At a City Council meeting:
(A) The Mayor shall take the chair at the appointed hour and call to order, and at the instance of any two members present compel the attendance of absent members. Should the Mayor fail to appear for a quarter hour thereafter, the City Clerk shall call the meeting to order and the Council shall appoint one of its members to act as Chairperson and Mayor pro tem, during such absence of the Mayor.
(B) (1) The order of business at all regular meetings shall be as follows:
(a) Pledge of Allegiance.
(b) Roll call.
(c) Consent agenda. Items listed on the consent agenda are considered to be routine in nature and will be enacted by one motion. Prior to asking for a motion to approve the consent agenda, the Mayor will ask if anyone desires to remove an item from the consent agenda for public discussion. No separate discussion of these items will occur unless a Council member requests the item to be removed from the consent agenda. If an item is removed from the consent agenda, it will be considered elsewhere on the meeting agenda.
(d) Minutes of previous meetings.
(e) Reports of special committees.
(f) Reports of municipal officers, departmental commissioners or department heads.
(g) Approval of the payroll and bills submitted since the last Council meeting.
(h) Public presentations, petitions and communications. This portion of the City Council meeting is reserved for persons who desire to address the Council. The Illinois Open Meetings Act mandates that the City Council may not take action on comments received on matters that have not been identified on this agenda, but the Council may direct staff to address the topic or refer the matter for action on the agenda for another meeting.
(i) Unfinished business.
(j) New business.
(k) Miscellaneous business.
(l) Recess to closed session. The agenda must cite the specific statutory exception to the Illinois Open Meetings Act, being ILCS Ch. 5, Act 120, §2(c), that allows discussion of topics in closed session.
(m) Reconvene from closed session; consider motions or notice of motions pertaining to topics discussed in closed session.
(n) Adjourn.
(2) This order of business may be changed during any meeting as may be convenient by a vote of a majority of all the members elected.
(C) The Mayor shall preserve order and decorum and shall decide all questions of order, subject to an appeal to the Council. A majority of all the members elected shall carry the appeal, unless the subject matter sought to be considered requires a large vote for its adoption, in which case a like vote shall be necessary to overrule the decision of the chair.
(D) Any member called to order shall immediately take his seat until the point of order is decided.
(E) Appeals shall be decided without debate, but the chair and the appealing member may each speak once to explain.
(F) On appeal the question shall be in the following form, "Shall the decision of the chair be sustained?"
(G) Any member desiring to speak on any question (or proposing a motion) shall rise and address the chair, but shall not proceed until recognized by the chair. He shall not speak longer than ten minutes, or more than once, except by general consent. The mover may, however, speak to close debate for not to exceed five minutes.
(H) Any member indulging in personalities, reflections injurious to any member of the Council or not speaking in order, or smoking, shall be called to order.
(I) All petitions and other communications shall be in writing.
(J) While any member has the floor and is speaking no other member shall engage in conversation, or pass between him and the chair or otherwise interrupt the speaker.
(K) When a question is stated every member present shall vote, unless excused by the Council, or unless pecuniarily or personally, directly or indirectly, interested in the result of the vote, in which case he shall not vote.
(L) No motion shall be entertained unless seconded; when seconded it shall be stated by the chair, and if he or any other member requires it, reduced to writing.
(M) When a motion or resolution has been so stated it shall be in the possession of the Council, but it may by consent of the Council be withdrawn at any time before it is acted upon.
(N) If a question contains more than one distinct proposition, it may be divided by the chair on the request of any member.
(O) When a blank is to be filled or the motion is to strike out and insert, and different sums or times are proposed, the question shall first be put upon the largest sum or the longest time.
(P) When a question is under debate no motion shall be entertained unless for the previous question, to refer, to postpone, to adjourn to a certain day, to lay on the table, to amend, or to adjourn the Council.
(Q) A motion for the "previous question," or to lay on the table, until decided, preclude all amendment and all debate or to adjourn to a certain day, shall, until decided, preclude all amendment to the main question.
(R) The previous question shall be put as follows: "Shall the main question be now put?"
(S) A motion to adjourn (without conditions or time) shall always be in order and decided without debate.
(T) The name of a member offering a motion, ordi nance, resolution or other proposition, shall be entered with it upon the journal.
(U) The following city officers shall attend all regular meetings of the Council unless excused by the Mayor: City Clerk, City Attorney, Treasurer, Chief of Police, Health Officer, City Engineer and Superintendent of Streets.
(V) No vote of the Council shall be reconsidered or rescinded at any meeting of the Council, unless at such meeting there be present as many members as were present when such vote was taken.
(W) All ordinances, resolutions or other propositions or motions in writing, which are finally disposed of unfavorably shall, unless returned to the introducer at his request, be destroyed by the Clerk after 30 days.
(X) All ordinances, resolutions or other motions and propositions in writing which shall remain on file for more than 90 days without any action being taken thereon shall be deemed abandoned, and shall be destroyed by the Clerk.
(Y) All ordinances or resolutions for the consideration of the Council shall be filed with the City Clerk at least 72 hours before the meeting at which they are to be presented and considered, and the Clerk shall furnish copies thereof to each member of the Council and the City Attorney 48 hours before the meeting at which same are to be considered, unless waived by a vote of at least four members of the Council.
(Z) On all questions of order not herein specially provided for, Roberts Rules of Order for Parliamentary Practice is adopted and made the law governing the deliberations of the Council.
('68 Code, § 2.11) (Ord. 65-839, passed - - ; Am. Ord. 2005-5204, passed 6-21-2005)