The procedures and rules of the Board of Trustees shall be as follows.
Rule 1. Presiding officer.
The Village President shall take the chair at the hour appointed, or to which the Board shall have adjourned, and shall immediately call the members to order; whereupon, the Clerk shall proceed to call the roll of members. If a quorum is present, the Clerk shall so announce and the Board shall proceed with the order of business.
Rule 2. Quorum.
(A) A quorum shall consist of a majority of the entire Board of Trustees, including the Village President. A quorum shall be necessary to transact the business of the Village Board.
(B) If no quorum is present, the Board shall not thereby stand adjourned, but the members present shall adjourn or recess the Board by a majority vote.
Rule 3. Absence of President.
At any meeting of the Board where a majority shall be assembled, and if the President is temporarily absent, but within or near the community, the Clerk shall preside and call the roll, whereupon the Board shall elect a Temporary Chairperson from its membership. In the event that the absence of the President shall be of a more permanent nature, as provided by statute, a President Pro Tem shall be elected.
Rule 4. The President.
(A) The President shall preserve order and decorum and may speak to points of order in preference to other members and shall decide all questions of order subject to appeal.
(B) If the President refuses to allow the Trustees to exercise their right to appeal a decision of the Chair, the Trustees may consider and pass upon the matter in spite of the Chair’s failure to grant them appeal.
(C) The President shall have the power to require the boardroom to be cleared, or to have any disorderly person or persons ejected, in case of any disturbances or disorderly conduct which prevent the meeting from being continued in an orderly manner.
Rule 5. Duties of members.
(A) While the President is stating the motion, or deciding a point of order, the members shall be seated and no member shall leave the boardroom during the session without permission from the presiding officer.
(B) Every member, previous to his or her speaking, making a motion or seconding the same, shall address the presiding officer and shall not proceed with his or her remarks until recognized and named by the Chair.
(C) A member so recognized by the Chair, shall confine himself or herself to the question under debate.
(D) No member shall speak more than once on the same question, except by permission of the Chair, and then not until every other member desiring to speak shall have had an opportunity to do so.
(E) No member shall speak longer than five minutes at any one time, except by consent of the Chair.
(F) While a member is speaking, no member shall hold any private discussion, nor pass between the speaker and the Chair.
(G) A member, when called to order by the Chair, shall thereupon discontinue speaking. The order or ruling of the Chair shall be binding and conclusive, subject only to the right to appeal.
(H) Any member may appeal to the Board from a ruling of the Chair and, if the appeal is seconded, the member making the appeal may briefly state his or her reason for the same, and the Chair may briefly explain his or her ruling; but there shall be no debate on the appeal and no other member shall participate in the discussion. The Chair shall then put the question, “Shall the decision of the Chair be overruled?” Otherwise, it shall be sustained.
(I) The right of a member to address the Board on a question of personal privilege shall be limited to cases in which his or her integrity, character or motives are assailed, questioned or impugned.
Rule 6. Seconding of motions required.
No motion shall be put or debated in the Board or in committee unless it be seconded. When a motion is seconded, it shall be stated by the presiding officer before debate.
Rule 7. Reading of resolutions, ordinances and correspondence.
Resolutions, ordinances and correspondence need not be read.
Rule 8. Withdrawal of motions.
After a resolution or a motion is stated by the President, it shall be deemed to be in the possession of the Board, but it may be withdrawn by the maker thereof with or without the consent of the Trustee seconding the motion prior to the call for the vote by the President.
Rule 9. Division of questions.
If any question under consideration contains several distinct propositions, the Board, by a majority vote of the members present, may divide such questions.
Rule 10. Record of motions.
In all cases where a resolution or motion is entered in the journal, the name of the member moving and seconding the same shall be entered.
Rule 11. Vote.
