All legislative powers of the town shall be vested in a council
consisting of six councilmen who shall be elected as hereinafter provided
and who shall hold office for a term of four years or until the succeeding
council takes office. Councilmen holding office at the time this Section
of the Charter becomes effective shall continue to hold office and
their regular term shall expire on the third Thursday in November
following the election of their successors. After the election of
2008, the regular term of councilmen (including those elected in 2008)
shall expire on the third Thursday in December following the election
of their successors, or until the succeeding council takes office.
(Res., March, 1963, sec. 3; Minutes of Commissioners' meeting of August
31, 1963; Res. January 26, 1968; Res. 1992-14, 2-5-93; P.L.L. 1963,
sec. 9; Res. R-07-15, 5-4-07.)
Councilmen shall be qualified voters of the Town as defined
in Section 27 (C-601). (Res., March, 1963, sec. 4; Res. January 26,
1968; Res. June 23, 1972; P.L.L. 1963, sec. 10.)
Except as provided for herein, the newly elected council shall
meet at 7:00 p.m. on the third Thursday in December following its
election for the purpose of organization, or any other business that
may come before it, after which the council shall schedule a regular
meeting at 7:00 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month. Notwithstanding
the foregoing, the date and/or time of any regular meeting may be
changed by majority vote of the council, to a date no sooner than
21 days after the date of the vote on a motion to change the meeting
date. Special meetings shall be called by the town clerk upon the
request of the Mayor or a majority of the members of the council.
All meetings of the council shall be open to the public, subject to
being closed to the public in accordance with the provisions of the
Maryland Open Meetings Act, as amended. A special meeting may be designated
as a work session, at which the public is not to be heard unless permitted
by the president of the council. Except for meetings designated as
a work session, residents of the town shall have the reasonable opportunity
to be heard at any public meeting in regard to any municipal question,
at the time and in the manner designated by the president of the council.
(Res., March, 1963, sec. 6; minutes of Commissioners' meeting of August
31, 1963; Res. January 26, 1968; Res. 1992-13, 2-5-93; P.L.L. 1963,
sec. 11; Res. R-05-7, 2-3-06; Res. R-07-15, 5-4-07; Res. CAR-1-13,
11-29-2013; Res. CAR-16-1, 6-11-2016.)
The council shall be the judge of the election and qualification
of its members. (Res., March, 1963, sec. 7; P.L.L. 1963, sec. 12.)
The Mayor shall serve as president of the Council. The Mayor
may take part in all discussions, but he or she shall be limited to
voting only when necessary to break a tie vote of the council. The
President is the presiding officer and Chairperson. The responsibilities
of the presiding officer are to call the meeting to order on time;
to announce the business before the assembly in the order prescribed
in the agenda; to determine the presence of a quorum; to recognize
members who are entitled to the floor; to process all motions; to
expedite the business of the Council; to rule on points of order;
and to conduct the meeting in a fair and equitable manner. The Council
shall elect a Vice-President of the Council from among its members
who shall act as president of the Council and preside over meetings
in the absence of the president of the council. When presiding at
a meeting in the absence of the President, Council members and other
addressing the Council should be refer to the vice-president as the
“chairperson” or the “presiding officer”.
The Vice-President, when acting as the presiding officer, shall be
entitled to vote. (Res., March, 1963, sec. 8; minutes of Commissioners'
meeting of August 31, 1963; Res. January 26, 1968; P.L.L. 1963, sec.
13; Res. CAR-16-1, 6-11-2016.)
A majority of the members of the council shall constitute a
quorum for the transaction of business, but no ordinance shall be
approved nor any other action taken without the favorable votes of
a majority of the whole number of members elected to the council.
(Res., March, 1963, sec. 9; P.L.L. 1963, sec. 14.)
A.
The order of business for Council meetings shall be as follows:
I.
Call to order.
II.
Pledge of allegiance.
III.
Approve or modify the mayor's agenda.
IV.
Public comment on any agenda item.
|
Each speaker shall be limited to five minutes.
|
V.
Approval of the minutes.
|
Vote to approve, modify or disapprove the minutes from the prior
meeting.
|
VI.
Presentations, awards and honors.
VIII.
Report of the Mayor.
IX.
Resolutions and ordinances.
|
Subject to the provisions of Section C-309 of the town charter,
introduction, deliberation and vote in accordance with accepted rules
of debate.
|
XI.
Unfinished business.
XII.
New business.
