Councillor Hill made the following inquiry:
"Would the Administration please report back on refining the definition of "amendment" as well as clarifying rules for "amending a motion" in our Council procedures.
Attention should be paid to the point that amending a motion is done when you want to change the wording of the motion under consideration, but not the intent of the motion. Amending a motion can be used to make a good idea better or a bad idea more palatable. It should be noted that amendments are key to the process of perfecting motions before a final vote is called.
Please note that amendments are not just as simple as changing words, but that an amendment must be relevant (germane) to the motion it seeks to amend, meaning the amendment cannot change the intent of the original motion.
Another important rule to remember is that an amendment that does nothing but make the motion a rejection of the original motion is not proper and not in order.
Amendments should enable you to affect changes to pending questions in the following four ways:
By inserting or adding, words, sentences, or paragraphs;
By striking out words, sentences, or paragraphs;
By striking out and inserting words (with the words inserted replacing the words struck out); and
By amending by substitution (a form of strike out and insert applied to paragraphs or entire motions)."