The Mayor and Council shall meet and organize annually at a
meeting held within the first seven days of the year in accordance
with N.J.S.A. 40A:60-3.
A. The Council shall fix the time and place for regular meetings of
the Council during the ensuing year by resolution at the annual reorganization
meeting. Regular meetings shall be the second and fourth Monday of
each month at 7:30 p.m., unless otherwise specified. Whenever the
day fixed for any regular meeting falls upon a legal or national holiday,
the meeting shall be held at the same hour on the next succeeding
day which is not a legal or national holiday, unless otherwise specified.
B. All meetings shall conclude no later than 11:00 p.m. except that
the Mayor may extend the meeting for the purpose of conducting official
business. No new business shall be started after 10:30 p.m.
The Mayor shall, when necessary, call special meetings of the
Council, and in case of his/her neglect or refusal, any four Council
members may call a special meeting. In all cases of special meetings,
the Borough Clerk shall provide reasonable advance notice, considered
to be 48 hours except in case of emergency, and shall be given in
writing to all Council members or left at their main place of residence.
Notice of any special meeting shall state the time and place of such
meeting and the purpose thereof. The request for a special meeting
shall specify the purpose of the meeting and no business shall be
transacted at any special meeting other than that specified in accordance
with the New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act, P.L. 1975, Chapter 231
(N.J.S.A. 10:4-6 et seq.), and any amendments thereto (the Open Public
Meetings Act).
The Mayor may call an emergency meeting by use of any available
means of communication, in accordance with the Open Public Meetings
Act.
Meetings shall be held at the Council Chambers at Borough Hall,
54 Fairmount Avenue, Chatham, New Jersey, except that the Mayor or
Council President may, in writing, call a meeting to be held in any
other suitable public place.
Adequate notice of all meetings shall be given in accordance
with the Open Public Meetings Act.
At the opening of each meeting, the Borough Clerk shall call
the roll and the names of those present shall be recorded in the minutes.
Three Council members and the Mayor, and in the absence of the Mayor,
four Council members shall constitute a quorum for transacting business.
Except as otherwise provided herein or otherwise required by
law, the Council, as well as all Borough boards, committees, and commissions,
may be guided by the most current edition of Robert's Rules of
Order in questions of order, organization and conduct of business.
A. The Borough Clerk shall prepare an agenda for all meetings under
the supervision of the Mayor and the Borough Administrator.
B. All reports, communications, resolutions, contract documents, or
other matters to be submitted to the Mayor and Council shall, to the
extent possible, be delivered to the Borough Clerk by 12:00 noon on
the Friday preceding each meeting. The Borough Clerk shall furnish
each member of the Council with a copy of the agenda prior to the
meeting as far in advance of the meeting as time for preparation will
permit.
A. All public meetings shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions
of the Open Public Meetings Act.
B. In order to provide the public with an opportunity to address the
Council, and in compliance with state law, a public comment period
will be included during all meetings. Unless the Mayor directs otherwise,
the public comment period shall be held near the beginning of the
meeting, and shall not exceed 30 minutes in duration. Individuals
must give their name, address, and the subject on which they intend
to speak. Individuals representing an organization must identify that
organization. Speakers during public comment period shall be subject
to reasonable time limits.
C. Any person may address the Mayor and Council on ordinances at the
public hearing on the ordinance.
D. Individuals will be ruled out of order if they attempt to make any
remarks of a personal nature regarding any other individual, whether
or not that person is present. Individuals will also be ruled out
of order and asked to leave the meeting if they use any vulgar or
profane language, shout or become intimidating or physically disruptive.
No remarks may be addressed directly to any Council member or the
Mayor.
E. Closed session shall be held only under circumstances and conditions
specified in the Open Public Meetings Act. Prior to going into executive session, the Council shall
adopt a resolution stating the general nature of the subject(s) to
be discussed and, if executive session occurs at the end of the meeting,
whether or not the Council will reconvene in public session following
executive session. The public will be informed that any action taken
will be done in public session immediately following the executive
session.
Except as otherwise prohibited by law, members of the Mayor
and Council who are unavailable to be physically present at any meeting
may attend and participate in such meeting by means of telephone or
other communication equipment, to the same extent as if said member
were physically present at such meeting, provided the member who is
not physically present is on a speakerphone or similar device so that
the absent member may participate fully and can hear everything said
in the meeting room and everyone in the room, including the public,
can hear everything the absent member says. Provided this criteria
is satisfied, the absent member shall be deemed present at the meeting,
such presence counting for purposes of establishing quorum.
Upon the demand of one member of Council, or when ordered by
the Mayor, or when required by law, a vote on any item pending before
the Council shall be taken by roll call and the yays and nays shall
be entered upon the meeting minutes which shall be signed by the Mayor
at such meeting and by the Borough Clerk. The roll call shall be taken
in order of seniority of the Council members with the Mayor voting
last and only in case of a tie.
Except as otherwise required by law or Borough ordinance, all
actions of the Council shall be by a majority vote of those present
and eligible to vote, provided that a quorum of the Mayor and Council
has been established.
The Council may, by resolution, adopt and amend from time to
time a standard order of business for all public meetings.
To improve meeting efficiency, those items listed on the agenda
which are considered routine shall be listed under the consent agenda.
There may be more than one consent agenda per meeting. Prior to voting
upon the consent agenda, the Mayor shall entertain requests from the
Council for removal of an item from the consent agenda. All resolutions
listed on the consent agenda shall be adopted by a single vote. There
shall be no separate discussion of items on the consent agenda unless
a Council member so requests, in which event the item shall be removed
from the consent agenda and considered in its normal sequence on the
agenda. Any Council member, for any reason whatsoever, may remove
any items listed for consent at any time prior to the adoption of
the consent agenda.