[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Yorktown 8-3-2022 by L.L. No. 7-2022. Amendments noted where applicable.]
It is the intent of this chapter to give the Town Board and
the Town's public bodies, as that term is defined in Public Officers
Law § 102, the authority to participate in meetings via
videoconference in a manner consistent with the Town's videoconferencing
policy and the authority granted in Public Officers Law § 103-a.
This chapter is adopted pursuant to Public Officers Law § 103-a,
which expressly permits the Town Board to adopt a local law to authorize
the use of videoconferencing for itself and all boards, committees,
and commissions of the Town which are subject to the New York State
Open Meetings Law, Public Officers Law, Article 7. Members of such
local public bodies may participate in meetings via videoconference
from locations not accessible to the public so long as a quorum of
the public body participates from locations where the public may be
physically present and all conditions set forth in Public Officers
Law § 103-a are met.
The Town Board of the Town of Yorktown hereby authorizes members
of the Town's local public bodies subject to the requirements of the
Public Officers Law to participate in meetings using videoconferencing
technology in a manner consistent with Public Officers Law § 103-a
and the Town's videoconferencing policy adopted by the Town Board.
The provisions of this chapter and Public Officers Law § 103-a
do not limit the existing authority set forth in the Public Officers
Law, which allows all public bodies to virtually connect multiple
public locations from which members and the public may attend. Public
bodies may continue to hold proper open meetings by videoconference
from multiple physical locations which are identified in the meeting
notice, open to the public and connected virtually together by videoconference.
The provisions of this chapter expand further the authority of the
Town Board and other board, committee and commission members to participate
in a meeting using videoconferencing technology under limited circumstances
when the member's location is not open to in-person public attendance.
If any clause, sentence, phrase, paragraph, or any part of this
chapter shall for any reason be adjudicated finally by a court of
competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect,
impair or invalidate the remainder of this chapter, but shall be confined
in its operation and effect to the clause, sentence, phrase, paragraph
or part thereof directly involved in the controversy or action in
which such judgment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared
to be the legislative intent that the remainder of this chapter would
have been adopted had any such provisions been excluded.
This chapter shall become effective upon filing in the office
of the Secretary of State in accordance with the provisions of the
Municipal Home Rule Law.