(A) The ayes and nays shall be taken upon the passage of all ordinances and on all propositions to create any liability against the village, or for the expenditure or appropriation of its money, and upon any question and in all other cases at the request of any member of the Board. When the Clerk has commenced to call the roll of the Board for the taking of a vote by “Ayes” and “Nays”, all debate on the question before the Board shall be deemed concluded, and during the taking of the vote a member shall be permitted to briefly explain his or her vote and shall respond to the calling of his or her name by the Clerk by answering “Aye” or “Nay”, as the case may be.
(B) The names of each member of the Board of Trustees shall be listed on the official copy of every ordinance passed indicating specifically the names of those voting “Aye” and those voting “Nay”.
(C) Every Trustee present shall vote unless he or she has an interest in the matter, in which event he or she shall disqualify himself. If a Trustee who has not disqualified himself or herself does not vote, his or her failure to vote shall, to the extent permitted by law, be construed as concurring with the majority.
(D) The President shall announce the result of the Board’s vote and such votes shall be entered in the journal of the proceedings, as is provided by statute.
(E) The President shall vote and possess such veto powers as are prescribed in the state statutes.
Rule 12. Precedence of motion.
When a question is before the Board, no motion shall be received, except as herein specified, and which shall have precedence in the order herein stated:
(A) To fix the time to which to adjourn;
(B) To adjourn;
(C) To take a recess;
(D) To raise a question of privilege;
(E) To call for the orders of the day;
(F) To lay on the table;
(G) To call for the previous question;
(H) To postpone to a certain time;
(I) To refer to committee;
(J) To amend;
(K) To postpone indefinitely; and
(L) To the main motion.
Rule 13. Undebatable motions and exceptions to order.
The motion to adjourn or to lay on the table shall be decided without debate, and the motion to fix the time to which to adjourn and the motion to adjourn shall always be in order, except:
(A) When a member is in possession of the floor;
(B) When the roll call votes are being called;
(C) While the members are voting;
(D) When adjournment was the last preceding motion; and
(E) When it has been decided that the “previous question” shall be taken.
Rule 14. Motion to adjourn.
A motion to adjourn cannot be amended; but a motion to adjourn to a given day or time shall be open to amendment and debate.
Rule 15. Motion to postpone indefinitely.
When a question is postponed indefinitely, it shall not be taken up again before the next regular meeting.
Rule 16. Motion to amend.
A motion to amend an amendment shall be in order, but a motion to amend an amendment to an amendment shall not be entertained.
Rule 17. Amendments.
Only one amendment at a time may be offered to any question before the Board. The vote shall first be taken on the amendment and, if the amendment passes, then further amendments may be proposed. Finally, a vote shall be taken on the principal motion as finally amended.
Rule 18. Reconsideration.
(A) A vote or question may be reconsidered at any time during the same meeting, or at the first regular meeting held thereafter. A motion for reconsideration, once having been made and decided in the negative, shall not be renewed. A matter once having been decided and a motion to reconsider such matter having been defeated, it may nonetheless come before the Board at a future time by way of a motion to rescind or as a new motion. If the Chair determines that new facts are to be presented to the Board, or that there is a likelihood that the Board will reverse its previous decision, the Chair shall rule the motion in order. If a motion is continuously brought before the Board and rejected, the Chair may rule its reintroduction under a motion to rescind or as a new motion to be out of order.
(B) No motion to reconsider the approval or denial of the recommendation of an advisory body required to hold public hearings shall be entertained except at the same meeting at which the original action was taken or after the matter has been referred to the advisory body for a further hearing and recommendation.
(C) A motion to reconsider must be made and seconded by members who voted on the prevailing side of the question to be reconsidered, unless otherwise provided by law; provided, however, that, where a motion has received a majority vote in the affirmative, but is declared lost solely on the ground that a greater number of affirmative votes is required by statute for the passage or adoption of such motion, then in such case a motion to reconsider may be made and seconded only by those who voted in the affirmative on such question to be reconsidered, so long as the issue presented is the same, no new information is forthcoming and the rights of third parties have not intervened.
Rule 19. Visitors petitioners and public comment.
(A) Village Board meetings constitute legislative sessions of the Mayor and Board of Trustees of the village providing the opportunity for the Mayor and Board of Trustees to formally conduct village business and, as such, are limited public forums held for the specific purpose of conducting business of the village.
