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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEditing Draft - Rules of ProcedureTOWN BOARD OF THE TOWN OF DANBY RULES OF PROCEDURE (DRAFT) SECTION 1 - DEFINITIONS. A. “Regular Meeting or Special Meeting” A gathering of a quorum of the Danby Town Board at which time motions, proposals, resolutions, and any other matter may be formally voted upon. B. “Work Session” A gathering of a quorum of the Danby Town Board during which matters will be discussed but no vote taken § 2 - WORK SESSIONS. Work sessions shall be informal and open to the public. There shall be a written agenda for each work session, and minutes of meeting shall be kept. § 3 - REGULAR MEETINGS. A.Regular Meetings of the Town Board shall be held at least once a month.Any item not previously listed and/or identified on the agenda for that evening’s discussion,shall not be allowed to be brought forward for discussion,without a motion to waive the rules. Once the motion is made to accept the additional item(s),it has to be seconded and can only be accepted for discussion by a unanimous vote of the members present.If not,the motion fails and the item(s) cannot be brought forward for discussion. B.The Danby Town Board shall conduct its Regular monthly meetings at 7:00 PM and the Board shall consider any and all scheduled items on its agenda,unless a majority of the Board votes otherwise.Any unfinished items shall be carried over to the next meeting. § 4 - SPECIAL MEETINGS. Special Meetings shall only be held at the call of the Town Clerk upon the direction of the Supervisor or upon filing with the Town Clerk a written request by any two members of the Town Board.Notice of such Special Meeting shall be given as soon as practicable after such meeting is scheduled but in no event less than 48 hours prior to the commencement thereof.However,if the matter is of an urgent nature and has to be conducted prior to the 48 hour notice,all members of the Board shall sign off by phone,in writing,or by electronic transmission (fax or email), that the meeting can take place on less than 48 hours notice. § 5 - CONDUCT OF MEETINGS. A.All regular and special meetings and all work sessions of the Town Board shall be held in Danby Town Hall,1830 Danby Road,Ithaca,NY,or at such other place within the Town as may be specified in the notice thereof.All meetings shall be conducted in accordance with the New York State Open Meetings Law. B. The Order of Business of each Regular meeting shall be: 1. Call to Order 2. Privilege of the Floor 3. Discussion / Approval of Minutes 4. Reports and Communications a. Town Judges Report b. Town Planner's Report c. Code Officer's Report d. County Legislator's Report e. Town Clerk's Report f. Other Reports and Communications 5. Warrants 6. Budget Transfers 7. Old Business 8. New Business a. Recognition of Town Board Members – Town Board Members Comment Period 10. Preliminary agenda for the next meeting 11. Adjournment C. The Town Board, in its discretion, may change the Order of Business at any meeting by a vote of the majority present. § 6 - AGENDA PROCEDURES. A. PUBLIC HEARINGS. Public Hearings will be scheduled on the agenda and noticed by the Town Board at a preceding Regular Meeting or Special Meeting called for the purpose of setting such public hearing. B. AGENDA. 1.The Supervisor’s Office shall by no later than 4:30 PM,the Tuesday before all Meetings,either in writing or by email to the address designated by the Town Clerk for such purpose,send a copy of every item to be considered at the next meeting to all Town Board Members and the Town Clerk. On or before 9:00 AM the Thursday before the Meeting, The Supervisor, Town Board Members, and Town Clerk then shall request either in writing or by email, additional items that they would like to be placed on the Meeting Agenda. 2. The Supervisor’s Office shall by no later than 12:00 Noon the Friday before the meeting, send either in writing or by email a copy of the revised and final meeting Agenda to the Town Board Members, Town Clerk and post it on the Town’s Website by the end of the work day on that same Friday. Once an Agenda has been posted, the only way to add an additional item to the Agenda is by motion to waive the Rules as described in Section 3A. 3. If the Supervisor’s Office fails to add an additional item(s) to the agenda requested by a Town Board Member or Town Clerk, those item(s) shall be automatically added to the Agenda without the requirement of waiving the rules. D. POSTING AGENDA. The Supervisor’s Office shall prepare and use best efforts to post the agenda no later than the end of day on the Friday prior to the scheduled Work Session and/or Regular Meeting. Posting shall be deemed sufficient if placed on the Official Sign Board outside the Town Clerk’s office and on the website for the Town of Danby which posting on the website shall include all back-up material, including but not limited to local laws, ordinances, resolutions, etc. E. YEAR END REMOVAL OF PENDING ITEMS. Any proposed local law, resolution or other item other than land use applications still pending on the agenda of the Town Board that was first introduced, submitted or filed in any calendar year is automatically