Glossary

Council agendas use a handful of procedural terms over and over. Here's what they mean, in plain language.

Action-taken agenda

The City's official record of what actually happened at a meeting — what passed, what failed, and how each member voted — published after the meeting as a numbered "Action Taken Agenda." This site's meeting pages are built from that record.

Adds/deletes

A short document the City posts alongside (or shortly before) a meeting, listing any items added to or removed from the agenda after it was first published. This site's meeting pages show these as a "What changed" list when they affect an item.

Committee of the Whole (COW)

A meeting where all Council members sit together as a committee, rather than as the full Council, usually to discuss a topic or hear a briefing before it comes back to a regular Council meeting for a formal vote. This site tracks Committee of the Whole meetings as a separate body from City Council.

Consent agenda

A bundle of routine, non-controversial items that Council approves in a single vote instead of discussing each one individually. Any Council member can ask to "pull" an item off the consent agenda for its own discussion and vote.

CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency)

A separate legal board — typically made up of the same elected officials, meeting under a different hat — that oversees redevelopment and tax-increment financing within a designated redevelopment district. It's a distinct body from City Council even when the same people sit on it; this site's Phase 1 dataset does not yet track CRA meetings separately.

First reading / second reading

Most ordinances go through Council twice on different dates. "First reading" introduces the ordinance and sets a public hearing; "second reading" is that public hearing, where the public can speak and Council takes the final vote.

Ordinance vs. resolution

An ordinance is a law — it's codified into the City's code, usually needs two readings and a public hearing, and has ongoing legal force. A resolution is Council taking a position or action on something — a single vote, no public-hearing requirement, and it doesn't add to the City's code.

Open Forum

The agenda item set aside for the public to speak about any City-government subject that isn't already elsewhere on the agenda. It carries the same three-minute-per-speaker limit as public hearings. See the participation guide for details.

Quasi-judicial proceeding

Certain items — mostly land-use and zoning cases — require Council to act more like a judge than a legislature: decisions must be based on evidence in the record, and members generally can't discuss the case with anyone outside the hearing beforehand ("ex parte" contact). The City requires speakers on these items to attend in person.