§ 11-44B-6 — Meetings; Quorum; Majority Vote Requirements; Procedure for Adoption of Ordinances and Resolutions; Approval or Veto of Mayor; Record of Proceedings; Power of Council as to City Employees; All Powers of City Vested in Council

(a) The council shall hold regular public meetings at least once a week at some regular hour to be fixed by the council. The council may hold such adjourned, called, or other meetings as may be necessary or convenient.
(b) All council meetings shall comply with the applicable law concerning open or public meetings.
(c) A majority of the elected membership of the council shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of any and every power conferred upon the council. For the purposes of determining a quorum, the mayor shall not be counted.
(d) The affirmative vote of a majority of the council members present, and the mayor in the event of a tie, as provided by this article, shall be sufficient for the passage of any resolution, bylaw, or ordinance, or the transaction of any business of any sort by the council, or the exercise of any other power conferred upon it by the terms of this article or by law, or which may hereafter be conferred upon it. Provided, however, no ordinance or resolution of a general nature or permanent operation shall be adopted except as follows:
(1) The ordinance or resolution shall be introduced only at a regularly scheduled weekly meeting of the council and shall not be available for consideration until the next regularly scheduled weekly meeting of the council.
(2) The limitation of subdivision (1) above may be waived and the ordinance or resolution considered and adopted at any meeting in which it was introduced only with the unanimous consent of the council members present, the consent shall be shown by a vote taken by yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting shall be entered upon the minutes.
(3) Whenever an ordinance or resolution is considered, it shall not be passed or otherwise become law unless on its final passage it has the affirmative vote of at least four council members, or in the event of a tie vote of three yeas and three nays of the council, such resolution or ordinance may be passed if the mayor votes yea in its favor to break the tie.
An ordinance or resolution of a general nature or permanent operation as used herein shall include an appointment, nomination, or election which is required by law to be made by the governing body of the municipality. Provided, however, all resolutions or ordinances of a general nature or permanent operation shall also be subject to the approval or veto of the mayor as set forth in this article.
(e) No resolution, bylaw, or ordinance granting any franchise, appropriating any money for any purpose, providing for any public improvements, any regulation concerning public health, or of any other general or permanent nature including an appointment, nomination, or election which is required by law to be made by the governing body of the municipality except the proclamation of quarantine, shall be enacted except at a regular meeting of the council or an adjournment thereof. Every ordinance introduced at any and every such meeting shall be in writing and read by title before any vote thereon shall be taken, and the yeas and nays thereon shall be recorded; provided, if the vote of all council members present be unanimous, it may be so stated in the journal without recording the yeas and nays.
(f) A record of the proceedings of every meeting of the council shall be kept, and every resolution or ordinance passed by the council shall be recorded, and the record of the proceedings of the meetings shall, when approved by the council, be signed by the mayor and the city clerk. The record shall be kept available for inspection by all citizens at all reasonable times.
(g) Neither the council nor any of its members shall direct or request the appointment of any person to or removal from office or position by the mayor or any employee of the city, or in any manner take part in the appointment or removal of hourly employees in the service of the city. Officers and employees of the city subject to civil service appointment shall be appointed pursuant to the applicable law, rule, and regulation, and in the event that any law, rule, or regulation should allow a selection by the city from among qualified candidates, the selection shall be made by the council.
Except for the purpose of inquiry, neither the council nor any of its members shall either publicly or privately supervise, order, or give directions to any employee of the city.
The foregoing two paragraphs shall not apply to the election or appointment of any person not an employee of the city to any board or agency funded or supported in whole or in part by the city.
(h) The municipal government of any city proceeding under this article shall be known as the mayor-council form of government. Except as otherwise provided herein and subject to the limitations imposed by the Constitution of Alabama and its laws, all powers of the city shall be vested in the council elected as herein provided and hereinafter referred to as “the council,” which shall enact ordinances, adopt budgets, and determine policy. All powers of the city shall be exercised in the manner prescribed by this article, or if the manner not be prescribed, then in such a manner as may be prescribed by law or ordinance.

Legislative History

(Acts 1985, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 85-107, p. 141, §6; Acts 1996, No. 96-455, p. 566, §1.)