Board Rules of Procedure

The Mayor and the City Council of Tacoma appoint the Public Utility Board. Its purpose and responsibilities are outlined in Section 4.9 through 4.18 of the Tacoma City Charter.

Board Members serve as volunteers and receive a monthly stipend and reimbursement for expenses, as described in Council Substitute Ordinance 29078. Summary of Charter Responsibilities

Section 4.10 – The Board has broad authority to build, acquire, maintain, and operate Tacoma’s electric, water, and belt line railway utilities, within the limits of state law and the City Charter.

Section 4.11 – The Board is responsible for initiating major utility decisions, including system expansions, improvements, debt, bond issuance, and setting rates and charges. These actions require Council approval. Utility rates must be reviewed and updated at least every five years.

Section 4.12 – The Board prepares an annual budget and submits it to the City Council for approval based on state requirements.

Section 4.13 – The Board selects its own Chair, Vice-Chair, and Secretary, sets its own rules, and publicly announces meeting times and locations. All meetings are open to the public, and permanent records are kept.

Section 4.14 – The Board maintains financial and accounting records required for effective utility management. Expenditures are subject to pre-audit by the City’s fiscal agency. The City Treasurer oversees all utility funds. The Board provides financial and other reports requested by the Council.

Section 4.15 – The Board may hire consultants and subject‑matter experts. At least every ten years, the Council arranges an independent management review of all utilities overseen by the Board. Results are made public.

Section 4.16 – When allowed by state law, the Board has the same authority and follows the same rules as the City Council and City Manager for purchasing and contracting.

Section 4.17 – Tacoma Public Utilities uses services provided by City departments, such as finance, purchasing, legal, and HR, unless the Council directs otherwise.

Section 4.18 – The Board appoints the Director of Utilities, subject to City Council confirmation. The Board evaluates the Director annually and votes every two years on whether to reconfirm the appointment. Reconfirmation also requires City Council approval.

Board Members are expected to:

• Attend scheduled study sessions and Board meetings regularly.
• Oversee development of and vote on policies, rates, budgets, and debt issues. Vote on contracts and purchases as required by TMC 1.06.
• Consider the perspectives of customers and other interested parties, serve as ambassadors for TPU, and build relationships throughout the service area.
• Communicate regularly with the City Council members to seek their input and keep them informed.
• Develop and adopt high-level Guiding Principles and monitor TPU’s performance based on these principles.
• Produce, maintain, and monitor policies that support effective governance and clarify roles in decision-making between the Board and staff.

• Regular Board meetings are held at 6:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month. If a meeting date falls on a legal holiday or on the day before a legal holiday, the Board Chair will announce a new date and time at the prior meeting. There will be only one Board meeting in November and December, to be scheduled and announced by the Clerk of the Board.
• There is a Study Session before each regular meeting beginning at 3:00 p.m. The Board may change the time of a regular meeting by adopting a motion at the prior meeting.  If unforeseen conditions make a future regular meeting date not feasible because of an anticipated lack of quorum, or to better accommodate the public interest, the Board Chair or the Director of Utilities may reschedule the meeting to the next regular meeting date, or to a special meeting date as allowed under these rules.
• The Board may recess a meeting to a later time by majority vote.
• Regular meetings are held in the Public Utilities’ Administration Building, City of Tacoma, unless the Board publicly announces another location.
• Three Board members constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. In the absence of a quorum, the members present may adjourn the meeting to a later date.
• At least three affirmative votes are required to adopt any main motion or resolution.
• Special meetings may be called by the Clerk of the Board, at the request of the Chair, any three Board Members, or by the Director of Utilities. Written notice must be provided at least 24 hours in advance to each Board Member and to local news media as required by RCW 42.30.080. The notice must list the subject (s) to be considered, and no other subject shall be considered. Notices for special meetings will be posted at least 24 hours in advance.

