Titles: Standard Conventions
The use of standard conventions in legislative files on the Council agenda is important because it supports accessibility as well as search and automated alert functions; and benefits a wide audience, including constituents, City staff, and alders. Additionally, using standard conventions helps to create consistency and flow, making it easier for the people viewing sometimes long Council agendas to get through all of information more efficiently.
There are several conventions you should be familiar with when creating the title for a file that is coming to the Common Council.
Begin the title with an action
Titles for ordinances and resolutions should begin with an action, such as authorizing, supporting, awarding, submitting, amending, etc.
INCORRECT: A resolution authorizing a sole source service contract…
DO THIS INSTEAD: Authorizing a sole source service contract…
End the title with the district number
Files which are specific to one or more location(s) should include the district number(s) at the end of the title. The location may be referenced in the title and/or the body, and may be listed as an address, an intersection, a landmark, or coordinates. The district number always is added to the end of the title.
- Include district number at the end of the title, in parentheses (District 10)
- List each district separately, in numerical order, when more than one district applies (District 1, District 7, District 12)
- Use this convention when a file references location-based services or information but applies to all districts (Citywide)
Add to the title (when applicable)
There are certain words or phrases to add to the title, when applicable. In the first two instances, the word or phrase must be added to the beginning of the title.
- Add SUBSTITUTE (in caps as shown) to the beginning of the title when creating a substitute
- Add BY TITLE ONLY (in caps as shown) to the beginning of the title when creating a file to be introduced by title only
- Amending the budget when creating a file that amends the current budget
Follow the required formatting
Legislative files coming to Council have specific formatting requirements.
- Font: the title (and body) should be in Arial 11 point regular font
- Case: the titles should use sentence case, although title case is sometimes used with short titles
- All caps: specific words within a title may use all caps emphasize words, as is the case with substitutes and files introduced by title only
- Paragraph alignment: titles (and body text) should be left aligned