All agencies, authorities, boards, commissions, committees and
similar decision-making and advisory bodies of the City of Camden
shall immediately establish and adopt rules and procedures as they
deem appropriate for the conduct of their business and, in default
thereof, shall operate pursuant to Robert's Rules of Order to
the extent such Rules are not in conflict with any City ordinance
or law.
[Added 4-9-2013 by Ord. No. MC-4740]
To the extent permissible under applicable law, all agencies,
authorities, boards, commissions, committees, and similar decision-making
and advisory bodies of the City of Camden ("governmental body") are
strongly encouraged to adopt the following rules of decorum to facilitate
the efficient and expeditious completion of their public meetings:
A. Each member of a governmental body 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 governmental
body, nor disturb any member while speaking, or fail to abide by the
orders of the governmental entity or its presiding officer, except
as specifically permitted by the rules of the governmental entity.
B. Any person who shall disturb the peace of the governmental entity,
make impertinent or slanderous remarks or conduct himself in a boisterous
manner while addressing the governmental entity shall be forthwith
barred by the presiding officer from further audience before the governmental
entity, except that if the speaker shall submit to proper order under
these rules, permission for him/her to continue may be granted by
a majority vote of the members of the governmental entity.
C. The governmental entity shall appoint a Sergeant at Arms for governmental
entity meetings. The designated Sergeant at Arms shall carry out all
orders and instructions given by the presiding officer, or any governmental
entity member, for the purpose of maintaining order and decorum of
the meeting.
D. Each speaker will sign and give a brief description of what he/she
will comment upon prior to speaking. Time cannot be shared or allotted
with other speakers. The allotted time of five minutes shall include
and commence from the beginning of the speaker's remarks and
includes any time that passes during questioning or colloquy between
the speaker and the Chair or governmental entity. In the event a person
representing a class or group seeks to speak on behalf of that class,
group or organization, additional time may be granted to that person
by the governmental entity's Chairperson.
E. Governmental entity meetings shall be conducted in a courteous manner.
Citizens and governmental entity members will be allowed to state
their positions in an atmosphere free of slander, threats of violence
or the use of the governmental entity as a forum for politics. Sufficient
warnings may be given by the Chair at any time during the remarks
and, in the event that any individual shall violate the rules of decorum
heretofore set forth, the Chairperson of the governmental entity may
then cut off comment or debate. At the discretion of the Chairperson,
a light, clock or other signals may be used to display the commencement
and end of the time for speaking. The signal and/or Chair shall advise
the speaker there is no longer time.
F. Each member of the governmental entity and every member of the public
shall be required to utilize a silent alert mode on or to mute the
sound emitted from all electronic devices in their possession (including
but not limited to cellular telephones, pagers, radios, personal data
assistants, and hand-held or portable computers), during all governmental
entity proceedings subject to the Open Public Meetings Act, N.J.S.A.
10:4-6 et seq. Law enforcement and emergency services personnel acting
in their official capacity shall be exempt from the provisions described
herein.