Township of Franklin, NJ Meetings

The Township Committee shall at its annual reorganization meeting adopt a resolution setting forth the dates, times and locations of regularly scheduled Township Committee meetings for the year.

There shall be no provision for the cancellation of a regular meeting of the Township Committee, so long as, in the opinion of the Township Clerk, a quorum is expected in attendance at the meeting. The only basis for cancellation of a regular meeting shall be one of public safety such as severe weather conditions, national or local emergency or other such reason that would put the members of the Township Committee, employees, and the public at risk. If a regular meeting is to be cancelled for public safety reasons, that decision shall rest solely with the Township Clerk after consultation with the Mayor or his designee.

Change of date, time or location of a regular meeting of the Township Committee shall be accomplished only by an affirmative vote of the governing body at least seven days prior to the regularly scheduled meeting.

Special sessions of the Township Committee shall be called at the direction of a quorum.

All meetings, rescheduled meetings and special sessions shall be advertised in accordance with New Jersey's Open Public Meetings Act and any other applicable statutes.

The Township Committee may, as part of a regular meeting, have a portion of said regular meeting to be deemed a work session. The work session portion of the regular meeting will not need to be separately advertised, and, therefore, the regular meeting shall commence at a time to be set in accordance with Subsection A above or by subsequently adopting a resolution setting forth the dates, times and locations of regularly scheduled Township Committee meetings for the year, or portion of the year then remaining.

[Amended 1-28-2014 by Ord. No. O-2-2014]

All meetings shall be held in accordance with New Jersey's Open Public Meetings Act and any other applicable statutes.

§ 83-2 Conduct of meetings.

All meetings shall be conducted in accordance with Open Public Meetings Act[1] and any other New Jersey statutes applicable to municipal meetings. The Mayor, when present, shall be the presiding officer and conduct all meetings.

[1]

Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 10:4-1 et seq.

In the absence of the Mayor, the meeting shall be conducted by the Deputy Mayor.

If the Mayor and Deputy Mayor are both absent, the Municipal Clerk shall call the meeting to order and conduct the nomination and election of a temporary presiding officer. The temporary presiding officer shall conduct the meeting, but shall have no powers beyond those necessary to conduct the meeting. Should the Mayor or Deputy Mayor arrive at the meeting at a later time, they shall at their discretion fulfill their role as presiding officer.

The Chief of Police or his designee shall attend all regular meetings; the Chief or his designee shall serve as security and the Sergeant of Arms and be under the direction of the Mayor or the presiding officer.

§ 83-3 Quorum.

A majority of the whole number of members of the Township Committee shall constitute a quorum and no ordinance shall be adopted by the Township Committee without the affirmative vote of majority of all the members of the Committee or in other words three affirmative votes. No resolution that shall encumber the Township of Franklin financially or raise or eliminate revenue, taxes or fees of any kind shall be adopted by the Township Committee without the affirmative vote of a majority of all members of the Committee or, in other words, three affirmative votes.

Any member of the Township Committee who shall be absent from a meeting of the Township Committee shall inform the Township Clerk as far in advance as is possible.

In the event that a meeting of the Township Committee commences without a quorum, the Clerk shall wait 30 minutes for the potential arrival of a third member. If no member of the Township Committee arrives within 30 minutes, the meeting shall be cancelled.

The seating order of the members of the Township Committee shall be determined by the Mayor.

Meeting attendance by phone or video is permitted.

§ 83-4 Meeting curfew.

All Township Committee meetings shall end by 11:00 p.m. This curfew may be extended, to not later than 12:00 a.m. by a majority vote of the members present. There will be no "new" business after 11:00 p.m.

§ 83-5 Agenda.