XIII.
Public comment on non-agenda items
|
Each speaker shall be limited to five minutes.
|
XIV.
Council lightening round
|
Each speaker shall be limited to one minute.
|
XV.
Adjournment
B.
Rules of debate
I.
Obtaining the floor: Every member desiring to speak shall address
the Chair and, upon recognition by the presiding officer, shall confine
himself or herself to the question under debate, avoiding all personal
references and attacks and any indecorous language. Debate is limited
to the specific motion being considered.
II.
Interruptions: A Council member, once recognized, shall not be interrupted
when speaking except to call the member to order, or as otherwise
provided herein. If a Council member, while speaking, is called to
order, he or she shall cease speaking until the question of order
is determined; if the debate is in order, he or she shall be permitted
to proceed.
III.
Comments from the council: When a motion has been offered, comments
may not be offered until there has been a second. The maker of the
motion has the right, at his or her option, to be the first speaker
on the motion. The maker of the motion is prohibited from speaking
against the motion. The second to the motion has no such prohibition.
If a main motion is on the floor and a motion to amend is made and
seconded, the discussion must be limited to the amendment. If an amendment
is approved, discussion will then be limited to the main motion as
amended. If there is no amendment offered or if an amendment is disapproved,
the discussion will be limited to the original motion. No one may
speak until recognized by the presiding officer and only one person
may speak at a time.
IV.
Speaking time: The Mayor or a member of the Council may speak in
debate twice on any debatable motion. Each time the Mayor or a Council
member addresses the Council, he or she may speak for up to five minutes.
No member may speak a second time until each member has had the opportunity
to comment once.
VI.
Postponing an agenda item: the Town Council may postpone an agenda
item to a date certain upon an approved motion.
VII.
Motion to close debate immediately: any Town Council member
may make a motion to close debate immediately only after each member
has had an opportunity to express an opinion on the issue. A motion
to close debate requires a second and a vote of the majority of the
elected town council to pass.
VIII.
Point of order:
A.
The Chair has the duty of making sure that the rules are followed.
Any Town Council member may call the attention of the chair to a violation
of the rules by asserting a point of order at the time the violation
of the rules occurs. To assert a point of order, the Council Member
shall interrupt the chair or speaker if necessary, and without waiting
to be recognized, call out, "Point of Order!" A person interrupted
by a call for a Point of Order shall cease speaking. The Chair will
thereupon direct the individual asserting a Point of Order to state
his or her grounds. The statement of grounds shall be concise and
shall be limited to the facts relating to the asserted violation.
No second is necessary upon a call for a Point of Order, and no vote
is taken. After the member asserting the Point of Order finished his
or her statement of grounds, the Chair shall rule that the Point of
Order is well-taken, and therefore accepted, or not well-taken, and
therefore rejected, briefly giving his or her reasons, which shall
be recorded in the minutes. If a Point of Order is accepted, the speaker
against whom it has been asserted shall refrain from further remarks
on the subject. If a Point of Order is rejected, the speaker may continue.
B.
If a Council member disagrees with the ruling by the chair,
he or she may move to appeal the decision to the Council as a whole
immediately following the Chair's decision, and without waiting to
be recognized. An appeal requires a second. An appeal may be debated
by the members, but each Council member may speak only once. The chair
may speak in debate twice, the first time in preference over other
Council members and the second time to close debate. An appeal is
stated and put to a vote as "Shall the decision of the Chair be sustained?"
A decision to overturn the Chair's ruling requires an affirmative
vote of a majority of the Town Council. A vote on an appeal resulting
in a tie is deemed to be a rejection of the appeal and the decision
of the Chair is considered sustained.
IX.
Voting: It is the Chair's prerogative to request a voice vote or
a show of hands vote. A voice vote may, at the option of the Chair,
be accomplished by roll call. A member of the Town Council must be
physically present at the meeting in order to cast a vote. A Council
member may choose to abstain from voting. (Res., March, 1963, sec.
10; P.L.L. 1963, sec. 15; Res. CAR-16-1, 6-11-2016.)
Vacancies in the council shall be filled as provided in Section
40 (C-614) of this charter. (Res., March, 1963, sec. 11; P.L.L. 1963,
sec. 16.)
No ordinance shall be passed at the meeting at which it is introduced.
