City of Hackensack, NJ Rules of Order

Unless stated otherwise, meetings of the City Council ("Council"), a public body as defined herein, shall be held in accord with the Open Public Meetings Act, N.J.S.A. 10:4-6 to 10:4-21 (OPMA).

Where this chapter and the OPMA do not address a particular procedure, Robert's Rules of Order, newly revised, 11th Edition, governs.

§ 37-12 Definitions.

Unless otherwise stated, all terms shall have the meanings provided by the New Jersey Statutes.

As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

MEETING

Means and includes any gathering, whether corporeal or by means of communication equipment, which is attended by, or open to, all of the members of a public body, held with the intent, on the part of the members of the body present, to discuss or act as a unit upon the specific public business of that body. Meeting does not mean or include any such gathering 1) attended by less than an effective majority of the members of a public body or 2) attended by or open to all the members of three or more similar public bodies at a convention or similar gathering.

PUBLIC BODY

A commission, authority, board, council, committee or any other group of two or more persons organized under the laws of this state and collectively empowered as a voting body to perform a public governmental function affecting the rights, duties, obligations, privileges, benefits, or other legal relations of any person or collectively authorized to spend public funds, including the Legislature, but does not mean or include the judicial branch of the government, any grand or petit jury, any parole board or any agency or body acting in a parole capacity, or any political party committee organized under Title 19 of the Revised Statutes.

§ 37-13 Meetings; scheduling and notice.

Regular meetings. Regular meetings must be held at least twice per month at a time designated by the Council pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:81-19.

(1)

Scheduling of regular meetings. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 10:4-18, at least once each year, the Council shall post and maintain posted throughout the year in the place described in Subsection E(3), for the purpose of public inspection, a schedule of the regular meetings of the Council to be held during the succeeding year.

(2)

Requests for notices of meetings. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 10:4-19, any person may request that a public body mail to him copies of any regular meeting schedule or revision described in Subsection A(1) herein and any advance written notice as described herein by Subsection E regarding any regular, special or rescheduled meeting of such body. The Council may, by resolution, fix a reasonable amount to cover the costs of providing such notice. Upon prepayment by such person of a reasonable sum, the public body shall cause written advance notice of all of its meetings to be mailed to such person within the time prescribed herein by Subsection E.

Special meetings.

(1)

Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:81-19, special meetings may be called at any time by the Mayor, by the City Manager, or by two members of the Council.

(2)

Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:81-19, special meetings may also be called by petition signed by voters equal in number to not less than 2% of the number of persons voting in the City of Hackensack (the "City") at the past proceeding general election. The petition shall set forth the business to come before the meeting.

Committee of the Whole. Meetings of a Committee of the Whole must be held in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order and are subject to the same notice requirements provided herein for regular meetings.

Adjourned meetings. A meeting adjourned to a fixed time shall be considered a continuation of the preceding meeting, and the business of the Council shall be resumed where it was left at the last adjournment.

Notice. All meetings of the Council shall be duly announced, providing adequate notice, and shall be open to the public pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:81-19 and the OPMA.

(1)

Adequate notice. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 10:4-8(d), "adequate notice" means written advanced notice of at least 48 hours, giving the time, date, location and, to the extent known, the agenda of any regular, special, or rescheduled meeting, which notice shall accurately state whether formal action may or may not be taken and which shall be:

(a)

Prominently posted in at least one public place reserved for such or similar announcements as designated by Subsection E(3) herein;

(b)

Mailed, telephoned, telegrammed, or hand-delivered to at least two newspapers as designated by Subsection E(2) herein; and

(c)

Filed with the City Clerk.

(2)

Publication. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 10:4-8(d) and 40:53-1, the City designates the Bergen Record and Star Ledger as the official newspapers for publication of all advertisements and notices required to be published by the City.

(3)

Posting. In order to comply with N.J.S.A. 10:4-8(d) and 10:4-18, the City designates the bulletin board located closest to the lobby entrance to City Hall as the prominent public place reserved for posting notices.

(4)

Exception to providing notice. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 10:4-9, a public body may hold a meeting notwithstanding the failure to provide adequate notice if:

(a)

An affirmative vote of 3/4 of the members present at the meeting is obtained;

(b)

The meeting is required in order to deal with matters of such urgency and importance that a delay for the purpose of providing adequate notice would likely result substantial harm to the public interest;

(c)

The meeting is limited to discussion of and acting with respect to such matters of urgency and importance;

(d)

Notice of such meeting is provided as soon as possible following the calling of such meeting consistent with Subsection E(1) herein; and

(e)

Either the public body could not reasonably have foreseen the need for such meeting at a time when adequate notice could have been provided, or although the public body could reasonably have foreseen the need for such meeting at a time when adequate notice could have been provided, it nevertheless failed to do so.

(5)

Electronic notice. In addition to the notice requirements provided herein, a public body may provide electronic notice of any public meeting through the Internet.

(6)

Statement in minutes of meeting on adequate notice. At the beginning of every meeting of the Council, the City Clerk shall announce publicly and enter into the minutes a statement that either:

(a)

Adequate notice of the meeting was provided, specifying the time, place, and manner in which such notice was provided; or

(b)

Adequate notice was not provided, in which case the statement must be consistent with N.J.S.A. 10:4-10 regarding the urgency and importance mentioned in Subsection E(4) herein.

§ 37-14 Meeting procedure.

Quorum. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:81-20, a majority of all the members of the Council shall constitute a quorum, and the affirmative vote of a majority of all the members shall be necessary to take any action or pass any measure, except as otherwise provided by law.

Resolutions and ordinances.