The proposed agenda for each meeting shall be completed by the Municipal Clerk who shall consult with the Administrator, the Mayor and the Township Attorney. The Municipal Clerk shall make the agenda and all related documents upon which action is to be taken at the meeting available to the public and the members of the Township Committee at least 48 hours prior to the meeting. Given that regular meetings are at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and 48 hours prior is the weekend, agenda and meeting materials (The Municipal Clerk will make every effort to provide a best draft document.) shall be made available by 3:00 p.m. on the last business day of the week. Township Committee packets shall be available to the Committee members by 3:00 p.m. on the last business day of the week and appropriate accommodations shall be made for their pickup to Committee members.

The Mayor may as his/her first item of business at the meeting, upon the determination that a need exists, order to add or remove items from the agenda. Only the Mayor is authorized to add or remove agenda items.

Any member of the Committee, the administrator, CFO or municipal clerk or attorney may request additional matters be listed on the upcoming agenda.

The Township Committee may adopt a resolution to go into executive session solely for matters which will be discussed pursuant to N.J.S.A. 10:4-12. If the Township Committee goes into executive session at the close of the public meeting or after the work session, the Mayor must announce whether or not the Township Committee will be coming back out for an additional public session or will adjourn directly from the executive session.

The agenda shall be posted on the Township bulletin board by 3:00 p.m. on the last business day of the week and on the Township website and Channel 9 within 48 hours of the meeting, subject to change at the Mayor's request.

The agenda shall contain, at a minimum, the following items:

(1)

Call to order.

(2)

Pledge of Allegiance.

(3)

Reading of compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act.

(4)

Reading of notice of meeting being audio and video recorded.

(5)

Agenda change announcements.

(6)

Roll call.

(7)

Adoption of minutes of previous meeting.

(8)

Presentations/proclamations.

(9)

Action on Bill list.

(10)

Clerk's report and any other reports that are required.

(11)

Action items from Clerk's report.

(12)

Community Development Director's report.

(13)

Engineer's report.

(14)

Chief of Police report.

Public portion.

Solicitor's report.

Ordinances.

Resolutions.

Township Committee reports.

(20)

Administrator's report.

(21)

Second public portion, if necessary, only covering business transacted after the first public portion.

(22)

Mayor's report.

(23)

Any other business from the Township Committee members.

(24)

Adjournment.

§ 83-6 Addressing Committee; public portion of meeting; testimony at public hearings.

Any person desiring to address the Township Committee during the course of a public meeting shall do so at the appointed time on the agenda and shall seek recognition by the Mayor or presiding officer. Upon recognition, the individual shall approach the microphone so designated for the public and state his/her name and primary address (where you reside).

Testimony on ordinances or other public hearings shall be limited to the particular issue at hand. Other matters, over which the Township Committee has jurisdiction, may be discussed during the public portion of the meeting.

The Mayor or presiding officer shall make every effort to allow all those who would like to speak to be heard. Each individual who would like to testify shall be limited to five minutes. If a more lengthy testimony is necessary; the Mayor by a majority vote may extend that to a higher limit.

The first public portion of the meeting, shall entertain questions and comments from the public about any matter over which the Township Committee has jurisdiction. The second public portion shall be limited to topics that the Committee has considered since the first public portion.

Any person(s) making personal, defamatory, or profane remarks or who willfully utters loud, threatening or abusive language or engages in any disorderly conduct which disturbs or disrupts the orderly conduct of any meeting shall be called to order by the Mayor or presiding officer. If such conduct continues, the Mayor or presiding officer of the Township Committee at his or her discretion may order such person removed from that meeting.

Any signs, pennants, posters or other such displays shall not be displayed in any manner which may impede the orderly conduct of the meeting or block the view of others attending the meeting. No bullhorn, noise maker, playback or amplification device of any kind is permitted to be used during the course of any public meeting.

Campaign signs, literature, handbills, tee shirts or any other campaign paraphernalia are strictly prohibited from the meeting room or any other area in the municipal building during meetings or at any other time.

§ 83-7 Recording, videotaping and photography by press and public.