removed there from as of and effective December 31 of that same calendar year. F. WAIVING THE RULES. No local law, ordinance, petition, resolution, communication or item can be discussed and/or acted upon unless it physically appears on the agenda, and this includes committee reports, unless there is unanimous consent of the Town Board members. However, nothing in this rule will prevent a member of the Town Board from making announcements or reports during Recognition of Town Board Members – Town Board Members Comment Period. G. PREPARATION OF MEETING MATERIALS. The Supervisor’s shall prepare meeting materials for each Meeting which shall contain copies of all available documentation, draft resolutions, communications or other materials in the Supervisor’s possession associated with particular agenda items and present them to Board members by the end of day the Friday prior to the meeting in writing or by email. If such materials are not presented, the items to which they pertain may be postponed by any singular Board member due to a lack of sufficient notice time. Does not require a second or a vote. § 7 - MEETING PROCEDURES. A. QUORUM; RECORDING OF ATTENDANCE. The majority of the duly constituted membership of the Town Board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but a lesser number may adjourn. The roll of members shall be called by the Town Clerk, and the names of those absent shall be inserted in the Minutes of the meeting. B. MINUTES. 1. Minutes of all Meetings of the Town Board shall be taken by the Town Clerk in accordance with New York State Town Law and the New York State Public Officers Law. Minutes shall consist of a transactional record of the discussions held in the Meetings. They shall consist of a record or summary of all motions, proposals, resolutions, and any other matters formally voted upon and shall include the vote thereon. 2. Content. Minutes shall include the following: a. Name of the Board b. Date, place, and time of the meeting c. Notation of presence or absence of Board members and time of arrival or departure if different from the time of call to order and adjournment d. Name and title of other Town officials and employees present and approximate number of attendees (use a sign-in sheet as necessary) e. Record of communications presented to the Board f. Record of reports made by Board members, other Boards, Departments or Committees g. Name of persons who commented during public comment period if provided h. Time of adjournment i. Signature of Town Clerk or person designated by Town Clerk to keep minutes if not the Town Clerk 3. Minutes may contain a summary of discussions and/or comments as determined appropriate by the Town Clerk or her representative but need not contain verbatim comments. 4. Minutes shall be made available to the public not more than two (2) weeks from the date of the meeting. Such minutes shall be marked “DRAFT” until such time as they are subsequently approved by a majority vote of the Town Board. 5. The Town Clerk shall submit the draft minutes of a Meeting at which minutes were taken to members of the Town Board no less than one week prior to the Regular Meeting at which they are to be discussed and/or approved. Delivery shall be sufficient if the Town Clerk provides the minutes in writing or by email to the Board member at the email address designated by each for such purpose. 6. Minutes shall be approved at the next regular meeting of the Board. Any amendments shall require approval of a majority of the Board. 7. The Town Clerk can post minutes on the Town Web Site prior to approval providing they are identified as “DRAFT”. C. DECORUM. 1. The Supervisor or other presiding officer shall convene the Town Board promptly at the hour specified for the convening of the Town Board, and shall preserve order and decorum. The Supervisor shall recognize council members for the purpose of debate on any question under consideration, in the order in which the members have requested recognition. 2. Speakers from the audience shall address the Town Board as a whole, in an orderly manner. All speakers, including the Supervisor and members of the Town Board shall refrain from partisan political commentary, personal, impertinent, slanderous or profane remarks directed at any member of the Board, staff or general public that disrupt the meeting. Any person who makes such remarks or otherwise disrupts the meeting with loud outbursts, shouting, threats or other disruptive conduct or behavior shall, at the direction of the Supervisor or after a motion and majority consensus of the Board, be ruled out of order. If, after receiving a warning,any person persists in disrupting the meeting, the Supervisor or the Town Board Majority shall order that person to leave and may utilize law enforcement to enforce such order if necessary. D. PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR Privilege of the floor is the portion of the Meeting that is dedicated to input from the Public. Here are the rules and procedures: 1. Members of the Public may only speak if they "have the floor". 2. There is a strict time limit of three minutes per instance of privilege of the floor for each member of the Public who wishes to address the Board. There will be no donation or aggregation of this time allowed. 