(1)

Every resolution or ordinance shall be reduced to writing and read before the vote is taken thereon pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:81-20.

(2)

Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:81-21, no ordinance passed by the Council shall go into effect before 10 days from the time of its final passage, except when:

(a)

Otherwise required by the general laws of the state; or

(b)

It is an ordinance for the immediate preservation of the public order, peace, health or safety or to remedy an emergency caused by fire, flood, explosion, storm, epidemic, recovery of judgment, the act of God or the public enemy, which may be passed to take effect immediately without publication and at one meeting, by the vote of one more than a majority of the members of the Council.

Voting, generally. The vote upon every motion, resolution, or ordinance shall be taken by yeas and nays and entered on the minutes.

Call to order and order of business. The Mayor shall be the presiding officer, and shall call the meeting to order by determining that a quorum is present. He/she shall take the chair and announce that the meeting will come to order. This may be followed by other opening ceremonies. The following represents the sequence in which business is to be introduced:

[Amended 6-23-2015 by Ord. No. 25-2015]

(1)

Reading and approval of minutes;

(2)

Reports of officers, boards, and standing committees;

(3)

Reports of special committees;

(4)

Special orders;

(5)

Unfinished business and general orders;

(6)

New business;

(7)

Public comment; and

(8)

Mayor and Council comments.

Procedure.

(1)

Business is to be brought before the public body by motion in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order and debated and voted upon pursuant to same unless otherwise stated in this chapter.

(2)

Public comment.

(a)

Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 10:4-12, the Council shall set aside a portion of every meeting for public comment.

(b)

No person shall address the Council except during the portion of the meeting set aside for public comment pursuant to N.J.S.A. 10:4-12 and during the opportunity to be heard upon the second reading of an ordinance pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:49-2. Any person who desires to address the Council shall first seek to be recognized by the presiding officer.

(c)

Remarks during the public comment portion of the meeting shall be within the time limits set by the Council by resolution in accordance with N.J.S.A. 10:4-12, for public comment on any governmental issue that a member of the public expresses may be of concern to the residents of the City.

(d)

Each person addressing the Council shall step up to the microphone provided for use of the public, give his or her name and address in an audible tone of voice for the record, state the subject he or she wishes to discuss, and state whom he or she is representing.

(e)

No person other than members of the Council and the person having the floor shall be permitted to enter into any discussion, either directly or through a member of the Council, without the permission of the presiding officer.

(f)

All remarks shall be directed at the presiding officer; a participant may not address or question Councilmembers individually.

(g)

In order to expedite discussion and to avoid repetitious presentations, whenever any group of persons is to address the Council on the same subject, the presiding officer may request that a spokesperson, or spokespersons, be chosen by the group to address the Council and, if additional matters are to be presented by any other member of this group, to limit the number of persons addressing the Council.

(h)

No person may address the Council more than once during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Minutes.

(1)

Taking of the minutes. Minutes shall be kept of every meeting by the Municipal Clerk as hereinafter prescribed, and any citizen may have access to the minutes upon application to the Clerk.

(a)

Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 10:4-14, the minutes must include the time and place, the members present, the subjects considered, the actions taken, the vote of each member, and any other information required to be shown in the minutes by law, which must promptly be available to the public.

(b)

Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:81-20, the minutes of each meeting shall be signed by a majority of all the members of the Council and the City Clerk. No member shall sign minutes of a meeting at which he was not present.

(2)

Reading and approval of the minutes. Minutes of the meeting shall be read and approved at the beginning of a regular meeting immediately after the call to order and any opening ceremonies.

(a)

Where a draft of the minutes of the preceding meeting has been sent to all members in advance, it is presumed that the members have reviewed them. In this case, the minutes will not be read prior to approval unless requested. However, correction and approval continues to be handled as hereinafter prescribed by Subsection F(2)(b).

(b)

Approval of the minutes and corrections, if any, are done by unanimous consent; the Chair shall call for the reading of the minutes, ask for any corrections, and declare the minutes approved.

(c)

Minutes may not be approved at special meanings; minutes from special meetings must be approved at a regular meeting.

§ 37-15 Demeanor.

All persons shall be silent at the request of the presiding officer.

The following is strictly prohibited:

(1)

Defamatory, personal, or profane remarks;

(2)

Loud, threatening, or abusive language;

(3)

Remarks irrelevant to public business; and

(4)

Disorderly conduct that disturbs or disrupts the conduct of any meeting, including but not limited to hand clapping, stamping of feet, whistling, shouting or other similar demonstrations which may disturb the peace and order of the meeting.

Any member of the public who makes such remarks or engages in such conduct will be called to order by the presiding officer. If the conduct continues, the presiding officer may ask the person to leave the meeting.

Any person who, at the request of the presiding officer, is asked to leave the meeting, shall do so immediately. If persons do not remove themselves at the instruction of the presiding officer, the presiding officer may order the Sergeant at Arms to remove them. Any person who resists removal by the Sergeant at Arms shall be charged with violating N.J.S.A. 2C:33-8, Disrupting meetings and processions.

The Chief of Police, or such members of the Police Department as the Council may designate, shall be Sergeant(s) at Arms at the Council meetings. He, she, or they shall carry out all orders given by the presiding officer for the purpose of maintaining order and decorum at the Council meeting. On instruction of the presiding officer, the Sergeant at Arms shall remove from the meeting any person who disturbs the proceedings of the Council.

§ 37-16 Videotaping, audiotaping and photographing.

Any person may videotape, audiotape or photograph the proceedings of the Council. Such conduct should be unobtrusive so as not to interfere with the proceedings. The Council may direct the activities of such persons to ensure an orderly meeting.