The three Rochester Hills council members drafting new rules for attendance, dress code, and meeting pay will meet again Friday, July 31, to continue work on proposed changes that would reshape how the city council polices itself.

Council members Jason Carlock, Theresa Mungioli, and Marvie Neubauer make up the Policy and Procedure Technical Review Committee, which is reviewing the council's Rules of Procedure. City Clerk Leanne Scott also participates. The meeting is set for 3 p.m. in Conference Room #130 at Rochester Hills City Hall, 1000 Rochester Hills Drive.

The city's posted agenda describes the session's purpose as reviewing the current rules "to discuss potential updates," the same broad charge as the committee's Friday, July 24 session. No detailed agenda packet has been posted.

What's on the table

As we reported July 27, the committee developed several significant changes at its May 22 session. What happened to those proposals at the July 24 meeting is unclear because finalized minutes have not been posted.

Attendance enforcement: Council members who accumulate three or more unexcused absences in a calendar year would trigger mandatory contact from the Council President. Members would also need to notify the city by 5 p.m. on the Friday before a regular meeting if they plan to be absent. The current rules have no such threshold or notification requirement.

Dress code: The existing Rules of Procedure contain no appearance guidelines. The proposed language would require council members and staff to maintain a professional appearance, with community spirit wear acceptable if styled professionally.

Per diem restrictions: To qualify for meeting pay, a session would need to be directly related to an official council role, involve substantive participation, and last at least 30 minutes. Political campaigning, debates, and general networking events would be explicitly excluded. The tighter criteria followed concerns over inconsistent timecard entries, according to May 22 draft minutes, where brief constituent interactions were logged the same as formal, hours-long meetings.

The committee also used an AI-generated analysis of the existing rules to identify enforcement gaps, flagging weak attendance enforcement as a "high-risk" area.

What's unclear

Finalized minutes from the July 24 session have not been posted, so it is not confirmed which proposals the committee advanced, tabled, or revised. The July 24 agenda also included a discussion of official city-logo apparel for public events; whether that item carries over to Friday is unknown.

Any rule changes the committee recommends would still require approval from the full Rochester Hills City Council. No date for a full council vote has been announced.

The Friday meeting is open to the public. Residents with questions can contact City Clerk Leanne Scott at (248) 656-4630.