filed Date: 1/6/2006
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
The Honorable Shane Broadway State Senator 201 Southeast Second Street Bryant, Arkansas 72022
Dear Senator Broadway:
You have requested an Attorney General opinion on the following question:
If the council of a city of the first class requires that seven (7) votes are needed to suspend their rules, may the vote of the Mayor be counted along with six (6) other members of the city council to properly suspend the rules?
RESPONSE
It is my opinion that the council of a city of the first class that requires seven votes to suspend their rules may properly count the vote of the Mayor along with six other members of the council to suspend the rules.
The governing law in this situation is Arkansas Code Annotated §
(A) The mayor shall be ex officio president of the city council and shall preside at its meetings.
(B) The mayor shall have a vote to establish the quorum of the city council at any regular meeting of the city council and when his vote is needed to pass any ordinance, bylaw, resolution, order, or motion.
Id. (emphasis added). The Arkansas Code Annotated mentions suspension of "the rule" in Section
All bylaws and ordinances of a general or permanent nature shall be fully and distinctly read on three (3) different days unless two-thirds (2/3) of the members composing the municipal council shall dispense with the rule.
Id. The Arkansas Supreme Court has addressed the question of when a Mayor's vote is proper in a city council in Thompson v. Younts,
In my opinion, this question is similar to Gibson. Section
If you are referencing the suspension of the rules for some other purpose, I still opine that the Mayor's vote may be properly counted under the general rules of parliamentary procedure. My predecessors have opined that, in the absence of local procedural rules, the general rules of parliamentary procedure apply. See, e.g. Op. Att'y Gen 98-282; Op. Att'y Gen 95-152 (citing 62 C.J.S. Municipal Corporations § 400(a) (1949));and 62 C.J.S. Municipal Corporations § 232(a) (Supp. 2004). Your request for an opinion does not indicate the presence or absence of any local procedural rules that would apply to this situation. Assuming that there are no local procedural rules, I will look to general parliamentary procedure as per my predecessors' opinions.
Roberts Rules of Order notes that the only way to suspend the rules is by a motion to suspend the rules. Roberts Rules of Order 222 (7th Ed. 1970). Therefore, in the hypothetical presented by your request for an opinion, the Mayor, in voting to suspend the rules, is voting to pass a motion to suspend the rules. Arkansas Code Annotated §
Assistant Attorney General Joel DiPippa prepared the foregoing opinion, which I hereby approve.
Sincerely,
MIKE BEEBE Attorney General
MB:JD/cyh