The Village of East Troy is a political corporate body with
the powers of a municipality at common law and governed by the provisions
of Chapters 61 and 66 of the Wisconsin Statutes, laws amending those
chapters, other acts of the Legislature and the Constitution of the
State of Wisconsin.
The Trustees of the Village of East Troy shall constitute the
Village Board. The Village Board shall be vested with all the powers
of the Village not specifically given some other officer, as well
as those powers set forth elsewhere throughout this Code.
The Village Board, on behalf of the Village, may join with other
counties, villages, cities, towns or other governmental entities in
a cooperative arrangement for executing any power or duty in order
to attain greater economy or efficiency, including joint employment
of appointed officers and employees.
The Village Board has the power to preserve order at its meetings.
Members of the Village Board shall be residents of the Village at
the time of their election and during their terms of office.
[Amended 6-15-2015 by Ord. No. 2015-02; 12-16-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-18]
Special meetings of the Board may be called by the Village President
or by two Trustees filing a request with the Village Clerk at
least 48 hours prior to the time specified for such meeting. The Village Clerk shall
select the day for the special meeting and immediately notify each
Trustee of the time and purpose of such meeting. The notice shall
be delivered or mailed to each Trustee personally or left at his usual
place of abode a minimum of 24 hours prior to the meeting time. The
Village Clerk shall cause a record of such notice to be
filed in their office prior to the time fixed for such special meeting.
No business shall be transacted at a special meeting except for the
purpose stated in the notice thereof. Notice to the public of special
meetings shall conform to the open meeting requirements of § 61.32
and Chapter 19, Subchapter V, Wis. Stats. The Village Clerk shall
give notice immediately upon the call for such meeting being filed
with him. The request for any special meeting shall state the purpose
for which the meeting is to be called, and no business shall be transacted
but that for which the meeting has been called. Individuals requesting
a special meeting of the Village Board shall be required to pay a
fee set by the Village Board for such meeting.
[Amended 6-15-2015 by Ord. No. 2015-02]
A. Meeting attendance. All members of the Village Board shall attend
all Board meetings, meetings of committees to which members have been
appointed, and special or adjourned meetings when duly notified thereof.
A member who does not appear in answer to his/her name when the roll
is called at any regular meeting or any special or adjourned meeting,
when notified thereof, shall be marked absent. Any member seeking
to be excused from attending any regular or special meeting must notify
the Village President or Village Clerk in advance of such
meeting, explaining the reason for his/her absence, and, upon complying
with this requirement, such members shall be duly excused from attending
said meeting.
[Amended 12-16-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-18]
B. Recognition for debate.
(1) When a member is to speak in debate, or deliver any matter to the
Board, he/she shall respectfully address himself/herself to the presiding
officer and confine his/her remarks to the question under debate and
avoid personalities.
(2) When two or more members address the presiding officer at the same
time, the presiding officer shall name the member who is to speak
first.
C. Voting; roll call vote procedure.
(1) The ayes and nays shall be ordered upon any question at the request
of any member of the Board or the Village Board, and the Village Clerk shall
call the roll starting with the Trustee whose last name appears first
on the list of the Trustees' names alphabetically arranged and, on
the next call of the roll, at the same or any subsequent meeting,
the Clerk shall start with the Trustee whose name appears
next on said alphabetical list, and each subsequent call of roll shall
begin with the name of the Trustee next on said alphabetical list
of Trustees; such order of roll call shall be followed until the list
of Trustees has been completed. Each time the list has been completed,
the Village Clerk shall again start on the top of the list
and proceed on down through the list.
[Amended 12-16-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-18]
(2) The Village President may vote on questions before the Village Board.
A majority vote of all members of the Board in favor of any proposed
ordinance, resolution or appointment shall be necessary for passage
or approval, unless a larger number is required by statute. Except
as otherwise provided, a majority vote of those present shall prevail
in other cases.
