(A) All meetings of the PZB shall be held at the call of the Chairperson and at such times as the PZB may determine.
(B) All hearings required by the PZB shall be open to the public. No hearing shall be conducted without a quorum present, which shall consist of a simple majority of the PZB members. Any person may appear and testify at a hearing, either in person or by duly authorized agent or attorney. All testimony shall be given under oath. The Chairperson, or in his or her absence, the acting Chairperson, shall administer oaths and may compel the attendance of witnesses through the use of subpoena.
(C) The Chairperson shall have the power to retain a Secretary, who shall attend the public meetings and shall keep minutes of the PZB's proceedings. These minutes shall be open at all times to public inspections after review and approval by the PZB, showing the vote of each member upon each question, or if absent or failing to vote, indicating such fact. The Secretary shall also keep records of all the PZB's hearings and other official actions. The Secretary shall be paid $80 for attending and recording the minutes of each meeting of the PZB.
(D) Every rule or regulation, every amendment or repeal thereof, or determination by the PZB, shall be filed immediately in the village office and shall be a public record. The PZB shall adopt and publish its own rules of procedure, not in conflict with the zoning, subdivision and rural subdivision codes or with applicable state statutes.
(E) The PZB shall file an annual report with the Board of Trustees, setting forth its recommendations, and such report shall be submitted on or before the last day of January of each year.
(F) Remote attendance at Planning and Zoning Board meeting.
(1) Policy considerations. It is the policy of the Village of Winthrop Harbor that the presence of the appointed officials at all public meetings is highly desirable. The public's ability to view actions being taken by appointed officials and to make meaningful input into the decision-making process will be materially impaired by the lack of direct access to appointed officials in the public forum provided by meetings of the Planning and Zoning Board. Accordingly, the provisions for remote attendance at meetings set forth in this section are intended to provide for the public's good, not necessarily for the convenience or ease of the appointed officials. As such, this policy should be used sparingly and in strict conformance with the provisions described herein.
(2) Definitions. For purposes of this policy, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(a) ATTEND BY ELECTRONIC MEANS. Attending by audio or video conference.
(b) MEETING. 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 communications, of a majority of a quorum of the members of the Planning and Zoning Board held for the purposes of discussing public business.
(c) PUBLIC BUILDING. Any building or portion thereof owned or leased by any public body.
(3) Electronic participation.
(a) If a quorum of the members of the Planning and Zoning Board is physically present as required by ILCS Ch. 5, Act 120, § 7, a majority of those members present may allow a member to attend the meeting by means of video or audio conference if the member is prevented from physically attending because of the following exclusive reasons and no others:
1. Personal illness or disability;
2. Employment purposes;
3. Business of the public body; or
4. A family or other emergency.
(4) Notification requirements. If a member wishes to attend a meeting by audio or video conference, then the member must notify the Recording Secretary before the meeting unless such advance notice is impractical.
(5) Consideration of request for electronic participation.
(a) Consideration of a member's request for electronic participation shall occur under the agenda item titled "Absent Members Wishing to Attend Remotely".
(b) Any member physically present may state an objection to allowing remote attendance. In the absence of any such objection, the remote attendance shall be deemed to be allowed without objection.
(c) Upon the making of an objection, those members physically present shall consider whether any such request meets the requirements of division (F)(3), and vote regarding whether such member may be allowed to participate electronically or whether the objection should be upheld.
(d) An objection shall be upheld only where there is an affirmative majority vote of the members physically present.
(e) Any member requesting to attend the meeting by electronic means may participate in the debate on such question but may not vote on the approval of their own request.
(f) If more than one member requests to attend the meeting by electronic means, such requests will be considered in the order in which notification was received by the Recording Secretary as required in division (F)(4).
(g) Any member whose request to attend the meeting by electronic means is approved may not vote on the approval of any other member's request considered during that meeting, but may participate in any debate on the question.
(h) Any member whose request for attendance by electronic means is denied may continue to listen to and/or view the meeting via electronic means, but may only participate to the same extent in which a member of the public physically present at the meeting could participate.
(Ord. 1992-O-20, passed 10-6-92; Am. Ord. 2000-O-6, passed 5-16-00; Am. Ord. 2020-O-2, passed 1-21-20)