[Adopted 9-14-2010 by Ord. No. O-19-2010]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.