What's the Emergency?
NEW SSP Feature for 2024!
If you've ever attended a city council meeting, you may have found that some things seem to happen at breakneck speed - and you leave not really knowing what just occurred. It's important that residents who want a say in how their local government and city are run be empowered to participate.
So, in that vein, we're introducing the Public Policy Corner, where former Stow City Councilman At-Large David Licate will explain the processes and procedures that govern how our local governing bodies function.
What's the Emergency?
Why City Legislation is Often Labeled and Approved as “an Emergency”
If you’ve ever attended a city council meeting, it’s pretty common to hear the phrase “declaring an emergency” as part of the title and description of a proposed piece of legislation. As an example, if you look at the agenda for Stow’s City Council for Jan. 11, 2024, you’ll see this phrase mentioned multiple times (see below).
Oftentimes, the declaration of an emergency is accompanied by a vote to “suspend the rule” to hear legislation at three separate meetings.
But, those are two separate tools lawmakers use when planning legislation, each of which impact how quickly legislation can be passed. Read below to learn the difference and how each impacts law-making in Stow.
So, what is this emergency and who declared it?
Here’s the short answer: Efficiency – Operations and services would become negatively impacted without those tools.
Read on for the long answer:
According to Ohio law, city councils must read each ordinance or resolution on three different days before the ordinance can be passed. The law also states that the council may dispense with this rule by a vote of at least three-fourths of its members. In Stow, with a seven-member council, that means six members must vote in favor of suspending the rule of three readings. Otherwise, the resolution or ordinance will be read by its title only at minimum, at three separate meetings. The process of a legislative body holding three readings has been around for hundreds of years and exists at various levels of government. In general, the first reading introduces the legislation. The second reading is usually for discussion of the legislation including amendments and public input. The third reading is when the legislation is voted upon.
What’s the Impact of the Three Readings Rule?
City council typically meets twice monthly, so if the council does not suspend the rules for three readings, the period between introduction and passage of a piece of legislation would be a month and a half. That does not include the time that legislation may remain in a committee for discussion and amendment.
For example, the Public Improvement Committee, which is made up of four council members, may craft and discuss noise ordinance legislation in committee. That discussion may take place over one or two meetings. Each meeting is two weeks apart before a majority of committee members vote to move the proposed legislation onto the city council meeting agenda for final approval of the ordinance.
Legislative bodies, including Stow City Council, often require that legislation is introduced through a standing committee before appearing on the City Council meeting agenda for a final vote. I will have more on council committees later. Assuming legislation isn’t passed on to the city council meeting agenda in the same night by a committee – you can add an additional two weeks to months between the time the legislation is introduced in committee and the time it is voted on after a third reading at council.
Legislation often requires meeting with city officials for input and additional information, which can lengthen the process.
What Happens Once Legislation is Passed?
In general, it takes 30 days for legislation to take effect after an affirmative vote from council. This interval can be longer for state governments. There are reasons for the waiting period between passage of legislation and when it takes effect. Stakeholders impacted by the legislation may need time to adjust to the new legislation (for example, a change regulating a business practice). Also, citizens are given an opportunity to challenge the legislation in court or organize a referendum.
Assuming the Mayor (in a strong mayoral system) signs the legislation from council immediately, there will be a 30-day waiting period until the new law goes into effect. That means it can take two and a half months to get legislation in effect assuming it gets out of committee immediately. The mayor can veto legislation within seven days of passage by council with a written explanation. Council can then override the veto no later than the next scheduled regular council meeting – which adds even more time.
However, there is a way around the 30-day waiting period until a passed ordinance goes into effect - the declaration of emergency.
Rule Suspension vs. Declaration of Emergency
People often confuse the three readings rule suspension and the declaration of emergency, but they are different. Here is the law in Stow relating to declaration of emergency:
“Each emergency resolution and ordinance shall contain a statement of the necessity for such emergency action, and its enactment shall require the affirmative vote of at least 6 members of Council if all members are present, or the affirmative vote of at least 5 members if one or more members are absent.
No action of Council authorizing the surrender or joint exercise of any of its powers, or in granting any franchise, or in the enactment, amendment, or repeal of any zoning or building resolution or ordinance, or in the changing of any ward boundaries, or in authorizing any change in the boundaries of the Municipality, shall be enacted as an emergency measure.”
As stated above, an emergency ordinance or resolution must contain a statement of necessity explaining why the measure is being passed as an emergency. An emergency can be declared for what most people typically think of as emergencies – to preserve the peace, health, and safety of the public – and in response to literal emergencies (like resources for weather events). Most legislative emergencies, however, do not fit the commonly accepted definition of the word and have not throughout the history of legislative bodies.
Emergencies are declared as an efficiency mechanism to provide for the usual daily operation of the city. And good luck finding a clear statement of necessity in most “efficiency” legislation of this type – usually it is the vague statement about preserving the peace, health, and safety….
The council can take many actions as an emergency, including authorizing the expenditure of money. But there are restrictions to prevent council members from declaring an emergency for certain actions, like levying a tax or changing the zoning code – acts that should be conducted with elevated access and transparency for the public – and require more deliberation.
