Section
210.01 Composition
210.02 Elections; term
210.03 Regular meetings
210.04 Special meetings
210.05 Votes to reconsider at special meetings
210.06 Conduct of meetings
210.07 Procedures for recording of closed sessions
210.08 Voting
210.09 Rules of Council
210.10 Reports of committees
210.11 General duties of committees
210.12 Limitation on time and frequency of meetings
210.13 Appointment of standing Aldermanic Committees
210.14 Designation of standing committees
210.15 Duties of standing committees
210.16 (Reserved)
210.17 Library liaison
210.18 Electronic attendance at meetings
Cross-reference:
Ordinances and resolutions, see Ch. 212
One Council member shall be elected in each of the eight wards established in the city or as hereinafter reapportioned according to law. Council members shall be elected as members of Council at a regular municipal election, as provided by statute, providing for the election of Council members, and the election shall be held in accordance with all other existing city ordinances and state statutes. Council members shall be elected to a term of four years.
(Ord. 89-39, passed 9-12-1989)
Special meetings may be called by the Mayor or any three Council members upon written call filed with the City Clerk not less than three days prior to the date for which the meeting is called. Upon the filing of the call, the Clerk shall immediately deliver or mail a notice thereof to the Mayor and each Council member. Public notice of all meetings shall be given as prescribed by the Open Meetings Act, 5 ILCS Ch. 5, Act 120, § 1.
(Ord. 89-39, passed 9-12-1989)
(A) Recording closed sessions. The city shall keep a verbatim record of all closed or executive session meetings of the corporate authorities of the city or any subsidiary “public body” as defined by the State Open Meetings Act, ILCS Ch. 5, Act 120, § 1. The verbatim record shall be in the form of an audio or video recording as determined by the corporate authorities.
(B) Responsibility for recording closed sessions and maintaining recordings. The City Clerk or his or her designee shall be responsible for arranging for the recording of closed or executive sessions. In the absence of the City Clerk or his or her designee, the meeting Chair will arrange for the audio or video recording of the closed or executive session of the City Council. Each subsidiary public body of the city shall designate an individual who will be responsible for the recording of any and all closed or executive sessions of the subsidiary body and for providing the City Clerk with a copy of the recording. The City Clerk, or his or her designee, shall securely maintain the verbatim recordings of all closed sessions of the corporate authorities of the city and all subsidiary public bodies of the city.
(C) Closed session minutes. In addition to the recordings of the closed and executive session as addressed in this section, the city will keep minutes of all closed meetings in accordance with the requirements of the Open Meetings Act, ILCS Ch. 5, Act 120, § 1.
(D) Procedure for recording. At the beginning of each closed session, those present shall identify themselves by voice for the audio recordings. If the meeting is videotaped, those present shall individually appear on camera and identify themselves by voice at the beginning of the closed session. The meeting Chair shall also announce the times the closed session commences and ends at the appropriate points on the recording.
(E) Back-up equipment/procedure for equipment malfunction. The city will maintain sufficient tapes, batteries and equipment for the city to comply with this section. The City Clerk or his or her designee will periodically check the equipment to confirm that it is functioning. In the event that anyone present at a closed session determines that the equipment is not functioning properly, the closed session will be temporarily suspended to attempt to correct the malfunction. In the event that an equipment malfunction cannot be corrected immediately, the closed session will terminate until a time as the closed session may proceed with a functioning recording device.
(F) Procedure for review of closed session minutes and recordings. At one meeting at least every six months, the agenda shall include the item: “Review of the minutes and recordings of all closed sessions that have not yet been released for public review and determination of which minutes, if any, may be released.” Minutes shall be reviewed in closed session and shall not be released unless the corporate authorities of the city find that it is no longer necessary to protect the public interest or the privacy of an individual by keeping them confidential. As to any minutes not released, the corporate authorities shall find that the “need for confidentiality still exists” as to those minutes. Minutes of closed sessions shall be kept indefinitely. Recordings shall be reviewed in a manner appropriate to the purpose for which they were intended.
(G) Maintenance and public release of recordings and access to tapes. The audio or video tape recordings of closed sessions shall be maintained for 18 months after the closed session and shall not be released to the public unless the release is required by a court order or specifically authorized for release by a vote of the City Council. Members of the corporate authorities may listen to the closed session recordings in the presence of the City Clerk or his or her designee. Copies of the tapes will not be made or provided to anyone unless specifically authorized by vote of the City Council.
(H) Procedure for destruction of recordings. The City Clerk or his or her designee is hereby authorized to destroy the audio and video recordings of those closed sessions for which:
(1) The corporate authorities of the city have approved the minutes of the closed sessions as to accurate content, regardless of whether the minutes have been released for public review;
(2) More than 18 months have elapsed since the date of the closed session;
(3) There is no court order requiring the preservation of the recording; and
(4) The corporate authorities of the city have not passed a motion requiring the preservation of the verbatim recording of that meeting.
(Ord. 06-01, passed 1-10-2006)
(A) Any matter requiring a roll call vote at a regular meeting of the City Council may be voted on by an absent Council member via a conference telephone call between the absent Council member and the rest of the Council present at the regular meeting under the following conditions:
(1) The absent Council member cannot be physically present at the regular meeting at which the matter is put to vote due to circumstances beyond the Council member’s control. A vacation is not under any circumstances to be considered beyond an Council member’s control.
(2) The absent Council member is at least 150 miles from the city’s municipal office at the scheduled time of the regular meeting.
(3) The absent Council member’s voice on the conference telephone call, after being identified by the rest of the Council as belonging to the absent Council member, shall be simultaneously broadcast to the public present at the regular meeting and open to the media, and the absent Council member shall also be able to hear any public comment regarding the issue(s) elicited at the meeting, if any, before the vote is taken.
(4) Before voting, the absent Council member shall publicly state the reason for not being present at the regular meeting to vote in person.
(B) The yeas and nays of the Council members shall be taken upon the passage of all ordinances and all propositions to create any liability against the city, or for the expenditure or appropriation of its money, and in all other cases at the request of any member of Council. The vote shall be entered on the journal of Council proceedings, and a majority vote of all Council members is necessary to pass any proposition. However, a proposition to sell school property shall require a vote of three-fourths of the Council members. The Mayor may vote to break a tie, upon the passage of all ordinances and all propositions to create any liability against the city or for the expenditure or appropriation of its money.
(Ord. 89-39, passed 9-12-1989; Ord. 99-21, passed 5-25-1999)
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