Article II Township Council

All meetings of the Council shall be open to the public.

The Township Clerk shall keep a journal of the proceedings of Council and shall record the minutes of every meeting.

An adjourned meeting shall be considered a continuation of the preceding meeting, and the business of Council shall be resumed at the point where it was left at the last adjournment.

(4)

The Mayor may call meetings of the committee of the whole of the Council in advance of any regular or special meeting, to plan the agenda of the meeting and to discuss such other matters as may require consideration by the Council. Meetings of the committee of the whole may be attended only by such persons as the Council may request.

Special meetings.

Special meetings may be called by the Mayor at any time or shall be called by the Mayor upon the written request of a majority of the Councilmen. Such a request shall be in writing and signed by a majority of the members of the Council, specifying the purpose for which such meeting is to be called. No business shall be transacted at any special meeting other than that specified in the request.

Upon receipt of any such request, the Mayor shall promptly direct the Clerk to serve notice in writing of such special meeting upon each member of the Council at least 24 hours prior to the time for which the meeting is called. Upon written waiver of notice executed by all members of the Council, a special meeting may be held without prior notice notwithstanding the above provisions of this section.

Emergency meeting. Should the Mayor determine that a state of emergency exists affecting the health or safety of the people which requires more immediate attention than permitted by a special meeting of the Council, the Mayor shall call an emergency meeting. The call may be filed with the Clerk at any time not less than three hours prior to the time set for the meeting, unless such prior notice be waived as provided under Subsection B(2) above. Whenever an emergency meeting is called, the Clerk shall forthwith serve written notice upon each member of the Council at his place of residence or at his regular place of business by leaving a copy thereof with the Councilman personally or with a responsible adult if such person is present, stating the date and hour of the meeting and the purpose for which the meeting is called. The Police Department shall cooperate fully with the Clerk in serving such notice.

Executive session. Any member of the Council may move for adjournment to executive session, and upon vote of the Council an executive session shall be held from which the general public shall be excluded, which considering nominations of persons made by the Mayor or for the purpose of discussing confidential matters. No ordinance, resolution or motion shall be voted upon in executive session.

Special public hearings.

Any member of the Council may, when he deems it in the public interest, move for the holding of a special public hearing for the purpose set forth in this motion. No ordinance, resolution or motion shall be voted upon at such special hearing, and such special hearings shall not include public hearings on ordinances, which are a part of the order of business of regular meetings.

Should a special public hearing be called, the Clerk shall cause the time, place and purpose of said hearing to be advertised once in the official newspaper of the Township. Such advertisement shall appear at least seven days in advance of the date of the hearing.

The Councilman moving for the holding of a special public hearing shall chair the hearing. Any interested parties may appear to be heard at such hearing for the purpose set forth in the advertisement of the hearing.

§ 4-9 Roll call votes; minutes.

The vote upon every motion, resolution or ordinance shall be taken by roll call. The vote shall be "aye" or "nay" or words to effect of affirmative or negative by each member, and there shall be no further discussion following the commencement of the roll call. The vote of each member shall be entered on the minutes. Any member of the Council may abstain from voting at any time. When the roll is called on any question, the silence of a Councilman present shall constitute an affirmative vote unless he states that he abstains. The question shall be determined by a majority of those members voting unless otherwise provided by law. The minutes of each meeting shall be signed by the officer presiding and by the Township Clerk.

§ 4-10 Ordinances and resolutions.

Each ordinance or resolution shall be introduced in written or typewritten form and shall be read and considered as provided by general law. The vote upon every motion, resolution or ordinance shall be taken by roll call and the "ayes" and "nays" shall be entered into the minutes.

No ordinance shall be placed on the agenda for first reading unless a copy of the proposed ordinance is circulated to the Mayor and Council at least two business days prior to the regular meeting at which it will be introduced. The Mayor or any Councilmember shall have the authority to request that the Township Attorney draft a proposed ordinance for consideration. The circulation requirements of this subsection can be waived and the Council can consider an ordinance, including an ordinance introduced by title only, provided that the motion to introduce the ordinance is supported by at least four affirmative votes.

[Amended 11-20-2012 by Ord. No. 12-10]

Unless otherwise provided by law, ordinances shall take effect not less than 20 days after final passage by Council. All ordinances and resolutions shall require an affirmative vote from a majority of the Council for adoption unless specified otherwise.

The Township Clerk shall record all ordinances and resolutions adopted by the Council and, at the close of each year, with the advice and assistance of the Township Attorney, shall bind, compile or codify all the ordinances and resolutions, or true copies thereof, of the municipality which then remain in effect. The Township Clerk shall also properly index the record books, compilations or codification of ordinances and resolutions.

Prior to introduction, any proposed ordinance permitting or requiring administrative action shall be submitted to the Mayor and to the department head concerned.

An ordinance or resolution may be introduced by any member of the Council. The Clerk shall forthwith provide each member of the Council with a copy thereof and shall provide the Municipal Attorney with a copy. Each ordinance and resolution shall be limited to a single subject (object), which shall be clearly expressed in its title.

Except as may otherwise be provided by the Charter, all ordinances shall be adopted and published in the manner required by general law.

The ordinance providing compensation for the Mayor, Councilmen and department heads shall be adopted by the Council immediately after its organization and shall take effect immediately as provided by law.

§ 4-11 Rules and procedure.

Order of business. Promptly at the hour designated, all regular and special meetings of the Council shall commence. Unless otherwise authorized by resolution of Council, all business coming before the Council shall be heard and voted on in the following order.