In short, most legislation is routine and includes previously budgeted items required to conduct the operations of the city.
Council is required to approve budgetary requests from the administration over a certain dollar amount by law. Each city sets the dollar amount that council must approve, but the process is similar and routine. Basically, there is no reason to have three readings to discuss the purchase of a snowplow blade, and the next storm will not wait 30 days for the legislation approving the purchase. It’s a health and safety issue, and in that case both the rules may be suspended, and an emergency declared to speed up the process. Emergencies (and rule suspension) may be declared when grants are time-limited, or the purchase of property or equipment may be impossible if the wait is two months.
For example, during COVID, emergency vehicles were hard to come by. When a vehicle was found on a dealer lot, you would have to expedite the process because the seller had many other buyers waiting. It is the same with property the city may wish to purchase – sellers are not compelled to wait for council to deliberate while their property is on the market and other buyers are available.
The use of emergency declarations is like plea bargaining in the criminal justice system. Sure, everyone has their right to a jury trial. It would be cumbersome if everyone exercised that right. The reality of the situation is that the courts would be backlogged and grind to a halt if that happened. 90% of cases are plea bargained and never see the inside of a courtroom. The system is more efficient for it.
If a council would strictly adhere to non-emergency measures with three separate readings, similar backlogging would occur. It would be cumbersome as city operations would be slowed, vendors would wait for payment, work on capital projects would be delayed, and city services may decline as we wait for that new snowplow blade to be approved. In addition, council meetings would become inordinately long to revisit each item for voting, there could be delays in grant applications being filed... you get the idea.
Who Decides to Speed Up the Process?
So how do city leaders decide when to speed up the timeline for a piece of legislation?
Legislation is presented for council’s consideration through various city departments, such as the finance department, the engineering department, or the police department. Leaders of those departments, along with the mayor and the city law director, often weigh in on whether a piece of legislation needs to take effect quickly.
In Stow, these departmental leaders, including the Director of Services, will meet as a committee known as the Board of Control to request legislation from council. Discussion of the emergency declaration can be had at that point, and a request sent to the Clerk of Council to ask that the legislation be listed as such.
Certain types of actions are excluded from emergency declaration, such as zoning changes. Zoning changes are thought to be inherently community decisions requiring public input. Such changes require that the city hold a public hearing prior to a vote by council. In those situations, the legislation will come before council on multiple occasions. In addition, there are situations where the council would like more time to research an issue – perform their due diligence. Some pieces of legislation are controversial or impact many stakeholders or include complicated legal issues that may incur liability for the city if not handled properly. Such issues undergo three readings (or should), giving council time to ask questions and allow the public more time to comment. On occasion, outside council or experts are solicited.
How Politics Can Disrupt the Process
Although the law will often prohibit the use of legislation under suspension of the rules or declaration of emergency in circumstances that a reasonable person would believe necessitates maximum public input (zoning, raising taxes, changing compensation of public employees, changing boundaries), government is run with human beings who usually behave in good faith, but may on occasion behave as political animals. It is conceivable that councils can do an end-run around their constituents by speeding up the legislative process. Some city administrations have found novel ways to avoid inspection by their councils, and councils do not want to give up their oversight function by speeding legislation along.
The inverse is also true as council members can vote strategically to disrupt progress when emergency action is warranted. Remember, it takes 6 votes – not much room for error if someone wants to prevent a piece of property from being acquired by delaying the process. At the end of the day, the tools for suspending the rules and declaring emergencies are generally used to keep things moving along efficiently.
Even in an environment where local media coverage has been decreasing – people will catch on if their elected officials do not provide a reasonable process to hear their ideas and concerns when passing legislation. It is reasonable to use suspension of the rules and emergency legislation for items that have been budgeted (already publicly discussed), are routine (the snowplow blade), or legitimate emergencies. A simple explanation as to why these mechanisms are being used in a specific case – and perhaps a more nuanced explanation occasionally, such as this, can go a long way toward making people understand why they are necessary and dispel suspicion that our leaders are not being trustworthy.
In the case where these tools are being used politically and strategically – well, now you know the process – you can show up at the meetings and speak during public comments! If you think the public deserves more time to consider a resolution or ordinance – let your council members know. See how many members you can shock with your knowledge of these mechanisms, their proper and improper use. This knowledge is power!
One last note: Ordinances and resolutions, whether they are passed as emergencies or not, are subject to referendum if voters disapprove of a decision made by council.
Thanks for tuning in!
Dr. Licate has a Ph.D. in Public Policy and is employed as Professor and Chair of the Department of Criminal Justice Studies at the University of Akron, where he is a Fellow at the Center for Intelligence and Security Studies.
He served as a Stow At-Large City Councilperson from 2022-2023, as part of the Public Improvements and Planning Committees. Previously, Licate served as a member and president of the Stow-Munroe Falls Board of Education from 2016 until 2020. While on the school board, Licate founded and chaired the district’s Security Committee. Licate’s other public service includes appointments to the Stow-Munroe Falls City Schools Facilities Committee and the Stow Public Safety Services Commission.
Licate has consulted for various policing and homeland security agencies on the topics of policing strategies and counterterrorism.
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