Remote Participation:

• In-person attendance is preferred; however, Board members may attend regular meetings, special meetings, and study sessions remotely. The presiding Board member for all meetings should attend in person, and the preference is for at least a quorum to attend in person.
• Board members should notify the Board Clerk of remote attendance at least twenty-four hours before the meeting. The Board Clerk or designee will notify the presiding officer.
• Appropriate technological tools will be used to ensure remote participants can be heard by everyone present and hear anyone speaking.
• The Board aims to hold a workshop annually.
• Staff will strive to post Board agendas and meeting materials online the Friday before the regular Board meetings on the second and fourth Wednesdays.

Each July, during the first regular Board meeting, members choose a Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary. These officers serve for one year, until the next annual election.

When possible, the Board selects officers based on how long each member has served in their current term. Typically:

• The Chair is a member in their fifth year of service.
• The Vice Chair is in their fourth year of service or has the second‑longest time on the Board.
• The Secretary is in their third year of service or has the third‑longest time on the Board.

If an officer steps down or passes away, the remaining members will choose a replacement based on seniority. This helps keep the usual rotation of officer roles on track.

The Chair is the presiding officer. In his/her absence, the Vice-Chair will conduct the business and deliberations of the Board under these rules. If the Chair and Vice-Chair are absent and a quorum is present, the Secretary serves as presiding officer until the Chair or Vice-Chair returns.

The presiding officer shall:

• Preserve order and decorum in the meeting.
• Decide all questions of order, subject to an appeal to the Board by another Board Member.
• Recognize the members of the Board in the order in which they request recognition, and no member shall be recognized and permitted to speak on the same matter more than once until all other members of the Board have had an opportunity to be recognized and heard.
• Observe and enforce all rules adopted by the Board.
• Sign all resolutions adopted by the Board.
• The presiding officer, as a member of the Board, shall have the same rights and be governed by the same rules as other Board Members.

The Director of Utilities appoints the Clerk of the Board who works with the Board Chair and Secretary. Subject to the provisions of the Charter, State law, ordinances, and resolutions of the Board, the Clerk shall:

• Be responsible for the publication, filing, indexing, and safekeeping of the records of all proceedings of the Board.
• Record all resolutions and certified resolutions of the Board.
• Prepare all legal notices involving the Department as provided by law or ordinance.
• At the request of any Board Member, forthwith transmit any communication, material, or information to the other Board Members.
• Administer, file and preserve all oaths of office and other documents not required to be filed elsewhere.
• Perform other such duties as may be prescribed by the Charter, State law, ordinances, and the Board and keep a permanent journal of its proceedings provided.

• Board Members desiring to speak shall first address and obtain recognition from the presiding officer.
• No member shall carry on a private conversation during Board deliberations or leave his/her place while a question is being asked.
• No member, including the presiding officer, shall interrupt or argue with any other member while such member has the floor, except to call him/her to order.
• No member in the discussion or debate of a matter or issue shall engage in or discuss or comment on the personalities of any other member or person but will limit remarks to facts relevant to the question or matter under discussion.
• If a member violates these rules, the presiding officer shall, and any other member may, call him/her to order, in which case he/she shall be silent except to explain or continue in order.
• The Board empowers the Director of Utilities, Chief Deputy City Attorney, and Clerk of the Board to enter Points of Order to support the presiding officer in ensuring compliance with the Board Rules of Order and parliamentary procedures.

• Tacoma Public Utilities is committed to proactively engaging and maintaining open communication with customers and other interested parties to understand their needs, improve services, support t informed decision-making, and strengthen community understanding of TPU’s operations, programs, and services.
• Members of the public may speak at each regular Public Utility Board meeting on items not on the agenda, provided the comments are limited to subjects under the Board’s jurisdiction. Unless otherwise determined by the Chair, each speaker it limited to three minutes.
• Members of the public can make comments at regular evening meetings about agenda items being considered by the Board.
• Members of the public will not comment on personalities or indulge in derogatory remarks, gestures, or insinuations with respect to any member of the Public Utility Board or staff. They must confine remarks to matters under discussion. Members of the public who disrupt or interfere with the orderly conduct of business, or engage in threatening conduct by words, gestures, or actions may be excluded from the room.

