City of Toledo | City Council Rules and Decorum for the Public

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City Council Rules and Decorum for the Public
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City Council meetings are held bi-weekly on Tuesdays at 4:00 p.m. On the alternate Tuesdays, City Council holds an Agenda Review meeting to prepare for the upcoming City Council Meeting. Agenda Review is held at 2:00 p.m. All meetings are open to the public.

All meetings are held In City Council Chambers, 1 Government Center. All meetings are live streamed, and archived at Toledo.Legistar.com. To view the live stream of the meeting through Legistar click on the "In Progress" link once it appears.

How to Provide Testimony

Residents who wish to provide testimony can only do so during a committee hearing, provide comment through eComment by going to the agenda for the meeting at Toledo.Legistar.com, or by emailing members of council.

Public comment is not allowed during regular and agenda review meetings.

If you have questions, or need additional information, please contact:

Julie Gibbons
Clerk of Council
419-245-1065 or 419-936-3644

Council Rules
AS REVISED TO JANUARY 20, 2026
2026 Rules
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Rules and Decorum for the Public

A. During a meeting of City Council, there is the need for civility and expedition in the carrying out of public business in order to ensure that the public has a full opportunity to be heard and that the Council has an opportunity for its deliberative process. While any meeting of the City Council is in session, the following rules of decorum shall be observed.

Where permitted, all remarks shall be addressed to the Council as a whole and not to any single member,
unless in response to a question from a member.
Persons addressing the Council shall not make personal, impertinent, unduly repetitive, slanderous or profane remarks to the Council, any member of the Council, staff or general public, nor utter loud, threatening, personal or abusive language, nor engage in any other disorderly conduct that disrupts, disturbs or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of any Council meeting.
No person in the audience at a Council meeting shall engage in disorderly or boisterous conduct, including the utterance of loud, threatening or abusive language, whistling, stamping of feet or other acts which disturb, disrupt or otherwise impede the orderly conduct of any Council meeting.
Except to the extent that exhibits are employed during the presentation of a recognized speaker, signs, placards, banners, or similar items shall not be permitted at any time in the Council Chamber.
All persons in the audience shall remain sitting in the seats provided. No person shall stand or sit in the center aisle, nor shall the doorways be blocked.
The Presiding Officer of the Council, with the assistance of the Sergeant-At-Arms, shall be responsible for maintaining the order and decorum of meetings, as set forth more fully below.

B. At the discretion of the Presiding Officer or upon a majority vote of the Council, the Presiding Officer may order removed from the Council Chamber any person who fails to observe these rules of decorum, including committing any of the following acts of disruptive conduct in respect to a regular, adjourned regular or special meeting of the City Council:

disorderly, contemptuous or insolent behavior toward the Council or any member thereof, tending to interrupt the due and orderly course of said meeting;
a breach of the peace, boisterous conduct or violent disturbance, tending to interrupt the due and orderly course of said meeting;
disobedience of any lawful order of the Presiding Officer, which shall include an order to be seated or to refrain from addressing the Council; and
any other unlawful interference with the due and orderly course of said meeting; and
any person so removed shall be excluded from further attendance at the meeting from which he/she has been removed, unless permission to attend is granted upon motion adopted by a majority vote of the Council, and such exclusion shall be executed by the Sergeant-At Arms upon being so directed by the Presiding Officer. These enforcement provisions are in addition to the authority held by the Sergeant-At-Arms to maintain order pursuant to his or her lawful authority as a peace officer.

C. Smoking in Council Chambers during Council sessions is prohibited.