(a) Scheduling Mayor’s Appearance. Pursuant to Section 3.100(7) of the Charter, the Mayor shall appear at the second regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Supervisors each month. The Mayor may, due to conflict, arrange with the President to reschedule his or her monthly appearance. The President, in consultation with the Mayor, may also reschedule the Mayor’s appearance where the second regularly scheduled meeting does not occur. In those instances, the President shall communicate to the Clerk of the Board the rescheduling of the Mayor’s appearance date.
(b) Submission of Question Topics.
(1) Supervisors’ eligibility to ask questions shall be determined in order of Supervisorial District on a rotating basis each month. Supervisors from Districts One, Two, Three, and Four each may ask a question at the Mayor’s first appearance after May 1, 2018. At the Mayor’s second appearance after May 1, 2018, Supervisors from Districts Five, Six, Seven, and Eight each may ask a question. At the Mayor’s third appearance after May 1, 2018, Supervisors from Districts Nine, Ten, and Eleven each may ask a question. Thereafter, Supervisors’ eligibility to ask questions shall continue to rotate in this same three-month cycle.
(2) A Supervisor eligible to ask a question shall submit the general topic of the question to the Clerk of the Board and the Mayor by noon the Wednesday prior to the Mayor’s appearance. If this deadline occurs in a week during which (A) there is not a regularly scheduled Board meeting, (B) there is a City, State, or federal holiday, or (C) the Board holds an inaugural meeting under Charter Section 2.103, the Clerk may extend the deadline by up to 24 hours by informing the eligible Supervisors and the Mayor in writing of such extension.
(3) The Clerk shall forward the submitted topics to the City Attorney to determine whether the topics provide legally adequate notice of the topic of discussion under State and local public meeting laws. If the City Attorney determines that the topics are legally adequate, the Clerk shall include the submitted topics on the Board agenda.
(4) The Board may, by oral motion approved by affirmative vote of at least eight members, allow an eligible Board member to ask a question that is not related to a topic submitted by noon on a Wednesday where that question relates to a sudden or unexpected incident or occurrence raising formal, time-sensitive policy questions that the Supervisor could not have anticipated prior to the noon Wednesday deadline and that cannot be adequately addressed at the next scheduled question time. An eligible Supervisor who asks such a question following approval of a motion shall not have the opportunity to ask any additional questions, even if the Supervisor submitted a question topic to the Clerk under subsection (b)(2).
(c) Procedural order. The Mayor’s appearance shall be the first regular item of business on the Board’s agenda. The Mayor may address the Board initially for up to five minutes on any policy matter within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Mayor or the Board. Thereafter, the Clerk shall call on each Supervisor who has submitted a question topic under subsection (b) of this Section 2.11, in the same order as the order of voting under the Board’s Rules of Order. When the item is called, the Board may, by oral motion approved by affirmative vote of at least eight members, forego the question-and-answer session. (d) Question-And-Answer Format.
(1) When called on by the Clerk, a Supervisor may ask a question pertaining to the topic submitted by that Supervisor. The Mayor shall respond, and the questioning Supervisor then may ask a follow-up question directly related to the opening question or to the Mayor’s answer. The Mayor shall respond to the follow-up question.
(2) Following the Mayor’s response to the Supervisor’s initial question, or the Mayor’s response to the Supervisor’s follow-up question if the Supervisor asks a follow-up question, the Mayor may ask a question to any Supervisor who is present at the meeting pertaining to the same topic. The Supervisor shall respond, and the Mayor then may ask a follow-up question to that Supervisor directly related to the question or to the Supervisor’s answer. The Supervisor shall respond to the follow-up question.
(3) The Mayor and the Supervisor may use up to two minutes for each of the questions and each of the answers described in subsections (d)(1) and (d)(2). No question or answer may exceed two minutes.
(4) Except the Supervisor asking a question under subsection (d)(1) and the Supervisor responding to a question from the Mayor under subsection (d)(2), no Supervisor may participate in or comment on the questions and answers during the exchange described in this subsection (d).
(e) The Board may, by oral motion approved by affirmative vote of at least eight members, strike for good cause any question posed by a Supervisor or by the Mayor and, if the motion carries, the responding party shall not be required to answer.
(f) The questions and answers as described in subsection (d) shall be limited to formal policy matters as set forth in Charter Section 3.100(7) and shall be limited to items that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Mayor or the Board. In addition, no question or answer may address a matter that has already been considered in committee and that is on the Board’s agenda as an action item for the day on which the Mayor makes his or her appearance. The President of the Board shall rule out of order any question posed that does not fall within these parameters.
(g) Public comment concerning the matters discussed during the Mayor’s appearance at the Board shall take place during general public comment.
(Added by Ord. , File No. 110150, App. 3/16/2011; amended by Ord. , File No. 180088, App. 4/20/2018, Eff. 5/21/2018; Ord. , File No. 190216, App. 5/17/2019, Eff. 6/17/2019)