The regular order of business shall be as follows:

• Call to order.
• Roll call.
• Approval of minutes of previous meeting.
• Recognition and Awards.
• Comments by the Public for items not listed on the agenda but under the jurisdiction of the Board.
• Consideration of resolutions and motions on Consent Agenda and adoption thereof.
• Consideration of resolutions and motions and votes thereon.
  • At the discretion of the Chair, general guidelines for the process shall be:
    • Motion
    • Staff Presentation
    • Board Questions
    • Public Comment
    • Board comments and follow-up questions
    • Votes
• Unfinished business.
• New business.
• Reports of the Director.
• Staff reports and updates at the request of the Board or at the discretion of the Director.
• Comments by Members of the Board.
• Adjournment.

The Clerk shall prepare the business of each session in regular order, which order shall not be departed from except upon approval of a majority of the Board.

The Clerk shall include any proposed resolution or item on the agenda at the request of any member of the Board or the Director of Utilities.

If there is nothing to discuss for a business agenda item, the Clerk of the Board may remove it, so it does not appear on the published agenda for that meeting.

When a question is under consideration, no motion shall be entertained except as follows; such motions have precedence in the following order:

• To adjourn.
• Recess.
• The Previous Question (The “previous question” shall be as follows: “Shall the main question be put?” The “main question” shall be on the passage of a resolution or motion, but when amendments are pending, the question shall be taken first, upon such amendments in their order.
• To Lay on the Table.

Each of the foregoing motions shall be decided without debate:

• To Postpone to a Certain Time.
• To Postpone Indefinitely.
• Refer to Committee.
• To Amend.
• To Substitute.

The several motions to postpone shall preclude debate of the main question until decided.

No motion to reconsider a vote shall be in order unless it be made at the same or the following meeting and by a member who voted with the prevailing side. Provided, however, when a matter fails to pass due to a tie vote, (not counting an abstaining vote), any member may move to reconsider, at the following meeting.  A motion to reconsider having been put and lost shall not be renewed either by the mover or by any other member of the Board.

No rule shall be suspended except by three affirmative votes of Board Members. A motion to suspend a rule shall not be debatable.

Proposed resolutions and motions shall be included on the agenda and presented to the Board at the request of any member or the Director of Utilities.

No resolution and/or motion shall be considered for adoption by the Board unless its adoption or passage shall have been first moved by a Board Member and seconded by another.

Motions and/or resolutions that are routine and will probably not involve Board Member questions may be placed on the Consent Agenda by the Clerk of the Board. Any Member of the Board or the Chairman may remove any motion or resolution from the Consent Agenda, and said matter may be considered separately after action is concluded on the Consent Agenda.

No resolution shall be considered for final passage until reviewed and approved by the City Attorney’s Office.

Reading of resolutions and motions shall be deemed sufficient if a brief synopsis of purport is made by the Clerk, and the reading if full of the same shall not be required unless the reading of any particular resolution or motion or part thereof be requested by any Member of the Board.

A Board Member may move to amend any pending main motion or resolution. The motion to amend is made after the main motion is pending and the motion to amend should precisely state the amendment and where the amendment is to be inserted and/or take the place of wording in the pending motion or resolution.  When practicable, a copy of the proposed amendment should be provided to all Board Members and staff in advance of the scheduled meeting.

A motion or resolution or substitute motion or substitute resolution that is not on the published meeting agenda, may be considered by the Board after first suspending the Rules of Order of Business so to allow consideration of said matter. After suspension of the Rules, the Chair requests the Clerk to read a brief synopsis. After an appropriate motion and second are made, discussion may take place, and the Board may fully consider the adoption of said new motion or resolution under the process normally used for motions and resolutions.

Amendments to these rules shall be by resolution, introduced to the Board at any regular or special meeting, and held over until the next regular or special meeting. They will be enacted by an affirmative vote of at least three members.

On all questions of practice or procedure not provided for by these rules, the practice or procedure outlined in the most current edition of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised shall be used for guidance.