The Mayor shall preside over all meetings of the Council
but shall not vote except to give the deciding vote in the case of
a tie. Except as otherwise provided by statute, the Mayor shall nominate
and, with the advice and consent of the Council, appoint all officers
in the Borough. No appointments requiring Council approval and confirmation
shall be made except by a majority vote of the Council members present
at the meeting, provided that at least three affirmative votes shall
be required for such purpose, the Mayor to have no vote thereon except
in case of a tie. Vacancies in appointive offices shall be filled
by appointment in the same manner for the unexpired term only. The
Mayor shall make such nomination to fill a vacancy within 30 days
after the appointive office becomes vacant. If the Mayor fails to
nominate within 30 days or the Council fails to confirm any nomination
made by the Mayor, then, after the expiration of 30 days, the Council
shall appoint the officer.
The Mayor shall see that the laws of the state and
the ordinances of the Borough are faithfully executed, and shall recommend
to the Council such measures as he may deem necessary or expedient
for the welfare of the Borough. He shall maintain peace and good order
and have the power to suppress all riots and tumultuous assemblies
in the Borough.
The Mayor shall take the chair promptly at the start
of each meeting, and immediately call the members to order, and on
the appearance of a quorum, take up the business of the meeting in
the order hereinafter provided.
In addition to all powers expressly provided by applicable
state statutes, the Mayor shall have general direction of and preserve
order and decorum in the Council chamber and lobby, meeting rooms
and officers thereof, together with such rooms, corridors in the Borough
Hall and elsewhere as may be used by the Council, its committees,
commissions, officers, members and employees in the conduct of official
business.
He shall have full authority to protect the safety
of the members, officers and employees of the Council in the performance
of their duties as well as that of the general public in the connection
therewith, and to preserve and protect property and records under
the jurisdiction of the Council. In case of disturbance or disorderly
conduct, he may cause the same to be cleared or the offending person(s)
to be arrested and removed.
He shall preserve order and decorum, and confine Council
members to the question under discussion. When two or more members
wish to speak at the same time, he shall name the one entitled to
the floor.
He shall state all questions before the Council and
shall distinctly put questions not involving roll call vote in substantially
the following form: "all those in favor signify by saying `yes',"
and after the affirmative is expressed, "all those opposed signify
by saying `no'." If the Mayor is unable to determine the result of
the voice vote, or a division be called pursuant to the rule of the
Council, a roll call vote shall be taken. On all motions requiring
a roll call vote, the Administrator/Clerk will take the roll when
directed by the Mayor and upon tallying the vote will inform the Mayor
of the tally. The Mayor will then read the tally in the following
form: "on the motion there is (number of yes votes) in the affirmative
and (number of no votes) in the negative. I declare the motion (passed
or defeated) and take the usual course of passed/defeated motions
or questions."
He shall decide questions of order without debate,
subject to an appeal to the Council, when demanded by any members,
on which appeal, no member shall speak more than once, unless by leave
of the Council and decided by majority vote.
At the commencement of every meeting, the Mayor shall
announce publicly and cause to have entered in the minutes an accurate
statement that adequate notice of the meeting has been provided and
specifying the time, place and to the extent known, the agenda and
the manner in which the notice was provided. If the meeting is one
called in response to a crisis, the announcement shall state that
adequate notice was not provided, the nature of the urgency, the harm
to the public in delaying the meeting, the limitation on the matters
discussed at the meeting, the time, place, and manner notice was provided,
and the exact reason why a need for the meeting could not be foreseen
or why the adequate notice could not be provided.