Village of Mamaroneck, NY - Board of Trustee Meeting Procedures

The regular meeting of the Board of Trustees will be on the second and fourth Monday of each month, except when changed to accommodate a national or religious holiday.
The regular meetings will commence at 7:30 p.m. and be held in the courtroom at Old Village Hall.
The work session meetings of the Board of Trustees will be on the first and third Monday of each month, except when changed to accommodate a national or religious holiday.
The work session meetings will commence at 5:30 p.m. and will be held in the Conference Room in the Village Offices at the Regatta.

SPECIAL MEETINGS

Special meetings of the Board of Trustees are all those Board meetings other than regular meetings.
A special meeting may be called by the Mayor or any Trustee upon notice to the entire Board.

EXECUTIVE SESSIONS

Executive sessions will be held in accordance with Public Officers Law Sec. 105.
All executive sessions will be commenced in a public meeting.

MEETING NOTICE

All meetings shall be publicly noticed as required by law including notices forwarded to the official newspapers of the Village.
Notices for special meetings may be given by telephone, e-mail, in person, or in writing at least 24 hours in advance unless an emergency exists. In addition notices shall be forwarded to the official newspapers of the Village.

QUORUM

A quorum of the Board of Trustees must be present to conduct business.
A quorum of the Board of Trustees is three.
In the absence of a quorum, a lesser number may adjourn and compel the attendance of absent members.

AGENDAS

The agenda of every meeting of the Board of Trustees will be prepared by the Clerk-Treasurer at the direction of the Mayor in consultation with the Village Manager.
Items for the Regular meeting agenda must be given to the Clerk-Treasurer by the close of business on the Monday before the meeting.
A draft agenda for the Regular meeting will be circulated to the members of the Board of Trustees no later than close of business on the Tuesday before the meeting.
The final Regular meeting agenda will be prepared no later than noon on the Wednesday before the meeting. The agenda will be distributed to the Board, staff, Village’s official newspapers and posted on the website of the Village by Wednesday’s close of business.
No item may be added to the agenda, after it is finalized, except by majority vote of the Board of Trustees. If a request is made for an item to be added and this request is denied, the item is automatically added to the agenda of the next regular meeting.

VOTING

Pursuant to Village Law, each member of the Board of Trustees has one vote. The Mayor may vote on any matter, but must vote in case of a tie.
A vote upon any question will be taken by “yes/aye” and “no/nay.”
When taking votes, the Clerk-Treasurer must record in the minutes for each Trustee whether they voted yes, voted no, abstained from voting, or were absent. Abstentions and absences should not be counted as votes. Abstentions and absences are neither positive nor negative votes; they are simply no vote at all.
For purposes of determining whether a matter passed, the Clerk-Treasurer must tally the number of yes votes.
Unless otherwise specified by state law, a majority of the totally authorized voting power of the board must vote yes for the matter to pass.

MINUTES

Minutes will be taken by the Clerk-Treasurer or his designee.
Minutes must consist of a record or summary of all motions, proposals, resolutions and any other matter formally voted upon and the vote thereon.
Minutes must be taken at executive session of any action that is taken by formal vote and must consist of a record or summary of the final determination of the action, the attendees and the date and vote thereon. The summary need not include any matter which is not required to be made public by the Freedom of Information Law.
Minutes must include the following:

Name of the board;
Date, place, and time of the meeting;
Notation of whether a board member is present or absent, and the board member’s time of arrival or time of departure if different from the time the meeting was called to order and adjourned;
Record of communications presented to the board;
Record of reports made by Board members or other village personnel;
Time of Adjournment; and
Signature of clerk or person who took the minutes if not the Clerk-Treasurer.

Minutes must be approved by the Board as required by law. The minutes may be amended only upon Board approval.

ORDER OF BUSINESS

Call to order
Public Hearing(s) if necessary
Public Presentation(s) as deemed necessary by the presiding officer
Communication to the Board I
Approval of previous meetings’ minutes;
Audit of the bills
Old business;
New business
Reports from Village managers
Reports from Board; Public Announcements
Adjournment

GENERAL RULES OF PROCEDURE

The Mayor presides at the meeting. In the Mayor’s absence, the Deputy Mayor presides.
The presiding officer may debate, make motions, and take any other action that other Board members may take.
Board members are not required to rise but must be recognized by the presiding officer before making motions and speaking.
Motions require a second before discussion.
A member, once recognized, may not be interrupted when speaking unless it is to call him/her to order. If a member is called to order, they must cease speaking until the question of order is determined. If the member is in order, he may proceed.
A member may not be limited in the number of times he speaks on a question.
Motions to close or limit debate require a supermajority vote.

Upon completion of the Board’s discussion, the floor will be opened up to comment from the public. Depending on the number of people who wish to speak on an item, the standard time limit of three minutes may be imposed by the Mayor as Chair of the Board.

After discussion of a motion has been completed, one of the following actions is acceptable:

The presiding officer may call for a vote on the motion as presented and seconded;
The member who made the motion may withdraw the motion;
The member who made the motion may amend the motion;
Any member may make a motion to table the item. If the motion is successfully tabled, the matter automatically carries over to the following regular meeting of the board.

GUIDELINES FOR PUBLIC COMMENT

The public may speak only during the meeting’s public comment periods and at any other time the presiding officer allows.
Speakers must be recognized by the presiding officer.
Speakers must step to the front of the room.
Speakers must give their name, address and organization, if any.
During the first period for Communication to the Board at the beginning of the regular meeting, speakers must limit their remarks to three minutes on a given topic. Speakers may not yield any remaining time they may have to another speaker.
There may be a time limit on speakers during the public comment periods on specific items up for discussion before the Board, depending on the number of people who wish to speak on a specific subject. Generally, if the number of people who wish to speak on a specific topic is five (5) or more people, at the discretion of the Mayor, normal time limits of three minutes per person may be applied to each speaker.
During Public Hearings, there will be no time limit on speakers unless there are many individuals who which to address the Board. (See next bullet.)

The presiding officer may, at his/her discretion, enact a time limit on all speakers especially during meetings where it appears that many individuals wish to address the Board.

Board members may, with the permission of the presiding officer, interrupt a speaker during their remarks, but only for the purpose of clarification or information.
All remarks must be addressed to the Board as a body and not to individual Board members or members of the audience.
The presiding officer may, at his/her discretion, limit the number of times a speaker may address the Board during a single meeting.
Speakers must observe the commonly accepted rules of courtesy, decorum, dignity and good taste. Should there be a separate rule for time limits during public hearings?

ADJOURNMENT

Meetings must be adjourned by motion.

AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES OF PROCEDURE

The foregoing procedures may be amended from time to time by a majority vote of the Board.

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