(3) A member of the Board may not change his/her vote on any question
after the result has been announced.
D. Motions with preference. During any meeting of the Village Board,
certain motions will have preference. In order of precedence, they
are:
(1) Motion to adjourn. This motion can be made at any time and has first
precedence. This is a nondebatable motion.
(2) Motion to lay on the table. This motion may be made when the subject
matter appropriate for tabling is to be debated or discussed. This
motion is a nondebatable motion.
(3) Motion to call previous question. This motion may be made at any
time after the debate or discussion commences related to an action
item, business item, motion or question that is properly before the
Village Board. This motion is a nondebatable motion. This motion,
if adopted, ends the debate and discussion at the meeting on the action
item, business item, motion or question. The motion, if adopted, brings
the Village Board to a direct vote with the first vote on amendments,
if any, and then to the main action item, business item, motion or
question.
(4) Motion to postpone to a date certain. This motion may be made at
any time after the debate or discussion commences on an action item,
business item, motion or question that is properly before the Village
Board. This motion is debatable. This motion, if adopted, ends the
debate and discussion at the meeting on the action item, business
item, motion or question. This motion must establish a date and time
certain when the debate and discussion before the Village Board will
continue. The date and time established must be on a date and time
for a regularly scheduled or special meeting of the Village Board.
(5) Motion to a committee. This motion may be made at any time after
the debate or discussion commences on an action item, business item,
motion or question that is properly before the Village Board. The
motion is debatable. This motion, if adopted, ends the debate and
discussion at this meeting on the action item, business item, motion
or question. This motion, if adopted, forwards the action item, business
item, motion or question to a committee for further review and discussion.
The committee must be a committee of the Village Board.
(6) Motion to amend or divide the question. This motion may be made at
any time after debate or discussion commences on the action item,
business item, motion or question properly before the Village Board.
The motion is debatable. This motion, if adopted, divides the main
action item, main business item, main motion or main question pursuant
to the method described and adopted in the motion to divide.
(7) Motion to postpone indefinitely. This motion may be made at any time
after debate or discussion commences on the action item, business
item, motion or question properly before the Village Board. This motion
is debatable. This motion, if adopted, ends the debate and discussion
at the meeting on the action item, business item, motion or question.
(8) Motion to introduce a matter related to the action item, business
item, motion or question. This motion may be made at any time after
the debate or discussion commences on the action item, business item,
motion or question properly before the Village Board. This motion
is debatable. This motion, if adopted, expands or adds to the debate
and discussion new items related to the main action item, main business
item, main motion or main question pursuant to the method described
and approved in the motion to introduce a matter related.
E. Public directory votes. No member of the Village Board shall request,
at a meeting of the Village Board, a vote from the general public
unless the proposed vote of the general public is so noted by the
presiding officer of the meeting as strictly an advisory vote to the
Village Board. Any vote taken by the general public at a meeting of
the Village Board shall be considered by the Village Board only as
an advisory vote and shall not be considered as a directory vote.
F. Rules of parliamentary procedure. The rules of parliamentary practice
in Robert's Rules of Order, which is hereby incorporated by reference,
shall govern the proceedings of the Village Board in all cases to
which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with
these rules or with the laws of the State of Wisconsin.
The following procedures shall be followed at public hearings
and may also be followed when citizen input is necessary during regular
items of business before the Village Board:
A. The presiding officer shall generally call on those persons who wish
to speak on the matter, or call initially on those persons who wish
to speak for the proposition. Each person wishing to speak for the
proposition shall give his or her name and address.
B. Each person speaking initially on the matter or specifically on behalf
of the proposition shall be limited in time to three minutes.
C. The presiding officer shall then call on those persons who wish to
oppose the proposition if the presiding officer has first asked for
only those favoring the proposition to speak.
D. Each such person speaking in opposition to the proposition shall
give his or her name and address and shall also be limited to three
minutes.
