[Amended 7-21-1978 by Ord. No. 1277; 3-18-1980 by Ord. No.
1339; Ord. 12-29-1989; 12-12-1994 by Ord. No. 1907]
A. Organization. At 8:00 p.m. on the first Monday in
January of each even-numbered year the Board shall meet to organize.
(1) Officer. The Board shall, by majority vote of the
total members, elect from its membership a President, a Vice President
and a Secretary, all of whom shall hold office at the pleasure of
the Board. The Mayor shall preside over the election.
[Amended 6-8-2009 by Ord. No. 2776, approved 11-3-2009]
(2) Removal. Should any two members of the Board call
for a vote to remove any or all of the aforementioned officers, the
matter shall be put to a vote. Such action must be effected by a resolution.
An intent to vote upon such resolution must be declared at a regular
public meeting and be introduced and voted on at the next regular
Board meeting. The office shall be declared vacant upon the passage
of such resolution and a vote to appoint a successor may be taken
as the next item of business.
(3) Absence of quorum. If at least four of the seven Board
members are not in attendance at the commencement of a meeting, the
Commissioners present may reschedule the meeting and adjourn. If the
subsequent meeting must also be adjourned for failure to produce a
quorum, those members present shall be considered a quorum for the
purpose of electing officers only.
(4) Notice. At last 48 hours prior notice of any organizational
or re-organizational meeting shall be given to each Board member.
The notice shall include the purpose, place and time of the meeting
in question.
(5) Publication. Notice of the purpose, place and time of the organizational meeting comporting with requirements of Subsection
A(4) above must be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the Township and shall be posted at the Township Municipal Building.
(6) Limitations. In addition to the election of officers,
all other necessary or appropriate business may be transacted at an
organizational or reorganizational meeting.
(7) Legal holiday provision. If a scheduled organizational
meeting shall occur on a legal holiday, said meeting shall be postponed
and shall take place on the following day.
B. Regular meetings. The Board shall hold its regular
meetings at least once per month at 7:00 p.m. on such Mondays as the
Board may schedule.
(1) Notice. The Secretary shall give at least five days
prior written notice of the meeting to each Board member and the Mayor.
[Amended 6-8-2009 by Ord. No. 2776, approved 11-3-2009]
(2) Publication. A specific listing of the regular meetings
shall be published once for each calendar year, in a newspaper of
general circulation in the Township, and it shall be posted at the
Municipal Building. Notice of each regular meeting shall be published
and posted in the same manner at least three, but not more than 30
days, in advance of that meeting, excepting a rescheduled, adjourned
regular meeting, which shall require a forty-eight-hour publication
notice.
(3) Order of business. The Board's agenda shall include
the following:
(e)
Introduction of ordinances for final passage.
(f)
Introduction of new ordinances.
(g)
Introduction of resolutions.
(j)
Reports of public officials.
C. Special meetings. Special meetings may be called by
the President, by the Mayor or by the Secretary upon written request
of two Board members.
[Amended 6-8-2009 by Ord. No. 2776, approved 11-3-2009]
(1) Notice. At least 48 hours prior notice shall be given
to each member. It shall include the purpose, place and time, the
latter of which may differ from the regular meeting time.
(2) Publication. At least 48 hours notice must be published
in a newspaper of general circulation in the Township and it shall
be posted likewise at the Township Municipal Building.
(3) Limitations. Only that business designated in the
public notice may be acted upon at a special meeting.
D. Continuation of adjourned regular or special meetings.
Any regular or special adjourned meeting may be reconvened at a specified
date and time upon motion duly adopted by the Board and a public announcement
made prior to the original adjournment. The only matters to be acted
upon at the reconvened meeting shall be those scheduled for, or tabled
at, the original meeting. The Secretary shall publish a twenty-four-hour
public notice.
[Amended 11-14-1988 by Ord. No. 1630; Ord. 12-29-1989]
A. Time and place. All meetings of the Board shall be
convened in the public meeting room of the Township Municipal Building
or at such other location as shall be designated in a lawful public
meeting notice, following approval of such other location by the Board
of Commissioners. No meeting shall be scheduled to commence later
than 7:30 p.m.
B. Officers. The presiding officer shall be the President,
or in his absence, the Vice President. In the absence of both, the
remaining Board members shall name a temporary presiding officer.
