21.09.050 Procedure for public hearings.
(a) Ex Parte Communications. No member of a hearing body may communicate, directly or indirectly, regarding any issue in a proceeding before him or her, other than to participate in communications necessary to procedural aspects of maintaining an orderly process, unless he or she provides notice and opportunity for all parties to participate, except as provided in this section:
(1) The hearing body may receive advice from legal counsel;
(2) The hearing body may communicate with staff members (except where the proceeding relates to a code enforcement investigation or prosecution).
If, before serving as the hearing body in a quasi-judicial proceeding, any member of the hearing body receives an ex parte communication of a type that could not properly be received while serving, the member of the hearing body, promptly after starting to serve, shall disclose the communication as described as follows:
(A) All written communications received;
(B) All written responses to the communications;
(C) The substance of all oral communications received and all responses made;
(D) Identify each person from whom the member received any ex parte communications.
The hearing body shall advise all parties that these matters have been placed on the record. Upon request made within ten days after notice of the ex parte communications any party desiring to rebut the communications shall be allowed to place a rebuttal statement on the record.
(b) Disqualification.
(1) A member of the hearing body who is disqualified shall be counted for purposes of forming a quorum. Any member who is disqualified may do so only by making full disclosure to the audience, abstaining from voting on the proposal, vacating the seat on the hearing body and physically leaving the hearing.
(2) If all members of the hearing body are disqualified, all members present after stating their reasons for disqualification shall be requalified and shall proceed to resolve the issues.
(3) Except for council legislative decisions a member absent during the presentation of evidence in a hearing may not participate in the deliberations or decision unless the member has reviewed the evidence received.
(c) Public Hearings Procedure. Public hearings shall be conducted in accordance with the hearing body's rules of procedure and shall serve to create or supplement an evidentiary record upon which the body will base its decision. (Ord. 2174, § 2 (Exh. A), 2022; Ord. 1641, § 31, 2004.)