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:
A. 
Roll call.
B. 
Pledge of allegiance.
C. 
Minutes of previous meeting.
D. 
Communications.
E. 
Applications.
F. 
Resolutions.
G. 
Second and final reading of ordinances.
H. 
First reading of ordinances.
I. 
Hearing of citizens.
J. 
Comments by the Council.
K. 
Adjournment.
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.
A. 
Nominations submitted by the Mayor shall be considered by the Council at its next regular meeting. Any member of the Council may move a nomination.
B. 
With respect to appointments to be made by the Council, any member of the Council may nominate as many candidates as there are offices to be filled. The Council shall consider such nominations, and, where there is a single office to be filled, the sense of the Council on the appointment shall be taken as to each nominee, and the nominee receiving the majority shall be deemed appointed. When there is more than one office to be filled by appointment, such as on a board, commission or authority, the same procedure shall be followed with respect to each office separately until the total number of appointments to be made has been completed. In the discretion of the chair, a group of nominations may be considered at once when there is no apparent division in the Council as to the nominees included in the group.
A. 
The President of the Council shall not be deprived of any right to vote or of any other rights, powers or duties of a Council member by virtue of occupying the office of President of the Council.
B. 
A member of the Council shall be entitled to the floor only upon recognition by the Chair, but such recognition shall only determine the sequence of speaking and no Council member shall be denied the privilege of the floor. Once a member has been recognized and taken the floor, he shall not be interrupted for any reason other than a call to order, and in such case the Chair shall rule promptly on the point of order and the speaker be allowed to proceed if he is in order.
C. 
The Council member who has made a motion shall be entitled to the privilege of closing debate.
D. 
A motion to reconsider may be made by a Council member on the prevailing side, and such motion may be made only at the same meeting or an adjournment thereof at which the action was taken.
E. 
In all matters, except public hearings on second reading of ordinances and except upon consent of the Council President, each person addressing the Council pursuant to this section shall be required to limit his remarks to five minutes and shall at no time engage in any personally offensive or abusive remarks. The Chair shall call any speaker to order who violates any provision of this rule.
F. 
Upon the moving and seconding of a question, it shall be placed before the Council without the need for the Chair to state the question and shall be available for discussion and vote.
A. 
Persons other than Council members may be permitted to address the Council in the proper order of business. A person present may, upon recognition of the Chair and with the consent of four-fifths of the Council, be heard in the order of communications and petitions and at such other times as the Council may specifically permit. No person shall address any remark or question to any specific Council member, nor shall any person be permitted to address the Chair while a motion is pending. A Council member may, through the Chair, respond to any communication or address received pursuant to this action.
B. 
Except upon consent of the Council, each person addressing the Council pursuant to this section shall at no time engage in any personally offensive or abusive remarks. The Chair shall call any speaker to order who violates any provision of this rule.
A. 
Conduct of Council members. Each member of the Council shall cooperate with the Chair in preserving order and decorum, and no member shall by conversation or otherwise delay or interrupt the proceedings of the Council or disturb any member while speaking or fail to abide by the orders of the Council or its President except as specifically permitted by the rules set out in this article.
B. 
Conduct of public. Any person who shall disturb the peace of the Council, make offensive or abusive remarks or conduct himself in a boisterous manner while addressing the Council shall be forthwith barred by the presiding officer from further audience before the Council, except that, if the speaker shall submit to proper order under the rules set out in this article, permission for him to continue may be granted by a majority vote of the Council.
C. 
Sergeant at Arms. The Council may request the Department of Public Safety to designate a member of the uniformed division to serve as Sergeant at Arms at Council meetings. If requested, the Department shall designate an officer to act as Sergeant at Arms, and he shall carry out all orders and instructions given by the presiding officer for the purpose of maintaining order and decorum at such meetings.
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.