Village of Johnson Creek, WI Chapter 8 Board, Village

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Village Board of the Village of Johnson Creek 8-27-2012 by Ord. No. 05-12.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]

GENERAL REFERENCES

Emergency management— See Ch. 28.

Open Meeting Law guide — See Ch. A255.

[1] Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed former Ch. 8, Village Board, adopted 12-1-1994 by Ord. No. 12-94 as Ch. 2 and § 3.01 of the 1994 Code, as amended.

§ 8-1 Election of Trustees and President.

A. Trustees. There shall be six Trustees of the Village. Three Trustees shall be elected at each annual spring election for a term of two years, commencing on the third Tuesday of April in the year of their election.

B. President. The Village President shall be chosen at the regular spring election in odd-numbered years for a term of two years, commencing on the third Tuesday of April in the year of election. The President shall be by virtue of the office a Trustee and preside at all meetings of the Board and have a vote as a Trustee.

C. Nomination. Candidates for elective Village offices shall be nominated by a nonpartisan primary conducted according to Ch. 8, Wis. Stats. Nomination papers shall be signed by not fewer than 20 nor more than 100 electors of the Village. The papers shall be circulated not sooner than the first day of December preceding the election and shall be filed with the Village Clerk-Treasurer not later than 5:00 p.m. the first Tuesday in January, or the next day if Tuesday is a holiday.

§ 8-2 Meetings; quorum.

A. Regular meetings of the Village Board shall be held on the fourth Monday of each month beginning at 5:30 p.m., or as otherwise noticed by the Village Clerk-Treasurer in any meeting notice posted or published in accordance with the Open Meeting Statutes of the State of Wisconsin.[1]

[1] Editor's Note: See § 19.81, Wis. Stats. et seq.

B. Special meetings. Special meetings of the Board may be called by the Village Board, the Village President, or by written request signed by two Trustees and filed with the Clerk-Treasurer at least 24 hours prior to the time specified for such meeting. The Clerk-Treasurer shall notify each Trustee of the time and purpose of such meeting. The notice shall be delivered to each Trustee by phone, U.S. mail, e-mail, or in person. The Clerk-Treasurer shall cause an affidavit of service of such notice to be filed in his or her office prior to the time fixed for such special meeting.

C. Place of meetings. All meetings of the Board, including special and adjourned meetings, shall be held in the Village Hall unless noticed otherwise.

D. Quorum. Any majority, four members, of the Board shall constitute a quorum. A call of the house may be ordered by majority vote if three Trustees are present.

E. Organizational meeting. In addition to other regular and special meetings, an organizational meeting shall be held annually on the third Tuesday of April. The purpose of this meeting shall be limited to the organization of the Village Board, the confirmation of appointment of Village officers, the confirmation of appointment of Trustees and citizens to Village committees and the appointment of standing committees of the Village Board.

§ 8-3 Order of business.

The business of the Village Board shall be conducted pursuant to an agenda as approved by the Village Board.

§ 8-4 Presiding officer.

A. Control of meeting. The Village President shall preserve order and conduct the proceedings of the meeting. A member may appeal from the decision of the presiding officer. Such appeal is not debatable and must be sustained by a majority of the members present, exclusive of the presiding officer.

B. Absence of the President. If the President is absent at any meeting, the Chairperson of the Personnel and Finance Committee shall preside for that meeting. If the Chairperson of the Personnel and Finance Committee is absent, the Chairperson of Improvement and Services shall preside for that meeting. If the Chairperson of the Improvement and Services Committee is absent, the Chairperson of the Protection and Welfare Committee shall preside for that meeting.

§ 8-5 Voting procedure.

A. Mode of voting. A roll call vote is not required as to any action taken by the Village Board, except as required by Wisconsin Statutes or except when requested by any Board member entitled to vote on any motion or question presented to the Board for deliberation or decision.

B. Abstentions:

(1) A Board member shall not vote on any proposed ordinance, order, resolution or proposition in which he or she has a direct pecuniary or personal interest not common to other members of the Board.

(2) A Board member who is required by law to abstain from voting on any particular matter shall not be counted for determining:

(a) The number of members present, if passage of that measure requires a favorable vote by a majority or other fractional vote (i.e., 2/3 or 3/4) of the members present; or

(b) The presence of a quorum for purposes of that particular vote.

§ 8-6 Standing rules.