(B) Except during the time allotted for public discussion and comments (referred to as the Listening Post), no person, other than a member of the Board, shall address that body, except with the consent of a majority of the members present. During the time allotted for public discussion and comments, members of the general public may only address the Board with respect to items listed on the agenda for consideration or with concerns or comments regarding issues that are relevant to village business.
(C) Members of the public shall be called to address the Board in the following order:
(1) Presentations scheduled with the Village Manager and set forth on the agenda;
(2) Written presentations received prior to the Board meeting;
(3) Presentations by members of the public who have signed the request to speak form prior to the commencement of the meeting.
(D) A person addressing the Board shall be allotted three minutes to resent his or her comments.
(E) All members of the public addressing the Board shall, at all times, maintain proper decorum. No person shall speak unless recognized by the Mayor or Mayor Pro Tem. All discussion and debate shall be courteous, respectful, and to the point. Impugning motives; contentions, slanderous or boisterous statements; obscene or insulting language; threats; or personal remarks or attacks directed at the members of the Board, staff, speakers or other members of the public shall be out of order.
(F) All public comment shall be addressed to the Mayor and Board of Trustees as a whole and no comments shall be addressed to individual members of the Board, village staff or other members of the public.
(G) No final action may be taken on any public comment or concern which requires an ordinance, resolution, or written contract, or which has the effect of approving any expenditure of funds unless such item is on the agenda for that meetings. The Board may, however, direct that any matter raised on these orders be set for a future agenda, including the preparation of ordinances, resolutions, or other documents for consideration at such time.
(H) Any person who shall disrupt by disorderly conduct a meeting of the Mayor and Board of Trustees, its committees or any meeting of a board, commission or advisory body of the village shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not less than $50 nor more than $750.
Rule 20. Reports, communications, petitions, and the like.
All communications, reports, petitions or any other papers addressed to the Board shall be made available to the Village Clerk prior to the meeting. The Village Clerk shall endeavor to distribute copies or read such material to the members of the Board.
Rule 21. The journal.
The Village Clerk shall keep the journal of the proceedings of the Board. Within no more than ten days after each meeting of the Board, the Clerk shall supply to each member a typewritten copy of the minutes.
Rule 22. Record of ordinances and documents.
The Clerk shall keep a record of all ordinances passed in an ordinance book for such purpose. All reports made by committees and all resolutions adopted by the Board shall be filed and preserved by the Clerk.
Rule 23. Publication.
All ordinances imposing any penalty for a violation thereof or making any appropriation shall be published as required by statute, either in a newspaper or in pamphlet form, in which case, the ordinance in its pamphlet form shall be displayed for a reasonable period in a public place in the Village Hall.
Rule 24. Time for taking effect.
No ordinance which must be published to comply with the foregoing section shall go into effect until ten days after it is so published unless a statement of the urgency of the ordinance is contained in it, and it achieves passage by a two-thirds vote of the Board of Trustees then holding office. In all other cases, the ordinances shall go into effect upon the passage thereof, as provided by statute, even though the operation of the ordinance may not take effect until a later date.
Rule 25. Adoption of Robert’s Rules of Order, Revised.
The rules of parliamentary practice comprised in the latest published edition of Robert’s Rules of Order, Revised shall govern the Board in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with the ordinances of the village including these rules, or the statutes of the state.
Rule 26. Temporary suspension of rules; amendment of rules.
The rules of the Board may be temporarily suspended, altered or amended, by concurrence of a majority vote of all the Trustees then in office.
Rule 27. Expulsion of members.
Any member acting or appearing in a lewd or disgraceful manner, or who uses opprobrious, obscene or insulting language to or about any member of the Board, or who does not obey the order of the Chair, shall be, on motion, censured by a majority vote of the Board and, with the concurrence of two-thirds of the Board of Trustees elected, the Board may expel a Trustee, but not a second time for the same offense.
(Ord. 2013-08-35, passed 8-5-2013)