Borough of Raritan, NJ Chapter 29 Meetings, Public

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Raritan 9-11-2007 by Ord. No. 07-10. Amendments noted where applicable.]

§ 29-1 Persons addressing Mayor and Council.

A. Any person may address the Council during a public hearing on an ordinance under consideration at a meeting;

B. Any person may address the Council on any matter over which the Council has jurisdiction;

C. Once a motion has been made by a Council member, no person may address the Council except on request of the Council;

D. Upon being recognized by the Mayor or presiding Chair of the meeting, a person shall proceed to provide their name, address and initiate discussion. Any and all statements are to be addressed to the Council as a body and not to any member thereof, or directly to the Mayor or other presiding officer. Council members shall not direct any questions to a speaker addressing the Council except through the Mayor or other presiding officer of the meeting;

E. There shall be a five-minute time limit for any person addressing the Council, or such time limit as may be established by resolution at the annual reorganization meeting of the Mayor and Council.[1]

[1] Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).

§ 29-2 Rules of decorum.

A. A member of the Council shall not disturb any other member when speaking or refuse to obey the direction of the Mayor or presiding officer as to conduct during the meeting;

B. Any person making personal, impertinent or slanderous remarks or who becomes boisterous may be barred by the Mayor or presiding officer from further attendance at the meeting. On request of the Mayor or presiding officer of the meeting, any individual not in compliance with standards of behavior for Council meetings may be escorted from the meeting room. The person shall not be permitted to reenter the meeting room unless a request is submitted by majority vote of the Council members present and passed;

C. A police officer may be present at meetings;

D. All citizens shall conduct themselves in an appropriate manner; and

E. No food or beverage is allowed in Council chambers while the Council is in session.

§ 29-3 Videotaping guidelines.

Any member of the public (a "citizen") who wishes to videotape portions or all of the public meeting must do so with the following guidelines:

A. The citizen must provide the Borough Clerk with no less than 24 hours' verbal notice prior to the public meeting of the intention to exercise the right to videotape;

B. The citizen must have completed setup of the videotape records and any related equipment by no less than 30 minutes prior to the official start time of the public meeting. As to the location of the videotape recorder and equipment, the same may only be set up by the citizen at the approximate halfway point of the south wall or halfway point of the north wall of the meeting room, and such location shall be specifically identified to the citizen by the Borough Clerk;

C. The videotape recorder and any associated equipment utilized by the citizen must be compact, quiet and generally unobtrusive. No more than one videotape recorder and no added lighting may be used by any citizen. The videotape recorder and all associated equipment may not take up more than five square feet of space. No citizen is permitted to use any videotape recorder or associated equipment that makes any beeping sounds or other noises. Should beeping sounds or any other noise emanate from the videotape recorder or associated equipment at any time during the public meeting, the citizen shall be required to cease videotaping immediately;

D. The citizen may not disrupt the public meeting with his recording equipment. The citizen may not set up or use the videotape recorder or equipment in such a way as to block or obstruct the view of other members of the public or the governing body. The videotaping of the citizen may only be done in a manner that does not violate the Disorderly Conduct Ordinance of the Borough of Raritan and must be generally orderly and unobtrusive. The citizen may not continually exit and reenter the meeting room or continuously move around the meeting room during a public meeting. The citizen must remain with the videotape recorder and equipment at all times, except for any period of time during which the citizen is making a comment in his turn during any public comment portion of the public meeting. The citizen may not narrate the proceeding or speak into any videotape recorder or microphone. The citizen may not engage in any verbal conversation, discourse or comment whatsoever, unless the citizen is making a formal comment in his turn during any public comment portion of the public meeting;

E. If the citizen chooses to cease videotaping at any time during the public meeting, he or she may do so, provided that the citizen may not commence removal, except for a handheld video recorder, or begin to disassemble any videotape recorder or associated equipment until there is a break of at least five minutes of the public meeting or until the public meeting has concluded.