Roll call.

Approval or correction of minutes.

Payment of bills.

(4)

Petitions of citizens.

(5)

Consent Agenda. The "Consent Agenda" defined as those items of Council which are considered routine by the Township Council and the Township Clerk unless the Mayor or Council specifically requests that an item on the Consent Agenda to be considered under the "general order of business" be removed therefrom and Council action taken separately on said items in the order appearing on the agenda; these items shall be approved, adopted, accepted etc., by one motion of Council and roll call vote. Those items so approved under the heading "Consent Agenda" will appear in the Council minutes in their proper form. The following statement shall be made to the public as such:

"All matters listed under Item 5, Consent Agenda, are considered to be routine by the Township Council and will be enacted by one motion in the form listed below. There will be no separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired, that item will be removed from the Consent Agenda and will be considered separately."

(6)

Reports.

(7)

Resolutions.

(8)

Ordinances - first reading.

(9)

Ordinances - final reading.

(10)

Written communications.

(11)

Old business.

(12)

New business.

(13)

Adjournment.

Call to order. The Mayor shall call each meeting to order. In his absence, the President of the Council shall call the meeting to order and shall preside during the absence of the Mayor. The Mayor shall assume the chair as soon as he is in attendance at any meeting which may have been called to order in his absence and the President of the Council shall thereupon relinquish the chair.

Presiding officer. The presiding officer shall:

State the question and announce the result on all matters upon which Council may vote.

Rule on all questions of order, subject to appeal to Council.

Sign the minutes of all meetings of the Council.

Quorum call. At the opening of each meeting of the Council, the Clerk shall call the roll and the names of those present shall be recorded in the minutes. Three members of the Council shall constitute a quorum for the conduct of business, but no ordinance shall be adopted except by affirmative vote of three members of the Council. If a quorum is not present 1/2 hour after the appointed time for any meeting, the meeting shall be deemed adjourned.

Distribution and reading of minutes. The Clerk shall, insofar as is practicable, prepare and distribute to the Council the minutes of each meeting within 14 days of the meeting. The minutes of any meeting may be approved without reading whenever they have been distributed at least 24 hours prior to the time of approval. The Clerk shall promptly post a copy of the approved minutes in a public place in the Municipal Building and leave such copy posted for 30 days.

Committees. The rules of the Council shall, insofar as applicable, govern meetings of the committee of the whole and other committees of Council which may be appointed from time to time. Special committees of Council for legislative purposes may be appointed by the Mayor pursuant to resolution. No special committee shall proceed to the consideration of any matter referred to it unless a majority of the members of that committee shall be present. No special committee shall report on a matter referred to it at the same meeting at which reference is made, except by unanimous consent of the members of that committee.

Nominations and appointments. Nominations submitted by the Mayor will be considered in committee of the whole and may be confirmed at the regular meeting at which they are submitted or may be acted upon at the next regular meeting. Any member of the Council may move a nomination. With respect to appointments to be made by the Council, any member of the Council may nominate as many candidates as there are offices to be filled. The Council will consider such nominations in committee of the whole, which will report to a regular meeting of Council. Where there is a single office to be filled, the sense of the Council on the appointment shall be taken as to each nominee in alphabetical order, and the first nominee to receive a majority shall be deemed appointed. Where there is more than one office to be filled, such as a board, commission or authority, the same procedure shall be followed with respect to each office separately until the total number of appointments to be made has been completed. In the discretion of the chair, a group of nominations may be considered at once where there is no apparent division in the Council as to the nominees included in the group.

Rules of debate.

Except as otherwise specifically provided in these rules, the proceedings of Council shall be governed by Robert's Rules of Order.

The presiding officer shall have all of the rights, powers and duties of a Councilman, as elsewhere provided within this chapter.

A member of the Council shall be entitled to the floor only upon recognition by the chair. Once a member has been recognized and has taken the floor, he shall not be interrupted for any reason other than a call to order, and in such case the chair shall promptly rule on the point of order and the speaker shall be allowed to continue if he is in order.

(4)

A motion to reconsider may be made by a Councilman on the prevailing side. Such motion may be made only at the same meeting or at an adjournment thereof at which the action was taken.

(5)

A Councilman shall be entitled to have remarks included in the minutes, with the consent of Council.

(6)

The Mayor, with the consent of Council, may direct a synopsis of the debate on any question to be included in the minutes.

Addressing the Council.

Persons other than Councilmen may be permitted to address the Council in the proper order of business. A person present may, upon recognition by the chair, be heard in the order of petitions of citizenry and public discussion. A person present may, upon recognition by the chair and with the consent of a majority of the Councilmen present, be heard at any other time. No person shall address any remark or question to any specific Councilman nor to any other person present except by permission of the majority of the Council. A Councilman may, through the chair, respond to any communication or address received pursuant to this section.

Except upon consent of the Council, each person addressing the Council pursuant to this section shall be required to limit his remarks to five minutes and shall at no time engage in any personally offensive or abusive remarks. The chair shall call any speaker to order who violates any provisions of this rule.

Decorum.

Each member of the Council 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 Council nor disturb any member while speaking or fail to abide by the orders of the Council or its presiding officer, except as specifically permitted by these rules.

Any person who shall disturb the peace of the Council, make impertinent or slanderous remarks or conduct himself in a boisterous manner while addressing the Council shall be forthwith barred by the presiding officer from further audience before the Council, except that if the speaker shall submit to proper order under these rules, permission for him to continue may be granted by a majority vote of Council.