E. Any person wishing to speak in rebuttal to any statements made may,
with the permission of the presiding officer, do so; provided, however,
that such rebuttal statement shall be limited to two minutes by any
one individual.
F. When the presiding officer in his/her discretion is satisfied that
the proposition has been heard, he/she shall announce the fact that
the hearing is concluded.
When a motion has been decided, it shall be in order for any
member who voted in the majority to move a reconsideration thereof,
at the same or next succeeding meeting, except those which cannot
be reconsidered pursuant to Robert's Rules of Order, and the Village
President shall call for a roll call of the Trustees. If a majority
of the members present shall be in favor of a reconsideration, the
subject shall be before the Board for further action. A Trustee may
not change his/her vote on any question after the result has been
announced. A motion to reconsider being put and lost shall not be
renewed.
Whenever any disturbance or disorderly conduct shall occur in
any of the meetings of the Board, the President may cause the room
to be cleared of all persons causing such disorderly conduct.
The rules of §§
148-18 through
148-21 shall not be rescinded or amended unless the proposed amendment or motion to rescind has laid over from a regular meeting, and then it shall require a vote of 2/3 of all members of the Board.
These rules shall not be suspended except by a two-thirds vote
of all the members of the Board.
[Added 6-15-2020 by Ord. No. 2020-10]
A. Remote electronic or virtual meetings generally. In lieu of meeting in person at the Municipal Building, the Village President or Village Administrator may make any meetings of the Village Board or its committees, including any special meeting under §
148-11, a remote electronic or virtual meeting. A remote electronic or virtual meeting shall be conducted partially or entirely by telephone, electronically, or by other means of two-way communication so as to provide maximum participation by members and the public, in a manner consistent with the provisions of the Wisconsin Open Meetings law. Such meetings may also take place upon a majority vote of the Village Board in advance of the proposed meeting date.
B. Members
attending virtual meetings. All members of the Village Board or committees
shall be provided the capability to hear one another or otherwise
communicate with one another during the conduct of the meeting, and
to hear or read all discussion, comment, and testimony in a manner
designed to provide the greatest amount of openness and participation.
Whenever possible, a two-way video connection should be utilized by
member(s) appearing in this manner.
C. Public
attending virtual meetings. Members of the public shall be able to
hear or read all discussion, testimony and votes, in a manner designed
to provide maximum notice and openness. For meetings or hearings requiring
public commentary or input, a method shall be utilized to assure that
such comment or input shall be received in a timely manner by the
members of the Village Board or committee.
D. Quorum.
Virtual meeting attendance by any or all members of the Village Board
or committees shall be considered the same as physical presence at
the meeting for purposes of counting toward quorum and the ability
to cast a vote at the meeting. All nonunanimous votes shall be recorded
via a roll call during such meetings.
E. Minutes.
The minutes of a meeting conducted by telephone, electronically, or
other means are open to public inspection. Any audio or video recording
of the meeting shall be made available in accordance with Wisconsin
public records law and retained by the custodian of records in accordance
with the Village's records retention schedule.
F. Authorization
to appear virtually. For any meeting not conducted entirely via telephonic
or electronic means as described above, any individual member may
participate remotely where circumstances make in-person attendance
difficult (e.g., travel, sickness, weather conditions, etc.). In such
situations, the reason for remote participation should be stated,
and made part of the minutes, as part of the meeting's call to order.
Any member participating virtually shall notify the Village President
and Village Administrator no later than two hours prior to the meeting.
G. Technical
requirements and malfunctions. Each member is responsible for his
or her connection to the internet and telephone conference call; no
action shall be invalidated on the grounds that the loss of, or poor
quality of, a member's individual connection prevented him or her
from participating in the meeting.
H. Other
boards and commissions. Other boards and commissions performing business
for or on behalf of the Village of East Troy, including citizen commissions,
shall be permitted to conduct meetings in the manner described above.