(1) The President's rights shall include participation
in all debate, without leaving his chair. He shall be an ex officio
member of all standing committees. He shall call special meetings,
as necessary.
(2) The President's responsibilities. He shall be responsible
for maintaining proper parliamentary decorum. He shall afford anyone
the right to be heard but shall constrain harassment.
(3) The Vice President shall carry out all of the duties
of the President in the absence of the President.
(4) The Secretary shall attend all meetings and keep records
of same, attest to and execute all documents, record all motions,
resolutions and ordinances in separate books, have custody of the
Township corporate seal, execute all notices and distribute all necessary
materials.
C. Meeting agenda and related materials.
(1) The Secretary of the Board of Commissioners is responsible
for preparing the agenda. All materials necessary for preparing the
agenda shall be delivered to the Secretary not later than five days
prior to all regular meetings. Agenda items may be requested by Board
members or the Mayor.
[Amended 6-8-2009 by Ord. No. 2776, approved 11-3-2009]
(2) The Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners and
Mayor shall receive 48 hours prior to its regular and special meetings
an agenda containing all scheduled items to be discussed and acted
upon at the meeting, and all available supporting materials and documents
necessary for preparation for such meetings.
[Amended 6-8-2009 by Ord. No. 2776, approved 11-3-2009]
(3) No action may be taken on any ordinance or resolution
which is not properly transmitted to the Secretary and properly placed
on the agenda. This provision shall in no manner restrict action on
motions or prevent any citizen of Whitehall Township from being heard
on any subject whatsoever.
(4) A citizen's right to be heard shall not be denied
because the item about which he speaks was not on the agenda.
D. Quorum. In order to conduct business four members
of the Board must be in attendance at a meeting.
E. Decorum. The President of the Board of Commissioners,
or such designee as might be chairing the meeting, shall announce
at the beginning of the meeting or at such time during the meeting
as may be deemed appropriate by the Chairperson that reasonable time
limitations shall be placed upon person speaking on behalf of or against
any position or issue. Such announcement shall specify the number
of minutes which will be allocated to each person who desires to be
heard prior to a vote and/or during the courtesy of the floor segment
of the meetings.
(1) Providing however:
(a)
This rule, §
1-50E, may be suspended or modified by a simple majority vote of the Commissioners present at the meeting, either for a specific individual or for the amount of time allotted to a subject area.
(b)
With the consent of the Chair, persons who have
indicated a desire to speak may yield a portion or all of his/her
time allotment to another person. The Chair may set reasonable limits
on the number of yielded time allotments which may be used by a party
as circumstances may require.
(c)
The Board may utilize any timing system or device
to measure the time allotment or notify the speaker of remaining or
expired time, so long as such system or device does not disturb the
decorum of the proceedings or unreasonably distract the speaker.
(d)
The Commissioners shall retain the right to
interrupt and terminate a speaker for the following reasons:
[1]
The speaker has exhausted his/her time, including
time yielded.
[2]
The speaker is addressing a topic unrelated
to the motion or topic being considered.
[3]
The speaker becomes unduly loud, uses profanity
or makes inflammatory statements inappropriate for a public meeting.
F. Voting. All votes on motions, resolutions or ordinances
shall be by roll call announced by the Secretary and entered in the
minutes. The roll call order shall be rotated with the presiding officer
voting last. A majority vote, that is, a vote of four yeas or four
nays shall constitute action by the Board, unless the Charter expressly
requires a greater number.
G. Waiver of notice. A Commissioner's presence at a meeting
constitutes waiver of notice, unless he is present solely to object
to the meeting as unlawful.
H. Records. All records shall be kept by the Secretary.
Minutes of all public meetings shall be available for public view
at the Municipal Building during regular Township business hours and
at the Whitehall Community Library.
I. Public right to be heard. Residents of the Township
shall have the right to be heard on any action before the Board prior
to such action being taken. Nonresidents may be heard at the discretion
of the Board. Each speaker shall state his name and address upon being
recognized. He shall also have the right to place legitimate matters
before the Board during the Courtesy of the Floor segment of any public
meeting. The Board may impose reasonable time, place and manner limitations
on any speaker.
J. Mayor's participation. The Mayor shall have the right
to attend Board meetings and deliberate, and he shall have voice,
but not vote. He may also attend committee sessions.