At any regular or special meeting of the council held not less than
six nor more than sixty days after the meeting at which an ordinance
was introduced, it shall be passed, or passed as amended, or rejected,
or its consideration deferred to some specified future date. In cases
of emergency the above requirements may be suspended by the affirmative
votes of five members of the council. Every ordinance, unless it be
passed as an emergency ordinance, shall become effective at the expiration
of twenty calendar days following approval by the mayor or passage
by the council over his veto, provided that no such ordinance shall
become effective until seven days after the last required publication.
A fair summary of each ordinance shall be published at least twice
at not less than seven days interval in a newspaper or newspapers
having general circulation in the municipality, and the entire ordinance
shall also be posted in the Town Hall. An emergency ordinance shall
become effective on the date specified in the ordinance, but no ordinance
shall become effective until approved by the mayor or passed over
his veto by the council. (Res., March, 1963, sec. 12; res. July 28,
1972; P.L.L. 1963, sec. 17.)
All ordinances passed by the council shall be promptly delivered
by the clerk to the mayor for his approval or disapproval. If the
mayor approves any ordinance, he shall sign it. If the mayor disapproves
any ordinance, he shall not sign it. The mayor shall return all ordinances
to the clerk within six days after delivery to him (including the
days of delivery and return and excluding Sunday) with his approval
or disapproval. Any ordinance approved by the mayor shall be law.
Any ordinance disapproved by the mayor shall be returned to the clerk
with a message stating the reasons for his disapproval. Upon receipt
of any ordinance disapproved by the mayor, the clerk shall promptly
deliver the ordinance and accompanying message stating the reasons
for the mayor's disapproval to the members of the council. Any disapproved
ordinance shall not become a law unless subsequently passed by a favorable
vote of five-sixths of the whole council within 35 calendar days from
the time of the return of the ordinance. If the mayor fails to return
any ordinance within six days of its delivery as aforesaid, it shall
be deemed to be approved by the mayor and shall become law in the
same manner as an ordinance signed by him. (Res., March, 1963, sec.
13; P.L.L. 1963, sec. 18; Res. CAR-5-10, 8-19-2010.)
(a)
The people reserve to themselves power known as the referendum, by
petition to have submitted to the registered voters of the Town of
Chesapeake Beach, to approve or reject at the polls, any ordinance,
or part of any ordinance of the council, if approved by Mayor, or,
if passed by the Council over the veto of the Mayor.
(b)
If, before the expiration of twenty calendar days following approval
of any ordinance by the mayor or passage of any ordinance over the
mayor's veto, or seven days after the last required publication, whichever
date is later, a petition is filed with the Town clerk containing
the signatures of duly qualified and registered Town voters representing
not less than fifty percent (50%) of the total number of voters who
voted in the last preceding regular Town election, the percentage
of petitioners to be rounded up to the nearest whole number, and requesting
that the ordinance, or any part thereof, be submitted to a vote of
the qualified voters of the town for their approval or disapproval.
The council shall have the ordinance, or that part of such ordinance
as to which referendum is requested, submitted to a vote of the qualified
voters of the town at the next regular town election or, in the council's
discretion, at a special election occurring before the next regular
election.
(c)
No ordinance, or the part thereof requested for referendum, shall
become effective following the receipt of such petition until and
unless approved at the election by a majority of the qualified voters
voting on the question. An emergency ordinance, or the part thereof
requested for referendum, shall continue in effect for sixty days
following receipt of such petition. If the question of approval or
disapproval of any emergency ordinance, or any part thereof, has not
been submitted to the qualified voters within sixty days following
receipt of the petition, then the operation of the ordinance, or the
part thereof requested for referendum, shall be suspended until approved
by a majority of the qualified voters voting on the question at any
election. Any ordinance, or part thereof, disapproved by the voters,
shall stand repealed. The provisions of this section shall not apply
to any ordinance, or part thereof, passed under the authority of Section
64 (C-721), levying property taxes for the payment of indebtedness,
but the provisions of this section shall apply to any ordinance, or
part thereof, levying special assessment charges under the provisions
of Sections 94 and 95 (C-1101 and C-1102). The provisions of this
section shall be self-executing, but the council may adopt ordinances
in furtherance of these provisions and not in conflict with them.
(Res., March, 1963, sec. 14; Res., July 28, 1972; P.L.L. 1963, sec.
19; Res. CAR-16-2, 8-5-2016.)
Ordinances shall be permanently filed by the clerk-treasurer
and shall be kept available for public inspection. (Res., March, 1963,
sec. 15; P.L.L. 1963, sec. 20.)
