Terms Used At City Council Meetings (Glossary)

The Consent Calendar ~ are items of routine nature included as a single consent item on the agenda. Unless a Council member has a question concerning an individual item (s) and asks that it be withdrawn from the consent list, the list is approved in a single motion by vote of the Council.

Public Hearings ~ are items which are scheduled to be heard in accordance with the Sonora Municipal Code concerning zoning, street proceedings, protest/appeals and petitions. Interested persons who wish to speak on the matter are given the opportunity to do so.

Public Appearance Items ~ are those items which members of the public desire to bring attention of the Council and are not on the written agenda. The Mayor will ask if there are any citizens who wish to address the Council; those raising their hand will be asked to approach the podium. Please remember to introduce yourself and speak directly into the microphone; you will be limited to five (5) minutes. Per California State Law, matters raised by the public will be referred to Staff or placed on the next meetings Agenda. Unless of an emergency nature, items not on the Agenda cannot be acted upon by the Council until they are placed on the Agenda.

Ordinances ~ are legal instruments or laws used to affect general health, safety and welfare of the public. With the exception of emergency ordinances, all ordinances must go through two readings. Most ordinances do not become effective until thirty days after the approval of the second reading. 

Resolutions ~ are generally routine actions either implementing a policy or proposal and do not always require legal processing. Resolutions become effective upon adoption unless otherwise stated. 

Unfinished Business ~ is any agenda item where the Council has received a request for continuation. Also, a Council member or member of the public may request additional time to review and/or investigate prior to taking any action thereby requesting the matter to be continued.

New Business ~ is any item not previously discussed in open session; such items could be proposed new City policies, community proposals for Council consideration or citizen requested action.

Staff Reports ~ are similar to agenda items being presented for introduction and adoption. They differ to the extend that most of the time they are either informational in nature and require no Council action, or offer a number of policy alternatives for City Council consideration.

Committee Reports ~ are issues which are referred by the City Council to the various Council Committees for study and recommendation (s). Committee reports contain the Committees' discussion and  recommendations. The reports are submitted tot he City Council with a verbal report given by the chairperson prior to City Council consideration. Council Committees are often supplemented with members of the public.

Closed Sessions ~ address personnel, litigation or property acquisition matters. Closed sessions are the only Council session not open to the public.