(A) Quorum. A majority of the members of the Board, exclusive of the Chairman, shall constitute a quorum.
(B) General voting. Unless otherwise expressly provided, any actions taken by the Board or any committee shall only require the affirmative vote of the majority of the members present and voting.
(C) Roll call vote.
(1) A roll call vote of the Board shall be taken by a "yes" or "no", "abstain" (with reason), or "present" vote on the following matters:
(a) All contracts relating to the sale or leasing of county property;
(b) Appropriation and tax levy ordinances;
(c) All expenditures of county funds;
(d) Any other matter required by law; and
(e) Upon any other matters, when announced by the Chairman or requested by two members, providing such request is made before another item of business has been taken by the Board.
(2) On a roll call vote the Clerk shall call the names of the members of the Board in alphabetical order, with the first names called for each roll call being the second name called in the previous roll call. The Chairman shall only vote when the vote of the Board results in a tie.
(3) A member who has voted on a roll call vote shall not be allowed to change that vote on the matter under consideration after the tally is announced. A member not voting when called upon by the Clerk will be presumed absent and will not be allowed to cast a vote on the matter under consideration.
(D) Recognition.
(1) Every member previous to speaking or making a motion shall first be recognized by the Chairman.
(2) When two or more members request recognition at the same time, the Chairman shall recognize the member who is to speak first.
(3) No person shall speak more than twice nor more than five minutes on the same matter without permission from the Chairman.
(E) Motion to adjourn or recess. A motion to adjourn or recess shall always be in order and shall be decided without debate.
(F) Reconsideration. An action may be reconsidered at any time during the meeting or at the next meeting held thereafter. A motion to reconsider shall be made and seconded by members of the Board who voted on the prevailing side of the question to be reconsidered.
(G) Second required. No motion shall be debated or put to a vote unless it is seconded. It shall then be stated by the Chairman before debate or vote and every motion shall be reduced to writing when requested by the Chairman or any member.
(H) Appearance by non-members.
(1) Any member may request that a county officer or employee, or other persons, be permitted to appear before the Board on matters of county business, and such request shall be granted by the Chairman unless there is objection by any member, in which event Board action will be required to overrule the Chairman.
(2) Members of the public who wish to address the Board must provide the Chairman with written notice of their intent to speak prior to the meeting being called to order. The pre-printed written notice shall request the name and address of the speaker, as well as a short statement indicating the speaker’s topic. Members of the public are not, however, required to provide their address as a precondition to addressing the Board. Such appearance with regard to any particular topic shall be limited to a time not to exceed five minutes for each individual, unless revised by the Chairman, and 30 minutes total. The Chairman may reduce the time allotted per individual when it is expected that the aggregate time would exceed 30 minutes. The Chairman may act to prevent repetition or digression, to maintain decorum and to exclude discussion of matters which have had a previous public hearing conducted according to law, discussion of matters where public comment would interfere with the due process of law or discussion of matters which would be in direct conflict with restrictions placed upon the Board by other applicable law.
(I) Request for legal opinions. Formal requests to the State's Attorney on questions of law shall be submitted in writing by a standing committee, the County Administrator, department heads, or by the Chairman of the Board. The Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board and members of the Executive Committee shall receive copies of formal written requests for legal opinions. Said copies shall also be included in materials distributed to members of the Board as provided in § 33.04(E) prior to the next meeting of the Board unless such request originated after said materials have been distributed, in which case such copies shall be distributed at the beginning of the meeting. Any member of the Board desiring an advisory opinion on a matter within the jurisdiction of a standing committee shall submit such request to the appropriate standing committee. If unsuccessful before a standing committee, a member may then take such request in the form of a motion at any meeting of the Board which shall be granted upon approval be a majority of the members of the Board.
(J) Suspension of rules. Any of these rules may be temporarily suspended by action of a two-thirds majority of members present and voting on the Board. Immediately upon the termination of the business arising out of the event for which the rules were suspended, these rules shall again be in effect without vote of the Board.
(K) Consent agenda. All matters on the consent agenda that are not removed will be voted on by voice vote. An item shall be removed from the consent agenda upon the oral request of any member of the Board made prior to the vote. Any matter taken off of the consent agenda shall be considered at the time of the standing committee report to which it pertains.
(L) Closed meeting or session. Any closed meeting or closed session held by the Board shall be held in accordance with the provisions of the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Neither the news media nor the general public shall be allowed to record the proceedings of any said closed meeting or closed session.
(M) Decorum. During the proceedings of the County Board decorum shall be maintained at all times by members, interested parties, the public, and the media. The Chairman shall be authorized to take appropriate action to maintain said decorum.
(N) Contracts. No contract shall be approved by the Board unless all Board members have been given the opportunity to obtain a copy of the contract not less than 24 hours before the Board meeting unless the Board finds the contract at issue to be of the essence.
(Prior Code, 1 TCC 4-6) (Ord. E-18-22, passed 2-25-2018; Res. E-23-131, passed 10-25-2023)