Except as otherwise provided in the Charter, by law or in this
chapter, the Council shall be governed in questions of order, organization
and conduct of business by the current edition of Robert's Rules of
Order in all cases to which applicable.
All meetings of the Council shall be held at such times as are
provided by this chapter. An adjourned meeting shall be considered
a continuation of the preceding meeting, and the business of the Council
shall be resumed where it was left at the last adjournment. Any Township
official or employee of the Township shall attend regular or special
meetings of the Council if requested by the Council to do so.
[Amended 4-7-1993 by Ord. No. 93-022]
The President of the Council, chosen in the manner and for the
term prescribed by this chapter, shall:
A. Appoint such special committees of the Council as may be authorized
by motion or resolution.
B. Preside at all meetings of the Council and of the committee of the
whole.
C. State the questions and announce the results on all matters on which
the Council may vote.
D. Rule on all questions of order, subject to approval by the Council.
E. Sign all ordinances and resolutions adopted in his presence, and
in his absence the Vice President shall sign ordinances and resolutions
adopted in his presence.
F. Designate the seating arrangement of the members of Council.
G. Have such other functions, powers and duties as the Council may from
time to time prescribe.
An agenda for each regular meeting of the Council shall be prepared
by the Municipal Clerk under the supervision of the President of the
Council.
At the opening of each meeting of the Council, the Municipal
Clerk shall call the roll, and the names of those present shall be
recorded in the minutes. Three members of the Council shall constitute
a quorum. If a quorum is not present 1/2 hour after the appointed
time for any meeting, the presiding officer or the Municipal Clerk
may declare the meeting adjourned.
The order of business at each meeting of the Council shall be
as follows:
C. Minutes of previous meeting.
G. Second and final reading of ordinances.
H. First reading of ordinances.
The Municipal Clerk shall, so far as practicable, prepare and
distribute to the Council the minutes of each meeting promptly after
the meeting. The minutes of any meeting may be approved without reading
whenever they have been distributed at least 24 hours prior to the
time of approval.
[Amended 4-7-1993 by Ord. No. 93-022]
The vote upon every motion, resolution or ordinance shall be
taken by roll call in order by the Municipal Clerk, which roll call
shall commence with the member of Council seated to the left and shall
end with the member of Council seated on the right when facing the
Council. The Council President shall be polled last. The yeas, nays
and abstentions shall be entered in the minutes. Upon the call of
roll, any member may discuss or explain his vote. The minutes of each
meeting shall be signed by the presiding officer and by the Clerk.
The preparation, introduction and enactment of ordinances and resolutions shall be governed by the provisions of §
5-34.
All reports to the Council and all resolutions shall be filed
with the Municipal Clerk and entered in the minutes of the Council.
Any rule of the Council may be suspended by a four-fifths vote
of the Council.
A motion to adjourn shall always be in order and shall be decided
without debate.
[Added 7-17-2018 by Ord.
No. 18-033]
A. Members of the general public have the right to video record portions
or all of an open public meeting of the Council, excluding closed
or executive session discussions. To minimize the possibility of disrupting
the public meeting of the Council, any member of the public ("citizen")
who wishes to video record portions or all of the public meeting must
do so in accordance with the following guidelines:
(1) The citizen must provide the Municipal Clerk, or his or her designee,
with no less than 10 minutes' verbal notice prior to the scheduled
beginning of a public meeting of his or her intention to exercise
his or her right to video record the public meeting.
(2) The citizen must have completed setup of his or her video recorder,
including cell phones, and any related equipment by no less than five
minutes prior to the scheduled start time of the public meeting. As
to the location of the video recorder and equipment, the same may
only be set up so as not to interfere with the viewing of the meeting
by any other member of the public as determined by the Council President.
(3) The video recorder and any associated equipment utilized by the citizen
must be compact, quiet, and generally unobtrusive. No more than one
video recorder, and no added lighting, may be used by any citizen.
The video recorder and all associated equipment may not take up more
than 20 square feet of space. So as not to interfere with the meeting,
no citizen is permitted to use any video recorder or associated equipment
that makes any beeping sounds or other noises. Should beeping sounds
or any other noise emanate from the video recorder or associated equipment
at any time during the public meeting, the citizen shall be required
to cease video recording immediately.
(4) If the video recorder or associated equipment requires connection
to electricity, the connection to electricity may be made only by
a standard plug which can easily and properly connect to the nearest
electricity socket. If at any time the video recorder or associated
equipment "blows a fuse" or causes a loss of power in the meeting
room, the citizen must immediately cease video recording and shall
not be allowed to continue video recording with any recorder or equipment
that requires connection to electricity. The citizen will also be
required to reimburse the Township for any costs associated with any
damage to Township property and/or costs for turning power back on.
(5) The citizen may not disrupt the public meeting with his or her recording equipment. The citizen may not set up or use the video recorder or equipment in such a way as to block or obstruct the view of other members of the public of the Council proceedings. The video recording by the citizen may only be done in a manner that does not violate §
5-29 and must be generally orderly and unobtrusive. The citizen may not continually exit and re-enter the meeting room, or continuously move around within the meeting room, during the public meeting. The citizen must remain with the video 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 video recorder or microphone. The citizen may not engage in any verbal conversation, discourse or comment whatsoever, unless the citizen is making a formal comment during his or her turn during any public comment portion of the public meeting.
(6) If the citizen chooses to cease video recording at any time during
the public meeting, he or she may do so; provided that the citizen
may not commence removal (except for a hand-held video recorder) or
begin to disassemble any video 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.
(7) An unedited/unabridged copy of any video recording of the proceedings
shall be provided to the Township of Hamilton Municipal Clerk within
10 business days where it shall be kept in accordance with the Municipal
Agencies General Records Retention Schedule issued by the New Jersey
Department of the Treasury, Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services,
Records Management Services.
B. These guidelines are intended to ensure that the right of the public
to video record official public meetings of the Council does not interfere
with the business of the Council or other citizens' right of access
to the proceedings.