Council Meeting Guidelines for Speakers and Attendees

City Council conducts two types of meetings: informal work sessions and formal meetings.

Work Sessions

Discussions with staff and other invited persons or agencies. Public portions of work sessions are broadcast and streamed live, and available on YouTube. Public comment is not accepted. 

Formal Meetings

Public hearings, votes on items in the agenda, ceremonial matters and new business brought by the public. (More on meeting format) (PDF). Formal meetings are broadcast live and available on YouTube. Public comments will be accepted on specific agenda items and on new business.

Meeting Format

The Council Generally conducts meetings in the following order:

  1. Ceremonial Matters
  2. Public Comment for Consent and Regular Agenda Items
  3. Public Hearings
  4. Council Votes on Consent and Regular Agenda Items
  5. New Business (Citizens will have the opportunity to address council at the first meeting of the month)

Matters are considered by the Council in the order listed on the agenda but, may be altered at any time without prior notice when Council considers it in the public interest to do so. Matters on the Consent Agenda are routine and are adopted by one motion without separate discussion, followed by the Regular Agenda.  Public Hearings will be voted on separately.  

Guidelines for Citizen Participation

  1. If an individual wishes to address the Council concerning an agenda item (consent, regular or public hearing) you need to register to speak with the City Clerk by 3:00 p.m., the day of the meeting.   New Business will occur at the first meeting of each month.  
    Register your name, address, and subject (agenda item or new business.) You must check in with the Clerk 10 minutes before the meeting begins.  
  2. To contact the Clerk’s office and register to speak, please email ccouncil@norfolk.gov or call 757-664-4253.
  3.  Speakers are permitted 3 minutes in total for all consent and regular agenda items.  Public Hearing items on the agenda are discussed separately and speakers are permitted 3 minutes.  Speakers are asked to limit remarks to the subject under discussion. Following the business meeting, speakers will have an opportunity to address the council on new business matters at the first meeting of the month.  (The presiding officer may discontinue presentations if it is believed a topic has been sufficiently addressed.)

When your Name is Called

Come forward to the speaker’s podium.

  1. State your name and address.
  2. State your position and give facts and other data.
  3. If you represent a group, ask others who support you to rise and be recognized.
  4. Written statements and other supportive material should be given to the City Clerk.
  5. The aggregate amount of time devoted to a particular agenda item may be limited.

Other Rules of Decorum

  1. Signs, placards, posters or like material are not permitted in the City Council Chamber, adjoining areas or city offices.
  2. Remain seated during the meeting unless called upon to stand for recognition as a speaker, official duties, physical necessity, or to enter or leave the meeting.
  3. The presiding officer may prevent or discontinue comments from any speaker if his comments are: repetitious; cumulative; profane; vulgar; obscene; threatening; or amount to a personal attack.
  4. The presiding officer may order the removal of any person from the meeting for disobeying a lawful order to refrain from or cease from addressing the council. 
  5. Turn off or deactivate the sound from all cell phones, pagers, or other electronic communication devices.

View the Council's Rules and Regulations (PDF). 

Special Assistance

Persons needing special assistance, such as a handheld microphone or ASL interpreter, or any other accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act are asked to call the City Clerk's Office at 664-4253 at least three days before the meeting.

However, every reasonable effort will be made to respond to accommodation requests made immediately before a council meeting.