Township of Whitehall, PA Board of Commissioners Operational Guidelines

Officer. The Board shall, by majority vote of the total members, elect from its membership a President, a Vice President and a Secretary, all of whom shall hold office at the pleasure of the Board. The Mayor shall preside over the election.

[Amended 6-8-2009 by Ord. No. 2776, approved 11-3-2009]

(2)

Removal. Should any two members of the Board call for a vote to remove any or all of the aforementioned officers, the matter shall be put to a vote. Such action must be effected by a resolution. An intent to vote upon such resolution must be declared at a regular public meeting and be introduced and voted on at the next regular Board meeting. The office shall be declared vacant upon the passage of such resolution and a vote to appoint a successor may be taken as the next item of business.

(3)

Absence of quorum. If at least four of the seven Board members are not in attendance at the commencement of a meeting, the Commissioners present may reschedule the meeting and adjourn. If the subsequent meeting must also be adjourned for failure to produce a quorum, those members present shall be considered a quorum for the purpose of electing officers only.

(4)

Notice. At last 48 hours prior notice of any organizational or re-organizational meeting shall be given to each Board member. The notice shall include the purpose, place and time of the meeting in question.

(5)

Publication. Notice of the purpose, place and time of the organizational meeting comporting with requirements of Subsection A(4) above must be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the Township and shall be posted at the Township Municipal Building.

(6)

Limitations. In addition to the election of officers, all other necessary or appropriate business may be transacted at an organizational or reorganizational meeting.

(7)

Legal holiday provision. If a scheduled organizational meeting shall occur on a legal holiday, said meeting shall be postponed and shall take place on the following day.

Regular meetings. The Board shall hold its regular meetings at least once per month at 7:00 p.m. on such Mondays as the Board may schedule.

(1)

Notice. The Secretary shall give at least five days prior written notice of the meeting to each Board member and the Mayor.

[Amended 6-8-2009 by Ord. No. 2776, approved 11-3-2009]

(2)

Publication. A specific listing of the regular meetings shall be published once for each calendar year, in a newspaper of general circulation in the Township, and it shall be posted at the Municipal Building. Notice of each regular meeting shall be published and posted in the same manner at least three, but not more than 30 days, in advance of that meeting, excepting a rescheduled, adjourned regular meeting, which shall require a forty-eight-hour publication notice.

(3)

Order of business. The Board's agenda shall include the following:

(a)

Call to order.

(b)

Pledge of Allegiance.

(c)

Approval of minutes.

(d)

Courtesy of the floor.

(e)

Introduction of ordinances for final passage.

(f)

Introduction of new ordinances.

(g)

Introduction of resolutions.

(h)

Other — motions.

(i)

Discussion items.

(j)

Reports of public officials.

(k)

Adjournment.

Special meetings. Special meetings may be called by the President, by the Mayor or by the Secretary upon written request of two Board members.

[Amended 6-8-2009 by Ord. No. 2776, approved 11-3-2009]

(1)

Notice. At least 48 hours prior notice shall be given to each member. It shall include the purpose, place and time, the latter of which may differ from the regular meeting time.

(2)

Publication. At least 48 hours notice must be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the Township and it shall be posted likewise at the Township Municipal Building.

(3)

Limitations. Only that business designated in the public notice may be acted upon at a special meeting.

Continuation of adjourned regular or special meetings. Any regular or special adjourned meeting may be reconvened at a specified date and time upon motion duly adopted by the Board and a public announcement made prior to the original adjournment. The only matters to be acted upon at the reconvened meeting shall be those scheduled for, or tabled at, the original meeting. The Secretary shall publish a twenty-four-hour public notice.

§ 1-50 General provisions for all meetings.

[Amended 11-14-1988 by Ord. No. 1630; Ord. 12-29-1989]

Time and place. All meetings of the Board shall be convened in the public meeting room of the Township Municipal Building or at such other location as shall be designated in a lawful public meeting notice, following approval of such other location by the Board of Commissioners. No meeting shall be scheduled to commence later than 7:30 p.m.

Officers. The presiding officer shall be the President, or in his absence, the Vice President. In the absence of both, the remaining Board members shall name a temporary presiding officer.

(1)

The President's rights shall include participation in all debate, without leaving his chair. He shall be an ex officio member of all standing committees. He shall call special meetings, as necessary.