In the absence of a standing rule, the deliberations of the Village Board shall be conducted in accordance with the parliamentary rules as contained in Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised 10th Edition (2000), unless contrary to state law. Included in these standing rules, but not limited to this itemization, are the following rules:

A. No person other than a member shall address the Board, except by majority vote of the members present.[1]

[1] Editor's Note: See § 19.81, Wis. Stats. et seq.

B. No ordinance, resolution or other motion shall be discussed or acted upon unless it has been seconded.

C. No motion shall be withdrawn without the consent of the person making the same and the person seconding it.

D. No Trustee shall address the Board until he has been recognized by the presiding officer. The Trustee shall confine his or her remarks to the question under discussion and avoid all personal remarks.

E. When two or more members simultaneously seek recognition, the presiding officer shall name the member who is to speak first.

F. When a question is under discussion, no action shall be in order except to adjourn, to lay on the table, to move the previous question, to postpone to a certain day, to refer to a committee, to amend, and to postpone indefinitely. These motions shall have precedence in the order listed.

G. Any member desiring to terminate the debate may move the previous question, or call the question, in which event the President shall announce the question as, "Shall the main question now be put?" If a majority of the members present vote in the affirmative, the main question shall be taken without further debate, its effect being to put an end to all debate and bring the Board to a direct vote, first upon any pending amendments and then upon the main question.

H. A motion to adjourn shall always be in order, and a motion to adjourn or to lay on the table and a call for the previous question shall be decided without debate.

I. No member of the Board, whether he is a Trustee or the President, shall vote on any question involving his own character or conduct, the right as a member, or his pecuniary interest.

J. Any member voting in the majority may move for a reconsideration of the vote of any question at that meeting or at a succeeding regular meeting. A motion to reconsider being put and lost shall not be renewed.

K. A Board member may change his or her vote on a matter up to the time the result of the vote is announced.

§ 8-7 Motions, resolutions and ordinances.

A. The Board may act by motion recorded in the official minutes of the Board meeting, by adoption of a resolution, or by adoption of an ordinance in accordance with the Open Meeting Statutes of the State of Wisconsin.[1]

[1] Editor's Note: See § 19.81, Wis. Stats. et seq.

B. Ordinance procedure. Every ordinance shall receive two separate readings before its passage by the Board. No vote to approve or deny the ordinance shall be taken by the Board following the first reading. No such ordinance shall have the second reading on the same day that it is first read, unless by suspension of the rules as hereinafter provided. Such second reading may, however, be by title only.

C. Enactment and publication. The presiding officer and Village Clerk-Treasurer shall ensure that all ordinances are properly enacted, published or posted, as the case may be, and filed in this Code.

§ 8-8 Committees.

A. Standing committees. There shall be three standing committees as follows:

(1) Personnel and Finance.

(2) Improvement and Services.

(3) Protection and Welfare.

B. Appointments.

(1) At the annual organizational meeting, the Village President shall appoint the following number of Village Trustees to each standing committee:

(a) The Personnel and Finance Committee shall consist of three members.

(b) The Improvement and Services Committee shall consist of three members.

(c) The Protection and Welfare Committee shall consist of three members.

(2) The Village President shall serve on one standing committee as one of the three members. The Village President shall act as an alternate member to any standing committee meeting where a quorum is not present. The Village President shall act as the ex officio chairperson of the three standing committees until the three standing committees meet to elect a committee chairperson. Those members of the Board not elected to serve as chairperson may be assigned to other special committees, tasks, or boards, which shall be designated by the Village President. All committee, special committee, task and board appointments, except the designation of chairperson, shall be subject to confirmation by a majority vote of the entire Village Board.

C. Duties. Each of the standing committees shall have such powers, duties and objectives to provide recommendations to the Village Board as provided below:

(1) Personnel and Finance Committee. The Personnel and Finance Committee shall be responsible for all recommendation of policy which affect:

(a) Personnel, including the review of the personnel policy manual, the internal control policy, the table of organization of departments, including the review of job descriptions, and any other policy or action affecting personnel; and

(b) Finance, including the review of the annual budget, the capital budget and any amendments thereof, the purchase, sale, or disposal of property, the negotiation and/or settlement of any litigation, any contractual obligations, claims, publications, license, any bonding, including issuance or repayment of bonds, and any other policy or action affecting finance.

(2) Improvement and Services Committee. The Improvement and Services Committee shall be responsible for all recommendation of policy which affects the Sewer and Water Utility, or any other utility, the construction, repair and maintenance of infrastructure, including streets, curbs and gutters, sidewalks, lighting, all paved and unpaved roads, paths and walkways, any land use policy excepting the authority provided by the Plan Commission, any authorized use of parks or park facilities, all sanitation, including waste collection, recycling and composting, and any other policy or action affecting improvements and infrastructure.

