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Subjects › Governance › Council/Board of Commissioners Rules of Procedure
Updated 02/2010

Council/Board of Commissioners Rules of Procedure

Contents

Introduction

Many city councils and county councils/boards of commissioners in Washington have adopted formal rules of procedure to govern the conduct of their meetings. Often the motivation in adopting rules is to increase meeting efficiency and effectiveness and to manage/reduce conflict. The basic idea in adopting rules is to ensure that council/board of commissioners meetings will run more smoothly and follow a generally accepted format. A well organized and managed meeting does not necessarily guarantee good results, but it certainly helps.

City councils are authorized by statute or charter to determine their own rules and order of business and to establish formal rules for the conduct of council meetings. See RCW 35A.12.120 which applies to mayor-council and council-manager, noncharter code cities; RCW 35.23.270 which applies to second class cities; RCW 35.27.280 which applies to towns. Councils in first class cities are generally authorized to adopt rules of procedure by their city charters.

Although there is no statute that specifically authorizes a council/board of commissioners to adopt rules of procedure for board meetings, that authority is necessarily implied from the council's/board's authority (and requirement) to hold meetings and conduct business. The legislative bodies of charter counties are either specifically authorized to adopt such rules by their charters or that authority exists as part of the county's broad powers.

Reference Sources

Articles

Sample Council Rules of Procedure*

*See the Selected MRSC Library Holdings page for a list of several additional council rules of procedure that are available from our library.

Related MRSC Publications

Links