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C harlottesville City Council Meeting Rules and Procedures These Charlottesv ille City Council Meeting Rules and Procedures are designed to help City Council conduct its affairs in a timely and efficient manner, while encouraging a robust and meaningful dialogue with members of the community. A. Meetings 1. Regular meetings of th e City Council will begin at 6:30 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of each month (or the following day if that Monday is a legal holiday,) in City Council Chambers (Second Floor, City Hall.) Council will adopt a schedule for its regular meetings at its first regular meeting in January each year. 2. Council may hold additional meetings at other locations and times, or may change the location and time of a regularly scheduled meeting as it deems appropriate. Notice of additional meetings or changes to the location or time of a regularly scheduled meeting will be provided to the public and press as required by the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA.) a. "Town Hall Meetings" may be regularly scheduled meetings, such as the “Our Town” meeting series, or may be scheduled as a special meeting by Council on a particular topic. A town hall meeting is a type of meeting at which Councilors answers questions from the public. b. "Work Sessions" are meetings at which Council may discuss one or more specific topic s in depth among themselves, or at which Council desires to receive an in -depth presentation from staff or an outside party on a particular topic. Council may vote on matters discussed at a Work Session (FOIA does not prohibit voting,) but generally the pu rpose of a Work Session is to inform Councilors on a topic and for Councilors to give staff or others general direction. Work Sessions may take place within a regular meeting or may be scheduled as a special meeting. 3. Special meetings, closed meetings, a nd emergency meetings may be scheduled and held in addition to the schedule of regular meetings. Notification requirements for special meetings, closed meetings and emergency meetings are governed by the Virginia Code. a. For special meetings, the purpose and nature of the meeting will dictate whether public comment will be allowed. Time for public comment may or may not be allocated depending on the nature of the meeting and at the discretion of Council. b. Closed meetings generally take place at 5:30 p.m. before the regular Council meeting. The only items Council may consider in closed meetings are those permitted by the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and identified in the motion convening the closed meeting. B. Agenda and Materials 1. The City Mana ger shall ensure a proposed agenda is prepared for the Mayor’s consideration nine business days before the meeting. The agenda of every regular Council meeting is approved by the Mayor. Any Council member desiring to add items to the proposed agenda should submit them to the City Manager and the Mayor ten business days before the meeting. Last minute submissions are discouraged but may be added to a regular meeting agenda, subject to a vote of Council at the meeting approving a change [addition] to the publ ished agenda. This may occur from time to time when a matter that requires action expeditiously was not known in time to be presented during the normal agenda development process. Citizens may suggest an item for consideration on a Council meeting agenda b y submitting the suggestion in writing to the Clerk