Recording, videotaping and photography during Township Committee meetings are permitted within applicable laws and the precedent of courts of competent jurisdiction. However, no such recording, taping or photography shall interfere with the orderly conduct of the public meeting, nor shall it impede ingress or egress or otherwise cause any distraction or interruption of the meeting. Absolutely no flash photography or auxiliary lighting is permitted except during periods set aside for photographs such as at the conclusion of special presentations.

§ 83-8 Recording, videotaping and photography by Township of Franklin.

The Township of Franklin meetings shall be recorded verbatim on an audio digital recording device operated by the office of the Township Clerk.

The Township of Franklin Committee meetings shall be videotaped under the direction of the Cable TV Advisory Committee. (See Ordinance No. O-14-2006, Chapter 17.) However, no such recording, taping or photography shall interfere with the orderly conduct of the public meeting, nor shall it impede ingress or egress or otherwise cause any distraction or interruption of the meeting. The taped meetings are to be shown on Franklin Township TV Channel 9 in their entirety, unedited and in full. There may, at the Cable TV Advisory Committee's discretion, be redacted profane or other inappropriate language.

All agenda items and exhibits shall be submitted to the Municipal Clerk in electronic format by established deadlines to enable viewing of the documents by the public on the Township website.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Clerk shall announce that the meeting is being audio recorded and videotaped. Anyone who does not want to appear on the audio or video tape may leave the meeting. Speaking during the public portion of the meeting or testifying on an ordinance is an acknowledgement of agreement that the individual will appear on the audio and video recording.

Meetings shall also be accessible on the Township website. A limited amount of archived meetings shall be available on the website as well.

Digital copies, both audio and video, of meetings shall be available to the public upon the completion of a formal OPRA request and upon payment of the fee established through the Municipal Clerk's Office.

Should there be a question as to the accuracy of the written minutes, the voice recording shall be reviewed. Should the question not be completely satisfied, the video version of the meeting shall be reviewed to clear any ambiguity.

Recordings of the meetings will be maintained in accordance with the New Jersey Division of Archives and Records' manual retention schedule.

§ 83-9 Voting.

All voting, except for procedural motions, shall be by roll call vote and the ayes and nays shall be recorded by the Clerk and made a part of the official minutes of the meeting. All votes are to be recorded directly on the resolution or ordinance being voted upon (in addition to being recorded in the minutes) and shall become a permanent part of the record thereof. All members of the Township Committee shall be called to vote. The Clerk shall call the Committee members to vote in the order determined by the Clerk. The Mayor shall always vote last. All members of the Township Committee shall have the opportunity to explain the reasons for their vote prior to voting.

§ 83-10 Compulsory vote; conflicts of interest.

When a question is put to a vote by the Mayor or presiding officer, every Committee member present shall vote, unless because of an actual or apparent conflict of interest. Such interest shall be stated for the record by the Committee member or by the solicitor. If an abstention is necessary, that Committee member must disclose the reason for the abstention. Any Committee member may petition the Township Attorney to rule whether such conflict exists, and the attorney's advice shall determine whether the Committee member may be excused or must vote. If a Committee member is disqualified from voting on a matter due to a conflict of interest, said member shall remove him or herself from the dais if there is to be debate or discussion on the matter and recuse himself/herself from said discussion. The failure to vote or to verbalize an abstention based on conflict as noted above shall be considered a yes vote on the motion. Any Committee member may raise a conflict-of-interest issue with the Township Attorney, whose recommendation shall prevail.

§ 83-11 Ordinances.

Any two Committee members may introduce an ordinance at any regular meeting of the Township Committee. All ordinances must be in writing and shall be approved as to form and section numbers by the Township Attorney.

The regular order for consideration of ordinance proposals shall be;

(1)

Ordinance proposal is sent to appropriate subcommittee of the Township Committee and appropriate advisory board, committee or commission as may apply.

(2)

The Township attorney creates draft of ordinance proposal and presents to full Township Committee at least seven calendar days prior to proposed introduction.

