Glossary

This is a quick explainer of what all the clerk-speak in these documents is.

Kinds of paper

Ordinance (O): A city law. Once adopted by the council and signed by the mayor (or passed over a veto), it changes the city code. File numbers look like 26-O-1234.
Resolution (R): A one-time authorization or statement of the council's position — approving a contract, settling a lawsuit, urging an agency to act. Not codified law.
Communication (C): An item transmitted to the council — mayoral appointments needing confirmation, reports, official notices.
Proclamation (P): Ceremonial recognition of a person, group, or occasion.

How a paper moves

Most papers are introduced at a full-council meeting and referred to a standing committee. The committee studies it and sends it back with a recommendation; the full council then votes. Zoning papers take a longer road first — through the Zoning Review Board and neighborhood NPUs, a phase the city's legislative portal doesn't record (see the hopper's "In ZRB/NPU review" section). Papers do not survive a council term: anything unfinished when the term ends is automatically terminated.

Statuses and actions

Referred to Committee: Sent to a standing committee for consideration before any full-council vote. "Referred Without Objection" means it happened by unanimous consent, with no roll call.
Held in Committee: The committee postponed its decision; the paper stays alive and comes back at a later meeting. Committees can hold a paper indefinitely — though under Rule 13.3 ↗, after two regular council meetings the chair must report it out, or the sponsor can call it to the floor.
Returned as HELD: The full council's side of the same holding pattern: the paper came back from committee still held, and cycles again.
Favorable: The committee recommends the full council adopt it. Variants: on Substitute (recommends a replacement version), as Amended (with changes), on Condition.
Adverse: The committee recommends against the paper. If that stands at the full council, the paper shows as Adversed — it failed.
Forwarded with No Recommendation: The committee sent it to the full council without taking a position — sometimes the result of a tie vote.
Adopted: Passed by the full council. Variants mirror the committee ones: as Amended, on Substitute.
Confirmed: An appointment approved by the council (the usual fate of a Communication).
Filed / Accepted and Filed: Entered into the record with no further action required — the routine end for reports and notices, and occasionally a quiet end for a paper nobody moved.
Automatically Terminated (Filed): The paper died when the council term ended without final action.
Overridden / Sustained: What happens to a mayoral veto — and both read backwards from their wording: Overridden means the veto lost and the paper passes; Sustained means the veto stood and the paper is dead.

Votes and meetings

Aye / Nay / Abstain: For, against, present-but-not-voting. Absent, Away, and Excused are the not-in-the-room family; this site's attendance math counts all three as missed (see About).
Mover / Seconder (M / S): The member who moved the item to a vote, and the member who seconded the motion. Marked M and S on roll calls here.
Divided vote: Any roll call that wasn't unanimous — this site's shorthand, not a clerk term.
Consent agenda: A block of routine papers adopted together in one motion, usually without individual roll calls. Several papers share one agenda number.
Unanimous consent: Action taken without a formal vote because no member objected.
Standing committee: A permanent subject-matter committee (Finance/Executive, Transportation, …) where most of the real work on a paper happens. Committee membership is a subset of the council, so members' roll-call counts differ.
ZRB / NPU: The Zoning Review Board hears zoning cases before council does; Neighborhood Planning Units are the 25 citizen bodies that weigh in first. See Zoning (ZRB).
Council President: Elected citywide; presides over meetings, votes only to break ties — which is why presidents are shown separately on people pages here.