(3) Protection and Welfare Committee. The Protection and Welfare Committee shall be responsible for all recommendations of policy which affect public safety, including police and fire, excepting the authority provided to the Police and Fire Commission, enforcement of the Uniform Traffic Code and authorization of public parking, compliance of emergency management and disaster recovery, and any other policy or other action affecting the public safety and/or general welfare of the public.

D. Committee of the Whole. The Village Board shall meet as a Committee of the Whole on the second Monday of each month beginning at 5:30 p.m., or as otherwise noticed by the Village Clerk-Treasurer in any meeting notice posted or published in accordance with the Open Meeting Statutes of the State of Wisconsin.[1] Special meetings of the committee may be called by the Village Board or Village President. Any Village Board member may participate by telephone in any meeting of the Committee of the Whole in accordance with the procedure established by § 8-12 of the Municipal Code.

[Amended 4-18-2017 by Ord. No. 5-17]

[1] Editor's Note: See § 19.81, Wis. Stats., et seq.

E. Committee authority. No official action shall be taken at any committee meeting, but the committee may, by motion adopted by a majority of the committee members in attendance, make recommendations to the Village Board on any matter which is brought before the committee. The committee may also provide directions and request action to be undertaken by Village officials and employees.

§ 8-9 Duties of Clerk-Treasurer.

In addition to other duties, the Clerk-Treasurer shall record the minutes of the Board meetings. In the absence of the Clerk-Treasurer, the President shall appoint a Clerk-Treasurer pro tem.

§ 8-10 Suspension of rules.

The rules contained in either § 8-7, Motions, resolutions and ordinances, or § 8-6, Standing rules, or any part thereof, may be temporarily suspended in connection with any matter under consideration by a recorded vote of 2/3 of the members present.

§ 8-11 Vacancies.

A. Whenever a vacancy exists as a result of the death or resignation of any Board member or for any reason provided by law, such vacancy shall be filled by appointment made by the Village Board.

B. At the next regularly scheduled Board meeting or any other special Board meeting called for the purposes noted herein, the Board shall establish a date by which any eligible elector may submit his or her written application to fill the vacancy. The date by which such written applications must be submitted to the Board shall rest on the discretion of the Board, but in all events such written applications shall be submitted to the Board within 30 days after the Board meeting. The Board shall also, at the meeting held for the purpose of establishing the date for submission of written applications to fill the vacancy, establish a date at which the appointment to fill vacancy shall be made. At the meeting called for the purpose of filling the vacancy, any Board member may nominate an applicant to fill the vacancy from those applicants having submitted written applications. In the event only one written application is submitted to the Board and in the further event that the applicant fails to receive a majority vote of the Board members attending the meeting, then in that event Board members may nominate candidates even though such candidates have not submitted written applications to the Board within the time established by the Board.

C. In all events, the vacancy shall be filled by the candidate obtaining a majority vote as to those Board members in attendance at the meeting called for that purpose.

§ 8-12 Village Board member absence: participation by phone.

[Added 2-27-2017 by Ord. No. 1-17]

Any Village Board member who, for good cause, is unable to attend a regular or special Village Board meeting in person may request in writing, by fax or by e-mail, at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting, the permission of the Village Board Chair to participate in the Village Board meeting by speaker phone. Upon a showing of good cause, as determined by the Village Board Chair in his or her sole discretion, such a request may be granted. In the event attendance at the meeting by phone is approved by the Village Board Chair, then the following rules shall govern the absent Village Board member's participation in the Village Board meeting:

A. At the beginning of the meeting, the Village Board Chair shall announce the name of the Village Board member who is absent but will be participating in the Village Board meeting by speaker phone. The Village Board member whose attendance and participation in the Village Board meeting is by speaker phone shall not be counted as being a Village Board member in attendance for the purpose of determining whether a quorum of the Village Board is present.

B. A speaker phone shall be placed in the Village Board meeting room so that all in attendance at the Village Board meeting can hear and be heard.

C. The Village Board member participating by phone shall be entitled to participate in all discussions undertaken by the Village Board and to vote on all matters upon which the Village Board acts at the Village Board meeting; provided, however, that the Board member participating by phone shall not be entitled to participate or vote:

(1) On any matter that requires the visual assessment of a witness's demeanor; or

(2) On any matter that requires a visual assessment of physical evidence or exhibits that had not been previously reviewed by the Village Board member participating by telephone.