[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village/Town
of Mount Kisco as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
[Adopted 6-6-2022 by L.L. No. 1-2022]
This article is adopted pursuant to the authority conferred
by Public Officers Law § 103-a, which expressly authorizes
local governments to permit by local law the use of videoconferencing
by public bodies.
A.
All public bodies of the Village/Town of Mount Kisco are authorized
to use videoconferencing technology to conduct their meetings in accordance
with the provisions of § 103-a of the Public Officers Law,
subject to the following conditions:
(1)
A minimum number of members of the public body sufficient to fulfill
the public body's quorum requirement must be present in the same
physical location where the public can attend.
(2)
All members of the public body shall be physically present at any
meeting of the public body unless a member is unable to be physically
present due to extraordinary circumstances, including, but not limited
to: disability; illness; quarantine order; the death of an immediate
family member where such term is defined to include a spouse, parent,
sibling, child, domestic partner, or individual for whom the member
is the designated guardian; caregiving responsibilities for an immediate
family member, or any other significant or unexpected factor that
may preclude physical attendance.
(3)
A member who wishes to participate in a meeting by videoconference
must provide advance notice and justification for their absence, to
the extent possible, to the appointed leadership of the public body.
For purposes of the Board of Trustees, such notice shall be provided
to the Mayor, or, in the Mayor's absence, to the Deputy Mayor.
(4)
The leadership of a public body may require any member requesting
to participate in a meeting by teleconference to provide documentation,
to the extent possible, supporting such request and may publicly confirm
that such documentation was received without publicly stating the
contents of such documentation.
(5)
Except in the case of executive sessions, the public body shall ensure
that members who are participating remotely can be heard, seen, and
identified at all times when the meeting is being conducted, including,
but not limited to, any motions, proposals, resolutions, and any other
matter formally discussed or voted upon.
(6)
The minutes of meetings involving videoconferencing shall state which
members, if any, participated by videoconference and shall be available
to the public.
(7)
If videoconferencing is being used to conduct a meeting, the public
notice for the meeting shall inform the public that videoconferencing
will be used, where the public can view and/or participate in such
meeting, where required documents and records will be posted or available,
and identify the physical location for the meeting where the public
can attend.
(8)
If videoconferencing is used to conduct a meeting, the public body
shall provide the opportunity for members of the public to view such
meeting via video and to participate in proceedings via videoconference
in real time where public comment or participation is authorized and
shall ensure that videoconferencing authorizes the same public participation
as in-person participation.
(9)
The public body shall provide that each meeting conducted using videoconferencing
shall be recorded and such recordings posted or linked on the public
website of the Village within five business days following the meeting
and shall remain so available for a minimum of five years thereafter.
(11)
Nothing herein shall prohibit a Village/Town of Mount Kisco
public body from holding meetings entirely by videoconference, with
no in-person requirement, during a state of emergency declared by
the Governor of New York pursuant to Executive Law § 28
or by the Westchester County Executive or the Chief Executive Officer
of Mount Kisco pursuant to Executive Law § 24 if such public
body determines that the circumstances necessitating the emergency
declaration would affect or impair the ability of the public body
to hold an in-person meeting.
(12)
The requirements herein shall be in addition to and not substitution
of all other applicable laws, rules of procedure and other governing
directives applicable to such public bodies of the Village.
B.
These written procedures governing member attendance by videoconference
at meetings of public bodies, together with any supplemental, but
not contrary, written procedures that public bodies may adopt on the
subject of videoconferencing, shall be conspicuously posted on the
Village of Mount Kisco's website.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section, or part of this
article shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to
be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the
remainder thereof but shall be confined in its operation to the clause,
sentence, paragraph, section, or part thereof involved in the controversy
in which such judgment shall have been rendered.
