Council passes rules of conduct in rare non-unanimous vote

EVANSTON — For several city council meetings there have been somewhat heated discussions over a proposed code of conduct for the Evanston City Council, officially titled the Rules of Procedure and Order. Evanston City Attorney Amanda Kirby brought the proposed rules to a council work session and she and Municipal Judge Mark Harris had provided an explanation to the council as to the need for such rules.

Controversy over the rules began when councilmember Jen Hegeman questioned some of the language and pointed to a possible violation of the Wyoming constitution in several of the rules. Hegeman said she also thought the rules violated the requirement for transparency of the council with the public.