3. All comments must be directed towards the Board. Anyone who addresses anyone else will be asked to stop and/or asked to leave the meeting for violating Meeting rules and procedures. 4. There will be no other input from the Public unless a majority of the Board votes to allow additional time to experts or individuals whose input is in the best interest of the Public. E. APPEAL FROM THE SUPERVISOR’S RULING. 1.On every appeal,the Supervisor shall assign the reasons for his or her decision.If the question on which the appeal is taken was not debatable,the Town Board shall decide the case without debate. If the question was debatable, the appeal is also debatable. The Supervisor shall put the question: “Shall the ruling of the Supervisor be overturned?” 2. A motion to overrule a ruling or decision of the Supervisor shall require approval by a majority vote of the Town Board. The Supervisor shall not participate in the vote. F. MAJORITY VOTE. A majority of the total vote of the entire membership of the Town Board shall be necessary to carry any local law, ordinance, question, proposition, resolution, motion, or any other matter, except where it is otherwise provided herein or required by general law that a two-thirds vote or a unanimous vote is required. G. RECORDING AYES AND NAYS. On a roll call, the ayes and nays shall be entered in the minutes of the Town Board, and the Town Clerk shall record the names of the members and the way each will have respectively voted. Each member, as his or her name is called, shall respond affirmatively or in the negative, as the case may be. At the conclusion of the call of the roll, the Town Clerk shall announce the vote thereon and whether the measure was passed or defeated. To verify the vote and to correct possible errors, the Town Clerk may repeat the call of the roll. Each member exercising an abstention shall state for the record the reason for such abstention. H. WITHDRAWAL OF RESOLUTION OR MOTION. Any resolution or motion offered by a member of the Danby Town Board may be withdrawn by the member presenting it at any time before an announcement by the Town Clerk of the vote thereon, or before an amendment to such resolution or motion has been adopted, provided that the member seconding such resolution or motion shall also withdraw his or her second to the same. I. DISCUSSIONS. A motion on the floor is not necessary for discussion of items on the Agenda to occur once all previous items on the agenda have been discussed and addressed. J. MOTIONS NOT AMENDABLE OR DEBATABLE. 1. All motions for an adjournment, for a recess, for the previous question, or to table shall be neither amended nor debated. 2. After the roll call on any question has begun, no member shall speak on the question nor shall any motion be made until after the results are declared. 3. While the Supervisor is stating any question, or while the roll is being called, no debate or discussion shall be in order. Any member desiring to explain his vote must do so before the start of the roll call, provided that, before the roll call begins, all members of the Danby Town Board shall have a right to avail themselves of the provisions of Rule 7 K (Call the Question). K. CALL THE QUESTION – MOTION TO END DEBATE. The call for the question after reasonable debate shall be as follows: “I move to call the question.” Such motion may be made by any member without recognition from the Chair. Until it is decided, all amendments and debate are suspended. When the Town Board shall order the question called and amendments are pending, the question shall first be taken upon the amendment(s), and then upon the main question without further debate. L. MOTION TO END MEETING. A motion to end or adjourn the meeting may be made by any Member at any time during the conduct of such meeting without recognition from the Chair. Such a motion is not subject to amendment and until such motion is decided, all debate is suspended. In the event such motion carries by a majority vote of members present and voting, the meeting shall stand adjourned until the next Meeting. M. RESOLUTIONS. The Town Board shall not vote on any proposal or resolution unless each Town Board member and the Town Clerk have possession of the proposal or resolution in writing prior to the commencement of the meeting. N. SECOND REQUIRED FOR VOTE. At any Meeting, the Town Board shall not vote on any agenda item that does not receive a second. O. PUBLIC HEARINGS. The Town Board may vote on any public hearing matter for which all speakers have been accommodated, providing that no one speaks against the subject matter of the Public Hearing. If someone speaks against the subject matter of the Public Hearing, all hearing decisions shall be delayed until the next Meeting of the Board. P. AMENDMENTS OF THE RULES OF ORDER. These Rules shall not be rescinded, altered, or amended, nor shall any additional Rule be added hereto except by majority vote of the total members of the Danby Town Board, taken at a public meeting. Q. ALL POINTS OF ORDER NOT COVERED BY THESE RULES. On all points of order not governed by these rules of the Danby Town Board, Robert’s Rules of Order (Revised) shall prevail.