(2)

The President's responsibilities. He shall be responsible for maintaining proper parliamentary decorum. He shall afford anyone the right to be heard but shall constrain harassment.

(3)

The Vice President shall carry out all of the duties of the President in the absence of the President.

(4)

The Secretary shall attend all meetings and keep records of same, attest to and execute all documents, record all motions, resolutions and ordinances in separate books, have custody of the Township corporate seal, execute all notices and distribute all necessary materials.

Meeting agenda and related materials.

(1)

The Secretary of the Board of Commissioners is responsible for preparing the agenda. All materials necessary for preparing the agenda shall be delivered to the Secretary not later than five days prior to all regular meetings. Agenda items may be requested by Board members or the Mayor.

[Amended 6-8-2009 by Ord. No. 2776, approved 11-3-2009]

(2)

The Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners and Mayor shall receive 48 hours prior to its regular and special meetings an agenda containing all scheduled items to be discussed and acted upon at the meeting, and all available supporting materials and documents necessary for preparation for such meetings.

[Amended 6-8-2009 by Ord. No. 2776, approved 11-3-2009]

(3)

No action may be taken on any ordinance or resolution which is not properly transmitted to the Secretary and properly placed on the agenda. This provision shall in no manner restrict action on motions or prevent any citizen of Whitehall Township from being heard on any subject whatsoever.

(4)

A citizen's right to be heard shall not be denied because the item about which he speaks was not on the agenda.

Quorum. In order to conduct business four members of the Board must be in attendance at a meeting.

Decorum. The President of the Board of Commissioners, or such designee as might be chairing the meeting, shall announce at the beginning of the meeting or at such time during the meeting as may be deemed appropriate by the Chairperson that reasonable time limitations shall be placed upon person speaking on behalf of or against any position or issue. Such announcement shall specify the number of minutes which will be allocated to each person who desires to be heard prior to a vote and/or during the courtesy of the floor segment of the meetings.

(1)

Providing however:

(a)

This rule, § 1-50E, may be suspended or modified by a simple majority vote of the Commissioners present at the meeting, either for a specific individual or for the amount of time allotted to a subject area.

(b)

With the consent of the Chair, persons who have indicated a desire to speak may yield a portion or all of his/her time allotment to another person. The Chair may set reasonable limits on the number of yielded time allotments which may be used by a party as circumstances may require.

(c)

The Board may utilize any timing system or device to measure the time allotment or notify the speaker of remaining or expired time, so long as such system or device does not disturb the decorum of the proceedings or unreasonably distract the speaker.

(d)

The Commissioners shall retain the right to interrupt and terminate a speaker for the following reasons:

[1]

The speaker has exhausted his/her time, including time yielded.

[2]

The speaker is addressing a topic unrelated to the motion or topic being considered.

[3]

The speaker becomes unduly loud, uses profanity or makes inflammatory statements inappropriate for a public meeting.

Voting. All votes on motions, resolutions or ordinances shall be by roll call announced by the Secretary and entered in the minutes. The roll call order shall be rotated with the presiding officer voting last. A majority vote, that is, a vote of four yeas or four nays shall constitute action by the Board, unless the Charter expressly requires a greater number.

Waiver of notice. A Commissioner's presence at a meeting constitutes waiver of notice, unless he is present solely to object to the meeting as unlawful.

Records. All records shall be kept by the Secretary. Minutes of all public meetings shall be available for public view at the Municipal Building during regular Township business hours and at the Whitehall Community Library.

Public right to be heard. Residents of the Township shall have the right to be heard on any action before the Board prior to such action being taken. Nonresidents may be heard at the discretion of the Board. Each speaker shall state his name and address upon being recognized. He shall also have the right to place legitimate matters before the Board during the Courtesy of the Floor segment of any public meeting. The Board may impose reasonable time, place and manner limitations on any speaker.

Mayor's participation. The Mayor shall have the right to attend Board meetings and deliberate, and he shall have voice, but not vote. He may also attend committee sessions.

[Amended 6-8-2009 by Ord. No. 2776, approved 11-3-2009]

§ 1-51 Rules for the form of ordinances, resolutions and motions.