[Amended 6-8-2009 by Ord. No. 2776, approved 11-3-2009]
[Amended 8-11-1980 by Ord. No. 1354; 10-20-1980 by Ord. No. 1356]
Every legislative act of the Board of Commissioners
shall be by ordinance or resolution.
A. All proposed ordinances and resolutions shall be in
written form and shall be assigned a Bill Number indicating the year
of their introduction and the ordinance and resolution number for
that year. Upon final adoption, a consecutive ordinance or resolution
number will be assigned to the bill by the Secretary and the same
shall be incorporated into the official records of the Township. The
headings of all ordinances and resolutions shall include the general
purpose. Their introductory sections shall identify the legislative
enactment as that of the Board of Commissioners of the Township of
Whitehall, County of Lehigh, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
[Amended 6-8-2009 by Ord. No. 2776, approved 11-3-2009]
(1) Concluding all ordinances and resolutions shall be
the signature of the Board President, duly dated and attested to by
the Board Secretary, followed by the Mayor's signature, also duly
dated, if he approves the legislation.
(2) In the event of a veto by the Mayor and a subsequent
override by the Board of Commissioners, the ordinance in question
will expressly indicate this legislative action.
B. Motions may be either in written form (if submitted
prior to a meeting) or introduced orally.
[Amended 6-8-2009 by Ord. No. 2776, approved 11-3-2009]
A. Presentation. Any Board member or the Mayor may introduce
an ordinance or a resolution, but it must be presented in writing
and available to the Secretary at least five days prior to the meeting
at which it shall be introduced. A motion may be presented to the
Secretary in the same manner or it may be introduced orally at a meeting.
An ordinance need only be read at length once, unless otherwise specified
by the Home Rule Charter § 3.24.
B. Adoption. Within three days of passage by the Board,
an ordinance or resolution shall be forwarded to the Mayor. The Mayor
shall either return the document signed and approved within 10 days
thereafter, or vetoed, together with his written objections to same.
Failure to return the document shall render it finally adopted on
the 11th day thereof. If the effective date does not appear in an
ordinance, it shall be deemed finally adopted 30 days following passage.
The only ordinance which shall take effect less than 30 days after
adoption, absent a bona fide emergency, is the Township budget ordinance.
All motions may be adopted by a majority vote of the Board. The Secretary
shall affix the Township seal to legislation, upon its final adoption.
He shall also publish all ordinances once in a newspaper of general
circulation in the Township within 30 days after final adoption. All
adopted ordinances, resolutions and motions shall be entered in separate,
permanent books and shall be available for public inspection both
at the Township Municipal Building and in the Whitehall Community
Library.
C. Attribution. If an individual Commissioner or the
Mayor submits an ordinance, a resolution, a written motion or a discussion
item for a meeting agenda, the originator's name or initials shall
be noted on the agenda adjacent to the agenda items so submitted.
[Amended 7-12-1976 by Ord. No. 1199; Ord. 12-29-1989]
A. To achieve maximum legislative efficiency and to insure
open communication with all facets of the community, the Board shall
appoint committees from among its members as well as special committees,
which shall be created by resolution, as the need arises.
(1) Ad hoc committees of the Board may be formed for a
specific purpose and situation, and shall be terminated upon completion
of the assigned task.
(2) Individual Commissioners may represent the Board through
meetings with joint committees from other organized public or quasi-public
entities such as the Whitehall-Coplay School Board and the Police
Pension Board.
(3) Liaison committees may be named to any or all Township
civic organizations or groups. Once they are duly established they
shall request continued legislative contact.
(4) Standing committees.
(a)
Standing committees shall be available for any
legislative problems relating to the matters each addresses, as follows:
[2]
Internal hearings and appointments.
(b)
These committees shall establish their own operating
rules and may forward requests for action directly to the Board, by
majority vote of committee members or by request of the Board. Each
committee shall be deemed a creation by the Board and each Board member
is expected to chair one committee.
(5) Committees of the Whole, consisting of the entire
Board, shall be convened as determined by the Board. Such committees'
functions shall include, but not be limited to, legislative problems
relative to administration, budget and finance.
Robert's Rules of Order shall govern the proceedings
of the Board on any matters not specifically provided herein. A copy
of said book shall be issued to each Board member requiring same.
A proposed amendment to these rules must be
adopted by ordinance, presented at a regular meeting after proper
notice.