WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.400 --> 00:00:11.117 Most of what makes an official effective happens in the details of a meeting: how you read the packet, what you ask, how you make a motion, and how you handle a hard room. 2 00:00:11.117 --> 00:00:13.163 Torrance has its own rules of order. 3 00:00:13.163 --> 00:00:20.323 It does not use Robert's Rules or Rosenberg's Rules, though most neighboring cities use Rosenberg's, so it helps to know both. 4 00:00:20.323 --> 00:00:22.250 Read a staff report in this order. 5 00:00:22.250 --> 00:00:26.502 Start with the recommendation and the findings you are being asked to make. 6 00:00:26.502 --> 00:00:31.716 Then check which law governs the item, and whether state housing law limits your discretion. 7 00:00:31.716 --> 00:00:34.834 Next, the environmental determination and its evidence. 8 00:00:34.834 --> 00:00:40.502 Then the conditions of approval: do they connect to the project's impacts, and can they be enforced? 9 00:00:40.502 --> 00:00:43.790 Then the plan policies staff cites, and any it leaves out. 10 00:00:43.790 --> 00:00:47.701 Then public letters, especially factual claims staff hasn't answered. 11 00:00:47.701 --> 00:00:50.309 Then the alternatives staff did not recommend. 12 00:00:50.309 --> 00:00:55.467 And finally, the deadlines, including how many of the five housing hearings have been used. 13 00:00:55.467 --> 00:00:58.287 Ask questions that build the record, not speeches. 14 00:00:58.287 --> 00:01:00.317 What evidence supports finding four? 15 00:01:00.317 --> 00:01:03.871 is a better question than saying you are worried about traffic. 16 00:01:03.871 --> 00:01:08.834 Send detailed technical questions to staff a day or two ahead, so the answers are ready. 17 00:01:08.834 --> 00:01:12.725 Ask staff to respond on the record to factual claims from the public. 18 00:01:12.725 --> 00:01:17.124 Ask the applicant whether they would accept a condition before you propose it. 19 00:01:17.124 --> 00:01:22.144 And ask the city attorney, in public, what your discretion is when a state law may apply. 20 00:01:22.144 --> 00:01:29.005 A good land use motion has three parts: the environmental action, the decision, and the findings and conditions. 21 00:01:29.005 --> 00:01:45.851 For example: I move to find the project exempt under the infill exemption, and to approve the use permit based on the findings in the staff report, with finding six modified as discussed, subject to the conditions in the exhibit, with a new condition limiting delivery hours. 22 00:01:45.851 --> 00:01:59.022 Under Torrance's council rules, a motion needs a second, only one substitute motion may be pending at a time, a tie fails, and reconsideration may be moved only by a member on the winning side or one who was absent. 23 00:01:59.022 --> 00:02:10.127 If you chair, keep the same sequence every time: the staff report, clarifying questions, the applicant, public comment, rebuttal, close the hearing, deliberation, motion, and vote. 24 00:02:10.127 --> 00:02:13.644 Speak last, and make a motion only when no one else will. 25 00:02:13.644 --> 00:02:18.826 Restate the motion before the vote, and announce the result, including who voted no. 26 00:02:18.826 --> 00:02:22.651 When a room turns hostile, the law gives you tools and limits. 27 00:02:22.651 --> 00:02:29.808 You must first warn a disruptive person that continuing may lead to removal, and may remove them if they don't stop. 28 00:02:29.808 --> 00:02:35.299 If a group makes the meeting impossible, the room can be cleared, but the press may stay. 29 00:02:35.299 --> 00:02:38.569 You may not, however, prohibit criticism of the body. 30 00:02:38.569 --> 00:02:51.340 The craft is mostly prevention: explain the process and the legal limits at the start, apply time limits equally to every side, call a short recess before tempers break, and thank even the angriest speakers. 31 00:02:51.340 --> 00:02:54.294 Deliberate out loud on the findings, not your preferences. 32 00:02:54.294 --> 00:02:58.572 Say which findings you can make and which you can't, and point to specific evidence. 33 00:02:58.572 --> 00:03:05.041 If the discussion reveals missing information, continue the item with specific direction rather than deciding on a thin record. 34 00:03:05.041 --> 00:03:08.759 For more, see the meeting craft section of the Local Official's Handbook.