(A) Adoption of policy. The village hereby adopts the remote participation policy, attached hereto, that permits a member of the public body to attend and participate in any meeting of a public body as defined in the Open Meetings Act, being 5 ILCS 120/1 et seq., from a remote location via telephone, video, or Internet connection; provided that such attendance and participation is in compliance with the policy and any applicable laws.
(B) Policy statement. It is the policy of the village that a member of any group associated with this unit of government which is subject to the provisions of the Open Meetings Act (a “covered group”) may attend and participate in any open or closed meeting of that covered group from a remote location via telephone, video or internet connection; provided that such attendance and participation is in compliance with this policy and any other applicable laws.
(C) Prerequisites. A member of the covered group of the village shall be provided the opportunity to attend an open and closed meeting or only one of such meetings from a remote location if the member meets the following conditions and a majority of a quorum of the covered body votes to approve the remote attendance:
(1) The member must notify the recording secretary or clerk of the covered body at least 24 hours before the meeting unless advance notice is impractical;
(2) The member must meet one of three reasons described herein why he, she, or they or she is unable to physically attend the meeting, including either:
(a) The member cannot attend because of personal illness or disability;
(b) The member cannot attend because of employment purposes or the business of the village;
(c) The member cannot attend because of a family or other emergency; and/or
(d) A quorum of the covered body must be physically present.
(D) Voting procedures. After roll call, a vote of the covered body shall be taken, considering the prerequisites set forth in division (C) above, on whether to allow an off-site board member to participate remotely. All of the members physically present are permitted to vote on whether remote participation will be allowed. A vote may be taken to permit remote participation for a stated series of meetings if the same reason applies in each case. Otherwise, a vote must be taken to allow each remote participation.
(E) Quorum and vote required. A quorum must be established by members physically present at any meeting before it can be considered whether to allow a member to participate in the meeting remotely. A vote of a majority of quorum shall be necessary to decide the issue. For the meeting to continue, there shall always need to be a quorum physically present.
(F) Minutes. The member participating remotely shall be considered an off-site participant and counted as present by means of video or audio conference, for that meeting if the member is allowed to participate. The meeting minutes of the village shall also reflect and state specifically whether each other is physically present, present by video, or present by audio means.
(G) Rights of remote member. The member permitted to participate remotely will be able to express his, her, or their comments during the meeting and participate in the same capacity as those members physically present, subject to all general meeting guidelines and procedures previously adopted and adhered to. The remote member shall be heard, considered, and counted as to any vote taken. Accordingly, the name of any remote member shall be called during any vote taken, and his, her, or their vote counted and recorded by the Clerk or Secretary and placed in the minutes for the corresponding meeting. A member participating remotely may leave a meeting and return as in the case of any member.
(H) Meetings. The term meeting as used herein refers to any gathering, whether in person or by video or audio conference, telephone call, electronic means (such as, without limitation, electronic mail, electronic chat, and instant messaging), or other means of contemporaneous interactive communication, of a majority of a quorum of the members of a public body held for the purposes of discussing public business.
(I) Closed meetings. A quorum of the village’s’s members must be physically present at any closed meeting. Members participating remotely shall otherwise be entitled to participate in closed meetings by video or audio conference.
(J) Costs. A member participating remotely via telephone shall be reimbursed for the cost of the telephone call upon a valid receipt shown. Any other costs associated with remote participation, including video conferencing and other audio and video equipment, must be approved by the village.
(Ord. 2009-07, passed 7-21-2009)