(A) Meeting. The regular meetings of Council shall be held in the Council Chambers on the second Tuesday of each month commencing at 7:30 p.m, or such other time as Council unanimously agrees to meet upon proper public notice in accordance with law.
(B) Discussions. Discussions at meetings of Council shall be confined to members thereof, except at designated public hearings when the public shall be permitted to address Council. Any person or group of persons or organization may address any meeting of Council through a designated representative who shall speak for them, after having requested and received permission from the Mayor.
(C) Special meetings. The Mayor or any three members of Council may call a special meeting of Council upon at least 24 hours notice to each member of Council, served personally in writing or left at his or her usual place of residence.
(D) Question of order. The Mayor shall preserve decorum and decide all questions of order, subject to an appeal to Council. In case of an appeal being taken the question is: “Shall the decision of the chair stand as the decision of Council?” If any member transgresses the rules of Council, the Mayor shall, or any member may, call him or her to order, in which case the member called to order shall take his or her seat, unless permitted to explain.
(E) Statement of questions. All questions are to be stated and put by the Chairperson who shall decide all votes, but in doubtful cases he or she may direct, or any member may call for a division, which shall be taken by calling the roll and the Clerk recording the yeas and nays.
(F) Temporary Chairperson. The Mayor may, at any time, call the President Pro Tem to the chair; in his or her absence, any other member of Council may be called to the chair, such substitution not to be continued beyond adjournment.
(G) Recess. The Mayor shall have the right at any regular or special meeting to call a recess or recesses, any one of which shall not exceed 30 minutes duration.
(H) Seating. Council shall be seated in alphabetical order, commencing at the left of the Mayor.
(I) Debate. Every member of Council when about to speak or make a motion shall respectfully address the Mayor or presiding officer, who shall recognize the member entitled to the floor, and such member shall confine himself or herself to the subject matter.
(J) Speaking to the subject. No member shall be allowed to speak on any one subject more than once until every member choosing to speak on that subject shall have spoken, nor more than twice on the same subject without consent of Council.
(K) Vote. Every member present when a question is put shall vote, unless Council excuses the member for special reasons. Application to be so excused must be made before Council is divided or the call of the yeas and nays commenced, and the reasons for the request having been briefly stated, the question shall be immediately put by the Mayor.
(L) Division of question. Any member may request the division of an ordinance, resolution or motion, by paragraph, when the same will admit thereof, subject to the approval of Council by majority vote.
(M) Protest. Any member shall have the right to dissent from or protest against any ordinance or resolution of Council. The dissenting member may, not later than the next regular meeting thereafter, request in writing that his or her dissent or protest be recorded in the Clerk's journal.
(N) Consent to leave meeting. No member shall leave Council without the consent of the majority of those present.
(O) Order of business. At the regular meetings of Council, the following shall be the order of business:
(1) Call to order by Mayor or President Pro Tem, who shall preside.
(2) Roll call by Clerk.
(3) Permission to address Council.
(4) Approval of minutes of the preceding meeting, which minutes may be submitted in writing to the Mayor and each member of Council prior to the meeting.
(5) Communications:
(a) Private parties.
(b) Mayor.
(c) Other officers.
(d) Members of Council.
(6) Reports of Standing Committees:
(a) Rules and Law.
(b) Buildings and Grounds.
(c) Finances.
(d) Public Safety.
(e) Public Works and Services.
(f) Planning and Zoning.
(7) Presentation of notices.
(8) Miscellaneous resolutions (single reading).
(9) Resolutions directing officers of village (single reading).
(10) Resolutions of finance or legal resolutions (three readings).
(11) Introduction of ordinances (three readings).
(12) Second reading:
(a) Resolutions.
(b) Ordinances.
(13) Third reading:
(a) Resolutions.
(b) Ordinances.
(c) Indefinite postponement.
(14) Adjournment.
(P) Adjournment. Petitions having been presented, the business of all meetings will commence at the point where the order of business at the preceding meeting was interrupted by the adjournment. This division does not apply to meetings called for a purpose specifically named. At such meetings no other business except that specially named in the call shall be in order.