[Amended 8-11-1980 by Ord. No. 1354; 10-20-1980 by Ord. No. 1356]

Every legislative act of the Board of Commissioners shall be by ordinance or resolution.

All proposed ordinances and resolutions shall be in written form and shall be assigned a Bill Number indicating the year of their introduction and the ordinance and resolution number for that year. Upon final adoption, a consecutive ordinance or resolution number will be assigned to the bill by the Secretary and the same shall be incorporated into the official records of the Township. The headings of all ordinances and resolutions shall include the general purpose. Their introductory sections shall identify the legislative enactment as that of the Board of Commissioners of the Township of Whitehall, County of Lehigh, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

[Amended 6-8-2009 by Ord. No. 2776, approved 11-3-2009]

(1)

Concluding all ordinances and resolutions shall be the signature of the Board President, duly dated and attested to by the Board Secretary, followed by the Mayor's signature, also duly dated, if he approves the legislation.

(2)

In the event of a veto by the Mayor and a subsequent override by the Board of Commissioners, the ordinance in question will expressly indicate this legislative action.

Motions may be either in written form (if submitted prior to a meeting) or introduced orally.

§ 1-52 Procedures for presentation and adoption of ordinances, resolutions and motions.

[Amended 6-8-2009 by Ord. No. 2776, approved 11-3-2009]

Presentation. Any Board member or the Mayor may introduce an ordinance or a resolution, but it must be presented in writing and available to the Secretary at least five days prior to the meeting at which it shall be introduced. A motion may be presented to the Secretary in the same manner or it may be introduced orally at a meeting. An ordinance need only be read at length once, unless otherwise specified by the Home Rule Charter § 3.24.

Adoption. Within three days of passage by the Board, an ordinance or resolution shall be forwarded to the Mayor. The Mayor shall either return the document signed and approved within 10 days thereafter, or vetoed, together with his written objections to same. Failure to return the document shall render it finally adopted on the 11th day thereof. If the effective date does not appear in an ordinance, it shall be deemed finally adopted 30 days following passage. The only ordinance which shall take effect less than 30 days after adoption, absent a bona fide emergency, is the Township budget ordinance. All motions may be adopted by a majority vote of the Board. The Secretary shall affix the Township seal to legislation, upon its final adoption. He shall also publish all ordinances once in a newspaper of general circulation in the Township within 30 days after final adoption. All adopted ordinances, resolutions and motions shall be entered in separate, permanent books and shall be available for public inspection both at the Township Municipal Building and in the Whitehall Community Library.

Attribution. If an individual Commissioner or the Mayor submits an ordinance, a resolution, a written motion or a discussion item for a meeting agenda, the originator's name or initials shall be noted on the agenda adjacent to the agenda items so submitted.

§ 1-53 Rules of procedure for Committees.

[Amended 7-12-1976 by Ord. No. 1199; Ord. 12-29-1989]

To achieve maximum legislative efficiency and to insure open communication with all facets of the community, the Board shall appoint committees from among its members as well as special committees, which shall be created by resolution, as the need arises.

(1)

Ad hoc committees of the Board may be formed for a specific purpose and situation, and shall be terminated upon completion of the assigned task.

(2)

Individual Commissioners may represent the Board through meetings with joint committees from other organized public or quasi-public entities such as the Whitehall-Coplay School Board and the Police Pension Board.

(3)

Liaison committees may be named to any or all Township civic organizations or groups. Once they are duly established they shall request continued legislative contact.

(4)

Standing committees.

(a)

Standing committees shall be available for any legislative problems relating to the matters each addresses, as follows:

[1]

Legal and legislative.

[2]

Internal hearings and appointments.

(b)

These committees shall establish their own operating rules and may forward requests for action directly to the Board, by majority vote of committee members or by request of the Board. Each committee shall be deemed a creation by the Board and each Board member is expected to chair one committee.

(5)

Committees of the Whole, consisting of the entire Board, shall be convened as determined by the Board. Such committees' functions shall include, but not be limited to, legislative problems relative to administration, budget and finance.

§ 1-54 Parliamentary procedure.

Robert's Rules of Order shall govern the proceedings of the Board on any matters not specifically provided herein. A copy of said book shall be issued to each Board member requiring same.

§ 1-55 Amendments.

A proposed amendment to these rules must be adopted by ordinance, presented at a regular meeting after proper notice.