(3)

The ordinance is introduced by vote of the Township Committee for first reading and publication according to appropriate New Jersey statues. A public hearing date shall be set by the Township Committee.

(4)

On the date of the public hearing, the presiding officer shall ask for public comment on the proposed ordinance. After all public comment is received, the presiding officer shall call for motions to pass, deny passage, revise or table the ordinance. The Township Attorney shall determine if any amendments that are proposed at the public hearing are defined by New Jersey statutes as being significant enough to warrant a re-advertisement of the ordinance.

(5)

Upon final passage, the Clerk shall publish the notice of adoption in the papers of record according to New Jersey statues.

§ 83-12 Resolutions.

Resolutions to be acted upon at a meeting of the Township Committee shall be made available to the Committee members and the public at least 48 hours prior to the start of the meeting. In the case of a regular Tuesday meeting, resolutions shall be made available by 3:00 p.m. on the last business day of the previous week.

Any two members of the Township Committee may request, sufficiently prior to a regular meeting, a resolution. Such request shall be made through the Township Administrator or Clerk.

In addition to resolutions introduced in accordance with the sections above and the section titled "Agenda,"[1] a resolution may be introduced during the course of debate or discussion and may be acted upon immediately, if the issue was unknown to the Township Committee in sufficient time to comply with the forty-eight-hour rule or the matter is one of imminent public safety or health or is required to meet a contractual deadline or other deadline that if said deadline were to be missed would have a detrimental effect upon the Township of Franklin.

[1]

Editor's Note: See § 83-5.

§ 83-13 Divisions of question.

Any member of the Township Committee may call for a division of any pending question be it in the form of a motion, resolution or ordinance, which shall be divided if it contains propositions so distinct that if one is taken away, a substantive proposition shall remain.

§ 83-14 Statement; reduction to writing: withdrawal.

No motion or resolution question shall be called except by the Mayor or in his or her absence the Deputy Mayor or in his or her absence the presiding officer. Motions shall, whenever possible, be stated affirmatively. A motion or resolution shall be reduced to writing if requested by any member of the Township Committee and when presented in writing shall be read by the Clerk before the same shall be open to debate. A resolution shall always be reduced to writing before being adopted. Any member of the Township Committee may request a reasonable recess for purposes of reducing a motion or resolution to writing. Any motion may be withdrawn by its maker at any time before decision or amendment.

§ 83-15 Prohibition of "consent agenda."

The Mayor may not call for a motion nor may the Township Committee adopt any resolutions or ordinances or series of resolutions or ordinances en masse unless said resolutions are substantially identical in nature, no member of the Township Committee objects to such a motion and under the approval of the Township Attorney. In no case shall more than one ordinance be voted upon during any one roll call.

§ 83-16 Public disclosure.

At the discretion of the presiding officer, the Solicitor, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Presiding Officer or their designee shall read each and every resolution by number and title. The title of each ordinance or resolution shall contain sufficient information so as the public may discern the nature of each. The name of any firms, corporations, individuals or any other organizations appointed, hired or contracted by the Township of Franklin shall be disclosed on the written agenda and read aloud at the meeting.

§ 83-17 Rules of order.

Except as provided in this article or applicable provisions of state law, the procedures of the Township Committee of the Township of Franklin shall be guided by the latest revised edition of Robert's Rules of Order.

§ 83-18 Severability.

In the event that any section or portion of this article should be found to be unenforceable, against state or federal law or counter to the decision of a court of competent jurisdiction, all other sections shall remain valid and in force. All ordinances or portions of ordinances that may be in conflict with this article are hereby repealed.

§ 83-19 Suspension and amendment of rules.

Except as otherwise provided, these rules may be suspended in whole or in part by a 2/3 vote of the Township Committee, subject to requirements of state law or other Township ordinances.

These rules may be amended by a majority vote of the Township Committee through the normal ordinance adoption, amendment or repeal procedures.

These rules shall continue in effect from year to year without necessity for readoption.