(Q) Standing Committees. There shall be six Standing Committees appointed of three members each. Each member of Council shall be Chairperson of one committee and serve on two other committees. The Standing Committees are as follows, with functions:
(1) Rules and Law: General Assembly, law, contracts and claims.
(2) Buildings and Grounds: health, sanitation, parks, playgrounds and community property.
(3) Finances: appropriation of property, sale of property, assessments for improvement, finance, ways and means.
(4) Public Safety: fire, police, traffic.
(5) Public Works: services, light, telephone, telegraph, water, conduits, sewers, streets, roads, waste collection, transportation.
(6) Planning and Zoning: Building Code, zoning, dedication of property.
(R) Appointment of committee. The members shall be appointed by the Mayor or presiding officer, unless otherwise ordered by Council.
(S) Committee rules. The members of a committee shall meet on the call of the Chairperson, who shall be the first named person on the committee. In case of absence of the Chairperson, the person named second on the committee shall be recognized as the Chairperson. A majority shall constitute a quorum to do business.
(T) Committee reports. The report of all committees (except the Committee of the Whole and except committee reports on proposed ordinances which shall be in writing) shall be agreed to by a majority of the committee. Nothing in this division shall be construed to prevent the introduction of a minority report in writing.
(U) Committee of the Whole. In forming the Committee of the Whole, the Mayor shall leave the chair, and the President Pro Tem shall preside, and the rules of Council shall govern the Committee, except that no limit is placed on the time or frequency of speaking, that the previous question cannot be moved and that the yeas and nays cannot be demanded.
(V) Procedure for legislation.
(1) The following procedures shall apply to the passage of ordinances and resolutions:
(a) Each ordinance and resolution shall be read by title only, provided the Legislative Authority may require any reading to be in full by a majority vote of its members.
(b) Each ordinance or resolution shall be read on three different days, provided the Legislative Authority may dispense with this rule by a vote of at least three-fourths of its members.
(c) The vote on the passage of each ordinance or resolution shall be taken by yeas and nays and entered upon the journal.
(d) Each ordinance or resolution shall be passed, except as otherwise provided by law, by a vote of at least of majority of all the members of the Legislative Authority.
(2) Action by the Legislative Authority, not required by law to be by ordinance or resolution, may be taken by motion approved by at least a majority vote of the members present at the meeting when the action is taken.
(R.C. § 731.17)
(W) Motions. When a motion is made and seconded, it shall, before discussion, be stated by the Mayor or presiding officer.
(X) Precedence of motions when a question is before Council.
(1) When a question is before Council, no motion shall be entertained unless:
(a) To adjourn;
(b) To recess;
(c) To postpone indefinitely;
(d) To lay on the table;
(e) For the previous question;
(f) To postpone to a certain time;
(g) To refer;
(h) To amend;
(2) These motions shall have precedence in the order in which they are listed here.
(Y) Special order. It shall require the vote of a majority of the members present to make any subject a special order.
(Z) Suspending the rules. A motion to suspend the rules shall require the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected and shall be decided without debate.
(AA) First reading. The first reading of a proposed ordinance or resolution shall be for information, the second for the purpose of amendments. If at the third reading an ordinance is ordered to be laid on the table, it shall not be taken up again, except by a majority vote of all the members elected.
(BB) Bills. All bills against the municipality for money must have the approval of the committee ordering the work, material or article for which the bills are presented.
(CC) Emergency separation.
(1) Upon each ordinance containing an emergency clause, there may first be had the usual vote necessary for the passage of the particular ordinance. Such vote, however, may be upon the ordinance exclusive of the emergency section, and shall be announced as the vote upon the ordinance. Immediately upon the passage of such an ordinance, a vote may be taken by separate roll call upon the emergency section.
(2) The emergency section may be passed only upon the affirmative vote of three-fourths of all members elected to Council.
(DD) Parliamentary procedure. Robert's Rules of Order, revised edition, shall be used to cover all points of parliamentary procedure not covered by the foregoing rules of procedure.
(`76 Code, § 121.01) (Ord. 17-1960, passed 9-13-60)