(a) All meetings of the Village Council shall be open to the public. All actions of the Council shall be taken openly and the deliberations leading to Council action shall likewise be conducted openly except in those instances permitted or required to be closed by Act 267 of the Public Acts of 1976, as amended. The public is invited to attend Council meetings and will be given time to voice opinions on issues and/or problems of concern to the Village.
(b) The Council reserves the right to meet in closed session according to Act 267 of the Public Acts of 1976, as amended. No vote shall be taken during closed session. Any action taken on such matters shall be taken in a public meeting and recorded in the minutes of the meeting. Public participation shall be governed under the following rules:
(1) Any person shall be permitted to address the Council under agenda item "Open to the Public." A person wishing to address the Council shall be recognized by the President and shall give his or her name and address and the issue or agenda item on which comments will be made. If the comments are to be made on an agenda item, the President may direct that the comments be made during the time that the agenda item is scheduled for consideration in the normal course of business.
(2) In cases where individuals or groups desire to appear on the printed agenda of the meeting for the purpose of addressing the Council, a written statement of such intention must be received by the Clerk not later than eight days prior to the date of the meeting. However, time shall be set aside during the "Open to the Public" portion of each regular meeting to receive expressions from the public.
(3) Persons may be excluded from attendance at Council meetings for a breach of peace committed at the meeting.
(4) Each individual will have a maximum of five minutes for all comments to the Council, the number of topics notwithstanding.
(5) If more than two individuals wish to address the Council on the same side of an issue, the President will direct them to organize an order of presentation and the group will be limited to a fifteen minute presentation.
(6) Individuals or groups desiring more than the time allotted in Rules (4) and (5) above may request more time at the beginning of the presentation. Such a request will be accompanied by a statement as to why more time is necessary. The President of the Council shall rule on such requests. The ruling will be based on the importance of the topic to the Village, the number of persons present concerned with that and other topics, the length of the agenda and other similar considerations.
(7) The topic of comments or presentations must be related to business which may come before the Council or the health, safety and welfare of the Village. The President shall rule out of order persons making comments as to matters which may not be the subject of Council action.
(8) Members of the Council, Village officials or any other person recognized by the President may have the privilege of asking questions of an individual who has addressed the Council. Such questions and answers shall not count against an individual's or group's time limit. The President of the Council shall limit such questioning at such time as it becomes redundant, too time-consuming or an attempt to extend the time limits set by these rules.
(9) If a presentation is to be made on a topic which is subject to a closed session of the Council under Section 8 of Act 267, the President shall halt the presentation for the purpose of Council consideration of whether the presentation should be heard in closed session. After Council's decision on whether to proceed in open or closed session and implementation of that decision, the presentation will be allowed to proceed for the full allotted time.
(10) Any order or decision of the President made under these rules may be overruled by a majority vote of the trustees of Council in attendance at the meeting.
(Ord. Unno. Passed 10-8-79.)